Doctrine
What does karma mean?
Action.
What is the word for the buddhist community, in Sanskrit?
saṅgha
In which country was the Buddha born?
Nepal.
What is the date of the Buddha's birth?
fourth or fifth century bce.
What is the "oldest" Buddhist tradition?
What are the three jewels?
1. Buddha
2. Dharma
3. Saṅgha
What is the meaning of renunciation?
Leaving behind worldly life to practice the dharma and pursue awakening.
Where did the Buddha attain enlightenment?
Bodhgaya
How did the Buddha escape the palace?
He snuck out at night and rode his horse out of the palace.
What are the three Buddhist Vehicles?
1. Hīnayāna
2. Mahāyāna
3. Vajrayāna
In early Buddhism, how was the Middle Way defined?
As the middle way between the extremes of indulgence in sense pleasures and extreme asceticism.
What is the four-fold assembly?
The Buddhist community consisting of monks, nuns, laymen, and laywoman.
What are the six realms of saṃsāra?
The hell realm, hungry ghost realm, animal realm, human realm, demigod realm, and god realm.
After the Buddha attains awakening, what does he do?
Wander around the forest for a few weeks, and then start teaching.
In which tradition does the idea of the "bodhisattva" become important?
The Mahāyāna.
What are the four noble truths?
1. The truth of suffering
2. The truth of the origin of suffering
3. The truth of the cessation of suffering
4. The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering
Why do monastic and lay Buddhists depend upon one another?
The monastics depend upon the laity for sustenance, and the laity depends upon the monastics for the accumulation of merit/good karma.
What are the three realms in Buddhist cosmology?
The desire realm, the form realm, and the formless realm.
What caused the Buddha to give up his life of pleasure?
He saw an old person, a sick person, a dead person, and a religious mendicant on the road outside the palace.
What are monks allowed to wear, according to the Vinaya?
What are the five aggregates?
Form, feeling, recognition, mental formations, and cognition.
What is the difference between Spiro's "nirvāṇa buddhism" and "karma buddhism"?
Nirvāṇa buddhism is for liberation, usually followed by monastics. Karma buddhism is for merit or good karma, usually followed by lay people.
Under the influence of which empire did Buddhism grow into a "civilizational religion"?
The Mauryan Empire, specifically during the reign of Aśoka.
Who were the Buddha's first disciples?
What is the poṣadha ritual?
A bimonthly meeting of the monks or nuns in a community for communal recitation and the confession of violations.