Buddhist Beliefs

• Dhamma (Dharma)


  Teachings of the Buddha. Overcoming suffering. It encourages Buddhists to follow the 8 Fold path and teaches them the process of Enlightenment. Also features how to mediate. Buddhists believe following the Dharama daily they can overcome suffering. Dhamma is one of the three refuges (which they believe protect them against the suffering they encounter from the outside world). Dhamma means to uphold and therefore Buddhists believe they have to follow the it. They also believe that it contains the natural order of the universe.
• Dependent arising


  The full understanding of the Buddha's Dhamma. It leads to the realisation of the three marks of existence (that everything exists because other things are in existence. Therefore everything is interconnected and everything affects everyone). Everything happens because of something else.
• Three Marks of Existence

  • Anicca - Impermanence. Lack of permanence
  • Dukkha - Suffering. Everything leads to suffering
  • Anatta - No Fixed soul. The idea the people can and do change in life.
• Anicca


  Teaches Buddhists to accept change and death. Also everything is temporary.
• Dukkha


  • Ordinary Suffering - emotional, physical and mental suffering and pain
  • Suffering through change - Linked to Anicca which is concerned with suffering that happens through ordinary life and the impermanent of things
  • Suffering through dissatisfaction or attachment - Being attached to objects, people and things in life.
• Anatta


  No permanent self or soul. Because everything is always changing (Anicca). Energy is being reborn, rather than the souls of people.
• The Five Aggregates of Human Personality (Theravada Buddhists)

  • Sensation - Emotional or physical pain that comes from our physical bodies touching another form or object
  • Perception - Allows people to know and understand what things are. This can arise from previous experience and memory
  • Mental Formation - Leads a person to do good or bad things. It is a person's thoughts, or the things that are happening in their mind
  • Consciousness - A person's general awareness of things and the wider world around them
  • Form - Refers to the sense organs and how they experience material and matter.
• Sunyata (Mahayana Buddhists)


  Emptiness. Everything is dependent on something else. Everything is empty. Very similar to Anatta.
• Attaining Buddhahood (Mahayana Buddhists)


  When a person achieves enlightenment and becomes a Buddha. Mahayana Buddhists strive to achieve Buddhahood through meditation and Buddhist practice. In their lives they move away mentally and physically from the distractions in life that would prevent them from achieving enlightenment.
• Buddha-nature (Mahayana Buddhists)


  The idea that anybody can attain Buddhahood. They believe that everyone has the essence of Buddha within them.
• Arhat (Theravada Buddhists)


  Perfected Person. Somebody who has reached Nibbana. A Buddha who has taken this path would follow the eight fold path. They may also join a Buddhist community in order to focus their attention on achieving enlightenment. Arhats have overcome the three poisons (greed, hatred and ignorance). They will no longer be reborn once they die. End of the wheel Samsara.
• Bodhisattva (Mahayana Buddhists)


  Someone who has reached Nirvana but chose to stay in the wheel to help others reach enlightenment. Must become perfect in these 6 areas - Generosity, Morality, Patience, Energy, Meditation and Wisdom.