Buddhism - Short

The Three Jewels

• The Buddha - the yellow jewel represents the Buddha and the colour of his robes. It reminds Buddhists that the Buddha was a man who worked hard to achieve enlightenment. His actions should be copied and respected and his life and teachings should be followed in order to achieve enlightenment.
• The Dhamma - the blue jewel that symbolises the vast ocean like freedom of the Dhamma. It is the practice of Buddhism, the moral code as set out in the Dhamma (teachings). Such things as the Noble Eightfold Path reveal how a Buddhist should live their life so they are successful on the path to enlightenment and overcome the Three Root Poisons. The Five Precepts are guides for ethical conduct.
• The Sangha - the red jewel. Sangha is the community of Buddhists from all over the world. Sangha includes everyone who has made a pledge to follow the teachings of the Buddha by trying to act in an ethical way that reduces suffering and combats the Three Root Poisons. The Sangha can also refer to the Monastic community

The Five Precepts

• The Five Precepts are guidelines for ethical and moral behaviour so that the Sangha can work well together. They are not strict but are instead suggestions for suitable behaviour. Buddhists should follow these as they help reduce suffering and harm to themselves and others. They outline behaviours to avoid or abstain from.
• 1. To abstain from harming living things
• 2. To abstain from taking the not-given
• 3. To abstain from sexual misconduct
• 4. To abstain from false speech
• 5. To abstain from taking intoxicants which cloud the mind

The Noble Eightfold Path

• The Noble Eightfold Path consists of eight ways, split into three sections, of thinking, speaking, and behaving that the Buddha said people should follow if they want to reach Nibbana.
• Wisdom - Right View (to have the right concepts and right ideas) and Right Intention (making sure thoughts are in accordance to the Dhamma)
• Morality - Right Speech (wholesome verbal kamma), Right Action (behaviour that is right and in accordance with the truth) and Right Livelihood (refers to the right occupation and right way to make a living)
• Meditation - Right Effort (should move in the direction of truth with courage and diligence), Right Mindfulness (have a mind that is pure and aware) and Right Concentration (using meditation to be better)
• Benefits - helps overcome suffering, gives guidelines on how to live free from tanha, helps to overcome attachment and gain good kamma, helps to free ones self from samsara, brings calm and peace to a person and helps gain wisdom, creates a freer and more tolerant society
• Difficulties - it is hard to keep to the path as responsibilities of work and family take up time, pressure of work and the time work takes, can keep people from following the path, other attachments and cravings which we are exposed to in the modern world hinder our progress, sometimes the path might not seem realistic in the busy modern life, some Buddhists believe that you have to withdraw to a monastry to progress along the path quicker

The Four Noble Truths

• Dukkha - life is full of suffering
• Samudaya - this suffering is caused by desire
• Nirodha - in order to bring the suffering to an end, you must stop desiring
• Magga - you can stop desiring if you follow the Noble Eightfold Path
• These are the basis of all Buddhist teachings. They were the subject of the Buddha's first Sermon at Deer Park. Buddhisst used the analogy of illness to explain them:
• 1. Symptoms - Dukkha
• 2. Cause - Tanha
• 3. Cure - Nibbana
• 4. Medicine - Eightfold Path

The Three Root Poisons

• The Three Root Poisons are greed, hatred and ignorance. They are called root poisons because they are the root cause of suffering (dukkha).
• Ignorance - We live in ignorance of the way things really are. The Buddha is offering us the truth. Our ignorance about our true situation leads us to act and think in ways which lead to our continued suffering. The opposite of ignorance is wisdom. "Awake among the unaware, fully awake among the sleeping, the wise one goes, leaving them behind, as a swift horse leaves a weak horse behind." - Dhammapada 29
• Greed - Greed sets up the conditions for attachment. We desire more of the things which we find pleasurable and this results in more suffering. For example we desire clothes, phones, shoes, praise, admiration and good looks. "Neither of iron nor wood nor hemp is bond so strong, proclaim the wise, as passion's yearn for sons, for wives, for gems and ornaments." Dhammapada 345
• Hatred - The person consumed by hatred suffers more than the person who is the object of hatred. Aversion to vegetables causes bad nutrition. We avoid things we find unpleasant. The opposite of hatred/aversion is loving kindness. "Never here by enmity are those with enmity allayed, they are allayed by amity, this is the timeless Truth." Dhammapada 5

The Three Marks of Existence

• The Three Marks of Existence are anicca, anatta, and dukkha.
• Anicca is impermanence, it is the idea that everything is constantly changing. This concept is at the root of all Buddhist belief - if you accept and understand anicca, you are on the road to enlightenment. Examples of anicca include trees, flowers, and mountains. We become attached to impermanent things because they are impermanent out attachment causes us to suffer. Buddhist are not saying that we never experience happiness but that happiness depending on impermanent things can only every be temporary. "All conditioned things are impermanent' - when one sees this with wisdom one turns away from suffering." Dhammapada 277
• Anatta is impermanence applied to people, you are not the person you were 10 years ago or even 5 minutes ago. Everything about you is always changing. The cells in you body are being replaced, the thoughts in your head change, what you think of as you is in a constant state of change at all times. The self is an illusion, out ignorance of the way things really are leads to out suffering. We are attached to the idea of the self, and attachment leads to suffering as everything is temporary. If there is no-self then there is no distinction between you and me. If no-self then no ego therefore no selfishness. If no-self then we can lose the constant grasping for things for me. If no-self then no pride, craving, or anger.

The Five Skandhas

• Matter (Rupa) - Matter is all the physical material in the universe, including all the particles in our bodies. Everything in short, which we can see, hear, feel, touch, or taste. Buddhist teaching points out that as our physical bodies are constantly changing, we can't claim that our physical bodies are a self.
• Sensations (vedana) - sensations are what we experience of the world of matter using our sense-organs. However, in traditional Buddhism there is an additional sense: thought. Therefore, thoughts and ideas are as much objects of sense as things that can be seen or touched. Sensations are the raw data given to us by the ear, eye, mind, etc. Buddhist teaching points that our sensations are constantly changing as the things around us change. We can't claim to be our sensations if they too are impermanent.
• Perceptions (sanna) - perception is when we categorise experiences provided by the six senses. We compare a sensation with our previous experience and label it pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. Our perceptions, like our sensations, are changing.
• Mental Formations (sankhara) - this is the stage where we act in response to our perception. At this stage our will becomes involved so we choose to respond in a particular way. Therefore mental formations result in kamma. If we respond skilfully to what we perceive, good kamma will result. If we react unskillfully negative kamma will follow. Our mental formations are always changing, so they can't possibly be the basis of a fixed self.
• Consciousness (vinnana) - the constant flow of mental formations produces a stream consciousness, a flow of moments arising. This consciousness is ever changing so can't be a permanent self.
• The Buddha argued that a self would have to be under your complete control, permanent, and bring happiness. We can see that when examined individually the 5 skandhas are none of these things so can't be the self. The self is an illusion.

Samsara

• Samsara is the cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth. Unenlightened beings are trapped in the cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth because of greed, hatred and ignorance (the three root poisons). We can be born into one of six realms:
• the human realm - best realm to be born into, as it is only from this realm is it possible to attain enlightenment
• the realm of hungry ghosts - constantly hungry and thirsty but never able to satisfy their hunger or thirst
• the animal realm - it takes many lives in the animal realm to build up enough merit to be reborn as a human
• the deva realm - its inhabitants are powerful compared to humans and resemble the gods of Greece or Rome
• the asura realm -demi-god realm, might be here because they had good intentions but committed bad actions like harming another
• the hell realm - rebirth based on strong states of hatred cultivated in a previous life or lives
• These can be interpreted as states of mind or as real places which actually exist but we can't perceive all of them at the same time. They could also be interpreted as real right here and now with some of us living completely different experiences from others. In Buddhism, there is no reincarnation as there is no soul to be reborn =. Rebirth in Buddhism is more like a transfer of energy, like one candle lighting another. "Let go before, let go the after, let go the middle, beyond the becoming. With mind released in every way you'll come no more to birth, decay." Dhammapada 348

Nibbana

• Nibbana is the ultimate goal for adll Buddhists, it is also known as enlightenment. Nibbana is the cessation of suffering (dukkha) - the cessation of the 3 Root Poisons. It can be experienced during a person's lifetime.
• Nibbana is not a place and is almost impossible to describe, so it can only be experienced. We should be able to see the effects of enlightenment on anyone who has achieved it. The Buddha explains it by saying it is like having carried a heavy load your whole life and then suddenly having that taken away or like being a slave your whole life and then being set free.
• "Health is the best possession,
• Contentment is the greatest wealth;
• Trust is what makes the truest kin;
• Nibbana is the greatest happiness.
• Dhammapada 204

Kamma

• Kamma is the natural law of cause and effect. Every action is caused by something and has an effect. Skillful actions have positive effects and unskillful actions have negative effects. Kamma is a universal law that has nothing to do with justice, reward, or punishment. Every action has a reaction, this is automatic and is not controlled by an outside force like God.
• The Buddha taught that you are in control of your actions, therefore you control your future suffering. When a person speaks with negative intention, they immediately create a negative atmospere. This creates a painful experience both now and in the future. You accumulate positive or negative effects through your actions, and this ultimaetly determines your 'rebirth'. Kammic effects may not be felt for many lifetimes. The energy that is passed on in rebirth is kammic energy. Your kammic energy at the end of your life 'ignites' the next one. This is like the trasnfer of movement in pool balls. One ball moves another, but nothing of the first ball is attached to the second.
• "Ordinary beings tend to act selfishly, thinking of short term personal gains rather than considering the future consequences of actions. Their actions therefore create the conditions for future suffering." - John Powers, Introduction to Tibetan Buddhism

Beliefs about the Buddha

Devotion in the Temple

Individual Devotion

Nature of Reality

• Could include:
• ignorance
• impernanence
• emptiness
• dependent origination
• kamma
• samsara
• nibbana
• We do not see things as they really are (we are ignorant of the truth). This leads us to act in unskillful ways (i.e. anger, hatred, craving). This casues suffering and dissatisfaction (dukkha). Which means we continue to be trapped in a cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth (samsara).
• The opposite of ignorance is wisdom. Having wisdom is seeing things as they really are. If we see things as they really are, we realise the interconnectedness of all things, we accept the impermanence of all things. This results in skillful actions motivated by compassion and loving kindness. This leads to enlightenment and escape from samsara.

Nature of Human Beings

• Could include:
• ignorance
• anicca
• anatta
• the 5 heaps
• 3 root poisons
• 4 noble truths
• We do not see things as they really are (we are ignorant of the truth). This leads us to act in unskillful ways (i.e. anger, hatred, craving). This casues suffering and dissatisfaction (dukkha). Which means we continue to be trapped in a cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth (samsara).
• The opposite of ignorance is wisdom. Having wisdom is seeing things as they really are. If we see things as they really are, we realise the interconnectedness of all things, we accept the impermanence of all things. This results in skillful actions motivated by compassion and loving kindness. This leads to enlightenment and escape from samsara.