The Three Refuges

devotion to the three treasures is often known as the three refuges. They are often known as the three treasures because they are things that are precious and hold great value. A refuge is somewhere someone can go to seek safety. Buddhists seek refuge in the Buddha, Sangha and Dhamma- the teacher, the teachings and the taught. EXAMPLE: a stool with three legs, the stool cannot stand upright without three legs of the stool, it relies on all three for stability.

The Buddha

Buddhists do not worship The Buddha in the sense that people of other faiths worship God, however, he does provide them with an example of a perfect life and they can learn from his examples and wisdom and practise them in daily life, he is the teacher of all important to them.

The Dhamma

This is the teachings of The Buddha, which Buddhists believe will lead them to perfect happiness. This also gives them the means to achieve it. Dhamma is the law of life it is not only the true nature of life but the truth about life itself. By taking it refuge in it the Dhamma will protect them in their own lives. He provides them with an outlook on life.

The Sangha

The community of the Buddhists that can provide support and learn different ideas of each other. They can inspire each other on their journeys towards enlightment.

Three marks of existence

These are three characteristics that are fundamental to all things:

-suffering (dukkha)

-impermanence (anicca)

-having no permanent, fixed self or soul (anatta)

Dukkha

it best translates as suffering, dissatisfaction or unsatisfactoriness. They try to reduce suffering for themselves and others through right actions and intentions. Eventually, they hope to break the cycle of samsara and achieve Nibbana. After Siddhartha became enlightened he gave a sermon in the deer park at Sarnath, he spoke about the seven states of suffering. The first four refer to the suffering caused by samsara (birth, old age, sickness and death) while the other three (sorrow, lamentation and despair, contact with unpleasant things and not getting what one wishes for) refer to suffering the people experience in their lives.

Different types of Dukkha:

suffering (dukkha-dukkha):

the first type of dukkha, describe both physical and mental pain, EXAMPLES: breaking a leg, getting the flu, being separated from a loved one, missing someone, being upset or not achieving a goal. Humans- they can come and go in life and also when people are separated through loss of life. Sport- when they get an injury and they no longer are able to play that sport.

change (viparinama-dukkha):

the second type of dukkha, the idea of change, one of the Buddha's teachings is nothing is permanent- things are always changing. EXAMPLES: These could be small changes, like the weather turning cloudy, gradual changes like getting old, or larger changes, like moving to a new city. When something changes and a loss of happiness is the result, this is virparinama-dukkha. It can also be experienced during something good, as a subtle sense of unease and sorrow come about knowing the good will not last, EXAMPLE: when you are on holiday and then you get to the end of your holiday and you spend the last day said because you know it is coming to an end.

attachment (samkara-dukkha):

the third type of dukkha, linked to the idea of attachment, everyone is attached to something but when they start to crave and hold on to the things, that is when they suffer. Hardest dukkha to understand and often known as a more subtle dissatisfaction with life. this is more general than the other two and often does not arise due to specific events, it comes from the unhappiness that comes from change and from craving things that are not possible to have.

Anicca

Anicca is usually translated as impermanence, this supports the Buddha's teaching of everything is impermanent and continually changing. It can be seen in three ways:

-It affects all living things - babies grow into adults, the seed grows into a beautiful blooming flower and then dies.

-It affects all non-living things - trees which shed their leaves in Autumn and when a rock erodes

-It affects all mental things - feelings can change, happiness can come to an end. Morals, longings and ideals are constantly changing.

Even though everything changes, people still expect it to stay the same and this is why the Buddha believed people suffered, Buddhists believe if they accept the change of all things this will lead to less suffering. For Buddhists, the ultimate goal is to break out of the cycle of samsara (the wheel of life) and reach Nibbana, a permanent state of no suffering. Anicca leads to Dukkha because it is taught that change and impermanence lead to suffering.

Souce of wisdom: Story of Kisa Gotami

She refused to believe her son was dead and went around her whole village asking for cures, everyone called her crazy because her son was clearly dead until she reached a house who sent her to the Buddha and said he will not what to do. Once she reached the Buddha he said if you can bring me some mustard seeds from anyone who has never lost someone then I can use these to make some medicine for your Son. So Gotami went around all the houses asking 'if no one in your family has died, please can you give me some mustard seeds' and everyone simply replied 'I can give yo mustard seeds but unfortunately someone in my family has died' this happened in every house until she realised that everyone suffers and grieves and that sorrow and death is part of life, not just for her but everyone. So she lovingly and sadly buried him. She then returned to the Buddha where she thanked him for making her see that her sorrow was part of sorrow for all people and is part of the pattern of life for everyone. She then became a follower of the Buddha.

Through this story if shows how Gotami learnt that everyone suffers and for her to live a peaceful life she has to accept her suffering and sorrow, she realised her suffering was part of the people's suffering and that if she accepted it she would not suffer as much.

Anatta

This is the concept that there is no permanent self and is linked to Anaccia because nothing is permanent, everything is always changing, the mind, the body, own intelligence and objects. Things change from one moment to the next we cannot have a fixed or permanent identity: you are not the exact same as you were a minute ago you have developed new cells and others have died, on a wider scale you are not the same as this morning you have experienced new situations and have learnt new things. There is nothing constant about your- identity is an illusion, the term 'me' or 'i' or your name is a term used to refer to the collection of separate parts, no separate part is 'i' or 'me but everything together is.

Source of Wisdom: Story of Nagasena and the Chariot

the king is visited by a monk, named Nagasena he refers to this as merely a name and that the person that is indentified by the name does not exsist as a complete physical object) he supports this wth the example of a chariot, he asks the king about all the seperate parts of the chariot asking if these are the chariot to which the kings response was no each time, so he then asks 'isis all these part of it that are the chariot' to which again the king replies 'no, sir' and then he asks 'but is there anything outside them that is the chariot' d the king still replied no. The monk was proving that chariot is merely an empty sound and that really there is no such thing, it is a falsehood. So the person identified as 'Nagasena' is understood as a complete physical object, however, understanding our existence in this way is wrong. These names are just labels to describe a collections of physical or mental properties.

The Buddha taught that people are made up of five parts (Five Khandas or Aggregates) and once these are all together it creates an illusion to show a person. These five Khandas are always changing, as such, there is no permanent soul which exists. EXAMPLE: a little like a rainbow- a rainbow is an illusion, you cannot touch a rainbow, it is an illusion created by the interaction of sunlight, rain and our eyes.

The Five Khandas:

1.Physical Form

2.Sensation

3.Perception (we can recognise things and understand what they are)

4.Mental Formations (metal response)

5.Consciousness (our awareness of things)

Example

1. An Apple

2. We can touch, smell and taste apples

3. We recognise that it is an apple

4. If we are hungry we might want to eat an apple

5. e are aware of the form of the apple, the sensations we have from it and desire to eat it.

Source of Wisdom: Khandha Sutta

'Whatever form is past, future or present; internal or external; blatant or subtle; common or sublime; far or near: this is called the form of aggregate'

paticcasamuppada (dependent arising)

a concept that explains the truth about reality, the ways things are. It is the idea nothing arises by chance or magic, that everything is dependant on something else for existence. Example: Flower, seed in soil-water and sunlight-could be ended by being trampled on Humans, parents-baby-adult-could die from a disease.

'From what this is, that is

From arising of this, comes the arising of that

When this is not, that is not

When this ends, that ends'

Buddha taught all suffering has a cause and if we can overcome the cause we can overcome the effect if we understand the cause of suffering we can overcome the effect of suffering and be free, give up the cause and the effect cannot arise.

	Created by hannah davis over 8 years ago

Year 10 Religious Studies Note on RS- Buddhism Beliefs, created by hannah davis on 15/03/2018.