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Buddhism KU: Blue A&E: Purple Sources: Orange (The Little Buddha on…
Buddhism
KU: Blue
A&E: Purple
Sources: Orange
Beliefs about the Buddha
Nature of the Buddha
Understanding of Buddhism - After Buddha's death there was a split in his followers over different opinions and interpretations over his teachings. the main two splits were:
Theravada - which carried an older understanding of Dharma
Mahayana - younger with more of a focus on day to day regular buddhist followers (aka the layity) rather than just monks
Mahayana Buddhism (MB) - Means "the great vehicle". MB believes there is no such thing as self and individual Nirvana is selfish. Rather Nirvana is collective as everyone achieves it together. There is also an emphasis on compassion and Upaya which recommends Buddhists follow their own specific techniques according to a prevailing situation in order to achieve enlightenment i.e. different ways to one goal.
Within Mahayana Buddhism there are three different schools of thought:
Tibetan/Vajrayana (VB) - Tibetan Buddhism has it's origins in Tibet (of course). It has a focus on compassion and karma and has a system of "lama" which means "teacher" The Dalai Lama is the leader of VB and means Ocean of Wisdom. The current dalai Lama is the 14th incarnation. There is a lot of symbolism and emphasis on ritual.
Zen (ZB) - Zen buddhism comes from the MB school. It is concerned with what actually is rather than what we think/feel. The is the essence of ZB is achieving enlightenment by seeing on's original mind/nature without intervention of the intellect
Bodhisattva - a person who is able to reach nirvana but delays doing so through compassion for suffering beings. This belief only occurs in Mahayana Buddhism.
Theravada Buddhism (TB) - Means "way of the elders" and sticks close to the teachings of the Buddha. TB has not added much extra scripture to the Tripitaka (Buddhism's holy text) and believe the road to Nirvana is through the Sangha - the religious community of monks and nuns i.e. not the layity.
TB believes the Buddha was just a man, they believe in self reliance with an emphasis on knowledge and is mostly based in Southern Asia i.e. Sri Lanka, Thailand and Myanmar
Spiritual Awakening of the Buddha
Siddhartha began to question life and was curious about life outside the palace so his father allowed him to visit the world outside.
On his travels he saw an old man (old age), a sick man (illness), a corpse (death) and a holy man (saddhu). The first three sights disturbed him but the fourth gave him hope that he could figure out a path to overcome suffering. Siddhartha was moved by compassion. SG decided to leave his family and wife to become a wandering holy man in search of answers and enlightenment. Leaving his family symbolised leaving his physical attachments behind).
An Old Man: Suffering is caused by old age because your body becomes weaker and sore and daily tasks may become hard due to this. It is significant because it told Siddhartha that one day he too will become old and not live forever and be able to do everything he wants to do.
A Sick Man: Suffering is caused by the person being sick and not able to function. Suffering is also caused but the family worrying about this person. This is significant because it shows that illness can affect everyone no matter what your circumstances are.
A Corpse: Death also affects the family of the loved one. If Siddhārtha never knew his family were going to die he may take them for granted. Whereas if he knew his family would die he would protect them and cherish the time he had with them.
A Holy Man: It is the fourth Sight which first awakens him to other possibilities and an escape from suffering. He sees a wandering holy man, a Sadhu, who appears happy in the midst of the suffering. The wise man is at peace with the world even though he has no possessions. This shows Siddhartha that he does not need material things to be happy. Siddhārtha feels betrayed by his family and so feels he must go find the truth
Details of Siddhartha Gautama
Born in Northern India 563 BCE
Main religion at this time was Hinduism which was a collection of different beliefs or smaller religions rather than one big religion
Originally known as Prince Siddhartha Gautama (later the Buddha - Enlightened one)
Buddhism evolved from Hinduism as many got fed up with expensve sacrifices, the Caste system, and all the pessimism about attaining Moksha (Freedom from Samsara - cycle of birth death and rebirth).
Caste System
When he was born the tree bent down to support his mother giving birth, he had golden skin and lotus flowers grew where he walked seven steps.
Growing up his father, King Sudohanna, was told that SG would either grow to be a holy man or a great leader. His father kept him in the palace his whole life surrounded by youth, beauty, pleasure and wealht. Siddhartha was unaware of life outside the palace grounds.
Asceticism - is defined as highly strict self-discipline and avoiding of all forms of indulgence, usually for religious reasons. Siddhartha came across some ascetics who taught him to meditate and deny himself physical things like food. SG decided move from his life of luxury to pretty much nothing he starved himself allegedly living on 3 grains of rice a day. Having nearly died he realised that this was not helping him realise the truth and thought there must be another way.
Enlightenment (Spiritual Awakening) SG famously sat under a bodhi tree and decided not to move until he had an answer to suffering in the world. He meditated for many days facing mara (kind of like the devil) and his temptations. Eventually he came to know the truth and became enlightened. He changed from SG to the Buddha (enlightened one) and spent the rest of his life travelling and teaching.
Three Jewels - The three jewels are the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. The three jewels could be seen as support structure for the Buddhist religion
Dhamma - Can mean teachings/truth/way. Scriptures can be Dhamma along with the three universal Truths:
1 - Four Noble Truths
2 - Noble Eightfold Path
3 - 5/10 Precepts
The Dhamma is the Buddha's teachings and practices found in Dhammapada interpreted differently within different traditions and has Six Supreme Qualities:
1 - Dhamma - less of a religion more of a science to be studied as wisdom, morality and concentration
2 - Can be tested by personal practice
3 - Immediate and timeless
Invitation to all beings
4 - Leads to liberation (Nibbana)
5 - Invitation to all beings
6 - Can be realised by people who devote themselves
Sangha - Is the community of Buddhists, specifically monks (bhikkus). You become a monk for life or a short time. They live by the 10 precepts (Layity only use 5 precepts). The buddha ordained monks but after his death is became more ordered. Lower ordination as a samanera was for boys aged 8-20. higher ordination for men over 20 = Bhikkha. Boys will shave their head as a sign of renunciation of their past life like the buddha. They will recite three refuges and take the ten precepts. After the ceremony monks receive a alms bowl (Charity bowl), a set of robes; and under robe, a outer robe and an upper robe.
Monks and nuns must adhere to the 10 precepts and therevada monks have 227 rules they must memorise. They also refrain from sexual activity of any kind and not have physical contact with the opposite sex. They also have a huge reliance on the lay community.
Buddha - This jewel is a reference to the three bodies of the buddha:
1 - Nirmanakaya: Human form sent to teach humans is different bodies (Siddhartha was one of these bodies)
2 - Sambhogakaya - Eternal Buddha: the part/aspect that gets embodied in human form.
3 - Dhmmakaya: Ultimate reality of Buddha which is in all beings.
Note: The idea of three bodies is a Mahayana belief not Theravada which focuses on the historical man Siddhartha Gautama. Mahayana focused on the 3 different aspects of the buddha.
Nature of Reality
Anicca - roughly translated means "everything changes" or "everything is in a constant stage of change". Every second nothing remains the same. Everything is caused by something before it. Nothing is permanent. The illusion of permanency is caused by this process of cause and effect.
Therefore everything will end in destruction including humans. Meditation on Annica helps to understand the world and accept this truth and therefore should motivate people to follow dharma/the teaching of buddha. Everything from love, friendship, happiness, sadness, humans, the environment is not permanent. Once you have grasped this you will cease to want things and see things for as they really are.
Maya - In buddhism refers to the deceptive nature of the human ego and how we see the world though it. The unenlightened individual accepts how they see the world as reality. In terms of everyday human action, Maya involves clinging to the idea of an independent self or soul as well as the idea that there exists an eternal absolute creator or force in the universe (which some call god). Buddhism rejects this.
Sunyata - this translates to mean "emptiness" or "voidness" in all things. Within buddhism this is a good thing! From the stand point of enlightenment, sunyata is the reality of all worldly existences. In terms of liberation is means the skilful way or means that disentangles oneself from the negativity of unsatisfactoriness. This emptiness is hard to understand and can only be realised through the great wisdom of great mind usually beyond worldly understanding.
In summary: Sunyata, Anicca, and Maya all all linked a related to each other. Anicca and Sunyata focus on the emptiness of everything and when meditated on lead us to see and understand reality for what it really is. Whereas Maya can cloud and block our understanding of this.
Nature of Human Beings
Skandha - There are 5 skandas and these are what make up our existence and if not paid attention to or properly understood can lead to "self" and "suffering". The 5 are:
Rupa: The Physical Body
Vedanda: The feelings we experience through our senses
Samjna: Perception - what makes sense of the data received through our experience of the world.
Samskara - Decision making
Vijnana - Basic awareness of being alive with thoughts and feelings
None of these are permanent and all change but are needed for a being to exist. There is nothing beyond these 5 (like a self or soul). They are all gathered at birth and separated at death.
Four Noble Truths (and Tanha)
2 - Samudaya - This means that we need to identify what is the likely cause of the symptoms which is Tanha which means craving or selfish thirsting, desire, wanting. It is an attachment to pleasure, wealth, power, respect, views, opinions, theories and beliefs.
3 - Nirodha - Contemplating how to get rid of the cause. This is the end and stopping of Tanha that leads to the end of Dukkha. You will then achieve Nirvana and see everything as it really is without distortion of selfish ways. It literally means cessation or removal.
1- Dukkha - All life is Dukkha. It translates and means life is full of "unsatisfactoriness" and this causes us to suffer. Also attributes to Pain, Sorrow, Misery, Imperfect, Emptiness.
4 - Magga - the way to overcome Tanha is to follow the eightfold path. Tanha is no easy to control and takes huge effort from followers to control body and mind.
The Noble Eightfold Path:
Right Viewpoint
Right Intentions
Right Speech
Right Actions
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration
Overview - The Four Noble Truths provides a diagnosis for humanity about the human condition and suffering. The four noble truths help identify the causes of the symptoms and allow us to move forward with a cure/medicine. The four noble truths are Dukkha, Samudaya, Nirodha, Magga.
Tanha is the desire to want things that are impermanent (Anicca). Tanha is the source of Dukkha. Once we overcome Tanha Dukkha will cease. Tanha needs to be kept in check and is described like a creeper vine which we must always cut back.
Anatta - translates and means there is "no self" or the "self is impermanent". It is linked and similar to Anicca. In order to reach Nirvana/Nibbana humans must realise understand and meditate on Anatta, Anicca and Dukkha.
Dukkha - translates and means life is full of "unsatisfactoriness" and this causes us to suffer.
Anatta - translates and means there is "no self". The Buddha stated that we are all identically physically and there is little or no different between every person, anatomically speaking. All bodies wither, dies, decomposes and is gone.
Hanging on to the idea of self leads to: selfish thoughts, selfish actions, immoral desires, arrogance which all lead to Dukkha (unsatisfactoriness) and therefore suffering.
Therefore people should get rid of ideas of self and life a more moral life, be less selfish, be more compassionate, realise there is no difference between you and others. You will want to follow Dharma (Buddha's teachings) and ultimately achieve enlightenment.
The Three Poisons:
The cause of human suffering according to Buddhist teaching is greed, anger and ignorance. These are known as the three poisons. Not only are they the source of our unquenchable thirst for possessions, and the root cause of all of our harmful illusions, but they are painful pollutant, which bring sickness, both physical and mental.
Greed: passions and attachments cause us to want to get hold of things and want more.
Anger: causes us to reject what displeases us or infringes upon our ego.
Ignorance: which is 'not knowing', especially not knowing our true nature, paves the way for delusion or in our believing something is false.
These poisons fill our lives with suffering, unhappiness and unsatisfactoriness.
For more information:
http://buddhismteacher.com/three_poisons.php
Samsara and Nibbana
Kamma
- also known as karma means 'action'. The energy that is passed on in Buddhist rebirth is kammic energy. It is the natural law of cause and effect. You accumulate positive or negative effects throughout your life, and this affects your 'rebirth'. Your kammic energy at the end of your life 'ignites' the next one. This is like a transfer of momentum in snooker balls i.e. one ball moves another but nothing of the first ball is attached to the second.
Kamma means 'action', therefore every action is determined by something and every action has an effect/consequence. These consequences can have either negative or positive kammic effects that may not be felt straight away. The aim is to build up positive kamma to gain a better rebirth and become closer to the ultimate goal of nibbana.
Dependent Origination: In Buddhism, everything that exists does so because of what has gone before (cause and effect). Dependent Origination was a way for the Buddha to teach his followers that they are 'agents of their own fortune' - just because you are here because of what has gone before does not mean that you are in control. You are here because of previous events and choices, but you always have the power to choose the next step. You are always in control of where you are going.
Nibbana/Nirvana
Nibbana, also known as Nirvana, is the end or ultimate goal in Buddhism and the culmination or end goal of the 8-fold path. It is a realisation of a deep and fundamental truth that doesn't change. It is the nature of reality itself. Everyone has the potential to reach enlightenment. You cannot simply learn about Nirvana - it is only something you can experience.
Theravada Understandings of Nirvana:
The 8-fold path consists of three areas of training: Wisdom, Morality and Concentration. It is the ending of craving and ignorance. Like most things in Buddhism it is difficult to explain as it can only be experienced not taught. It is the opposite of Samsara (cycle of birth, death and rebirth) in which humans are trapped in.
The Arhat: is a Theravadin ideal that all monks within this tradition would like to become. An Arhat is an enlightened monk who will not be reborn when they die. It takes many rebirths to get to this point along with a lifetime of dedication and study as a monk. Very few monks become Arhats.
Implications for Lay People:
Remember there are ordained people (monks and nuns) and lay people (ordinary members of the buddhist community). Lay people in Theravada Buddhism are very unlikely to become enlightened. The best they can aim for is a better rebirth to get closer to being able to become an Arhat. This is achieved by accumulating positive Karma and build up to becoming a monk or nun or at least helping a monk or nun. Enlightenment is a very distant goal and Nirvana is a very personal goal in Theravada Buddhism. Ultimately you have to do it on your own.
Mahayana understandings of Nirvana:
Understanding of the no-self nature of all creatures and the oneness of creatures. Nirvana can only be reached by compassionate activity for the benefit for all beings. It can be realised through meditation and meditation on the Nature of the Buddha.
Bodhisattva: The path is a union of compassion and wisdom, There are six perfections of a Bodhisattva: Generosity, Ethical behaviour, patience, effort, concentration and wisdom. There's not so much important on what you give, but the attitude with giving. Understanding the "emptiness" of all things. Enlightenment is communal, not a "self-only" experience such as the Arhat in Theravada Buddhism
What they both have in common:
Enlightenment signals the end of suffering and the eradication of craving and ignorance. Enlightenment also inevitably brings the birth of unshakable, indescribable peace, joy, loving-kindness and compassion for others. Enlightenment involves being in the world but not of the world.
Samsara:
Samsara is a belief that means the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Buddhists took on the Hindu law of Samsara and have changed it slightly. In buddhism there is no reincarnation (unlike hinduism your atman/soul is reborn). Rebirth in Buddhism is more like a transfer of energy, sometimes energy that carries with it a memory.
Nibbana, Kamma and Samsara are all linked to the Eightfold Path. In order to reach Nirvana and escape Samsara you need to have good kamma/karma. How do you get good kamma? You should do what is right? What defines what is right and good? The Eightfold Path defines what is right and good in terms of wisdom, morality and meditation.
Individual and Community Worship
Veneration of the Buddha
- Veneration is a form of worship and means to give something great respect or reverence, typically a religious figure or a god. There are different ways to do this including individual and community acts, worship, meditation or committing your whole life (or at least part of it) to the teaching of the buddha. All of these are ways of venerating the buddha.
Buddhist Worship/Veneration of the Buddha goes beyond just meditation. There are a variety of objects and places used in acts of worship.
Incense
- is used during worship not only for it's smell but it reminds followers of the law of kamma. The smell spread around the room, like the consequences of our actions will have effects all over the world.
Flowers
- are used in worship to remind buddhists of the most important buddhist teaching that nothing lasts forever. The flower is fresh and beautiful but it will soon wilt and die - everything constantly changes.
Buddha Statue
- There will be an image of a Buddha in any shrine, home or temple. It is worshiped as a sign of devotion to buddhism and to inspire people to follow his teachings.
Temples
- can be found all over the woorld and do not have top be a specific design. They are used as spaces for individual or community worship. Samye-Ling is a Tibetan Buddhist community in the Scottish Borders. Buddhists will take off their shoes when entering as a sign of cleanliness and respect. Worship in temples is usually led by the monks although you can worship at home or in groups.There are offering of candles or flowers and mats for meditation. Mantras are often chanted to bring good kamma and concentration.
Prayer Wheel
- are used to focus the mind during Tibetan Buddhist meditation. The turning of the wheel moves prayers and mantras held inside and this is believed to bring good kamma.
Why do Buddhist Worship?
Why do Buddhists Worship? What are the Benefits?
Helping develop concentration and become better at meditation
Developing a deeper understanding of their religion through communal and individual activity
Giving time to reflect on the concepts of the religion and considering the symbolic aspects of the activity
Inspiring and helping people achieve more in their religion.
Prayer Bowl
- this is used by striking with a baton to produce a gong or running it around the inside of the bowl to produce a long continuous tone. This is used to mark the beginning and end of various stages of worship and also to help in meditation
Candles
- represent the light of wisdom, shinning to light the right path through life.
Prayer Beads
- are used in worship to help recite mantras. They help with focus and concentration.
Shrines, Stupas and Festivals
Stupa:
Stupas are usually small buildings that contain a relic associated with Buddha or other important Buddhist teachers. Many stupas are associated with particular celebrations and are a focus for pilgrimage and devotion.
Example: the celebration of Kandy focuses on pilgrimage and devotion to the tooth stupas in Sri Lanka where the Buddha's tooth is believe to be interned.
Festivals
: These are usually celebrations or remembrance events that occur throughout the religious calendar. They are often associated with events in the life of the Buddha or have been adopted from other belief systems. Festivals and celebrations are more important to the life of lay Buddhists and can represent to them ways in accumulating good karma.
Festival: Wesak
This festival is the celebration of the Buddha's birthday and is considered to be the most important buddhist festival. Lay Buddhists clean their homes and will give gifts and offerings to the Buddha. Often statues of the Buddha are washed and dressed in new garments to show respect and to symbolise enlightenment. In different cultures, celebrations might take different forms according to local traditions. A common tradition is lighting paper lanterns symbolic as the light of the Buddha's enlightenment.
Festival: Nirvana Day
Buddhists celebrate the enlightenment of the Buddha and focus on their own path to enlightenment. It also commemorates the death of the Buddha at the age of 80. Lay Buddhists will visit their nearest monastery or shrine and meditate or make offerings. Gifts of money and food are made to the monks and sit down to be social with one another. It is a day to reflect on family members who may have died and new ones who have been born. This is to remember the impermanence of life and also to acknowledge that death is a part of life also.
Shrines
: These are structures that usually contain the objects of worship. Shrines can be used by lay people and ordained monks and nuns.
Three Jewels
The Three jewels are the Buddha, Dhamma, and Sangha. The Dhamma could not have been taught without the Buddha and could not have been followed without the Sangha. Followers should take refuge in the three jewels. This means to promise to be devoted to the Buddha and his teachings. The Three Jewels are mentioned in the "beliefs about the buddha section" So how does it relate to worship? The Buddha and Dhamma are beliefs that Buddhists have but the Sangha is a practice or an active community of monks and nuns.
Committing your whole life to the teaching of the Buddha is a huge act of worship and is clearly an example of veneration. Monks and nuns will live by the 10 precepts or 5 if you're in the laity.
The 5 precepts taken by both are refraining from:
Harming living things
Taking what is not given
Sexual misconduct
lying or gossip
Taking intoxicating substances
Buddhist monks and nuns take these and 5 more, refraining from:
taking substantial food after midday
Dancing, singing and music.
use of garlands, perfumes and personal adornment like jewelery
use of luxurious beds and seats
accepting and holding money, gold, or silver.
All of these practices show a committment to the teachings of the buddha. It's as if the whole life of a buddhist (particularly and monk or nun) is focused on the veneration of the buddha.
Meditation
- within Buddhism, meditation is a mental and physical course of action that person uses to separate themselves from their thoughts and feelings in order to become fully aware. Most religions have it in some form or another. In Buddhism the person meditating is not trying to get into a hypnotic state or speak to the supernatural.
Meditation is about controlling your mind and controlling your perception of reality. It is related to Anicca - seeing all things as impermanent, Anatta - see all "self" as a damaging and disruptive illusion. And Tanha - to control craving and attachment.
The key feature of Meditation is Control. Remember Tahna needs to be controlled like a creeping vine. Rather than having knee-jerk reaction to things that happen in life, instead we should meditate on them and control our mind. Meditation is also linked to the eightfold path as it involves right effort, right mindfulness and right concentration.
The buddha has taught 7 benefits of meditation:
Getting Rid of Defilements
Putting aside worry and sorrow
Getting over miseries
Ending Physical Suffering
Ending mental suffering
Attaining the early stages of Nirvana
Attaining Nirvana itself.
Vippassana - Deep Mindfulness/Meditation
Some Buddhists get deep into meditation focusing on awareness of their own physical and mental states. They gain insight which leads to wisdom and knowledge. The main benefit of meditation is that it is leads to enlightenment. Some meditate because it clears their mind and this is good for your well-being in the long term but for others the main aim is enlightenment.
Another way to meditate is the use of Mantras to aim meditation which is often a sequence of words or sounds repeated. These include:
"Aum mani padme, hum" - Hail to the jewel of the lotus
"Sabbe satta sukhi hontu" - May all beings be happy
"Aum Shanti, Shanti, Shanti" - happy happy happy.
Samatha Meditation
- Is a practiced to gain deeper insight meditation. It can be mindfulness of the body through breathing or walking which allows distraction to fade away. Some monks can practice this for hours.
Living According to the Eightfold Path
Wisdom in the Eightfold Path:
1. Right Views:
So what are "Right Views"? This is generally an awareness of the Four Noble Truths and an understanding of the Human condition according to Buddha (Dukkha, Anatta, Skandha). the right view is agreeing with these teachings. Essentially, where you are (Dukkha), where you're going (Nirvana) and how to get there. It is important that these beliefs result in actions.
2. Right Intentions:
The Right Intentions means being determined to succeed and having an awareness of the pitfalls towards success and being ready for them. It also means to be clear in your own mind that you wish to achieve your goal and have the right attitude particularly during a difficult task or challenging times.
Morality in the Eightfold Path:
Overall this means to take control of your body and all aspects of its behaviour moving away from the behaviour and actions of "self" that may cause suffering to you or others.
4. Right Actions:
This refers to the Five Precepts that all both monks and the laity adhere to. I undertake to refrain from:
taking life, taking that which is not given, misuse of the senses, lying, taking drugs.
Examples of Actions that Buddhits should refrain from:
Violence, bullying, eating/drinking too much, harming living creatures, smoking, drugs
Ahimsa: This is the concept of nonviolence - causing no harm to others. This connects to the concept of Anatta - we are all connected and therefore the same. Ahimsa underpins morality in the eightfold path and is also connected to the right livelihood.
5. Right Livelihood:
This is any occupation that involves Speech and Action that should be refrained from. Work should be helpful and compassionate and skillful rather than unskillful.
Examples of job/careers that Buddhism may consider unskillful: Soldier, Bouncer, Making Weapons, Selling Drugs. Buddhists could also say that those in advertising, politics or lawyers should be very aware of their careers as many aspects of these could be considered unskillful.
3. Right Speech:
This is refraining from anything that promotes ideas of self and therefore causes suffering to others of self. It is speaking in a way that is compassionate and helpful with honestly and truthfulness. Refrain from speech that distorts reality (lies).
Examples of speech to be refrained from:
Boasting, insults, shouting, belittling, exaggeration, flattery, underplaying, aggression, discriminatory, coercive, manipulative.
Meditation in the Eightfold Path
7. Right Mindfulness:
This is about developing a constant awareness of your body, feelings and emotions, mental state, thoughts and the reality of existence and see through the illusion of Anicca and Anatta.
8. Right Concentration:
This means using meditation to control your mind and to develop deeper levels of calmness and awareness. It involves concentrating the mind to gain deeper insights, using different meditation techniques to control personality and the creation of negative states, and using meditation to integrate the personality.
6. Right Effort:
This means using methods to gain control of your thoughts, restraining negative states of mind, replacing negative states of mind with positive ones and striving to see things as they really are.
Skillful and Unskillful Actions:
Buddhists use he terms 'Refrain from' and do not describe an action as 'wrong' or 'right' but as 'unskillful' and skillful'. This is possibly to do with skills to reach enlightenment and bad are wrong actions are clearly unskillful ways that will not help someone reach enlightenment.
The eightfold path is divided into three parts: Wisdom (Prajna), Morality (Sila), Meditation (Samadhi)
The Eightfold Path consists of:
Right views
Right Intentions
Right Speech
Right Actions
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration
Range of Content
(Analysis and Evaluation)
Impact on the lives of followers
Impact on the wider world
Challenges of different aspects
Relevance of different aspects
Relative importance of different aspects
Relationship between different aspects
Advantages and Disadvantages
Benefits and Drawbacks
The Little Buddha on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1PD5Ii87FI
A Short Introduction to Buddhism (School of Life Youtube)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tilBs32zN7I
Quotes about Monks
"
A Bhikkhu, considering wisely, makes use of his robes - only to keep off the old, to keep off the heat, to keep of teh gadflies, mosquitoes, winds and the sun creeping creature and to cover himself decently."
Quotes about Dukkha and Tanha:
"If a man watches not for nirvana, his cravings grow like a creeper and he jumps from death to death like a monkey in the forest from one tree without fruit to another"
"And when his cravings overcome him, his sorrows increase more and more, like the entangling creeper called birana"
But whoever in this world overcomes selfish cravings, his sorrows fall away from hum, like drops of water from a lotus flower"
Quotes from the Buddha on Ordaining monks:
"Come Bhikkhu, well-expounded is the Dhamma. Live a chaste life for the complete end of suffering"
Quotes about and from Dhamma:
"Rely on the teaching, not on the person; rely on the meaning, not on the words; rely on the definitive meaning, not on the provisional; rely on your wisdom mind, not on your ordinary world."
Quotes about and from Dhamma:
"My teaching is not a philosophy. It is the result of direct experience... My teaching is a means of practice, not something to hold onto or worship. My teaching is like a raft used to cross the river. Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore of liberation."
Quotes about and from Dhamma:
"This Dhamma that I have attained is profound, hard to see and hard to understand, peaceful and sublime, unattainable by mere reasoning, subtle, to be experienced by the wise."
Quotes about and from Dhamma:
"Do not accept any of my words on faith believing them just because I said them. Be like an analyst buying gold, who cuts, burns and critically examines his product for authenticity. Only provide what passes the test by proving useful and beneficial in your life"
Quote about Dukkha:
"
All that is impermanent is Dukkha
"
Quotes describing Tanha:
Just as a tree, though cut down, can grow again and again if
its roots are undamaged and strong, in the same way if the roots of craving are not wholly uprooted sorrows will come again and again.
Quotes about Meditation by the Dalai Lama:
Through Meditation the
"goal in life is happiness, not conditioned by the external, but internal happiness."
Quotes about Meditation by the Dalai Lama:
"Since our life is the creation of our mind, the place to rebuild our lives is the mind and the means is meditation"
Quote about the benefits of meditation:
"
Although Buddhism sees many benefits in samatha meditation, it is not said to lead to enlightenment. Although calm, equanimity and bliss are attained, the condition is only temporary. True realisation requires insight into the nature of reality that Vipassanna meditation offers."
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Quotes by Joe Walker about Samatha Meditation:
"Samatha Meditation aims to calm and still the mind so that you are not distracted by the millions of things which constantly surround you. This is the first step in being more able to see things as they really are and beginning to develop a more mindful approach to life generally."
Quote about experiencing Nirvana:
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A painting of a rice cake won't satisfy hunger
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Quotes about Nirvana from the Dhammapada:
"His patience is like that of the earth. He is firm like a pillar and serene like a lake. No rounds of rebirth are in store for him. His mind is calm, speech and action are calm. Of one who has attained freedom by true knowledge. For such a person there is peace."
Three Marks of Existence:
Anatta, Anicca, Dukkha
