beliefs

• Arhat - a 'perfected person' who has overcome the main sources of suffering
• ascetic - a person living a simple, strict lifestyle with few pleasures or possessions
• dhamma (dharma) - the buddha's teachings, how to reach the state of enlightenment
• dhukka - suffering or dissatisfaction, something buddhists seek to overcome
• enlightenment - a state of spiritual wisdome and gaining freedom from rebirth which arises from understanding the true nature of reality
• jakata - a book of popular tales about the life of the buddha
• mara - the evil one that tempted siddhartha from his meditation to stop him from achieving enlightenment
• meditation - the practice of focusing or calming the mind and reflecting on teachings to understand their true meaning
• the 5 aggregates (skandhas) - the parts that make up a human personality in theravada buddhism:

  1)Body

  2)Feelings

  3) Perception

  4) Thoughts

  5) Consciousness
• Types of Buddhism


  • Theravada
  • Mahayana
  • Pure Land
• Bodhisattva


  Someone who reaches an enlightened state but chooses to remain in the cycle of samsara to help others reach enlightenment
• Arhat


  A 'perfected person' who overcomes the main sources of suffering and reaches Nirvana
• Buddha was born Siddhartha Gautama around SODBC in southern Nepal
• Siddhartha's mother Queen Maya was told in a dream her child would be holy and achieve perfect wisdom
• The Four Sights which Siddhartha saw on his trip outside the palace

  1. An old man - everyone gets old

  2. An ill man - everyone gets sick

  3. A dead man - all things die

  4. A holy man - the only answer to these problems
• Siddhartha's enlightenment


  1. Meditated under a tree

  2. Was tempted by Mara who tried to distract him

  3. Stayed focused on meditation and reaching enlightenment

  4. Understood knowledge of all his previous lives, the cycle of life, death and re-birth (samsara) and that all beings suffer due to desire

  5. Became enlightened and began to be known as Buddha
• The Four Noble Truths


  • Dukkha - suffering exists
  • Samudaya - suffering is caused by craving (tanha) and the Three Poisons (greed, hatred and ignorance)
  • Nirodha - suffering can end
  • Magga - there is a 'cure' to suffering following the Eightfold Path
• Mahayana Buddhism


  Known as the 'greater vehicle' as anyone can become enlightened. Teaches sunyata or emptiness - nothing has a separate soul or self. Mahayana Buddhists aim to become a Bodhisattva.
• Theravada Buddhists aim to become an Arhat by following the Eightfold Path