Buddhism 101
These four are known as the noble truths, meaning they are true for the spiritually noble.
What are suffering, origin, cessation, and path?
When we see a quote attribution “—Buddha” online with no source, the quote almost certainly is not this, which is translated from the Sanskrit buddhavacana.
What is Buddha Word or Buddha Voice/the Voice of the Buddha?
Starting from the life of the Buddha, and continuing to present day immersive augmented reality, this ritual connects Buddhist laity and monastics alike to sacred places in the Buddhist world.
What is pilgrimage?
This popular robot monk at Kodaiji in Kyoto is known for preaching Buddhist scripture, and is the mascot of this course.
Who is Mindar?
Known in Sanskrit as dāna, this perfection inspires lay Buddhists in their aspiration for good karma, for instance, during alms rounds.
What is generosity/giving?
This trio—Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha—are considered rare and precious because they offer refuge from the sufferings of cyclic existence.
What are the three jewels?
Named Budai—and thus initially confused with the Buddha—this figure appears in a variety of commercialized Buddhist products, images, and ads.
Who is that chubby smiling guy?
Whether chanted in a monastery or rapped by a cosmopolitan Tibetan monk, this scripture is considered the origin of the concept of emptiness.
What is the Heart Sutra?
Taken by lay Buddhists the world over (and recently adapted to laity in Tibet, as we read in our study of Tibetan blogs), these five precepts are held for variable amounts of time, from a week to few months or more. [Must name 3]
What are to refrain from: killing, stealing, lying (about spiritual attainment), using intoxicants, sexual misconduct)?
The fourth noble truth, the truth of the path, is sometimes described in the context of these three trainings that, once perfected, bring one to buddhahood.
What are ethics, concentration, and wisdom?
Meaning "action," this term has been used in popular media for decades, from My Name is Earl to Taylor Swift.
What is "karma"?
Often interpreted through the ideology of the Scientific Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama became popular in Europe and America because he was understood to exemplify these qualities. [Must name 1 feature/quality of the Scientific Buddha idea.]
What is rational, philosophical, human, humanistic, non-superstitious?
Similar to the varied options one finds in a meditation app today, the Buddha is said to have taught 40 topics of meditation, including these two. [Must name 2]
What are.....[Eric verifies]?
This common English term is the translation of the Sanskrit "bhikshu" (men) or "bhikshuni" (female), the term used for a monk or nun.
What is "beggar"?
Considered the start of the path to becoming a buddha, and adapted by the Beastie Boys in a rap about that path, this vow entails the aspiration to enlightenment for the sake of benefitting all sentient beings in samsara.
What is the bodhisattva vow?
These six are known as the six realms of rebirth, named after the kind of being one is born as [name all six].
What are gods, demigods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts, and hell beings?
In response to rampant commercialization of Buddha images and general flippancy towards Buddhism as a religion in Thailand and globally, the Knowing Buddha Organization centers around this religious term, which means to slander or harm the reputation of.
What is blasphemy?
Called the three poisons, these are usually discussed in the context of the second noble truth, origin, because together they can easily describe the sources of suffering in samsara.
What are desire, hatred, and ignorance?
Buddhism in contemporary Japan is most commonly associated with these common rituals, officiated by human and robot monks alike.
What are funerals?
This tradition sees itself as the Great Vehicle, its adherents sometimes thought to imagine themselves perfecting a variety of Buddhist virtues in crossing over to the other shore of enlightenment.
What is the Mahayana?
Meaning "blowing out" or "extinguished," this Buddhist goal is indeed metal.
What is "nirvana"?
In the lead up to his enlightenment and throughout his biography, the Buddha defeated this god, known as the god of desire (and probably creator of social media and all the sufferings it brings).
Who is Mara?
The hallmark Buddhist doctrine of emptiness—explained by Buddhists through all sorts of media these days—teaches that, despite appearing this way to us, phenomena do not have svabhava, which means this.
What is own being/intrinsic existence?
Buddhist scholars are ambivalent about the use of AI for translating scripture, since it makes the doctrine more accessible but also risks doing this to the dharma. [Name 1 downside of AI translations of Buddhist text]
What are irrelevant translations, omissions of original content, incorrect/lack of accurate Buddhist doctrinal and historical context.
This genre of literature obsessed with the topic of emptiness, which includes the Heart Sutra, is named after this perfection.
What is the Perfection of Wisdom?