From Prince to Buddha
Not a last name but a title, it means “the Awakened One.”
What is Buddha?
Anatta, anicca, and dukkha, taken together.
What are the Three Marks of Existence?
A step on the Noble Eightfold Path: No lying, no gossip, no careless talk.
What is Right Speech?
Prevalent in Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia, this division’s name means “the Way of the Elders.”
What is Theravada?
Buddhism kept this idea from ancient India: the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.
What is samsara?
An old man, a sick man, a corpse, and a wandering ascetic, seen on trips outside the palace walls.
What are the Four Passing Sights?
A senior citizen visits her childhood street. The oak is gone, the house is repainted, the neighbors have moved. This Mark names what she is seeing.
What is anicca (impermanence)?
A Buddhist turns down a well-paid job at a slaughterhouse, following this part of the Noble Eightfold Path.
What is Right Livelihood?
Closer to everyday speech than Sanskrit, this ancient language of India preserved the earliest Theravada scriptures.
What is Pali?
Buddhism kept this moral law of cause and effect.
What is karma?
At 29, Gautama slipped out of the palace at night, leaving his wife Yashodhara and newborn son Rahula, in this event.
What is the Great Going Forth?
Pali for “no-self,” it teaches that there is no permanent, unchanging self.
What is anatta?
The eight practices of the Path can be grouped under these three headings.
What are wisdom, morality, and concentration?
“The Great Vehicle,” it is the largest division of Buddhism and is prevalent in China, Japan, and Korea.
What is Mahayana?
Gautama was born into the Kshatriya class, but Buddhism rejected this system altogether.
What is the caste system?
Beneath this sacred fig at Bodh Gaya, Gautama vowed not to rise until he understood, then resisted Mara through the night.
What is the Bodhi tree?
Buddhists explain it with a flame lit from another candle: the new flame depends on the old one, but nothing solid crosses over.
What is rebirth (or reincarnation)?
On the Noble Eightfold Path, this is steady awareness of body, feelings, and mind as they actually are.
What is Right Mindfulness?
This Mahayana ideal does not withdraw from the world after enlightenment but stays active in it, valuing both wisdom and compassionate toward all living things.
What is a boddhisattva?
In Hinduism, it means duty set by class and stage of life. In Buddhism, it refers to the teachings of the Buddha.
What is dharma?
Gautama left the palace at 29 and spent years in extreme asceticism before awakening. This was his age when he became the Buddha.
What is 35?
In the Hinduism unit, this was the eternal Self within each person. Buddhism’s anatta says there is no such thing.
What is Atman?
A student plans to master "Right View" on the Noble Eightfold Path, check it off, and then move on to "Right Intention." This is what is wrong with his plan.
What is: the path are all ongoing practices, not stages to finish and leave behind?
This Mahayana doctrine holds that the Buddha exists on three levels: historical teacher, heavenly Buddha, and ultimate reality itself.
What is trikaya?
A student says nirvana is the moment the eternal self is finally united with Brahman. He has actually described this Hindu goal rather than Buddhism.
What is moksha?