Practices

• Buddhist temple


  • Stupa - symbolises five elements of the earth and the stages to enlightenment, top represents wisdom, contains relics of the Buddha
  • Shrine room/prayer hall - holds the shrine which reminds Buddhists of the dharma and where offerings are made, meditation and mantras take place here
  • Statues of the Buddha/Bodhisattvas - reminder of their qualities
  • Study room - to study the dharma
• Pagoda


  Pointed tower
• Stupa


  Squared storeys with curved roofs, contains relics, represents the elements earth, water, fire, air, wisdom, and a human - bodily desires at the bottom, emotions in the middle and the head for enlightenment at the top
• Shrine


  • Candle - enlightenment
  • Incense - dharma spreading through the world
  • Bell - law of karma
  • Water - respect for life (water is essential for life)
  • Statue of a Buddha - reminder of his qualities
  • Flowers - impermanence as they die yet eternity as the seeds will grow again
  • Fruit - everything depends upon everything else to survive, so pratitya (dependent originality)
• Offerings at the shrine are - food, flowers, candles, incense
• Samatha meditation


  • Calms the mind
  • Focuses the mind
  • Focuses on one object e.g. breathing, walking
  • Use of Kasinas to focus on - red
  • May focus on a brahma viharas - metta, karuna, mudita and upekkha (love, compassion, joy and peace)
  • Used before vipassana meditation
• Metta bhavana meditation


  • Loving kindness meditation - to develop the brahama vihara of metta to help achieve enlightenment and be like the Buddha
  • Is said for yourself, someone you love, someone you don't know, don't like and finally all living beings
  • May may I be free of danger, may I be healthy, may I be happy, may I live with peace and loving kindness
• Vipassana meditation


  • Insight meditation
  • Helps Buddhists to see the world how it really is
  • Happens after Samatha meditation
  • Helps Buddhists to reflect on personal situations and apply the three marks of existence/lakshanas to them
  • Helps them develop the brahma viharas e.g. karuna, metta, upekkha
• Mantras


  • Om-mani-padme-hum - mantra for Bodhisattva of compassion (Avalokiteshvara), helps Tibetan Buddhists to focus on compassion
  • The three jewels mantra - I go to the Buddha for refuge, I go to the dharma for refuge, I go to the sangha for refuge, a reminder of where Buddhists can turn to overcome dukkha and find enlightenment
  • Metta Bhavana mantra - helps Buddhists to reflect on this important sublime state and the first precept
• Mala


  The prayer beads Buddhists use for counting mantras, there are 112 beads and three tassels on them to remind them of the three jewels
• Wesak celebrates the Buddha's birth, death and enlightenment. It remembers his teachings for breaking out of Samsara. It is the first full moon of May.
• Vassa celebrates the time the Buddha gave his first sermon to five holy men. It is during the rainy season and is just after the first full moon in July or August.
• Kathina


  Remembers the time when 30 monks were making their way to the Buddha. They got caught in the rainy season and had to delay their arrival. When they arrived, the Buddha gave them cloth to make robes with.
• Parinirvana day is a Mahayana festival that remembers when the Buddha died and passed into parinirvana.