Group Study Guide

BUDDHISM - Study guide, G pd 

1. Vocab, terms, concepts

The Hero's Journey:(EA)

• The Refusal of the call - the pampered prince

• Entering the unknown- 4 passing sights, great Going Forth 

• Moment of Truth - temptation, the enlightenment under Bodhi tree - finds cause and end of all suffering (realizes suffering comes from those things > how might I end them 

• Return- with a mission to preach technique (religion) of wisdom and compassion. 

Enlightenment: liberation, profound understanding; Buddha was first to achieve (SB)

• Buddha = “the one who woke up”

Four passing sights: (SB)

• old man (aging)

• sick person(disease)

• corpse (death)

• monk (withdrawal from life)

• Encountered by Siddhartha Gautama before he became the Buddha

• He had previously known nothing of suffering, now he understood what the real world is like and how people suffer

Dharma: the Buddha’s teachings- oral tradition, texts (different from Hindu Dharma) (SB)

Impermanence: nothing last forever (LC)

• Beginning → Middle → End

• Attachment to impermanence -> suffering

Eightfold Path: (KH)

• Right view - know the truth

• Right intentions - free from evil

• Right speech - say nothing offensive

• Right action - work for common good

• Right livelihood - respect life

• Right effort - resist evil

• Right concentration - meditate

• Right mindfulness - control thoughts

Tanha: natural desire/ego of humans. The cause of suffering/Dukkha (KH)

Nirvana: the solution Buddhism proposes. Extinguishing Tanha/desire/ego (KH)

Four noble truths of Buddhism:

• The nature of suffering (dissatisfaction is our brain’s default setting) (Life sucks)

• The cause of suffering (Life sucks because you want stuff - ego/selfish desire)

• How to get rid of the suffering (Eliminate ego-selfish desire)(If you don’t want life to suck, stop wanting stuff)

• Training to remove suffering (The eightfold path is the way to stop wanting stuff) 

Third path (CB)

• Moderation between excess and asceticism (emaciation)

Prothero’s Four Steps in Buddhism: (CS)

Problem

• Dukkha- suffering, dissatisfaction, 

Solution/Goal- 

• Nirvana- extinguish Tanah, reach enlightenment

• Tanah=selfish desire/cravings 

Technique(s)

• Four noble truths

• Eightfold path

Exemplars

• Siddhartha Gautama, Bodhisattvas, Dalai Lama

Arhat -  holy monk who remains in Nirvana after death (MP)

Bodhisattva- Someone who has found enlightenment (CR)

The 3 Jewels (SB)

• Vows taken in order to become a Buddhist:

• I take refuge in the Buddha (the ultimate exemplar)

• I take refuge in the Dharma (the Buddha’s teachings)

• I take refuge in the Sangha (community of Buddhists)

Koan

• Teachings often in the form of riddles or paradoxes

Sangha: community of Buddhists

Stupa

Tripitaka

• “Three baskets” - scriptures that govern ‘living’

• Monastic rules - simple living

• Teachings of Buddha

• Supplement to doctrines 

• Subschools of Buddha’s teachings

Temptations (CR) 

1. Karma - desire 

2. Mara - death - demons 

3. Mara appeals to reason 

4. Buddha replies “some will understand”

Enlightenment (CR) 

1. Sitting under the bodhi tree 

2. After finding enlightenment he acquires followers 

3. After teacher for 45 years he dies 

The hero's journey (CR) 

• Refusal of the call 

• Entering the unknown 

• Moment of truth 

• Returns - wisdom 

• Life sucks 

• Life sucks because you want stuff 

• If you don't want life to suck - stop wanting stuff 

4 noble truths (CR)

1. Nature of suffering 

2. Cause of suffering 

3. How to get rid of suffering 

4. Training to remove suffering → practice detachment 

ALL THINGS MUST PASS (CR)

Leave behind life of wealth and pleasure (CR) 

You have to figure things out on your own 

Sometimes we run into things that are unexpected 

Important concepts - all things must pass 

Monkey mind vs. buddha mind - focus on ur breath 

Compassion 

No self ego (CR) 

Nirvana

1. Individuals sufferings and desires go away (LC)

2. Individual state of existence has passed

3. liberation

Relics: religious artifacts or sometimes things people own but most often they are bits and pieces of human remains (KC)

• Could be in catholic altars

• Reliquaries (Stupas) contains these

• Parts of somebody known as holy giving that holy presence to the relic

Three aspects of zen practice (KC)

• Zazen: seated meditation

• Koan : logic-breaking riddles

• Limits of reasoning to reach truth

• Kinhin: mindful walking meditation

Zen Buddhist aesthetic

• Nature; people vs animals vs land

• Emptiness,  minimalism

• People

Siddartha Gautama (SC)

• Belonged to warrior class (kshatriya)

• Prince; his father was the ruler of small region in northern India

• Predicted to be universal king or Buddha (leading world to salvation and reaches enlightenment)

• Four passing sights -> The Great Going Forth 

• gave up life as prince and searches for spirituality

Dalai Lama: (SB)

• Exemplar of the eightfold path

• Title given by Tibetan people to greatest spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism

• Narratives, stories

Gotami & the mustard seed (KH)

• A mother, Gotami, looses her son

• She goes to the Buddha and asks how to bring her son back to life.

• The Buddha tells her to find mustard seeds from a house where no one has died

• It is impossible

• Gotami realizes that everyone dies

• Shows impermanence/idea that everything passes

The Ship of Theseus (SB)

• Theseus has a ship that over centuries decays, parts are replaced

• Eventually the ship is all new parts

• At one point is it no longer the Ship of Theseus, or is it always the Ship of Theseus?

• Am I my body?

• When you’re enlightened, your self backs away, you as yourself doesn’t matter anymore

The Deer King (SB)

• Two Deer Kings, one (Banyan Deer) is incarnation of Buddha

• King tells hunters they can kill any deer except the golden ones

• The deer decide to give one deer a day to die

• A pregnant doe asks if she can die after she gives birth

• Branch deer says no, banyan deer) says he will die for her

• Banyan deer gets on the chopping block, king frees all animals because of his noble actions

• Terms/concepts: selflessness, suffering, detachment from life itself, compassion

Siddartha → Buddha (through the hero Journey) (ST)

Bodhi Tree(CS)

• Haiku 

• Buddha becomes enlightened while sitting under the Bodhi tree

• “The one who woke up”

The Doctor (CB)

• A monk is sick and near death

• His fellow monks are afraid of him and avoid him

• The Buddha comes to the village and fins the sick monk

• The Buddha helps the sick monk and cures him

• Possible Qs for short answer or essay?

Identify and describe the Four Noble Truths. (MP)

Hindu vs. Buddhist approaches/vocab

Theravada vs. Mahayana; Vajrayana and Zen as subthreads as well

What are Prothero’s Four Steps in Buddhism? (MP)

What were the four passing sights, and how did they affect Buddha? (SB)

How is the “Hero’s Journey” reflected in the Buddha’s story/journey? (SB)

Explain: Impermanence + attachment → suffering

What are different symbols in Buddhism and how are they important for the religion? (CS)

Explain how a story in buddhism points out important truths (CS)

How does the concept of samsara relate to the four noble truths and eightfold path? (RT)

Describe three differences and similarities between Buddhism and Hinduism. (ST)

Prothero’s 4 steps (ST)

1. Problem: dukkha/suffering, samsara

2. → selfish desires (tanha)

3. Solution: Nirvana 

4. Technique: 4 noble truths, 8 fold path

5. Exemplar: the buddha, bodhisattvas

Apply the 7 dimensions to Buddhism…

1. Ritual– funerals, pilgrimages

2. Institutional– Dalai Lama

3. Doctrinal– 4 noble truths; belief system centered around escaping suffering

4. Experiential– meditation as practice/path to nirvana

5. Material– relics, temples/stupas/holy places, robes

6. Ethical– eightfold path

7. Narrative– how the Buddha achieved enlightenment