Buddhism

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General

  • w:Buddhism - sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE

See also Activities#Meditation

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda - First cousin, one of the principal disciples and a devout attendant of the Buddha. The name means 'bliss' in Pali, Sanskrit as well as other Indian languages.






  • trb FAQ - FAQ -- Talk.Religion.Buddhism newsgroup, by John Kahila, June 1996


Texts



  • SuttaCentral - contains early Buddhist texts, known as the Tipiṭaka or “Three Baskets”. This is a large collection of teachings attributed to the Buddha or his earliest disciples, who were teaching in India around 2500 years ago. They are regarded as sacred canon in all schools of Buddhism. There are several Buddhist traditions, and each has passed down a set of scriptures from ancient times. SuttaCentral is specially focused on the scriptures of the earliest period of Buddhism, and hosts texts in over thirty languages. We believe this is the largest collection of early Buddhist texts ever made. SuttaCentral hosts the texts in orginal languages, translations in modern languages, and extensive sets of parallels that show the relationship between them all. Highly recommended.


Pali


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pāli_Canon - standard collection of scriptures in the Theravada Buddhist tradition, as preserved in the Pāli language. It is the most complete extant early Buddhist canon. It was composed in North India, and preserved orally until it was committed to writing during the Fourth Buddhist Council in Sri Lanka in 29 BCE, approximately four hundred and fifty four years after the death of Gautama Buddha


  • Access to Insight - an HTML website dedicated to providing accurate, reliable, and useful information concerning the practice and study of Theravada Buddhism, as it has been handed down to us through both the written word of the Pali canon and the living example of the Sangha - closed to new translations.
  • dhammatalks.org - offers an extensive collection of English translations of suttas from the Pāli Canon, as well as a multitude of free downloads of Dhamma from the Kammaṭṭhāna (or Thai Forest) Tradition of Buddhism. Ṭhānissaro Bhikkhu of Metta Forest Monastery is the speaker, author or translator unless otherwise noted.


  • The Pali Tipitaka - This web site is based on the Chaṭṭha Saṅgāyana CD published by the Vipassana Research Institute. Based at Dhamma Giri, Igatpuri, near Mumbai, India, the Vipassana Research Institute also publishes literature & disseminates information related to Vipassana Meditation Technique as taught by S.N.Goenka in the tradition of Sayagyi U Ba Khin.



Sanskrit

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanskrit_Buddhist_literature - refers to Buddhist texts composed either in classical Sanskrit, in a register that has been called "Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit" (BHS), or a mixture of the two. Several non-Mahāyāna Nikāyas appear to have kept their canons in Sanskrit, most prominent among which was the Sarvāstivāda. The Mahāyāna Sūtras are also in Sanskrit, with less classical registers prevalent in the gāthā portions. Buddhist Tantras too are written in Sanskrit, sometimes interspersed with Apabhramśa, and often containing notable irregularities in grammar and meter (traditionally ascribed to the esoteric nature of the texts).[citation needed]Besides texts considered "Word of the Buddha" (Buddhavacana) by the traditions that transmitted them, Buddhist authors have composed treatises and literary works in Sanskrit dealing with Buddhist philosophy, logic, etc., but also with more worldly topics such as gemology, erotics, literary aesthetics, etc.[citation needed]Sanskrit Buddhist literature is therefore vast and varied, despite the loss of a significant amount of texts. A large number of works survive only in Tibetan and Chinese translations.


Tibetan


Chinese


Online

  • Buddhist Lists - Buddhist literature, however, goes further in its use of lists: it proceeds with the principle of compiling lists within lists, creating a structure in which one list functions as a matrix for a whole series of further lists, each of which is then carefully analyzed. For instance, the list of the four noble truths subsumes the list of the noble eightfold path under the category of the fourth truth of the path to the cessation of suffering; the list of the noble eightfold path subsumes the list of the four applications of mindfulness (i.e., contemplation of body, feelings, mind, and Dhamma) under the category of "right mindfulness" as well as the list of the four jhanas under the category of "right concentration."


  • The words of the Buddha - This website is dedicated to those who wish to understand better the words of the Buddha by learning the basics of Pali language, but who don't have much time available for it. The idea is that if their purpose is merely to get enabled to read the Pali texts and have a fair feeling of understanding them, even if that understanding does not cover all the minute details of grammatical rules, they don't really need to spend much time struggling with a discouraging learning of tedious grammatical theory involving such things as numerous declensions and conjugations.


  • Wisdom Library - provides insight into one of the richest and variegated culture to ever inhibit this world. India, and neighbouring countries, provide us with a deep insight into humandkind’s potential and how we can live in peace and harmony with nature yet preserving our aspiration for self improvement and spiritual liberation.


  • Dhammanet - a repository of inspiring and enlightening discourses by respected scholars, Buddhist monks and philosophers. You are invited to browse through the Audio Library and the Video Channel to share and spread the wisdom within. Dhammanet grew out of a collection of talks given by Bhante Sujato. Bhante Sujato's latest Sydney Dhamma Talks could be found filed under the Far Shore category.


  • 84000 - Translating the Words of the Buddha


  • Resources for Kanjur & Tanjur Studies (rKTs) - dedicated to making research on Tibetan Buddhist canonical collections openly accessible. The website provides comprehensive tools for studying canonical literature in more than 50 Kanjurs and manuscript collections, such as online catalogues, searchable e-texts, and an extensive archive of images of Tibetan manuscripts as well as secondary sources. The various databases are compiled and maintained by the members of the Tibetan Manuscripts Project Vienna (TMPV), located at the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, University of Vienna. For enquiries about individual collections or questions of a more general nature, please use the contact page.


Tipiṭaka

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripitaka - also referred to as Tipiṭaka or Pali Canon, is the traditional term for the Buddhist scriptures. These are canonical texts revered as exclusively authoritative in Theravada Buddhism. The Mahayana Buddhism also reveres them as authoritative but, unlike Theravadins, it also reveres various derivative literature and commentaries that were composed much later.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhāran_Buddhist_Texts - the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered, dating from about the 1st century CE, including a Dhammapada, discourses of Buddha (for example the Rhinoceros Horn Sutra), Avadanas and Purvayogas, commentaries and Abhidharma texts. Dharmaguptaka sect.


Sutta Pitaka



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digha_Nikaya - the "long" discourses, includes The Greater Discourse on the Foundations of Mindfulness, The Fruits of the Contemplative Life, and The Buddha's Last Days. There are 34 long suttas in this nikaya.



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhammacakkappavattana_Sutta - "The Setting in Motion of the Wheel of Dharma", considered to be a record of the first teaching given by the Buddha after he attained enlightenment. The main topic of this sutta is the Four Noble Truths, which are the central teachings of Buddhism that provide a unifying theme, or conceptual framework, for all of Buddhist thought. This sutta also introduces the Buddhist concepts of the middle way, impermanence, and dependent origination.



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khuddaka_Nikaya - the "minor collection", a heterogeneous mix of sermons, doctrines, and poetry attributed to the Buddha and his disciples. The contents vary somewhat between editions. The Thai edition includes 1-15 below, the Sinhalese edition 1-17 and the Burmese edition 1-18.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khuddakapatha - The collection is composed of the following nine discourses: "Going for Refuge" (Saranattayam), "Ten Precepts" (Dasasikkhapadam), "Thirty-two Parts [of the Body]" (Dvattimsakaro), "Novice's Questions" (Kumarapanha), "Discourse on Blessings" (Mangala Sutta), "Discourse on Treasures" (Ratana Sutta), "[Hungry Shades] Outside the Wall Chapter" (Tirokutta Sutta), "Reserve Fund Chapter" (Nidhikanda Sutta) and "Discourse on Lovingkindess" (Metta Sutta). The Khuddakapatha is considered a late addition to the Pali Canon, collecting discourses all but one of which is found elsewhere in the Pali Canon.




  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Udana - translated "inspired utterances". The book comprises 80 such utterances, most in verse, each preceded by a narrative giving the context in which the Buddha utters it.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutta_Nipata - literally, "Suttas falling down", thought to originate from before the Buddha's parinibbana, consist largely of verse, though some also contain some prose. It is divided into five sections
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhinoceros_Sutra - Sutta Nipata's first chapter, a very early Buddhist text advocating the merit of solitary asceticism for pursuing enlightenment (as opposed to practicing as a householder or in a community of monks or nuns).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vimanavatthu - Pali for "Vimana Stories". The Vimanavatthu is an anthology of 85 short stories written in verse. The stories are similar to each other in that each of them describes the life and deeds of a character who has attained residence in a heavenly mansion, the "Vimana", due to his/her meritorious deeds.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petavatthu - composed of 51 verse narratives describing specifically how the effects of bad acts can lead to rebirth into the unhappy world of petas (ghosts) in the doctrine of karma. It gives prominence to the doctrine that giving alms to monks may benefit the ghosts of one's relatives (see Ancestor worship).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theragatha - a collection of short poems supposedly recited by early members of the Buddhist sangha. Many of the verses of the Theragatha concern the attempts of monks to overcome the temptations of Mara. It consists of 264 poems, organized into 21 chapters. Notable texts from the Theragatha include the eighth poem of chapter sixteen, consisting of verses recited by the reformed killer Angulimala, and the third poem of chapter seventeen, in which the Buddha's cousin and retainer Ananda mourns the passing of his master.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therigatha - a collection of short poems supposedly recited by early members of the Buddhist sangha in India around 600 BC. It consists of 73 poems organized into 16 chapters. It is the earliest known collection of women's literature.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jataka_tales - stories that tell about the previous lives of the Buddha, in both human and animal form. The future Buddha may appear in them as a king, an outcast, a god, an elephant—but, in whatever form, he exhibits some virtue that the tale thereby inculcates.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apadāna - consists of about 600 poems (between 589 and 603 in different editions), mostly biographical stories of monks and nuns. Many of the stories of monks and nuns are expansions of, or otherwise related to, verses presented in the Theragatha and Therigatha as having been spoken by senior members of the early Sangha.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cariyapitaka - a short verse work that includes thirty-five accounts of the Buddha's former lives (similar to Jataka tales) when he as a bodhisattva exhibited behaviors known as "perfections," prerequisites to buddhahood. This canonical text, along with the Apadana and Buddhavamsa, is believed to be a late addition to the Pali Canon and has been described as "hagiographical.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nettipakarana - the nature of the Netti is a matter of some disagreement among scholars. The translator, supported by Professor George Bond of Northwestern University,[1] holds that it is a guide to help those who already understand the teaching present it to others. However, A. K. Warder, Professor Emeritus of Sanskrit at the University of Toronto, disagrees, maintaining that it covers all aspects of interpretation, not just this.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milinda_Panha - purports to record a dialogue in which the Indo-Greek king Menander I (Pali Milinda) of Bactria, who reigned in the 2nd century BCE, poses questions on Buddhism to the sage Nāgasena.


Vinaya Pitaka

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinaya_Pitaka - primary subject matter is the monastic rules for monks and nuns, compiled at the First Council shortly after the Buddha's death, and recited by Upali, with little later addition. Most of the different versions are fairly similar, most scholars consider most of the Vinaya to be fairly early, that is, dating from before the separation of schools.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinaya - The Vinaya (a word in Pāli as well as in Sanskrit, with literal meaning 'leading out', 'education', 'discipline') is the regulatory framework for the Buddhist monastic community, or sangha, based on the canonical texts called Vinaya Pitaka. The teachings of the Buddha, or Buddhadharma can be divided into two broad categories: 'Dharma' or doctrine, and 'Vinaya', or discipline. Another term for Buddhism is dharmavinaya. Extant vinaya texts include the Theravāda Vinaya, Mahāsāṃghika Vinaya, Mahīśāsaka Vinaya, Dharmaguptaka Vinaya, Sarvāstivāda Vinaya, and the Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya.


Abhidhamma Pitaka

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhidhamma_Pitaka - ancient (3rd century BCE and later) Buddhist texts which contain detailed scholastic and scientific reworkings of doctrinal material appearing in the Buddhist Sutras, according to schematic classifications. The Abhidhamma works do not contain systematic philosophical treatises, but summaries or abstract and systematic lists. According to the Macmillan Encyclopedia of Buddhism, Abhidhamma started as an elaboration of the teachings of the suttas, but later developed independent doctrines. The literal translation of the term Abhidharma is unclear. Two possibilities are most commonly given: abhi - higher or special + dharma- teaching, philosophy, thus making Abhidharma the "higher teachings", and abhi - about + dharma of the teaching, translating it instead as "about the teaching" or even "metateaching". In the West, the Abhidhamma has generally been considered the core of what is referred to as "Buddhist Psychology".



Atthakatha


Other


Dharma / dhamma

  • The state of Nature as it is (yathā bhūta)
  • The Laws of Nature considered both collectively and individually.
  • The teaching of the Buddha as an exposition of the Natural Law applied to the problem of human suffering.
  • A phenomenon and/or its properties.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmacakra - lit. "Wheel of Dharma" or "Wheel of Law"), is one of the Ashtamangala symbols that has represented dharma, the Buddha's teaching of the path to Nirvana, since the early period of Indian Buddhism.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhipakkhiyādhammā - are qualities (dhammā) conducive or related to (pakkhiya) awakening (bodhi). In the Pali commentaries, the term bodhipakkhiyā dhammā is used to refer to seven sets of such qualities regularly mentioned by the Buddha throughout the Pali Canon. Within these seven sets of Enlightenment qualities, there is a total of thirty-seven individual qualities (sattatiṃsa bodhipakkhiyā dhammā). These seven sets of qualities are recognized by both Theravadan and Mahayanan Buddhists as complementary facets of the Buddhist Path to Enlightenment.



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_truths_doctrine - differentiates between two levels of truth (satya) in Buddhist discourse: relative or commonsensical truth, and absolute or ultimate truth. In Tibetan Buddhism ultimate truth is synonymous with emptiness.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saṃsāra_(Buddhism) - the beginning-less cycle of repeated birth, mundane existence and dying again. Samsara is considered to be dukkha, unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and avidya (ignorance), and the resulting karma. Rebirths occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, ghosts, hellish). Samsara ends if a person attains nirvana, the "blowing out" of the desires and the gaining of true insight into impermanence and non-self reality.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhavacakra - a symbolic representation of saṃsāra (or cyclic existence) found on the outside walls of Tibetan Buddhist temples and monasteries in the Indo-Tibetan region. In the Mahayana Buddhism, it is believed that the drawing was designed by the Buddha himself in order to help ordinary people understand Buddhist teachings. The bhavacakra is popularly referred to as the wheel of life, and may also be glossed as wheel of cyclic existence or wheel of becoming.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupa#Symbolism - "The shape of the stupa represents the Buddha, crowned and sitting in meditation posture on a lion throne. His crown is the top of the spire; his head is the square at the spire's base; his body is the vase shape; his legs are the four steps of the lower terrace; and the base is his throne.

Although not described in any Tibetan text on stupa symbolism, the stupa may represent the five purified elements:

  • The square base represents earth
  • The hemispherical dome/vase represents water
  • The conical spire represents fire
  • The upper lotus parasol and the crescent moon represents air
  • The sun and the dissolving point represents the element of space

Sangha

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangha - a word in Pali and Sanskrit meaning "association", "assembly," "company" or "community" and most commonly refers in Buddhism to the monastic community of ordained Buddhist monks or nuns. The Sangha also includes laymen and laywomen who are personally dedicated to the discipline of Dharma-Vinaya.



Dependent origination

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratītyasamutpāda - commonly translated as dependent origination or dependent arising, states that all dharmas ("things") arise in dependence upon other dharmas: "if this exists, that exists; if this ceases to exist, that also ceases to exist." It is a pragmatic teaching, which is applied to dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.

The term is also used to refer to the twelve links of dependent origination, which describes the chain of causes which result in rebirth. By reverting the chain, liberation from rebirth can be attained. In the Tibetan Gelugpa school, pratītyasamutpāda is complementary to the concept of śūnyatā "emptiness," which means that no dharma has an existence of its own, and that there is no such "thing" as an "ultimate truth" or "ultimate reality."


Three Marks Of Existance

  • Impermanence (anicca)
  • Dissatisfaction or suffering (dukkha)
  • Non-self (anattā)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impermanence - one of the essential doctrines or three marks of existence in Buddhism. The term expresses the Buddhist notion that all of conditioned existence, without exception, is transient, or in a constant state of flux. The mutability of life, that time passes on no matter what happens, is an important aspect of impermanence. The Pali word anicca literally means "inconstant", and arises from a synthesis of two separate words, 'Nicca' and the "privative particle" 'a'. Where the word 'Nicca' refers to the concept of continuity and permanence, 'Anicca' refers to its exact opposite; the absence of permanence and continuity.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Śūnyatā - emptiness, voidness, openness, spaciousness, vacuity, is a Buddhist concept which has multiple meanings depending on its doctrinal context. In Theravada Buddhism, suññatā often refers to the not-self (Pāli: anatta, Sanskrit: anātman) nature of the five aggregates of experience and the six sense spheres. Suññatā is also often used to refer to a meditative state or experience.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saṃvega - a Buddhist term which indicates a sense of shock, anxiety and spiritual urgency to reach liberation and escape the suffering of samsara. According to Thanissaro Bhikku, saṃvega is the "first emotion you're supposed to bring to the training" and can be defined as: "The oppressive sense of shock, dismay, and alienation that come with realizing the futility and meaninglessness of life as it's normally lived; a chastening sense of our own complacency and foolishness in having let ourselves live so blindly; and an anxious sense of urgency in trying to find a way out of the meaningless cycle."

Four Noble Truths

  1. The truth of dukkha (suffering, anxiety, stress, unsatisfactoriness)
  2. The truth of the origin of dukkha
  3. The truth of the cessation of dukkha
  4. The truth of the path leading to the cessation of dukkha
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha - first noble truth is the truth of dukkha, commonly translated as "suffering", "anxiety", "stress", or "unsatisfactoriness". The principle of dukkha is one of the most important concepts in the Buddhist tradition. The Buddha is reputed to have said: "I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the cessation of dukkha."
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samudaya_sacca - the second of the four noble truths within Buddhist tradition. It refers to the origin or causes of dukkha (suffering). "it is this craving which leads to re-becoming, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there; that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for becoming, craving for disbecoming"
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirodha_sacca - the third of the four noble truths within Buddhist tradition. Nirodha means "cessation" or "extinction", and sacca means "truth" or "reality". Thus, nirodha sacca is typically translated as the "truth of cessation" or "truth of the cessation of suffering." It refers specifically to the cessation of dukkha (suffering) and its causes; the experience of this cessation is referred to as nirvana.



"In a chapter in an edited volume on the role of culture in depression, Gananath Obeyesekere begins by quoting from Brown and Harris’s influential 1978 study on the social origins of depression in women: The immediate response to loss of an important source of positive value is likely to be a sense of hopelessness, accompanied by a gamut of feelings, ranging from distress, from depression, and shame to anger. Feelings of hopelessness will not always be restricted to the provoking incident—large or small. It may lead to thoughts about the hopelessness of one’s life in general. It is such generalization of hopelessness that we believe forms the central core of depressive disorder. (Brown & Harris, 1978, p. 235)"

"This statement sounds strange to me, a Buddhist, for if it was placed in the context ofSri Lanka, I would say that we are not dealing with a depressive but a good Buddhist. The Buddhist would take one further step in generalization: it is not simply the general hopelessness of one’s own lot; that hopelessness lies in the nature of the world,and salvation lies in understanding and overcoming that hopelessness"

i.e. an alternate valence to a perceived metaphysic of 'nothing' and that the universe ultimately doesn't give a shit, similar to part of the balance of the existential metaphysic.

(opposed to 'everything' and the intersubjective and relational connectedness of the human condition/nature and reality)

"One might want to quibble with Obeyesekere; one might demand more evidence — both psychological and ethnographic — for the similarities he sees between good Sri Lankan Buddhists and American depressives. Do Sri Lankan Buddhists really aspire to a state that we would associate with depression? Or is the very idea of depression so culturally and historically constructed as to mitigate its cross-cultural utility? However one parses these issues, on purely doctrinal grounds Obeyesekere has a point: early Buddhist sutras in general, and Therav�ada teachings in particular, hold that (1) to live is to suffer, (2) the only genuine remedy to suffering is escape from samsara (the phenomenal world) altogether, and (3) escape requires, among other things, abandoning hope that happiness in this world is possible."


Threefold Training

  • higher virtue (adhisīla-sikkhā)
  • higher mind (adhicitta-sikkhā)
  • higher wisdom (adhipaññā-sikkhā)
Threefold Partition Eightfold Path Method of Practice
VIRTUE Right Speech Five Laymen Vows
Right Action
Right Livelihood
MIND Right Effort Dwelling in the four jhanas (meditation)
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration
WISDOM Right View Knowing Four Noble Truths
Right Intention

"And are the three aggregates [of virtue, concentration, & discernment] included under the noble eightfold path, lady, or is the noble eightfold path included under the three aggregates?"

"The three aggregates [not the sense aggregates] are not included under the noble eightfold path, friend Visakha, but the noble eightfold path is included under the three aggregates. Right speech, right action, & right livelihood come under the aggregate of virtue. Right effort, right mindfulness, & right concentration come under the aggregate of concentration. Right view & right resolve come under the aggregate of discernment."

-- Culavedalla Sutta: The Shorter Set of Questions-and-Answers


Noble Eightfold Path

Ariyo aṭṭhaṅgika maggo [1]


All eight elements of the Path begin with the word samyañc (in Sanskrit) or sammā (in Pāli) which means "right, proper, as it ought to be, best, wholesome). The Buddhist texts contrast samma with its opposite miccha.


Wisdom (Sanskrit: prajñā, Pāli: paññā)

  • 1. Wholesome view (understanding the four noble truths) (9. Superior wholesome knowledge)
  • 2. Wholesome intention (10. Superior wholesome liberation)

Ethical conduct (Sanskrit: śīla, Pāli: sīla)

  • 3. Wholesome speech
  • 4. Wholesome action
  • 5. Wholesome livelihood

Concentration (Sanskrit and Pāli: samādhi)

  • 6. Wholesome effort
  • 7. Wholesome mindfulness
  • 8. Wholesome concentration


"Is the noble eightfold path fabricated/conditioned or unfabricated/unconditioned?"

"The noble eightfold path is fabricated/conditioned."

Only nibbana is unconditioned

-- Culavedalla Sutta: The Shorter Set of Questions-and-Answers



  • Yoga: The Other Eightfold Path (Part I of II) - Buddhism teaches the Noble Eightfold Path to liberation (enlightenment and nirvana). It was so popular in India that centuries later the seer (rishi) Patanjali collected yoga sutras (aphorisms or pithy sayings) to explain the higher purpose of the path of yoga ("union" with the ultimate). The Buddha had done much to revivify the Vedic knowledge, but he himself rejected ancient India's sacred texts as sacrosanct and authoritative. The Buddha did not promote Vedic Brahmanism but promoted a rebellion against the corrupt temple priest practices of the old establishment.


Wholesome view

Sanskrit/Pāli: samyak-dṛṣṭi / sammā-diṭṭhi

First / ninth truth

Of those , right view is the forerunner [...] And what is the right view with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions? 'There is what is given, what is offered, what is sacrificed. There are fruits, and results of good and bad actions. There is this world and the next world. There is mother and father. There are spontaneously reborn beings; there are contemplatives and brahmans who faring rightly and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the next after having directly known and realized it for themselves.' This is the right view with effluents, siding with merit, resulting in acquisitions.


Wholesome resolve

Sanskrit/Pāli: samyak-saṃkalpa / sammā sankappa

Second / tenth truth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_Eightfold_Path#Right_resolve

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niyama - literally means positive duties or observances. In Indian traditions, particularly Yoga, niyamas are recommended activities and habits for healthy living, spiritual enlightenment and liberated state of existence. It has multiple meanings depending on context in Hinduism. In Buddhism, the term extends to the determinations of nature, as in the Buddhist niyama dhammas. In Pāli the spelling niyāma is often used.


Wholesome speech

Sanskrit/Pāli: samyag-vāc / sammā-vācā

Third truth



Wholesome action

Sanskrit/Pāli: samyak-karmānta / sammā-kammanta

Fourth truth


Wholesome livelihood

Sanskrit/Pāli: samyag-ājīva / sammā-ājīva

Fifth truth


Wholesome effort

Sanskrit/Pāli: samyag-vyāyāma / sammā-vāyāma

Sixth truth


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paritta - generally translated as "protection" or "safeguard," refers to the Buddhist practice of reciting certain verses and scriptures in order to ward off evil fortune or dangerous conditions, as well as to the specific verses and discourses recited as paritta texts. The practice of reciting or listening to the paritta suttas began very early in the history of Buddhism.

http://www.thlib.org/static/reprints/bot/bot_1989_02_03.pdf


Wholesome mindfulness (sati)

Seventh truth

See Meditation#Sati (mindfulness)


Wholesome stillness (samādhi)

Eighth truth

See Meditation#Samadhi (immersion)

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samādhi - also called samāpatti, in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and yogic schools refers to a state of meditative consciousness. It is a meditative absorption or trance, attained by the practice of dhyāna. In samādhi the mind becomes still. It is a state of being totally aware of the present moment; a one-pointedness of mind.

In Buddhism, it is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path.




"And what is right concentration? Herein a monk aloof from sense desires, aloof from unwholesome thoughts, attains to and abides in the first meditative absorption (jhana) which is detachment-born and accompanied by applied thought, sustained thought, joy, and bliss.

"By allaying applied and sustained thought he attains to, and abides in the second jhana which is inner tranquillity, which is unification (of the mind), devoid of applied and sustained thought, and which has joy and bliss.

"By detachment from joy he dwells in equanimity, mindful, and with clear comprehension and enjoys bliss in body, and attains to and abides in the third jhana which the noble ones (ariyas) call: 'Dwelling in equanimity, mindfulness, and bliss.'

"By giving up of bliss and suffering, by the disappearance already of joy and sorrow, he attains to, and abides in the fourth jhana, which is neither suffering nor bliss, and which is the purity of equanimity-mindfulness. This is called right concentration."


Dhyana (Sanskrit: ध्यान, Pali: झान) means "contemplation, reflection" and "profound, abstract meditation". The root of the word is Dhi, which in the earliest layer of text of the Vedas refers to "imaginative vision" and associated with goddess Saraswati with powers of knowledge, wisdom and poetic eloquence. This term developed into the variant dhya- and dhyana, or "meditation". Dhyana, states Thomas Berry, is "sustained attention" and the "application of mind to the chosen point of concentration". Dhyana is contemplating, reflecting on whatever Dharana has focused on.[14] If in the sixth limb of yoga one is concentrating on a personal deity, Dhyana is its contemplation. If the concentration was on one object, Dhyana is non-judgmental, non-presumptuous observation of that object. If the focus was on a concept/idea, Dhyana is contemplating that concept/idea in all its aspects, forms and consequences. Dhyana is uninterrupted train of thought, current of cognition, flow of awareness. A related term is nididhyāsana, the pondering over Upanishadic statements. It is a composite of three terms, namely dhyai, upasana ("dwelling upon"), and bhavana ("cultivating").


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samāpatti - Samāpatti stands for correct (samyag) acquisition (āpatti) of Truth. It is a form of alaukika-pratyakṣa (extraordinary perception) forming thus a legitimate part of the perceptual (pratyakṣa]] instruments of adequate knowledge (pramāṇa). In Buddhism, samapatti refers to the eight jhanas.

Twelve Nidānas

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Nidānas - "cause, foundation, source or origin", an application of the Buddhist concept of pratītyasamutpāda (dependent origination). They identify the origin of dukkha (suffering) to be in avijja (ignorance).
  1. Ignorance (Pali: Avijjā)
  2. Mental fermentations/volitions (Pali: Saṅkhāra Sanskrit: Saṃskāra)
  3. Status consciousness (Pali: Viññāṇa)
  4. "Name" and "Form" (Pali: Nāmarūpa)
  5. The six senses (Pali: Saḷāyatana)
  6. Contact (Pali: Phassa)
  7. Feelings (Pali: Vedanā)
  8. Cravings/longings/desires (Pali: Taṇhā)
  9. Clinging to (Pali: Upādāna)
  10. Generation of factors for rebirth (Pali: Bhava)
  11. Birth (Pali: Jāti)
  12. All the sufferings (Pali: Jarāmaraṇa)


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avidya_(Buddhism) - commonly translated as "ignorance" or "delusion". It can be defined as not understanding the full meaning and implication of the four noble truths or as a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of reality.

Ignorance (avijja) is actually identical in nature with the unwholesome root "delusion" (moha). When the Buddha speaks in a psychological context about mental factors, he generally uses the word "delusion"; when he speaks about the causal basis of samsara, he uses the word "ignorance" (avijja)

Avidyā is identified within the Buddhist teachings as follows:

  • The first link in the twelve links of dependent origination.
  • One of the three poisons within the Mahayana Buddhist tradition.
  • One of the six root kleshas within the Mahayana Abhidharma teachings
  • One of the ten fetters in the Theravada tradition
  • Equivalent to moha within the Theravada Abhidharma teachings
  • Within the context of the twelve links of dependent origination, avidya is typically symbolized by a person who is blind or wearing a blindfold.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saṅkhāra - or saṃskāra, is a term figuring prominently in the teaching of the Buddha. The word means 'that which has been put together' and 'that which puts together'. In the first (passive) sense, saṅkhāra refers to conditioned phenomena generally but specifically to all mental "dispositions". These are called 'volitional formations' both because they are formed as a result of volition and because they are causes for the arising of future volitional actions. English translations for saṅkhāra in the first sense of the word include 'conditioned things,' 'determinations,' 'fabrications' and 'formations' (or, particularly when referring to mental processes, 'volitional formations').
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vijñāna - translated as "consciousness," "life force," "mind, or "discernment." In the Pāli Canon's Sutta Pitaka's first four nikāyas, viññāṇa is one of three overlapping Pali terms used to refer to the mind, the others being manas and citta. Each is used in the generic and non-technical sense of "mind" in general, but the three are sometimes used in sequence to refer to one's mental processes as a whole.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namarupa - refer to constituent processes of the human being: nāma is typically considered to refer to psychological elements of the human person, while Rūpa refers to the physical. The Buddhist nāma and rūpa are mutually dependent, and not separable; as nāmarūpa, they designate an individual being. "And what [monks] is name-&-form? Feeling, perception, intention, contact, & attention: This is called name. The four great elements, and the form dependent on the four great elements: This is called form. This name & this form are, [monks], called name-&-form." Elsewhere in the Pali Canon, nāmarūpa is used synonymously with the five aggregates.
  1. Eye and Vision
  2. Ear and Hearing
  3. Nose and Olfaction
  4. Tongue and Taste
  5. Skin and Touch
  6. Mind and Thought
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparśa - translated as "contact", "touching", "sensation", "sense impression", etc. It is defined as the coming together of three factors: the sense organ, the sense object, and sense consciousness (vijnana).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vedanā - translated as either "feeling" or "sensation." In general, vedanā refers to the pleasant, unpleasant and neutral sensations that occur when our internal sense organs come into contact with external sense objects and the associated consciousness. craving for and attachment to vedanā leads to suffering; reciprocally, concentrated awareness and clear comprehension of vedanā can lead to Enlightenment and the extinction of the causes of suffering.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upādāna - the Sanskrit and Pāli word for "clinging," "attachment" or "grasping", although the literal meaning is "fuel." Upādāna and taṇhā are seen as the two primary causes of suffering. The cessation of clinging leads to Nirvana.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhava - 'status of being, a subjective becoming, states of mind', from भू bhū, 'to become', is often translated as 'feeling, emotion, mood, devotional state of mind'. In Buddhist thought, bhāva denotes the continuity of life and death, including reincarnation, and the maturation arising therefrom. In the bhakti traditions, bhāva denotes the mood of ecstasy, self-surrender, and channelling of emotional energies that is induced by the maturation of devotion to one's ishtadeva (object of devotion).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarāmaraṇa - Sanskrit and Pāli for "old age" (jarā) and "death" (maraṇa), associated with the inevitable end-of-life suffering of all beings prior to their rebirth within saṃsāra (cyclic existence).


Kleshas

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleshas_(Buddhism) - mental states that cloud the mind and manifest in unwholesome actions. Kleshas include states of mind such as anxiety, fear, anger, jealousy, desire, depression, etc. Contemporary translators use a variety of English words to translate the term kleshas, such as: afflictions, defilements, destructive emotions, disturbing emotions, negative emotions, mind poisons, etc. In the contemporary Mahayana and Theravada Buddhist traditions, the three kleshas of ignorance, attachment, and aversion are identified as the root or source of all other kleshas.
  • Ignorance, confusion, bewilderment, delusion - moha/avidyā
  • Attachment, desire, passion, greed - rāga/lobha
  • Aversion, anger, aggression, hatred - dveṣa/dosa
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moha_(Buddhism) - a fundamental ignorance of the nature of reality, and in Mahayana tradition, a dumbfounded state of not knowing what to do – a state of being deeply clouded, in which the mind is not clear

In the Mahayana tradition, the five main kleshas are referred to as the five poisons (Sanskrit: pañca kleśaviṣa; Tibetan-Wylie: dug lnga). The five poisons consist of the three poisons with two additional poisons: pride and jealousy.

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irshya - translated as "jealousy" or "envy". It is defined as a state of mind in which one is highly agitated to obtain wealth and honor for oneself, but unable to bear the excellence of others.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Māna - translated as "pride", "arrogance", or "conceit". It is defined as an inflated mind that makes whatever is suitable, such as wealth or learning, to be the foundation of pride. It creates the basis for disrespecting others and for the occurrence of suffering.

Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra lists approximately 50 kleshas.


Fetters

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fetter_(Buddhism) - mental chain or bond (Pāli: samyojana, saŋyojana, saññojana) shackles a sentient being to saṃsāra, the cycle of lives with dukkha. By cutting through all fetters, one attains nibbāna (Pali; Skt.: nirvāṇa).
  1. belief in a self (Pali: sakkāya-diṭṭhi)
  2. doubt or uncertainty, especially about the teachings (vicikicchā)
  3. attachment to rites and rituals (sīlabbata-parāmāsa)
  4. sensual desire (kāmacchando)
  5. ill will (vyāpādo or byāpādo)
  6. lust for material existence, lust for material rebirth (rūparāgo)
  7. lust for immaterial existence, lust for rebirth in a formless realm (arūparāgo)
  8. conceit (māna)
  9. restlessness (uddhacca)
  10. ignorance (avijjā)


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asava - Āsava is a Pali term (Sanskrit: Āśrava) translated as inflow, influx, influence; mental bias or canker, cankers that keep one bound to the world of samsāra; used particularly in Jainism and Buddhism.

According to De Silva: "The āsavas which are mentioned frequently are kāmāsava, bhavāsava, diṭṭhāsava and avijjāsava. Horner translates these as the cankers of sense-pleasure, becoming, false views and ignorance. The word canker suggests something that corrodes or corrupts slowly. These figurative meanings perhaps describe facets of the concept of āsava: kept long in storage, oozing out, taint, corroding, etc"


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha - or khandhas (Pāḷi), aggregates in English, are the five functions or aspects that constitute the sentient being: matter, sensation, perception, mental formations and consciousness. The Buddha teaches that nothing among them is really "I" or "mine". In the Theravada tradition, suffering arises when one identifies with or clings to an aggregate. Suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to aggregates. The Mahayana tradition further puts forth that ultimate freedom is realized by deeply penetrating the nature of all aggregates as intrinsically empty of independent existence.


Six temprements

  • Carita
  • Lustful temperament (raga carita)
  • Hateful temperament (dosa carita)
  • Ignorant temperament (moha carita)
  • Devout temperament (saddhā carita)
  • Intellectual temperament (buddhi carita)
  • Discursive temperament (vitakka carita).

Five hinderances

  • Sensory desire (kāmacchanda): the particular type of wanting that seeks for happiness through the five senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and physical feeling.
  • Ill-will (vyāpāda; also spelled byāpāda): all kinds of thought related to wanting to reject, feelings of hostility, resentment, hatred and bitterness.
  • Sloth-torpor (thīna-middha): heaviness of body and dullness of mind which drag one down into disabling inertia and thick depression.
  • Restlessness-worry (uddhacca-kukkucca): the inability to calm the mind.
  • Doubt (vicikicchā): lack of conviction or trust.


Samana

  • Pūraṇa Kassapa - Amoralism: denies any reward or punishment for either good or bad deeds.
  • Makkhali Gosāla Fatalism: we are powerless; suffering is pre-destined.
  • Ajita Kesakambalī Materialism: with death, all is annihilated.
  • Pakudha Kaccāyana Eternalism: Matter, pleasure, pain and the soul are eternal and do not interact.
  • Nigaṇṭha Nātaputta Restraint: be endowed with, cleansed by and suffused with the avoidance of all evil.
  • Sañjaya Belaṭṭhaputta Agnosticism: "I don't think so. I don't think in that way or otherwise. I don't think not or not not." Suspension of judgement.


Enlightenment

some there multiple fast and slow paths, steps and stages to /full/ enlightenment.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_enlightenment - in Theravada Buddhism are are Sotapanna, Sakadagami, Anāgāmi, and Arahat, four aspirants progressive stages culminating in full enlightenment. The Buddha referred to people who are at one of these four stages as noble people (ariya-puggala) and the community of such persons as the noble sangha (ariya-sangha). The teaching of the four stages of enlightenment is a central element of the early Buddhist schools, including the Theravada school of Buddhism, which still survives.


The 4 supermundane paths (magga) and the 4 supermundane fruitions (phala) of these paths, 4 pairs:

  1. The one realizing the path of Stream-winning (sotāpattimagga).
  2. The one realizing the fruition of Stream-winning (sotāpattiphala).
  3. The one realizing the path of Once-return (sakadāgāmimagga).
  4. The one realizing the fruition of Once-return (sakadāgāmiphala).
  5. The one realizing the path of Non-return (anāgāmimagga).
  6. The one realizing the fruition of Non-return (anāgāmiphala).
  7. The one realizing the path of Holiness (arahatta-magga).
  8. The one realizing the fruition of Holiness (arahatta-phala).


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sotāpanna - or "stream-winner" is a person who has eradicated the first three fetters (sanyojanas) of the mind, namely self-view (or identity), clinging to rites and rituals, and skeptical doubt.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakadagami - "returning once" or "once-returner," is a partially enlightened person, who has cut off the first three chains with which the ordinary mind is bound, and significantly weakened the fourth and fifth.


  • Sakkāya-diṭṭhi: Belief in atmān or self
  • Sīlabbata-parāmāsa: Attachment to rites and rituals
  • Vicikicchā: Skeptical doubt
  • Kāma-rāga: Sensuous craving
  • Byāpāda: ill will

The fetters from which an anāgāmi is not yet free are:

  • Rūparāga: Craving for fine-material existence (the first 4 jhanas)
  • Arūparāga: Craving for immaterial existence (the last 4 jhanas)
  • Māna: Conceit
  • Uddhacca: Restlessness
  • Avijjā: Ignorance

Kāmarāga and Byāpāda, which they are free from, can also be interpreted as craving for becoming and non-becoming, respectively. Anāgāmis are at an intermediate stage between sakadagamis and arahants. Arahants enjoy complete freedom from the ten fetters. An anāgāmi's mind is very pure.


"This paradigm shift can take place only by letting go of all attachments to objects of experience, the subjectively experienced "self", and all relationships, through depersonalization. This paradigm shift is the freedom from the experience of existence, and all the suffering accompanying it. This is called the "cessation of existence" (bhava nirodha). When this happens, all sufferings, fears, worries and anxieties come to an end. This is NIBBANA, which has been defined by the Buddha as "the cessation of existence" (bhava nirodho nibbanam).

"This cessation of existence is not a death but the freedom from the dream of existence, which is an awakening to the reality of "impersonal experience". Therefore Nibbana (Nirvana) is the experience of the ultimate reality of impersonal experience. This idea may be confusing at the beginning, but it becomes clearer as one advances in meditation."


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arhat - a "perfected person" who has attained nirvana. In other Buddhist traditions the term has also been used for people far advanced along the path of Enlightenment, but who may not have reached full Buddhahood. Mahāyāna Buddhists are urged to take up the path of a bodhisattva, and to not fall back to the level of arhats and śrāvakas. The arhats, or at least the senior arhats, came to be widely regarded as "moving beyond the state of personal freedom to join the Bodhisattva enterprise in their own way".



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhi - the understanding possessed by a Buddha regarding the true nature of things. It is traditionally translated into English with the word enlightenment, although its literal meaning is closer to "awakening." The verbal root "budh" means to awaken. Bodhi is presented in the Nikayas as knowledge of the causal mechanism by which beings incarnate into material form and experience suffering. Although its most common usage is in the context of Buddhism, the term buddhi is also used in other Indian philosophies and traditions.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhisattva - an enlightenment (bodhi) being (sattva). Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings.


Seven Factors of Enlightenment

  • Mindfulness (sati) i.e. to recognize the dhammas (phenomena or reality, two ways one can translate "dhamma").
  • Investigation (dhamma vicaya) of dhammas.
  • Energy (viriya) also determination
  • Joy or rapture (pīti)
  • Relaxation or tranquility (passaddhi) of both body and mind
  • Concentration (samādhi) a calm, one-pointed state of concentration of mind
  • Equanimity (upekkha), to be fully aware of all phenomena without being lustful or averse towards them.

Practice


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gradual_training - The Buddha sometimes described the practice (patipatti) of his teaching as the gradual training (Pali: anupubbasikkhā) because the eightfold path involves a process of mind-body transformation that unfolds over a sometimes lengthy period.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anupubbikathā - In Theravada Buddhism, anupubbikathā or ānupubbikathā (Pali) – variously translated as "gradual discourse," "gradual instruction," "progressive instruction," and "step-by-step talk" – is a method by which the Buddha taught the Dhamma to suitably receptive lay people. In this approach, the Four Noble Truths are the consummate teaching. The common formula is: Generosity (dāna), Virtue (sīla), Heaven (sagga), Danger of sensual pleasure (kāmānaṃ ādīnava), Renunciation (nekkhamma), The Four Noble Truths (cattāri ariya-saccāni)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upaya - "expedient means", "pedagogy", term used in Mahayana Buddhism to refer to an aspect of guidance along the Buddhist Paths to liberation where a conscious, voluntary action is driven by an incomplete reasoning around its direction.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pariṇāmanā Devanāgarī: "transformation; bringing to full development". Tibetan: bsngo ba, "dedication". Sanskrit: Pariṇāmana, "bringing to full development" and "turning of things destined for the community", or a kind of worship (to Amitābha's merit), or "changing into", "transformation" or "concluding", may be rendered in English as "merit transference" though in common parlance it is rendered as "dedication". The Pariṇāmanā or 'dedication' is a standard part of Buddhist spiritual discipline or practice where the practitioner's accumulation of merit (Sanskrit puṇya) is transferred to all sentient beings.

Three Jewels

  • the Buddha
  • the Dharma, the teachings;
  • the Sangha.


Five Precepts

"There are these five gifts, five great gifts — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that are not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and are unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & brahmans. Which five?

  1. I undertake the training rule to abstain from killing. Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
  2. I undertake the training rule to abstain from taking what is not given. Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
  3. I undertake the training rule to avoid sexual misconduct. Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
  4. I undertake the training rule to abstain from false speech. Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.
  5. I undertake the training rule to abstain from misconduct through intoxication.

"There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, abandoning and abstaining, in doing so, gives freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings. In giving freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, freedom from oppression to limitless numbers of beings, he gains a share in limitless freedom from danger, freedom from animosity, and freedom from oppression. This is the first gift, the first great gift — original, long-standing, traditional, ancient, unadulterated, unadulterated from the beginning — that is not open to suspicion, will never be open to suspicion, and is unfaulted by knowledgeable contemplatives & brahmans...


Pāramitā

In the Pāli canon's Buddhavaṃsa the Ten Perfections (dasa pāramiyo) are (original terms in Pāli):

  1. Dāna pāramī : generosity, giving of oneself
  2. Sīla pāramī : virtue, morality, proper conduct
  3. Nekkhamma pāramī : renunciation
  4. Paññā pāramī : transcendental wisdom, insight
  5. Viriya (also spelled vīriya) pāramī : energy, diligence, vigour, effort
  6. Khanti pāramī : patience, tolerance, forbearance, acceptance, endurance
  7. Sacca pāramī : truthfulness, honesty
  8. Adhiṭṭhāna (adhitthana) pāramī : determination, resolution
  9. Mettā pāramī : loving-kindness
  10. Upekkhā (also spelled upekhā) pāramī : equanimity, serenity


Brahmavihara

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahmavihara - (sublime attitudes, lit. "abodes of brahma") are a series of four Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables (Sanskrit: apramāṇa, Pāli: appamaññā). It contains a number of recollections or recitations that promote the development of mettā through virtuous characteristics and meditation. The discourse identifies fifteen moral qualities and conditions conducive to the development of mettā. These include such qualities as being non-deceptive (uju), sincere (suju), easy to correct (suvaco), gentle (mudu) and without arrogance (anatimānī).

The meditator is instructed to radiate out to all beings in all directions the mental states of:

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mettā - loving-kindness or benevolence
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karuṇā - compassion
  3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudita - empathetic joy / compersion
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upekkha - equanimity


Satipatthana

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satipatthana - the Pāli word for the Buddhist concept of the foundations of mindfulness. The corresponding word in Sanskrit (Skt.) is smṛtyupasthāna and in Chinese it is ‘mindfulness-place’ (念處).

The four foundations of mindfulness (Pāli cattāro satipaṭṭhānā) are four practices set out in the Satipatthana Sutta for attaining and maintaining moment-by-moment mindfulness and are fundamental techniques in Buddhist meditation.

The four foundations of mindfulness are:

  • mindfulness of the body;
  • mindfulness of feelings or sensations (vedanā);
  • mindfulness of mind or consciousness (citta); and
  • mindfulness of mental phenomena or mental objects (dhammā).

The Buddha referred to the four foundations for establishing mindfulness as a "direct" or "one-way path" to the realisation of nirvana. These practices continue to be recognized, taught, and practiced as key techniques for achieving the benefits of mindfulness, especially in modern Theravadan Buddhism and in the Vipassana or Insight Meditation Movement.


Four Right Exertions


Four Bases

  • Intention or purpose or desire or zeal (chanda)
  • Effort or energy or will (viriya)
  • Consciousness or mind or thoughts (citta)
  • Investigation or discrimination (vīmaṃsā)


Five Faculties

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indriya - the Sanskrit and Pali term for physical strength or ability in general, and for the five senses more specifically. In Buddhism, the term refers to multiple intrapsychic processes and is generally translated as "faculty" or, in specific contexts, as "spiritual faculty" or "controlling principle." The term literally means "belonging to Indra," chief deity in the Rig Veda and lord of Tāvatiṃsa heaven, hence connoting supremacy, dominance and control, attested in the general meaning of "power, strength" from the Rigveda.

In Buddhism, depending on the context, indriya traditionally refers to one of the following groups of faculties: the 5 spiritual faculties the 5 or 6 sensory faculties the 22 phenomenological faculties


Five Strengths

  • Faith (saddha) - controls doubt
  • Energy/Effort/Persistence (viriya) – controls laziness
  • Mindfulness (sati); - controls heedlessness
  • Concentration (samādhi) - controls distraction
  • Wisdom/Discernment (pañña, prajña) – controls ignorance

Early

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Buddhism - can refer to two distinct periods: Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the Teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by Gautama Buddha. The Early Buddhist schools, into which pre-sectarian Buddhism split (without formal schisms, in the sense of Vinaya).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikaya_Buddhism - coined by Dr. Masatoshi Nagatomi, in order to find a more acceptable (less derogatory) term than Hinayana to refer to the early Buddhist schools. Examples of these schools are pre-sectarian Buddhism and the early Buddhist schools. Some scholars use the term as excluding pre-sectarian Buddhism.


Schools

  • "vāda" - holding the semantic field: "doctrine", "teachings"






Under the influence of materials from the Theravāda school, some western historians have tended to see the Mahāsāṃghikas as a lax, breakaway group. However, the account by the Mahāsāṃghika school itself saw the Sthaviras as being the breakaway group which was attempting to modify the original Vinaya.


There was a conflict in the Sangha that was resolved by the expulsion of corrupt monks by Aśoka together with the Elder Moggaliputtatissa, following which the ‘Third Council’ was held to reaffirm communal identity. Subsequently Moggaliputtatissa organized the sending out of ‘missionaries’ to various parts of India. The main purpose of this narrative is to establish the credentials of the Sinhalese school.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_Buddhist_council - was convened in about 250 BCE at Asokarama in Pataliputra, supposedly under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka. This is however disputed, as mention of the council never appears in the Edicts of Ashoka. The traditional reason for convening the Third Buddhist Council is reported to have been to rid the Sangha of corruption and bogus monks who held heretical views. It was presided over by the elder monk Moggaliputta-Tissa and one thousand monks participated in the Council. The council is recognized and known to both the Theravada and Mahayana schools, though its importance is central only to the Theravada.

So it was that in the seventeenth year of the Emperor's reign the Third Council was called. Thera Moggaliputta Tissa headed the proceedings and chose one thousand monks from the sixty thousand participants for the traditional recitation of the Dhamma and the Vinaya, which went on for nine months. The Emperor himself questioned monks from a number of monasteries about the teachings of the Buddha. Those who held wrong views were exposed and expelled from the Sangha immediately. In this way the Bhikkhu Sangha was purged of heretics and bogus bhikkhus.

According to the Pali and Chinese accounts, the Elder Moggaliputta Tissa, in order to refute a number of heresies and ensure the Dhamma was kept pure, compiled a book during the council called the Kathavatthu. This book consists of twenty-three chapters, and is a collection of discussions on the points of controversy. It gives refutations of the 'heretical' views held by various Buddhist sects on matters philosophical. The Kathavatthu is the fifth of the seven books of the Abhidhamma Pitaka. However, the historicity of this has been questioned, as the account preserved in the San Jian Lu Pi Po Sho (Sudassanavinayavibhasha), although otherwise almost identical, does not mention the Kathavatthu.

Moggaliputtatissa told Ashoka that the doctrine taught by the Buddha was the Vibhajjavada, the Doctrine of Analysis. This term is used in various senses, and it is not clear exactly what it meant in this context. Traditionally, however, the Sri Lankan Theravadins and other mainland schools of Early Buddhism identified themselves as Vibhajjavada.


Mahāsāṃghika

  • Mahāsāṃghika - "of the Great Sangha"
    • Lokottaravada - likely that the Lokottaravādins had no major doctrinal distinctions to distinguish them as different from Mahāsāṃghika, but that the difference was instead a geographic one.
    • Ekavyāvahārika - ‘one utterance’ or ‘one designation’. thought to have separated from the Mahāsāṃghika sect during the reign of Aśoka.
    • Kukkuṭika - believed to have split from the main Mahāsāṃghika sect during the reign of Aśoka utilising early Buddha chronology, and the late 2nd century BCE utilising late Buddha chronology.
      • Bahuśrutīya - literally "those who have heard much," meaning "well-learned." The translator Paramārtha wrote that the Bahuśrutīyas accepted both the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna teachings. According to Paramārtha, the Bahuśrutīya school was formed in order to fully embrace both "conventional truth" and "ultimate truth."
      • Prajñaptivāda - aka Bahuśrutīya-Vibhajyavādins
    • Caitika - proliferated throughout the mountains of South India, from which they derived their name. subsects grouped as the "Andhakas" (meaning "of Coastal Andhra".)
      • Aparaśailas and Uttaraśailas (also called Pūrvaśailas)
      • Rājagirikas and Siddhārthikas
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lokottaravada - likely that the Lokottaravādins had no major doctrinal distinctions to distinguish them as different from Mahāsāṃghika, but that the difference was instead a geographic one.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kukkuṭika - believed to have split from the main Mahāsāṃghika sect during the reign of Aśoka utilising early Buddha chronology, and the late 2nd century BCE utilising late Buddha chronology.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahuśrutīya - literally "those who have heard much," meaning "well-learned." The translator Paramārtha wrote that the Bahuśrutīyas accepted both the Hīnayāna and Mahāyāna teachings. According to Paramārtha, the Bahuśrutīya school was formed in order to fully embrace both "conventional truth" and "ultimate truth."



Sthavira nikāya

  • Sthavira nikāya - "Sect of the Elders"
  • Haimavata - referred to by Sarvāstivādins as "the original Sthavira School", but this school was only influential in the north of India.
  • Sarvastivada - held to the existence of all dharmas in the past, present and future, the "three times"
    • Vaibhāṣika - orthodox Sarvāstivāda branch of Kasmiri, Asoka missionary Majjhantika
    • Sautrāntika - "those who uphold the sūtras."
  • Vibhajyavāda grouping
    • Kāśyapīya - believed to be derived from Kāśyapa, one of the original missionaries sent by King Ashoka to the Himavant country. described as an eclectic school upholding doctrines of both the Sthaviras and the Mahāsāṃghikas. an offshoot of the Sarvāstivāda or Vibhajyavādins.
    • Mahīśāsaka - Asoka missionary Mahādeva, Based on present knowledge of its Abhidharma doctrines, sometimes considered to be a mainland Indian parent school linked to Sri Lankan Theravāda.
      • Dharmaguptaka - Asoka missionary Yonaka Dhammarakkhita (Greek), one of three surviving Vinaya lineages. understanding of the Buddha as separate from the Sangha so that his teaching is superior to the one given by arhats.
    • Mahāvihāra - Aśoka's son Mahinda and daughter bhikkhuni Saṅghamittā, ‘Dwellers in the Great Monastery’, Vibhajyavāda sect established in Sri Lanka (Tāmraparṇīya - Sinhalese/Sri Lankan lineage)
      • Theravada
    • Mulasarvastivada - probably originated in Mathura


  • Vātsīputrīya - Pudgalavada grouping
    • Dharmottarīya - Third schism
    • Bhadrayānīya - Third schism
    • Saṃmitīya - Third schism
    • Sannāgarika - Third schism

During and after the third council, elements of the Sthavira group called themselves Vibhajjavādins. One part of this group was transmitted to Sri Lanka and to certain areas of southern India, such as Vanavasi in the south-west and the Kañci region in the south-east. This group later ceased to refer to themselves specifically as "Vibhajjavādins", but reverted to calling themselves "Theriyas", after the earlier Theras (Sthaviras). Still later, at some point prior to the Dipavamsa (4th century), the Pali name Theravāda was adopted and has remained in use ever since for this group.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarvastivada - whose main innovations were literary, the compilation of the large Vinaya and the Saddharmasmṛtyupasthāna Sūtra, which kept the early doctrines but brought the style up to date with contemporary literary developments.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abhidharma-kosa - 'Verses on the Treasury of Abhidharma' is a key text on the Abhidharma written in Sanskrit verse by Vasubandhu in the 4th or 5th century. It summarizes the Sarvāstivādin tenets in eight chapters with a total of around 600 verses.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sautrāntika - Sarvāstivādin subschool, "those who rely upon the sutras", and indicated their rejection of the Abhidharma texts of other early Buddhist schools. also known as the Dārṣṭāntika ("those who utilize the method of examples") school (possibly a pejorative term). Western branch of the Sarvāstivādins, active in the Gandhara area.

The Sautrāntika differed from their parent school, the Sarvāstivādins on matters of ontology. While the Sarvāstivādin abhidharma described a complex system in which past, present, and future phenomena are all held to have some form of their own existence, the Sautrāntika subscribed to a doctrine of "extreme momentariness" that held that only the present moment existed. They seem to have regarded the Sarvāstivādin position as a violation of the basic Buddhist principle of impermanence). The Sarvāstivādin abhidharma also broke down human experience in terms of a variety of underlying phenomena (a view similar to that held by the modern Theravadin abhidhamma); the Sautrāntika believed that experience could not be differentiated in this manner.

They used the concept of an āśraya (substrate, refuge) to explain the continuity of consciousness through rebirth, whereas the Pudgalavādins and Vātsiputrīyins posited a pudgala (a 'personal entity' distinct from the five skandha), and where non-Buddhist Indian philosophy typically referred to an ātman.[citation needed] Vasubandhu, one of the Indian monastic scholars primarily responsible for articulating the doctrines of the Yogācāra school, was sympathetic to the Sautrāntika on many doctrinal issues, and wrote critiques of the Vaibhāṣika tradition from a Sautrāntika perspective.

No separate monastic code specific to the Sautrāntika has been found, nor is the existence of any such separate disciplinary code evidenced in other texts; this indicates that they were likely only a doctrinal division within the Sarvāstivādin school.



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibhajyavāda - "doctrine of analysis" grouping. The Vibhajyavādins are a group of early Buddhist schools, who rejected the Sarvastivada teachings at the third Buddhist council (ca. 250 BCE). The name means "those who make distinctions," and include the Kāśyapīya, Mahīśāsaka and Dharmaguptaka. The Vibhajyavādins were strongly represented in south India, where they called themselves Theravada. They survived until the seventeenth century in south India, and are still extinct at Sri Lanka.

The Vibhajyavādins rejected the Sarvastivada claim that all dhammas exist in the past, present and future. Instead, they made a distinction between dhammas that "exist" and dhammas that do not exist, hence the name "distinctionists." Their standpoints were formulated by Moggaliputtatissa in the Kathavatthu, which belongs to the Pali Canon. The Vibhajyavādins are not recorded uniformly by early Buddhist traditions as being a distinct sect, nor being associated with any one period of time. Some scholars believe that there was no separate "Vibhajyavāda" sect, but that the term vibhajyavāda was sometimes affixed to the name of a school to indicate that it differed from the main school on some doctrines. In this sense, they would be vibhajyavādins of that particular school.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kāśyapīya - believed to be derived from Kāśyapa, one of the original missionaries sent by King Ashoka to the Himavant country. described as an eclectic school upholding doctrines of both the Sthaviras and the Mahāsāṃghikas. an offshoot of the Sarvāstivāda or Vibhajyavādins.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahīśāsaka - Vibhajyavāda, thought to have first originated in the Avanti region of India. The Mahīśāsaka sect held that everything exists, but only in the present. They also regarded a gift to the Saṃgha as being more meritorious than one given to the Buddha.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharmaguptaka - one of three surviving Vinaya lineages. understanding of the Buddha as separate from the Sangha so that his teaching is superior to the one given by arhats. Dharmaguptaka Tripiṭaka is said to have contained a total of five piṭakas. These included a Bodhisattva Piṭaka and a Mantra Piṭaka (Ch. 咒藏), also sometimes called a Dhāraṇī Piṭaka.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulasarvastivada - maybe created from Sautrāntika. The Tibetan Emperor Ralpacan restricted Buddhist ordination to the Mūlasarvāstivādin vinaya. As Mongolian Buddhism was introduced from Tibet, Mongolian ordination follows this rule as well. The Mūlasarvāstivāda Vinaya is extant in Tibetan (9th century translation) and Chinese (8th century translation), and to some extent in the original Sanskrit.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theravada - (Pali, literally "school of the elder monks") is a branch of Buddhism that uses the teaching of the Pāli Canon, a collection of the oldest recorded Buddhist texts, as its doctrinal core, but also includes a rich diversity of traditions and practices that have developed over its long history of interactions with various cultures and communities. It is the dominant form of religion in Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Burma, and is practiced by minority groups in Vietnam, Bangladesh, and China. In addition, the diaspora of all of these groups as well as converts around the world practice Theravāda Buddhism.

Theravadin accounts of its own origins mention that it received the teachings that were agreed upon during the putative Third Buddhist council under the patronage of the Indian Emperor Ashoka around 250 BCE. These teachings were known as the Vibhajjavada. Emperor Ashoka is supposed to have assisted in purifying the sangha by expelling monks who failed to agree to the terms of Third Council. Later, the Vibhajjavādins in turn is said to have split into four groups: the Mahīśāsaka, Kāśyapīya, Dharmaguptaka, and the Tāmraparṇīya.


"One camp refused to rank the concept of person as a truth on the ultimate level. This group inspired what eventually became the classic Theravada position on this issue: that the "person" was simply a conventional designation for the five aggregates. However, the other camp — who developed into the Pudgalavadin (Personalist) school — said that the person was neither a ultimate truth nor a mere conventional designation, neither identical with nor totally separate from the five aggregates. This special meaning of person, they said, was required to account for three things: the cohesion of a person's identity in this lifetime (one person's memories, for instance, cannot become another person's memories); the unitary nature of rebirth (one person cannot be reborn in several places at once); and the fact that, with the cessation of the khandhas at the death of an arahant, he/she is said to attain the Further Shore. However, after that moment, they said, nothing further could be said about the person, for that was as far as the concept's descriptive powers could go.

As might be imagined, the first group accused the second group of denying the concept of anatta, or not-self; whereas the second group accused the first of being unable to account for the truths that they said their concept of person explained. Both groups, however, found that their positions entangled them in philosophical difficulties that have never been successfully resolved."


Later


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Buddhist_council - the name of two separate Buddhist council meetings. The first one was held in the 1st century BC, in Sri Lanka. In this fourth Buddhist council the Theravadin Pali Canon was for the first time committed to writing, on palm leaves. The second one was held by the Sarvastivada school, in Kashmir around the 1st century AD.




  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Buddhist_Sangha_Council - an international non-government organisation (NGO) whose objectives are to develop the exchanges of the Buddhist religious and monastic communities of the different traditions worldwide, and help to carry out activities for the transmission of Buddhism. It was founded in Colombo, Sri Lanka in May 1966.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_points_unifying_Theravāda_and_Mahāyāna - an important Buddhist ecumenical statement created in 1967 during the First Congress of the World Buddhist Sangha Council (WBSC), where its founder Secretary-General, the late Venerable Pandita Pimbure Sorata Thera, requested the Ven. Walpola Rahula to present a concise formula for the unification of all the different Buddhist traditions. This text was then unanimously approved by the Council.

Yanas

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yana_(Buddhism) - refers to a mode, method or approach to spiritual practice in Buddhism, and in particular to divisions of various schools of Buddhism according to their type of practice in relation to the realization of emptiness.




  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutrayana - Indo-Tibetan three-fold classification of yanas. Theravada ("Hinayana"), Mahayana, and Vajrayana. The third yana, Vajrayana, comprises Tantrayana and Dzogchen.
Hinayana
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinayana - is a Sanskrit term literally meaning: the "Smaller Vehicle", applied to the Śrāvakayāna, the Buddhist path followed by a śrāvaka who wishes to become an arhat. The term appeared around the 1st or 2nd century. Hīnayāna is often contrasted with Mahāyāna, which means the "Great Vehicle." The Hinayana or Small Vehicle is defined by Kalu Rinpoche as follows: "The Small Vehicle is based on becoming aware of the fact that all we experience in samsara is marked by suffering. Being aware of this engenders the will to rid ourselves of this suffering, to liberate ourselves on an individual level, and to attain happiness. We are moved by our own interest. Renunciation and perseverance allow us to attain our goal." The Chinese monk Yijing who visited India in the 7th century, distinguishes Mahāyāna from Hīnayāna as follows: Both adopt one and the same Vinaya, and they have in common the prohibitions of the five offenses, and also the practice of the Four Noble Truths. Those who venerate the bodhisattvas and read the Mahāyāna sūtras are called the Mahāyānists, while those who do not perform these are called the Hīnayānists.

Maha Stupa at Thotlakonda Monastic Complex initially flourished as an early Buddhist school of Hinayana and later developed as one among the Theravada Schools of Buddhism, which witnessed peak activity during 2nd Century BCE, in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India. The term was widely used in the past by Western scholars to cover "the earliest system of Buddhist doctrine" as the Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford, 1899) put it. It has been used as a synonym for the Theravada tradition, which continues as the main form of Buddhism in Sri Lanka and South-East Asia, but some scholars deny that the term included Theravada Buddhism. In 1950 the World Fellowship of Buddhists declared that the term Hīnayana should not be used when referring to any form of Buddhism existing today.

Śrāvakayāna
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Śrāvakayāna - one of the three yānas known to Indian Buddhism. It translates literally as the "vehicle of listeners [i.e. disciples]". Historically it was the most common term used by Mahāyāna Buddhist texts to describe one hypothetical path to enlightenment. Śrāvakayāna is the path that meets the goals of an Arhat—an individual who achieves liberation as a result of listening to the teachings (or lineage) of a Samyaksaṃbuddha.


Pratyekabuddhayāna
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratyekabuddhayāna - refers to the path, or vehicle, of a pratyekabuddha ("solitary awakened one", pra(tye)- of pra(na), eka-one, buddha-enlightened). This term was used in Indian Buddhism by early Buddhist schools, and is also used by the Mahāyāna tradition.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratyekabuddha - literally "a lone buddha", "a buddha on their own" or "a private buddha", is one of three types of enlightened beings according to some schools of Buddhism. The other two types are arhats and Sammāsambuddhas (Sanskrit samyaksambuddhas).
Mahayana
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayana - originated in India, and some scholars believe that it was initially associated with one of the oldest historical branches of Buddhism, the Mahāsāṃghika. The largest school of Buddhism today.


Mahāyāna ("Great Vehicle") was originally an honorary synonym for Bodhisattvayāna ("Bodhisattva Vehicle") — the vehicle of a bodhisattva seeking buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. The term Mahāyāna was therefore formed independently at an early date as a synonym for the path and the teachings of the bodhisattvas. Since it was simply an honorary term for Bodhisattvayāna, the creation of the term Mahāyāna and its application to Bodhisattvayāna did not represent a significant turning point in the development of a Mahāyāna tradition.

The earliest Mahāyāna texts often use the term Mahāyāna as a synonym for Bodhisattvayāna, but the term Hīnayāna is comparatively rare in the earliest sources. The presumed dichotomy between Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna can be deceptive, as the two terms were not actually formed in relation to one another in the same era.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajnaparamita - means "the Perfection of (Transcendent) Wisdom.", indispensable elements of the Bodhisattva Path, elucidated and described in the genre of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, which vary widely in length and exhaustiveness. The Prajñāpāramitā sūtras suggest that all things including oneself, appear as thoughtforms (conceptual constructs)
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatamsaka_Sutra - one of the most influential Mahayana sutras of East Asian Buddhism. The title is rendered in English as Flower Garland Sutra, Flower Adornment Sutra, or Flower Ornament Scripture. describes a cosmos of infinite realms upon realms, mutually containing one another. The vision expressed in this work was the foundation for the creation of the Huayan school of Chinese Buddhism, which was characterized by a philosophy of interpenetration.




  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Sutra - Saddharma Puṇḍarīka Sūtra, one of the most popular and influential Mahāyāna sūtras, and the basis on which the Tiantai and Nichiren schools of Buddhism were established.


Bodhisattva
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhūmi_(Buddhism) - the ten stages on the Mahayana bodhisattva's path of awakening. The Sanskrit term bhūmi literally means "ground" or "foundation". Each stage represents a level of attainment, and serves as a basis for the next one. Each level marks a definite advancement in one's training, that is accompanied by progressively greater power and wisdom.

Mantrayana

The particular lineage in Indonesia is referred to as Mantranaya ("Mantra Path"). Mantranaya is historically designated and evident in the oldest extant Old Javanese esoteric Buddhist literature. Mantranaya is an extension of Mahayana Buddhism consisting of differences in the adoption of additional techniques (upaya, or 'skillful means') rather than in philosophy. Some of these upāya are esoteric practices which must be initiated and transmitted esoterically only through a skilled spiritual teacher.

The third period began, according to Conze, in about the 7th century, to take centre stage and become a vehicle for salvation in their own right. Tantra started to gain momentum in the 6th and 7th century, with specifically Buddhist forms appearing as early as 300CE. Mantrayana was an early name for the what is now more commonly known as Vajrayana, which gives us a hint as to the place of mantra in Indo-Tibetan Buddhism. The aim of Vajrayana practice is to give the practitioner a direct experience of reality, of things as they really are. Mantras function as symbols of that reality, and different mantras are different aspects of that reality – for example wisdom or compassion. Mantras are often associated with a particular deity, one famous exception being the Prajnaparamita mantra associated with the Heart Sutra. One of the key Vajrayana strategies for bringing about a direct experience of reality is to engage the entire psycho-physical organism in the practices. In one Buddhist analysis the person consists of 'body, speech and mind' (refer: Three Vajra). So a typical sadhana or meditation practice might include mudras, or symbolic hand gestures; the recitations of mantras; as well as the visualisation of celestial beings and visualising the letters of the mantra which is being recited. Clearly here mantra is associated with speech. The meditator may visualise the letters in front of themselves, or within their body. They may be pronounced out loud, or internally in the mind only.

Vajrayana

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajrayana - also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Way or Thunderbolt Way. The Lama and the Guru yoga are central in this system. Vajrayāna is a complex and multifaceted system of Buddhist thought and practice which evolved over several centuries. According to Vajrayāna scriptures, the term Vajrayāna refers to one of three vehicles or routes to enlightenment, the other two being the Śrāvakayāna (also known as the Hīnayāna) and Mahāyāna. Note that Hinayāna (or Nikaya) is not to be confused with Theravada (a practice lineage), although it is sometimes equated to it.

Founded by Indian Mahāsiddhas, Vajrayāna subscribes to Buddhist tantric literature.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vajra#In_Vajrayana_Buddhism - the vajra is the symbol of Vajrayana, one of the three major branches of Buddhism. Vajrayana is translated as "Thunderbolt Way"] or "Diamond Way" and can imply the thunderbolt experience of Buddhist enlightenment or bodhi. It also implies indestructibility, just as diamonds are harder than other gemstones. In Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana) the vajra and ghanta (bell) are used in many rites by a lama or any Vajrayana practitioner of sadhana. The vajra is a male polysemic symbol that represents many things for the tantrika. The vajra is representative of upaya (skilful means) whereas its companion tool, the bell which is a female symbol, denotes prajna (wisdom). Some deities are shown holding each the vajra and bell in separate hands, symbolizing the union of the forces of compassion and wisdom, respectively.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Vajras - namely "body, speech and mind", are a formulation within Vajrayana Buddhism and Bon that hold the full experience of the śūnyatā "emptiness" of Buddha-nature, void of all qualities (Wylie: yon tan) and marks (Wylie: mtshan dpe) and establish a sound experiential key upon the continuum of the path to enlightenment. The Three Vajras correspond to the trikaya and therefore also have correspondences to the Three Roots and other refuge formulas of Tibetan Buddhism. The Three Vajras are viewed in twilight language as a form of the Three Jewels, which imply purity of action, speech and thought.

The Three Vajras are often mentioned in Vajrayana discourse, particularly in relation to samaya, the vows undertaken between a practitioner and their guru during empowerment. The term is also used during Anuttarayoga Tantra practice. In Tendai and Shingon Buddhism of Japan, they are known as the Three Mysteries (三密 sanmitsu?).


Tantrayana

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantra - Many tantric traditions developed within Buddhism, over its history in South Asia and East Asia. These are also called the Vajrayana traditions. The tradition has been particularly prevalent in Tibet and Nepal. The Buddhist Tantric practices and texts, states Jacob Dalton, developed between 5th to 7th century CE and this is evidenced by Chinese Buddhist translations of Indian texts from that period preserved in Dunhuang. Ryan Overbey too affirms this, stating that Buddhist Tantric spells and ritual texts were translated by Chinese Buddhist scholars six times and these spells appear in multiple texts between 5th and 8th century CE.

According to Alexis Sanderson, various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and Saivism. The Mañjusrimulakalpa, which later came to classified under Kriyatantra, states that mantras taught in the Shaiva, Garuda and Vaishnava tantras will be effective if applied by Buddhists since they were all taught originally by Manjushri. The Guhyasiddhi of Padmavajra, a work associated with the Guhyasamaja tradition, prescribes acting as a Shaiva guru and initiating members into Saiva Siddhanta scriptures and mandalas. The Samvara tantra texts adopted the pitha list from the Shaiva text Tantrasadbhava, introducing a copying error where a deity was mistaken for a place.



Fourfold division - The best-known classification is by the Gelug, Sakya, and Kagyu schools, the so-called Sarma or New Translation schools of Tibetan Buddhism. They divide the Tantras into four hierarchical categories:

  • Kriyayoga, action tantra, which emphasizes ritual;
  • Charyayoga, performance tantra, which emphasizes meditation;
  • Yogatantra, yoga tantra;
  • Anuttarayogatantra, highest yoga tantra, which is further divided into "mother", "father" and "non-dual" tantras.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outer_Tantras - the second three divisions in the ninefold division of practice according to the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism. This system divides the whole of the Buddhist path into three divisions of three and is in contrast to the division of the Sarma, or New Translation schools (Gelug, Kagyu and Sakya) which use a fourfold division. The three divisions of the Outer Tantra correspond to the lower three category of tantras of the New Translation (Sarma) schools.


The three divisions of the Outer Tantras are:

  • Kriyatantra or kriyayoga- the first of the outer tantras, and places a special emphasis on ritual actions, such as ritual bathing, and ritual 'magic' to perform rites of pacification, increase and wrath. The empowerments required are the simple vase empowerment and crown empowerment. The emphasis of this level of tantra is on obtaining the siddhis, which are then used for the benefit of all beings, causing the accumulation of merit.

The deities of kriyayoga are split into 3 families;

  • The highest Tathagata (buddha) family,
  • The middling Padma (lotus) family,
  • The lowest Vajra (thunderbolt) family.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charya_tantra_yana - Charyayoga or Upayoga (in Nyingma), Upa tantra, or Ubhaya tantra is a yana (literally "vehicle") of Esoteric Buddhism-though there is debate about whether it is considered to be buddhism, and as such is both a class of tantric literature and of praxis. The yana of Charya or ‘conduct’ tantra is given this name because it demonstrates a balanced emphasis on the outer ritual actions and ablutions of body and speech and the inner cultivation of intentionality and mindfulness. Hence, outer and inner conduct. The Charya tantra is enumerated as one of the three Outer Tantras in both the four-tantric-yanas classification scheme of the Sarma, or 'New Translation Schools' and the nine-yana classification of the Nyingma, 'Ancient Translation School'.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogatantra - emphasizes the inner yoga meditation of method and wisdom; or alternatively, because based on knowledge and understanding of all aspects of the profound ultimate truth and the vast relative truth, it emphasizes contemplation that inseparably unites these two truths.



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahayoga - one visualizes oneself as the divinity with consort. "All manifestation, thoughts and appearances are considered to be the sacred aspects of the divinities within relative truth," in the words of Tulku Thondup. By visualizing all phenomena as the deities of the mandala of buddhahood, in the development stage, all appearances are purified.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_stage - visualizes a meditational deity (yidam) or refuge tree before themselves in front generation, or as themselves in self generation, to engender an alteration to their perception and/or experience of the appearance aspect of reality


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuyoga - emphasis shifts away from external visualization toward the completion stage, in which one meditates on the inner or subtle body with its primary energy centres (chakras), and its prana (winds or subtle energies), nadis (the inner pathways along which one's energy travels), and bindu (the consciousness). In anuyoga, all appearances are seen as the three great mandalas, and reality is understood as the deities and their pure lands.



  • Atiyoga' or Dzogchen - The analogy given by Dzogchen masters is that one's nature is like a mirror which reflects with complete openness but is not affected by the reflections, or like a crystal ball that takes on the colour of the material on which it is placed without itself being changed. The knowledge that ensues from recognizing this mirror-like clarity (which cannot be found by searching nor identified) is what Dzogchenpas refer to as rigpa.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dzogchen - or "Great Perfection", also called Atiyoga, is a tradition of teachings in Tibetan Buddhism aimed at attaining and maintaining the natural primordial state or natural condition.[1] It is a central teaching of the Nyingma school of Tibetan Buddhism and of Bon. In these traditions, Dzogchen is the highest and most definitive path of the nine vehicles to liberation.



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anuttarayoga_Tantra - often translated as Unexcelled Yoga Tantra or Highest Yoga Tantra, is a term used in Tibetan Buddhism in the categorization of esoteric tantric Indian Buddhist texts that constitute part of the Kangyur, or the 'translated words of the Buddha' in the Tibetan Buddhist canon. In the highest class of tantra, two stages of practice are distinguished. Details of these practices are normally only explained to practitioners by their teachers after receiving an initiation or 'permission to practice'. In some Buddhist tantras, both stages can be practiced simultaneously, whereas in others, one first actualizes the generation stage before continuing with the completion stage practices.



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semde - the "Mind series"; this category contains the earliest (proto) Dzogchen teachings. Tradition attributes them to Padmasmabhava and his consorts, and dates them to the 8th century, but they first appeared in the 9th century, written by Tibetans


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menngagde- the series of secret Oral Instructions, which also reflects the developments of the 11th-14th centuries; this series has overshadowed the other two, and is in effect the only one practiced nowadays.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigpa - the "self-reflexive awareness that cognizes Buddha-nature." It has also come to mean the "pristine awareness" that is the fundamental ground itself.
  • http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Ground_rigpa - acts as the basis for all of samsara and nirvana, and is identical to the subtle clear light. This is the pristine awareness one experiences at the time of death, but not during the ordinary waking state. It is from this awareness that the foundation consciousness arises.
  • http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Effulgent_rigpa - an aspect of rigpa which is to be identified and experienced only when coarse levels of mind and conceptual thoughts are active. At that point the experience of the fundamental innate mind of clear light has ‘ceased’―‘ceased’ in the sense that it is no longer a direct object of your experience. However, there is still a definite quality of clarity and awareness that permeates the coarser states of consciousness. This type of clear light experienced as a quality that permeates these states is the effulgent rigpa
  • http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Essential_rigpa - The fundamental innate mind of clear light is considered to be the nature of mind, or the ultimate root of consciousness. In the same way that a sesame seed is entirely permeated by sesame oil, as soon as there is clear and aware consciousness, it is said to be permeated by the clear light rigpa. This aspect of rigpa, this in-dwelling clear light is what is called essential rigpa



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lung_(Tibetan_Buddhism) - means wind or breath. It is a key concept in the Vajrayana traditions of Tibetan Buddhism and has a variety of meanings. Lung is a concept that's particularly important to understandings of the subtle body and the Three Vajras (body, speech and mind). Tibetan medicine practitioner Dr Tamdin Sither Bradley provides a summary:

"The general description of rLung is that it is a subtle flow of energy and out of the five elements (air, fire, water, earth and space) it is most closely connected with air. However it is not simply the air which we breathe or the wind in our stomachs, it goes much deeper than that. rLung is like a horse and the mind is the rider, if there is something wrong with the horse the rider will not be able to ride properly. Its description is that it is rough, light, cool, thin, hard, movable. The general function of rLung is to help growth, movement of the body, exhalation and inhalation and to aid the function of mind, speech and body. rLung helps to separate in our stomachs what we eat into nutrients and waste products. However its most important function is to carry the movements of mind, speech and body. The nature of rLung is both hot and cold."


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavairocana_Tantra - an important Vajrayana Buddhist text. It is also known as the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Tantra, or more fully as the Mahāvairocana Abhisaṃbodhi Vikurvita Adhiṣṭhāna Tantra. In Tibet it is considered to be a member of the Carya class of tantras. In Japan where it is known as the Mahāvairocana Sūtra, it is one of two central texts in the Shingon school, along with the Vajrasekhara Sutra. Both are also part of the Tendai school.



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahamudra - "a ritual hand-gesture, one of a sequence of 'seals' in Tantric practice, the nature of reality as emptiness, a meditation procedure focusing on the nature of Mind, an innate blissful gnosis cognizing emptiness nondually, or the supreme attainment of buddhahood at the culmination of the Tantric path."
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointing-out_instruction - said to be the direct introduction to the nature of mind in the Tibetan Buddhist lineages of Mahāmudrā and Dzogchen. In these traditions, a "root guru" (S. mūlaguru, Wylie: rtsa-ba'i bla-ma, pronounced "tsawey lama") is the master who gives the "pointing-out instruction" in such a way that the disciple successfully recognizes the "nature of mind." The tradition of conferring such instructions outside of the context of formal abhiṣeka (empowerment) is unique to the Kagyu and Nyingma lineages. Whether or not such instructions are valid without the formal abhiṣeka has historically been a point of contention with the more conservative Gelug and Sakya lineages. The pointing-out instruction is often equated with the "fourth" or ghanta abhiṣeka of more formal vajrayana empowerment.


  • The Berzin Archives is a collection of translations and teachings by Dr. Alexander Berzin primarily on the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Covering the areas of sutra, tantra, Kalachakra, dzogchen, and mahamudra meditation, the Archives presents material from all five Tibetan traditions: Nyingma, Sakya, Kagyu, Gelug, and Bon, as well as comparisons with Theravada Buddhism and Islam. Also featured are Tibetan astrology and medicine, Shambhala, and Buddhist history.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_flag - a colorful rectangular cloth, often found strung along mountain ridges and peaks high in the Himalayas. They are used to bless the surrounding countryside and for other purposes. Prayer flags are believed to have originated with Bon, which predated Buddhism in Tibet. In Bon, shamanistic Bonpo used primary-colored plain flags in healing ceremonies in Nepal. They are unknown in other branches of Buddhism. Traditional prayer flags include woodblock-printed text and images.


  • Mantrayāna, Mantramahāyāna, Mantranaya





  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sahaja - "spontaneous, natural, simple, or easy", "coemergent; spontaneously or naturally born together" is a term of some importance in Indian and Tibetan Buddhist spirituality. Sahaja practices first arose in Bengal during the 8th century among Buddhist yogis called Sahajiya siddhas.

Sahajiyas such as Saraha believed that enlightenment could be achieved in this lifetime, by laypersons living in samsara. Though he was a famed Buddhist sage, Saraha was married and was known to seek intense sensual joy (mahasukha) as a way to enlightenment. Indeed, one of his verses states: “eat, drink, indulge the senses”. The sahajiyas practiced a form of ritual union which was supposed to bring the female and male elements together in balance.

From Joy there is some bliss, from Perfect Joy yet more. From the Joy of Cessation comes a passionless state. The Joy of Sahaja is finality. The first comes by desire for contact, the second by desire for bliss, the third from the passing of passion, and by this means the fourth [Sahaja] is realized. Perfect Joy is samsara [mystic union]. The Joy of Cessation is nirvana. Then there is a plain Joy between the two. Sahaja is free of them all. For there is neither desire nor absence of desire, nor a middle to be obtained.



  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yidam - a type of deity associated with tantric or Vajrayana Buddhism said to be manifestations of Buddhahood or enlightened mind. During personal meditation (sādhana) practice, the yogi identifies their own form, attributes and mind with those of a yidam for the purpose of transformation. Yidam is sometimes translated by the terms "meditational deity" or "tutelary deity". Examples of yidams include the meditation deities Chakrasamvara, Kalachakra, Hevajra, Yamantaka, and Vajrayogini, all of whom have a distinctive iconography, mandala, mantra, rites of invocation and practice.

In Vajrayana, the yidam is one of the three roots of the "inner" refuge formula and is also the key element of Deity yoga since the 'deity' in the yoga is the yidam.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hevajra - The Hevajra Tantra, a yoginītantra of the anuttarayogatantra class, is believed to have originated between the late 8th (Snellgrove), and the late 9th or early 10th centuries (Davidson), in Eastern India, possibly Kamarupa. Tāranātha lists Saroruha and Kampala (also known as "Lva-va-pā, "Kambhalī", and "Śrī-prabhada") as its "bringers"



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahasiddha - maha meaning "great" and siddha meaning "adept", a certain type of yogin/yogini recognized in Vajrayana Buddhism, founders of Vajrayana traditions and lineages, such as Dzogchen and Mahamudra.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empowerment_(Vajrayana) - a ritual in Vajrayana which initiates a student into a particular tantric deity practice. The Tibetan word for this is wang (Skt. abhiṣeka; Tib. དབང་, wang; Wyl. dbang), which literally translates to power. The Sanskrit term for this is abhiseka which literally translates to sprinkling or bathing or anointing. A tantric practice is not considered effective or as effective until a qualified master has transmitted the corresponding power of the practice directly to the student. This may also refer to introducing the student to the mandala of the deity.



  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo - means literally "intermediate state"—also translated as "transitional state" or "in-between state" or "liminal state". In Sanskrit the concept has the name antarabhāva. It is a concept which arose soon after the Buddha's passing, with a number of earlier Buddhist groups accepting the existence of such an intermediate state, while other schools rejected it.

Used loosely, the term "bardo" refers to the state of existence intermediate between two lives on earth. According to Tibetan tradition, after death and before one's next birth, when one's consciousness is not connected with a physical body, one experiences a variety of phenomena. These usually follow a particular sequence of degeneration from, just after death, the clearest experiences of reality of which one is spiritually capable, and then proceeding to terrifying hallucinations that arise from the impulses of one's previous unskillful actions. For the prepared and appropriately trained individuals the bardo offers a state of great opportunity for liberation, since transcendental insight may arise with the direct experience of reality, while for others it can become a place of danger as the karmically created hallucinations can impel one into a less than desirable rebirth.

The term bardo can also be used metaphorically to describe times when our usual way of life becomes suspended, as, for example, during a period of illness or during a meditation retreat. Such times can prove fruitful for spiritual progress because external constraints diminish. However, they can also present challenges because our less skillful impulses may come to the foreground, just as in the sidpa bardo.


Sahaja - yana


Ari Buddhism

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ari_Buddhism - he Ari Gaing (Burmese: အရည်းဂိုဏ်း, IPA: [əjí ɡáiɴ]) is the name given to the religious practice common in Burma prior to Anawrahta's rise and the subsequent conversion of Bagan to Theravada Buddhism in the eleventh century. It was introduced in the 7th century, possibly through trade contact from India or Tibet

Ari practices have largely been categorized as a tantric form of Buddhism, combining elements of Buddhism, nat worship, indigenous nāga worship and Hinduism. Some scholars claim that it is related to the Buddhist religious practices of Nanzhao and the subsequent Dali Kingdom in modern-day Yunnan, China. Other historians like Than Tun contend that the Aris were forest-dwelling monks who simply differed in monastic practice from Theravadin bhikkhus, especially with regard to adherence to the Vinaya, as they were much less orthodox, allowed to consume alcohol, engage in sexual relations, and eat midday. Despite his conversion to Theravada Buddhism due to the efforts of Shin Arahan, a Mon bhikkhu, Anawrahta still supported Mahayana cultic practices and printed coins in Sanskrit rather than Pali.

Shingon Buddhism

The primary difference between Shingon and Tibetan Buddhism is that there is no Inner Tantra or Anuttarayoga Tantra in Shingon. Shingon has what corresponds to the Kriyā, Caryā, and Yoga classes of tantras in Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetan system of classifying tantras into four classes is not used in Shingon.

Anuttarayoga Tantras such as the Yamantaka Tantra, Hevajra Tantra, Mahamaya Tantra, Cakrasaṃvara Tantra, and the Kalachakra Tantra were developed at a later period of Esoteric Buddhism and are not used in Shingon.

Aro Buddhism
  • Aro Buddhism - The Aro gTér is a Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhist lineage whose unusual characteristics make it singularly appropriate for many Westerners. The Aro gTér Tradition is principally concerned with transforming our experience of everyday being, rather than achieving an esoteric or spiritualised mode of existence. Our aim is to engender cheerful courage, perceptive consideration, sincere determination, natural gallantry, graciousness, creativity, and spaciousness.

The teachings of the Aro gTér descend from a lineage of enlightened women – beginning with Yeshé Tsogyel. She was the female Tantric Buddha, who—together with Padmasambhava—founded the Nyingma tradition of Buddhism. The Aro gTér is a small family lineage within that tradition – founded by the female visionary Lama Aro Lingma in 1909.




Navayana

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Navayana - means "new vehicle" and refers to the re-interpretation of Buddhism by B.R. Ambedkar.[1][2] Ambedkar was born in a Dalit (untouchable) family during the colonial era of India, studied abroad, became a Dalit leader, and announced in 1935 his intent to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism. Thereafter Ambedkar studied texts of Buddhism, found several of its core beliefs and doctrines such as Four Noble Truths and "non-self" as flawed and pessimistic, re-interpreted these into what he called "new vehicle" of Buddhism.


India

Sri Lanka

Madhyamaka

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhyamaka - refers primarily to a Mahāyāna Buddhist school of philosophy founded by Nāgārjuna. According to Madhyamaka all phenomena are śūnya, empty, of "substance" or "essence" (svabhāva) or inherent existence, because they are dependently co-arisen. But this "emptiness" itself is also "empty": it does not have an existence on its own, nor does it refer to a transcendental reality beyond or above phenomenal reality.

Himalayan

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himalayan_Buddhism - a term used to collectively refer to the Buddhist schools of Tibet, Bhutan, and regions of Nepal, and those practiced in the Indian Himalayan regions of Ladakh, Himachel Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachel Pradesh. There are four main, and several smaller, sects of Buddhism which were centred in Tibet but spread to the surrounding Himalayan regions:
  • Nyingma
  • Sakya
  • Kagyu
  • Geluk


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padmasambhava - also known as the Second Buddha, was a sage guru from northwestern Classical India (modern-day Swat Valley, Pakistan). Padmasambhava is said to have transmitted Vajrayana Buddhism to Tibet, Bhutan and neighboring countries in the 8th century AD.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newar_Buddhism - The Newar Buddhism of Nepal, which was centred in the Kathmandu valley, is older than Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan Buddhism drew many teachings, particularly Vajarayana teachings, from Newar Buddhism as well as teachings from Indian Buddhism

All these Buddhist traditions are closely related historically and all include practices of both the Mahayana and Vajrayana traditions of Buddhism. The Buddhism of Mongolia is part of the same cultural milieu, although Mongolia is not in the Himalayan region.

Tibetan




  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tibetan_Buddhist_canon - a loosely defined list of sacred texts recognized by various sects of Tibetan Buddhism. In addition to sutrayana texts from Early Buddhist (mostly Sarvastivada) and Mahayana sources, the Tibetan canon includes tantric texts. The Tibetan Canon underwent a final compilation in the 14th century by Buton Rinchen Drub (1290–1364). The Tibetans did not have a formally arranged Mahayana canon and so devised their own scheme which divided texts into two broad categories:
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kangyur (Wylie: bka'-'gyur) or "Translated Words", consists of works supposed to have been said by the Buddha himself. All texts presumably have a Sanskrit original, although in many cases the Tibetan text was translated from Chinese or other languages.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengyur (Wylie: bstan-'gyur) or "Translated Treatises", is the section to which were assigned commentaries, treatises and abhidharma works (both Mahayana and non-Mahayana). The Tengyur contains 3626 texts in 224 Volumes.


  • Nyingma—the teachings of the kama, terma and pure vision traditions within the Nyingma School of Ancient Translations, which had come down in an aural lineage transmitted by countless learned and accomplished masters, all thanks to the kindness of Khenpo Shantarakshita, Guru Padmasambhava and the Dharma-King Trisong Deutsen.
  • Kadam—the divine teachings of the Old and New Kadam traditions, founded by the incomparable and glorious Lord Jowo Atisha and further developed through the magnificent efforts of Lobsang Drakpa, who was Manjushri in person.
  • Lamdré/Sakya—the essential instructions of the 'Path with its Result' (Tib. Lamdré), the heart-essence of the mahasiddha Virupa, which came down to the glorious Sakyapa founders and their heirs, and were then passed on by the various lineages including those of Sakya, Ngor and Tsar (Wyl. sa ngor tsar gsum).
  • Marpa Kagyü—the four streams of teachings within the Kagyü tradition that stems from Marpa, Milarepa and Gampopa, and branched into the four major and eight minor Kagyü lineages.
  • Shangpa Kagyü—the golden doctrine of the dakini Niguma from the glorious Shangpa Kagyü, which comes from the learned and accomplished Khyungpo Naljor.
  • Kalachakra/'Six Branch Practice of Vajrayoga' (Tib. Jordruk; Wyl. sbyor drug)—the 'Six-Branched Application', which emphasizes the Vajra Yoga of the perfection stage of the splendid Kalachakra, and which came to Tibet from the noble Dharma-kings of India and others such as Kalapada in early, intermediate and later phases, and developed into seventeen traditions, which were then brought together and passed on by the renunciate Tukjé Tsöndru and others.
  • Shyijé and Chö—the noble teachings of the 'Pacifying of Suffering' Tradition coming from Padampa Sangyé together with the profound teachings on the objects of severance, or Chö, which were passed on by Machik Lapdrön and others.
  • 'Approach and Accomplishment of the Three Vajras'—the teachings bestowed on the mahasiddha Orgyenpa Rinchen Pal by the mother of the buddhas, Vajrayogini herself.

Note: the Jonang and Gelug schools are not part of this list because they formed within Tibet.


Terma

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terma_(religion) - key Tibetan Buddhist and Bön teachings, which the tradition holds were originally esoterically hidden by various adepts such as Padmasambhava and his consorts in the 8th century for future discovery at auspicious times by other adepts, known as tertöns. As such, they represent a tradition of continuing revelation in Buddhism. The majority of terma teachings are tantric in nature, although there are notable exceptions. 'Treasure.' 1) The transmission through concealed treasures hidden, mainly by Guru Rinpoche and Yeshe Tsogyal, to be discovered at the proper time by a 'tertön,' a treasure revealer, for the benefit of future disciples. It is one of the two chief traditions of the Nyingma School, the other being 'Kama.' This tradition is said to continue even long after the Vinaya of the Buddha has disappeared. 2) Concealed treasures of many different kinds, including texts, ritual objects, relics, and natural objects.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_Thodol - Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State, Tibetan Book of the Dead, a funerary text. The Tibetan text describes, and is intended to guide one through, the experiences that the consciousness has after death, during the interval between death and the next rebirth. This interval is known in Tibetan as the bardo. The text also includes chapters on the signs of death, and rituals to undertake when death is closing in, or has taken place.

Nyingma school

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyingma - a name emerging in the 11th century, the sole Ngagyur or "old translation" school is often equated as originating with the widespread introduction of Buddhism to Tibet around the turn of the 8th century. The oldest of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism, "Nyingma" literally means "ancient," and is often referred to as Ngagyur (Tibetan: སྔ་འགྱུར།, Wylie: snga 'gyur, "school of the ancient translations" or "old school"). The Tibetan alphabet and grammar was actually created for this endeavour.

Sarma

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarma_(Tibetan_Buddhism) - "new translation" schools include the three newer of the four main schools, comprising the following traditions and their sub-branches with their roots in the 11th century. primarily follows Tantric teachings (Vajrayāna) which were translated into Tibetan during the second diffusion of the Buddha Dharma into Tibet (diffusing the so-called New Tantras).

Kagyu school

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagyu - Sarma school. Due to the Kagyu tradition's particularly strong emphasis on guru devotion and guru yoga, and the personal transmission of esoteric instructions (dam ngag or man ngag) from master to disciple, the early Kagyu tradition soon gave rise to a bewildering number of independent sub-schools or sub-sects centered around individual charismatic Kagyu teachers and their lineages. These lineages are hereditary as well as mindstream emanation in nature.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_Kagyu - probably the largest and certainly the most widely practiced lineage within the Kagyu school. The central teaching of the Karma Kagyu is the doctrine of Mahamudra, also known as the "Great Seal". Within the Karma Kagyu, meditative practice is almost invariably presented in a progressive manner. Early practice includes Shamatha meditation (calm abiding; single-pointedness), introduction to Buddhist history and philosophy, and initiation into the lower Tantras - classically across the Yidams (deities) Avalokiteshvara (Tibetan Chenrezik), Tara and Amitabha Buddha. This is followed by Ngondro (the practice of the Four Extraordinary Foundations) and Vipassana meditation. During the traditional three-year retreat, retreatants usually focus their practice on the Six Yogas of Naropa. At the Anuttarayogatantra level of practice, the principal Yidams of the lineage are Vajravarahi, Hevajra and Chakrasamvara. While one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Karma Kagyu is its emphasis on meditative practice, all forms and levels of Buddhist history and philosophy are also taught, most notably the Shentong branch of Prāsaṅgika Madhyamaka philosophy.
  • http://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Kagyü - one of the four main traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. The Kagyü tradition is one of the ‘Sarma’ or ‘new’ schools that mainly follow the tantras translated during the later transmission of the Buddhadharma to Tibet around the 11th century. Often called ‘the Practice Lineage’, the Kagyü tradition places great emphasis on intensive meditation practice, and on guru yoga, the power of devotion and the transmission from master to disciple. Apart from Tibet and all across the Himalayan regions, the Kagyü tradition has a very strong following in South East Asia and Malaysia, and has long since taken root in the West.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsangnyön_Heruka - "The Madman Heruka from Tsang", 1452-1507, was an author and a master of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in Tsang, he is best known as a biographer and compiler of the Life of Milarepa and The Collections of Songs of Milarepa, both classics of Tibetan literature.

Sakya school

Jonang

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonang - traced to early 12th century master Yumo Mikyo Dorje, but became much wider known with the help of Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen, a monk originally trained in the Sakya school. The Jonang school was widely thought to have become extinct in the late 17th century at the hands of the Fifth Dalai Lama who forcibly annexed the Jonang monasteries to his Gelug school, declaring them heretical. Recently, however, it was discovered that some remote Jonang monasteries escaped this fate and have continued practicing uninterrupted to this day.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chöd - "Cutting Through the Ego,", the practice is based on the Prajñāpāramitā or "Perfection of Wisdom" sutras which expound the "emptiness", combined with specific meditation methods and tantric ritual. The chod practitioner seeks to tap the power of fear through activities such as rituals set in graveyards, and visualisation of offering their bodies in a tantric feast in order to put their understanding of emptiness to the ultimate test.

Gelug school

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dalai_Lama - a monk of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism founded by Je Tsongkhapa. The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso. The Dalai Lama is considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The name is a combination of the Mongolic word dalai meaning "ocean" and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ (bla-ma) meaning "guru, teacher, mentor". The Tibetan word "lama" corresponds to the better known Sanskrit word "guru". For certain periods between the 17th century and 1962, the Gelug school managed the Tibetan government, which administered portions of Tibet from Lhasa.

The title "Dalai Lama" was first bestowed by the Mongolian ruler Altan Khan upon Sonam Gyatso in 1578. Since the time of Genghis Khan, only people who were of his royal lineage were allowed to rule Mongolia. This frustrated many would-be rulers who were not of this line. Altan Khan was the most destructive of these usurpers. He perceived that through the Buddhist faith he could gain legitimacy by claiming to be a reincarnation of Khublai Khaan. Altan Khan chose the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism (founded by Tsongkhapa, 1357-1419). In 1577 he invited the leader of this order, Sonam Gyatsho, to come to Mongolia and teach his people. Sonam Gyatsho proclaimed Altan Khan to be the reincarnation of Kublai Khan, and in return, Altan Khan gave the title Dalai Lama to Sonam Gyatsho. Altan Khan posthumously awarded the title to his two predecessors, making Sonam Gyatsho the 3rd Dalai Lama.

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_Dalai_Lama - Gendun Gyatso Palzangpo, also Gendun Gyatso. renaissance, non-violence. He was a renowned scholar and composer of mystical poetry, who traveled widely to extend Gelugpa influence, and became abbot of the largest Gelugpa monastery, Drepung, which from this time on was closely associated with the Dalai Lamas. According to Sumpa Khenpo, the great Gelug scholar, he also studied some Nyingma-pa tantric doctrines.
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_Dalai_Lama - the first to be created Dalai Lama, although the title was retrospectively given to his two predecessors. studied at Drepung Monastery and became its abbot. His reputation spread quickly and the monks at Sera Monastery also recognised him as their abbot. According to Sumpa Khenpo, the great Gelug scholar, he also studied some Nyingmapa tantric doctrines. When one of Tibet's kings, who had been supported by the Kagyupa, died in 1564, Sonam Gyatso presided over his funeral. His political power, and that of the Gelugpas, became dominant in Tibet by the 1570s.
  • domestically –
    • by the end of centuries of civil wars which had originally ensued upon the disintegration of the Tibetan empire following the assassination of King Langdarma in 842 (CE), and
  • in terms of foreign policy –
    • by the formal establishment of friendly diplomatic relations with China's imperial court during the formative years of the Qing Dynasty, and
    • by his meeting with early European explorers of Tibet, and
    • his military expeditions against Bhutan and the war against Ladakh.
  • lacked armies from this era-ish

Pure Land

East Asia


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiền_uyển_tập_anh - a Chinese-language Vietnamese Buddhist biographical text dating to 1337.[1][2][3][4] It connects the history of Buddhism in Vietnam with China and has aspects of a Dharma transmission text modelled on The Transmission of the Lamp genre.

Central Asia

Chinese

During the early period of Chinese Buddhism, the Indian early Buddhist schools recognized as important, and whose texts were studied, were the Dharmaguptakas, Mahīśāsakas, Kāśyapīyas, Sarvāstivādins, and the Mahāsāṃghikas. The Dharmaguptakas made more efforts than any other sect to spread Buddhism outside India, to areas such as Iran, Central Asia, and China, and they had great success in doing so. Therefore, most countries which adopted Buddhism from China, also adopted the Dharmaguptaka vinaya and ordination lineage for bhikṣus and bhikṣuṇīs.

Tiantai

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiantai - An important school of Buddhism in China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, revering the Lotus Sutra as the highest teaching in Buddhism. In Japan the school is known as Tendai-shū, in Korea it is known as Cheontae, and in Vietnam it is called Thiên Thai tông. Unlike earlier schools of Chinese Buddhism, the Tiantai school was entirely of Chinese origin. The schools of Buddhism that had existed in China prior to the emergence of the Tiantai are generally believed to represent direct transplantations from India, with little modification to their basic doctrines and methods. However, Tiantai grew and flourished as a natively Chinese Buddhist school under the 4th patriarch, Zhiyi, who developed a hierarchy of Buddhist sutras that asserted the Lotus Sutra as the supreme teaching, as well as a system of meditation and practices around it.

After Zhiyi, Tiantai was eclipsed for a time by newer schools such as the East Asian Yogācāra and Huayan schools, until the 6th patriarch Zhanran who revived the school and defended its doctrine against rival schools. The debates between the Faxiang school and the Tiantai school concerning the notion of universal Buddhahood were particularly heated, with the Faxiang school asserting that different beings had different natures and therefore would reach different states of Enlightenment, while the Tiantai school argued in favor of the Lotus Sutra teaching of Buddhahood for all beings. Over time, the Tiantai school became doctrinally broad, able to absorb and give rise to other movements within Buddhism, though without any formal structure. The tradition emphasized both scriptural study and meditative practice, and taught the rapid attainment of Buddhahood through observing the mind.

The Five Periods are five periods in the life of the Buddha in which he delivered different teachings, aimed at different audiences with a different level of understanding:

  • The Period of Avatamsaka. During twenty-one days after his Enlightenment, the buddha delivered the Avatamsaka Sutra.
  • The Period of Agamas. During twelve years, the Buddha preached the Agamas for the Nihayana, including the Four Noble Truths and dependent origination.
  • The Period of Vaipulya. During eight years, the Buddha delivered the Mahayana teachings, such as the Vimalakirti Sutra, the Śrīmālādevī Sūtra, the Suvarnaprabhasa Sutra and other Mahayana sutras.
  • The Period of Prajna. During twenty-two years, the Buddha explained emptiness in the Prajnaparamita-sutras.
  • The Period of Dharma-pundarik and Nirvana. In the last eight years, the Buddha preached the doctrine of the One Buddha Vehicle, and delivered the Lotus Sutra and the Nirvana Sutra just before his death.

The Eight Teachings consist of the Four Doctrines, and the Fourfold Methods.

  • Four Doctrines
    • Tripitaka Teaching: the Sutra, Vinaya and Abhidhamma, in which the basic teachings are explained
    • Shared Teaching: the teaching of emptiness
    • Distinctive Teaching: aimed at the Bodhisattva
    • Perfect Teaching - the Chinese teachings of the Lotus Sutra and the Avatamsaka Sutra
  • Fourfold Methods
    • Gradual Teaching, for those with medium or inferior abilities
    • Sudden Teaching, the Distinctive Teachings and the Complete Teaching for those with superior abilities
    • Secret Teaching, teachings which are transmitted without the recipient being aware of it
    • Variable Teaching, no fixed teaching, but various teachings for various persons and circumstances


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huayan_school - a tradition of Mahayana Buddhist philosophy that first flourished in China during the Tang dynasty. It is based on the Avatamsaka Sutra (Chinese: 華嚴經; pinyin: Huáyán jīng) and on a lengthy Chinese interpretation of it, the Huáyán lùn (Chinese: 華嚴論. The name Flower Garland is meant to suggest the crowning glory of profound understanding. The Huayan School is known as Hwaeom in Korea and Kegon in Japan.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Dharmadhātu
    • 'Shih' is a rendering of the character 事 which holds the semantic field: "matter", "phenomenon", "event". It may be understood as the 'realm' (Sanskrit: dhātu) of all matters and phenomena. All dharmas are seen as particular separate events.
    • The Dharmadhātu of 'Li'(Chinese: 理法界; "li fajie"). 'Li' is a rendering of the character 理 which holds the semantic field: "principle", "law", "noumenon". This 'realm' (Sanskrit: dhātu) may be understood as that of principles. It has been referred to as "the realm of the one principle". The "one principle" being qualified as śūnyatā (Sanskrit). All events are an expression of the absolute.
    • The Dharmadhātu of Non-obstruction of 'Li' against 'Shih' (Chinese: 理事無礙法界; "lishi wuai fajie"). This 'realm' (Sanskrit: dhātu) has been rendered into English as "the realm of non-obstruction between principle and phenomena". Events and essence interpenetrate.
    • The Dharmadhātu of the Non-obstruction of 'Shih' and 'Shih' (Chinese: 事事無礙法界; "shishi wuai fajie"). This 'realm' (Sanskrit: dhātu) has been rendered into English as "the realm of non-obstruction between phenomena". All events interpenetrate.
  • Dushun (Chinese: 杜順; Wade–Giles: Tu-Shun), responsible for the establishment of Huayan studies as a distinct field;
  • Zhiyan (Chinese: 智儼; Wade–Giles: Chih-yen), considered to have established the basic doctrines of the sect;
  • Fazang (Chinese: 法藏; Wade–Giles: Fa-tsang), considered to have rationalized the doctrine for greater acceptance by society;
  • Chengguan (Chinese: 澄觀; Wade–Giles: Ch'eng-kuan), together with Zongmi, are understood to have further developed and transformed the teachings
  • Guifeng Zongmi (Chinese: 圭峰宗密; Wade–Giles: Kuei-feng Tsung-mi), who is simultaneous a patriarch of the Chinese Chán tradition.

Yogācāra

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yogacara - influential school of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing phenomenology and ontology through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. Associated with Indian Mahāyāna Buddhism in about the 4th century CE, but also included non-Mahayana practitioners of the Dârstântika school.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asanga
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhinirmocana_Sutra - Sūtra of the Explanation of the Profound Secrets is a Mahāyāna Buddhist text that is classified as belonging to the Yogācāra school of Buddhism. This sūtra was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese four times, the most complete and reliable of which is typically considered to be that of Xuanzang. It also was translated into Tibetan.


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Consciousnesses - a classification developed in the tradition of the Yogacara school of Buddhism. They enumerate the five senses, supplemented by the mind, defilements of the mind, and finally the fundamental store-house consciousness, which is the basis of the other seven.


"For myself, each morning I try to do (or intend to do, it doesn’t always work out that way!) a comprehensive practice that is called the Wheel of Awareness. This WoA practice was created to integrate consciousness as it differentiates and then links a wide array of elements of being aware. Within the metaphoric hub is the sense of knowing; within the rim is that which is known—such as the first five senses, the sixth sense of the sensations from the interior of the body, the seventh sense of our mental life of emotions and thoughts, and even an eighth sense of our relations to people and the planet. Moving a spoke of attention from hub to rim around the various elements of the rim enables hub and rim to be differentiated and then linked. This is how consciousness can be integrated."

Nichiren

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichiren_Buddhism - based on the teachings of the 13th century Japanese monk Nichiren (1222–1282). Nichiren Buddhism is generally noted for its focus on the Lotus Sutra and an attendant belief that all people have an innate Buddha nature and are therefore inherently capable of attaining enlightenment in their current form and present lifetime


Chán

  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhidharma - a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century CE. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Ch'an to China, and regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. According to Chinese legend, he also began the physical training of the Shaolin monks that led to the creation of Shaolin Kung Fu.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Chán - (from Sanskrit dhyāna, meaning "meditation") is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism developed in China from the 6th century CE onwards, becoming dominant during the Tang and Song dynasties. After the Song, Chán more or less fused with the Pure Land school. From China, Chán spread south to Vietnam and east to Korea (where it is known as Seon) and, in the 13th century, to Japan, where it became known as Zen. The Chán/Zen tradition became the best-known instance of Buddhism in the Western World.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laṅkāvatāra_Sūtra - draws upon the concepts and doctrines of Yogācāra and Buddha-nature. The most important doctrine issuing from the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra is that of the primacy of consciousness (Skt. vijñāna) and the teaching of consciousness as the only reality. In the sūtra, the Buddha asserts that all the objects of the world, and the names and forms of experience, are merely manifestations of the mind:



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Mountain_Teaching - The East Mountain community was a specialized meditation training centre. The establishment of a community in one location was a change from the wandering lives of Bodhiharma and Huike and their followers. It fitted better into the Chinese society, which highly valued community-oriented behaviour, instead of solitary practice. An important aspect of the East Mountain Teachings was its nonreliance on a single sutra or a single set of sutras for its doctrinal foundation as was done by most of the other Buddhist sects of the time. The East Mountain School incorporated both the Lankavatara Sutra and the Mahaprajnaparamita Sutras.

The view of the mind in the Awakening of Faith in the Mahayana (Chinese: Ta-ch'eng ch'i-hsin lun) also had a significant import on the doctrinal development of the East Mountain Teaching.: In the words of the Awakening of Faith — which summarizes the essentials of Mahayana — self and world, mind and suchness, are integrally one. Everything is a carrier of that a priori enlightenment; all incipient enlightenment is predicated on it. The mystery of existence is, then, not, "How may we overcome alienation?" The challenge is, rather, "Why do we think we are lost in the first place?"


Zen



  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sōtō - the largest of the three traditional sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism, imported in the 13th century by Dōgen Zenji, who studied Caodong Buddhism.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rinzai_school - Rinzai Zen is marked by the emphasis it places on kensho ("seeing one's true nature") as the gateway to authentic Buddhist practice, and for its insistence on many years of exhaustive post-kensho training to embody the free functioning of wisdom within the activities of daily life. Training focuses on zazen (seated meditation), kōan, and samu (physical work done with mindfulness).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ōbaku - established in 1661 by a small faction of masters from China and their Japanese students at Manpuku-ji in Uji, Japan. "Insofar as the Ōbaku belonged to the Rinzai tradition, zazen and kōan practice were made part of daily life, but ritual was also accorded a place of considerable importance."


  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kōan - is a story, dialogue, question, or statement, which is used in Zen practice to provoke the "great doubt" and test a student's progress in Zen practice.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samu_(Zen) - refers to physical work that is done with mindfulness as a simple, practical and spiritual practice. Samu might include activities such as cleaning, cooking, gardening, or chopping wood. Samu is a way to bring mindfulness into everyday life as well as to get things done. Samu is popular in Zen monasteries, particularly as a means of maintaining the monastery and as practicing mindfulness. "If you consider quietude right and activity wrong, then this is seeking the real aspect by destroying the worldly aspect, seeking nirvana, the peace of extinction, apart from birth and death. When you like quiet and hate activity, this is the time to apply effort. Suddenly when in the midst of activity, you topple the sense of quietude-that power surpasses quietistic meditation [seated meditation] by a million billion times." -Dahui Zonggao
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hua_Tou - Korean: hwadu, Japanese: wato, a form of Buddhist meditation common in the teachings of Chinese Chán and Korean Seon. Hua Tou can be translated as 'word head', 'head of speech' or 'point beyond which speech exhausts itself'. A Hua Tou can be a short phrase that is used as a subject of meditation to focus the mind. Hua Tou are based on the encounter-dialogues and koans of the interactions between past masters and students, but are shorter phrases than koans. The Hua Tou method was invented by the Chinese Zen master Dahui Zonggao (1089 – 1163) who was a member of the Linji school. Hua Tou practice does not use regular interviews and question and answer sessions between student and teacher (dokusan). According to Dahui, Hua Tou is also a form of meditation that "can be carried out by laymen in the midst of their daily activities."
  • "What is it?"
  • "What is this?"
  • "Who is repeating the Buddha’s name?"
  • "Who is dragging this corpse around?" (popularized by Hsu Yun)
  • "Who am I?"
  • "What was my Original face before my father and mother were born?"
  • "What is Mu?"

Huaijang entered the room and bowed to Huineng. Huineng asked: “Where do you come from?”. “I came from Mount Sung”, replied Huaijang. “What is this and how did it get here?” demanded Huineng. Huaijang could not answer and remained speechless. He practised for many years until he understood. He went to see Huineng to tell him about his breakthrough. Huineng asked: “What is this?” Huaijang replied: “To say it is like something is not to the point. But still it can be cultivated”. 

A monk once asked Jo ju, "Does a dog have Buddha-nature?"
Jo Ju answered, "Mu!"(No)

1. Buddha said everything has Buddha-nature. Jo Ju said a dog has no Buddha-nature. Which one is correct?

2. Jo Ju said, "Mu!" What does this mean?

3. I ask you, does a dog have Buddha-nature?

Commentary: Silence is better than holiness, so opening your mouth is a big mistake. But if you use this mistake to save all beings, this is Zen.
  • PDF: Go Straight - A collection of Dharma Talks by Teachers of the Kwan Um School of Zen
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Equanimity - Book of Equanimity or Book of Serenity (Japanese: Shōyōroku) is a collection of 100 koans compiled in the early 12th century by the Chinese Chán master Hongzhi Zhengjue (1091-1157). Along with The Gateless Gate, the Book of Equanimity is considered one of the two primary compilations of Zen dialogue.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Cliff_Record - is a collection of Chán Buddhist koans originally compiled in China during the Song dynasty in 1125 (宋宣和七年) and then expanded into its present form by the Chán master Yuanwu Keqin (圜悟克勤 1063 – 1135). The book includes Yuanwu's annotations and commentary on Xuedou Zhongxian's (雪竇重顯 980 – 1052) collection 100 Verses on Old Cases 《頌古百則》 — a compilation of 100 koans. Xuedou selected 82 of these from the Jingde Chuandeng Lu 《景德傳燈錄》 (Jingde era Record of the Transmission of the Lamp), with the remainder selected from the Yunmen Guanglu 《雲門廣録》 (Extensive Record of Yunmen Wenyan (864 – 949).
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gateless_Gate - a collection of 48 Chan (Zen) koans compiled in the early 13th century by the Chinese Zen master Wumen Hui-k'ai (無門慧開)(1183–1260) (Japanese: Mumon Ekai). The common theme of the koans of the Wumen Guan and of Wumen's comments is the inquiry and introspection of dualistic conceptualization. Each koan epitomizes one or more of the polarities of consciousness that act like an obstacle or wall to the insight. The student is challenged to transcend the polarity that the koan represents and demonstrate or show that transcendence to the Zen teacher.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Zen_Stories - a 1919 compilation of Zen koans including 19th and early 20th century anecdotes compiled by Nyogen Senzaki, and a translation of Shasekishū, written in the 13th century by Japanese Zen master Mujū (無住) (literally, "non-dweller").


Buddhist modernism

Western


Critical Buddhism

Integral Buddhism

Open source

to sort

"People have a hard time letting go of their suffering. Out of a fear of the unknown, they prefer suffering that is familiar." -Thich Nhat Hanh

"You can only lose what you cling to." -Buddha


Third/middle path/way differs from certain existential values. to rethink.



Daniel P Brown;



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