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What is Buddhism?
What is the meaning of the word Buddha?
What is Wrong View (Ditthi)?
What the use is of knowing the details about citta and cetasikas?
What is Abhidhamma?
What is Kamma (karma)?
Should Buddhists be vegetarians?
What is meditation?
What is the origin of the Buddhist texts of the Theravada tradition?
What are the conditions for enlightenment?
Can there be a free will?
What is the Buddhist answer to the problem of suffering?
In what way does Buddhism differ from other mainstream religions?
How can awareness be developed while doing complicated things?
What is nibbana (nirvana)?
Many religions teach about heaven and hell. In what respect are the Buddhist teachings different?
How can the Buddha's teachings be proved?
What can we do to overcome these accumulated tendencies to akusala (unwholesomeness)?
What is the process of cittas which arise and perform each their own function while they experience a sense object?
Who should be our guide?
Who is the maker of this human being?
The Missing Missis: Whatever happened to Mrs Buddha and her son?
Who destroys Buddhism?
What sort of person is a better man than a good man?
I've heard it said that Abhidhamma is not necessary. After all the Buddha taught only suffering and the end of suffering?
Was Einstein a Buddhist?closeclose othersviewpermalinkreferencesjump
What is Buddhism?
YourName, 14 April 2007(created 14 April 2007)
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Extract from The Buddha's Path, preface.
What is Buddhism? It is different from what most people believe: an Oriental religion full of rituals and ceremonies, which teaches meditation leading to mystical experiences. Buddhism is most practical and matter of fact. The Buddha taught all that is real, all mental phenomena and physical phenomena of our life. By the study of his teachings one learns to investigate ones different mental states which change very rapidly. One comes to know ones faults and vices, even the more subtle ones which are not easily noticeable. One learns what is good and wholesome and how to develop wholesome deeds, speech and thoughts. The Buddha taught on life and death, on the conditions for all phenomena which arise and which are impermanent. He pointed out the suffering and dissatisfaction inherent in the phenomena of life. He explained the true nature of man: a composition of elements which arise and then fall away immediately and which are devoid of an abiding substance, of a self. The Buddha taught the eightfold Path which, if it is developed in the right way, leads to direct understanding of the true nature of all the phenomena of life. It is by direct understanding that defilements can eventually be eradicated.
What is the meaning of the word Buddha?
What is the meaning of the word Buddha? The Illustrator of Ultimate Meaning (the Paramatthajotika, a commentary to the Minor Readings, Khuddaka Nikaya) explains, in the commentary to the Three Refuges, the meaning of the word Buddha:
... and this is said, Buddha: in what sense Buddha? He is the discoverer (bujjhita) of the Truths, thus he is enlightened (Buddha). He is the enlightener (bodheta) of the generation, thus he is enlightened. He is enlightened by omniscience, enlightened by seeing all, enlightened without being led by others... he is quite without defilement, thus he is enlightened; he has travelled by the Path that goes in only one way, thus he is enlightened; he alone discovered the peerless complete enlightenment, thus he is enlightened; ... Buddha: this is not a name made by a mother, made by a father... this (name) Buddha, which signifies final liberation, is a realistic description of Enlightened Ones, Blessed Ones, together with their obtainment of omniscient knowledge at the root of an enlightenment (tree).
The Buddha is the discoverer of the truth. What is the truth the Buddha discovered all by himself? He is enlightened by omniscience, enlightened by seeing all... the commentary to the Paramatthajotika says. He had developed the wisdom to see and to experience the truth of all things. Everything in life is impermanent and thus it is unsatisfactory. People suffer from old age, sickness and death. In spite of this truth people still cling to the things in and around themselves. Thus they are not able to see reality. The Buddha understood through direct experience that all phenomena which arise fall away immediately
What is nibbana (nirvana)?
Nibbana (more popularly known in its Sanskrit form of nirvana) is not a place such as heaven or a paradise where one enjoys eternal bliss. There are heavenly planes, according to the Buddhist teachings, where one can be reborn as a result of a good deed, but existence in such planes is not forever. After ones lifespan in such a plane is ended there will be rebirth in other planes, and thus there is no end to suffering. Nibbana is only an object of speculation so long as it has not been realized. It can be realized when there is full understanding of all phenomena of life which arise because of their own conditions and then fall away. The conditioned phenomena of life are, because of their impermanence, unsatisfactory or suffering. Nibbana is the unconditioned reality, it does not arise and fall away and therefore it is not suffering, it is the end of suffering. Nibbana is real, it is a reality which can be experienced, but we cannot grasp what an unconditioned reality is when we have not realized the truth of conditioned realities. Nibbana is not a God, it is not a person or a self. Since negative terms are used to express what nibbana is, such as the end of rebirth, it may be felt that Buddhism propagates a negative attitude towards life. However, this is not the case. It has to be understood that rebirth is suffering and that nibbana is the end of suffering. Nibbana is freedom from all defilements, and since defilements are the cause of all unhappiness nibbana should be called the highest goal. We read in the Kindred Sayings (IV, Kindred Sayings on Sense, Part IV, Chapter 38, 1, Nibbana) that the wanderer Rose-apple-eater came to see the Buddhas disciple Sariputta and asked him what nibbana was. Sariputta answered:
The destruction of lust, the destruction of hatred, the destruction of illusion, friend, is called nibbana.
Extinction and freedom from desire are meanings of the word nibbana. Nibbana means the end of clinging to existence and thus it is deliverance from all future birth, old age, sickness and death, from all suffering which is inherent in the conditioned realities of life. The Buddha experienced at his enlightenment the unconditioned reality which is nibbana. His passing away was the absolute extinguishment of conditions for the continuation of the life process. When the Buddha was still alive people asked him what would happen to him after his passing away. He explained that this belongs to the questions which cannot be answered, questions which are merely speculative and do not lead to the goal. The Buddhas passing away cannot be called the annihilation of life, and there cannot be rebirth for him in another plane, either. If there would be rebirth he would not have reached the end of all suffering
Many religions teach about heaven and hell. In what respect are the Buddhist teachings different?
Many religions teach about heaven and hell. In what respect are the Buddhist teachings different? Do we just have to believe in heaven and hell? Through the Buddhist teachings we learn to study realities, to study cause and effect in life. Each cause brings about its appropriate result. People perform good and bad deeds and these deeds bring different results; they can cause births in different planes of existence. A plane of existence is the place where one is born. Birth in a woeful plane is the result of a bad deed and birth in a happy plane is the result of a good deed. Since the deeds of beings are of many different degrees of kusala and akusala, the results are of many different degrees as well. There are different woeful planes and different happy planes of existence.
The animal world is a woeful plane. We can see how animals devour one another and we find that nature is cruel. The animal world is not the only woeful plane. There are different hell planes. The akusala vipaka in hell is more intense than the sufferings which can be experienced in the human plane. The descriptions of hells in the Buddhist teachings are not merely allegories; the experience of unpleasant things through eyes, ears, nose, tongue and bodysense is akusala vipaka and akusala vipaka is reality. Life in a hell plane is not permanent; when ones lifespan in a hell plane is over there can be rebirth in another plane.
Apart from the animal plane and the hell planes, there are other woeful planes. Birth in the plane of petas (ghosts) is the result of akusala kamma, conditioned by lobha. Beings in that plane have a deformed figure and they are always hungry and thirsty. Furthermore, there is the plane of asuras (demons). The objects which are experienced in the asura plane are not as enjoyable as the objects which can be experienced in the human plane. There are four classes of woeful planes in all.
Birth as a human being is a happy rebirth. In the human plane there is opportunity for the development of kusala. One can study Dhamma and learn to develop the way leading to the end of defilements, to the end of birth and death. Birth in the human plane is kusala vipaka, but during ones lifespan in this plane there are both kusala vipaka and akusala vipaka. Each person experiences different results in life: there is gain and loss, honour and dishonour, praise and blame, happiness and misery. Each person is born into the family which is the right condition for him to experience the results of his deeds. It is due to ones kamma that one experiences pleasant and unpleasant things through eyes, ears, nose, tongue and bodysense.
Other happy planes, apart from the human plane, are the heavenly planes. In the heavenly planes there is more kusala vipaka than in the human plane and less akusala vipaka. There are several heavenly planes and although life in a heavenly plane lasts a very long time, it is not permanent. The woeful planes, the human plane and the six heavenly planes which are deva planes, are sensuous planes of existence. Sensuous planes of existence are planes where there is seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, the experience of tangible object through the bodysense and other kamavacara cittas (cittas which are of the sensuous plane of consciousness). There are eleven classes of sensuous planes of existence in all.
Those who see the disadvantages of sense-impressions may cultivate jhana; they can be reborn in higher heavenly planes which are not sensuous planes. Those who attain rupa-jhana can be reborn in rupa-brahma-planes where there are less sense-impressions. There are sixteen rupa-brahma planes in all. One of them is the asanna-satta plane where there is only rupa, not nama. Those who have attained the highest stage of rupa-jhana and who wish to have no consciousness at all, can be reborn without citta; for them there is only a body. These beings have seen the disadvantages of consciousness; even happiness is a disadvantage, since it does not last.
Those who see the disadvantages of rupa cultivate arupa-jhana. If they attain arupa-jhana they can be reborn in arupa-brahma planes where there is no rupa. There are four classes of arupa-brahma planes. Beings born in these planes have only nama, not rupa. One may wonder how there can be beings which only have rupa or beings which only have nama. When right understanding of nama and rupa has been developed realities will be seen as only elements which arise because of conditions, not a being, not a person, no self. Then there will be no doubt that, under the appropriate conditions, there can be rupa without nama and nama without rupa
Einstein on Buddhism?
Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the future: It transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it covers both the natural and spritual; and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity.
-Albert Einstein
If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism.
-Albert Einstein
A human being is part of the whole, called by us 'Universe'; a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest-a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely but striving for such achievement is, in itself, a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.
-Albert Einstein
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead his eyes are closed.
-Albert Einstein
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