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Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, known
to his followers as the Buddha. There are more than 360 million Buddhists
living all over the world, especially in China, Japan and Southeast
Asia. Buddhists believe that the Buddha was enlightened or awakened from
ignorance. The Buddha’s teachings, especially the Four Noble Truths and the
Noble Eightfold Path, provide guidelines for the way Buddhists live. Buddhist
families have many special traditions, like worshipping in their home shrines
and temples, and celebrating holidays like Vesak.
Warm Up: What is reality, what is the problem with discussing reality?
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Focus Question- As you watch the video answer the following questions.
1. What do accounts say about the origins and early life of the founder of
Buddhism?
2. What happened to Siddhartha Gautama when he was twenty-nine years
old, and why was it significant to Buddhism?
3. What truth did Siddhartha Gautama learn from his meditation and
ascetic practice?
4. Why does Buddhism follow the Middle Way and what does that mean?
5. What is the key mood of Buddhist enlightenment?
6. What is the significance of the Deer Park Sermon?
7. What are Buddha’s Four Noble Truths?
8. What are the precepts of the Noble Eightfold Path?
9. What is karma?
10. What is the connection between karma and reincarnation?
11. What is the primary goal of Buddhist meditation?
12. How does meditation play a beneficial and essential role in Buddhism?
13. What does Zen Buddhism suggest is the difference between becoming
a good person and becoming a human being?
14. What does nirvana mean?
15. What are the four Great Unlimitables?
16. What is the cause of suffering in Buddhist thought? How can
suffering be eliminated?
17. What does the Lotus flower symbolize and suggest about the spirit of
Buddhism in the Mayanist sect?
18. What does the story of Buddha’s death say about his ultimate beliefs
and his integrity of spirit?
19. How does the Theravada Buddhists differ from the Mahayana
Buddhists in belief?
20. Who is the Dalai Lama and how is he chosen?
21. How did Buddhism become important to Japanese culture?
22. What is Zen Buddhism? What is its primary goal?
Write your version of Buddhism, you must include 10 of the vocabulary
words in your explanation.
Vocabulary Words:
Dharma — The orthodox belief of Buddhism which must be known in
order to be enlightened. It is the sublime religious truth.
Ascetic — A person, who, for religious reasons, practices rigorous selfdiscipline
by leading a life of meditation and self-denial.
Bodhi Tree — Siddhartha Gautama meditated under this tree for seven days
until he achieved enlightenment and became the Buddha.
Nirvana — The ultimate state of freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth
by achieving selflessness through the understanding that all reality is one.
Samsara — The cycle of birth and rebirth based upon one’s karma; also
known as reincarnation or transmigration of souls.
(Continued)
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Four Noble Truths — Achieved through meditation, these are the four main
tenants of Buddhism: (1) life brings suffering; (2) the desire for pleasure,
power and immortality are the roots of suffering; (3) suffering ceases when
desiring ends; and (4) desire ends via the Noble Eightfold Path of right views,
intention, speech, action, livelihood, effort, awareness and concentration.
Sangha — The original monastic community established by the Buddha after
he achieved enlightenment. Today, it is a term for any Buddhist monastery.
Karma — The cosmic principle of cause and effect, which rewards human
goodness and punishes human evil through the transmigration of souls into
better or lesser situations of rebirth.
Selflessness — Achieved through Buddhist meditation, it allows people to
serve others and concentrate on the true perception of reality, an understanding
that there are no boundaries between one’s self and the reality of
the universe.
Zen — From the Sanskrit word “Dhyana,” meaning meditation. That sect of
Buddhism mainly found in Japan where meditation is used to achieve enlightenment.
Mendicant — A holy man who travels and teaches while relying on the generosity
of others for clothing, shelter and food.
Mahayana — A major sect of Buddhism founded by Nagarjuna and means
the great or universal path of salvation. It used a new body of scriptures
called Sutras (Lotus, Heart and Diamond). Open to all, one can achieve
enlightenment at any stage in the cycle of birth and rebirth.
Bodhisattva — An enlightened human being in the Mahayanist sect who
spreads insights to help others and refuses to enter Nirvana until everyone
has done so.
Lama — Tibetan for high priest.
Theravada — Primarily practiced in southeast Asia,Theravada Buddhism is a
more conservative interpretation of Buddha’s teachings than Mahayana
Buddhism.
Dhammapada — Summary account of Buddha’s teachings on meditation
and moral issues in the Theravadic scriptures.
Tantric — The sect of Buddhism that focuses on yoga with ritual chants to
discipline the mind and body to go beyond desires to achieve enlightenment.
Mantra — In Sanskrit, the “sacred utterance,” which is a sound or group of
sounds used to focus the mind in meditation on the inner realities.
Bardo Thodol — The Tibetan Buddhist Book of the Dead.
Zazen — The Zen sitting form of meditation.
Koans — Riddles used by some Zen practitioners to help students break
through their perceptions into the true reality in an act of sudden enlightenment.