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ch 5 - Buddhism
Key terms from chapter five of Fisher's "Living Religions".
Question | Answer |
---|---|
anatman | The principle that there is no eternal self. |
anitya | Impermanence. |
arhant | A "worthy one" who has followed the Buddha's path to liberation. |
bhikshu(ni) | A monk or nun who renounces worldliness for the sake of following the path of liberation and whose simple physical needs are met by lay supporters. |
bodhisattva | A person who is dedicated to liberating others from suffering. |
deity yoga | Vajrayana meditation on a deity in order to develop his or her qualities. |
Dharma | The teachings and laws for conduct given by the Buddha. |
dukkha | Discomfort, suffering, frustration, disharmony. |
karma | Our actions and their effect on this life and lives to come. |
kensho | A sudden experience of enlightened awareness. |
koan | A question used by Zen teachers to boggle the student's mind and thus liberate direct awareness. |
lama | A high Vajrayana teacher. |
Mahayana | The "Great Vehicle," the Buddhist school that stresses compassion. |
nirvana | The ultimate egoless state of bliss. |
Pali Canon | Ancient Buddhist scriptures written in Pali and considered authoritative. |
samsara | The continual round of birth, death and rebirth. |
Sangha | The spiritual community. In Theraveda, the monastic community. |
stupa | Monument containing Buddhist relics or images. |
sunyata | The doctrine of voidness, emptiness. |
Theraveda | The remaining orthodox school of Buddhism, which adheres to the earliest scriptures. |
Triple Gem | The Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. |
Vajrayana | The Buddhist path of the Tibetan diaspora. |
vipassana | Insight meditation. |
zazen | Sitting meditation, in Zen schools. |
Zen | A Chinese and Japanese school emphasizing that all things have buddha-nature, which can only be grasped when one escapes from the intellectual mind. |