Buddhist Paths To Awakening
The Buddhist path (''marga'') to liberation, also referred to as awakening, is described in a wide variety of ways. The classical one is the Noble Eightfold Path, which is only one of several summaries presented in the Sutta Pitaka. A number of other paths to liberation exist within various Buddhist traditions and theology. Early Buddhism There are various expositions of the path to liberation in the Early Buddhist texts, the following examples are drawn from the Pali Nikayas. The Noble Eightfold Path The Noble Eightfold Path is widely known as ''the'' description of the Buddhist path. In the Sutta Pitaka it is summed up as follows: Alternate sequences in the Pali Nikayas Alternate, and possibly older, sequences of the stages on the Buddhist path to liberation, can be found throughout the Pali Canon. Tevijja Sutta A standard sequence of developments can be found in the Nikayas, which may predate the more stylised four noble truths. For example the Tevijja Sutta verse 40 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Enlightenment In Buddhism
The English term enlightenment is the Western translation of various Buddhist terms, most notably bodhi and vimutti. The abstract noun ''bodhi'' (; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: ''bodhi''), means the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellect, of a Buddha. The verbal root ''budh-'' means "to awaken," and its literal meaning is closer to awakening. Although the term ''buddhi'' is also used in other Indian philosophies and traditions, its most common usage is in the context of Buddhism. '' Vimukti'' is the freedom from or release of the fetters and hindrances. The term "enlightenment" was popularised in the Western world through the 19th-century translations of German-born philologist Max Müller. It has the Western connotation of general insight into transcendental truth or reality. The term is also being used to translate several other Buddhist terms and concepts, which are used to denote (initial) insight ('' prajna'' (Sanskrit), '' wu'' (Chinese), '' kensho'' and ''satori'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dhyāna In Buddhism
In the oldest texts of Buddhism, ''dhyāna'' () or ''jhāna'' () is a component of the training of the mind (''bhavana''), commonly translated as meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses to sense-impressions, "burn up" the defilements, and leading to a "state of perfect equanimity and awareness ('' upekkhā-sati- parisuddhi'')." ''Dhyāna'' may have been the core practice of pre-sectarian Buddhism, in combination with several related practices which together lead to perfected mindfulness and detachment. In the later commentarial tradition, which has survived in present-day Theravāda, ''dhyāna'' is equated with "concentration", a state of one-pointed absorption in which there is a diminished awareness of the surroundings. In the contemporary Theravāda-based Vipassana movement, this absorbed state of mind is regarded as unnecessary and even non-beneficial for the first stage of awakening, which has to be reached by mindfulness of the body and ''vipassan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pali Canon
The Pāli Canon is the 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 derives mainly from the Tamrashatiya school. During the First Buddhist Council, three months after the parinibbana of Gautama Buddha in Rajgir, Ananda recited the Sutta Pitaka, and Upali recited the Vinaya Pitaka. The Arhats present accepted the recitations and henceforth the teachings were preserved orally by the Sangha. The Tipitaka that was transmitted to Sri Lanka during the reign of King Asoka were initially preserved orally and were later written down on palm leaves during the Fourth Buddhist Council in 29 BCE, approximately 454 years after the death of Gautama Buddha. The claim that the texts were "spoken by the Buddha", is meant in this non-literal sense. The existence of the bhanaka tradition existing until later periods, along with other sources, shows that oral tradition conti ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gautama Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in Lumbini, in what is now Nepal, to royal parents of the Shakya clan, but renounced his home life to live as a wandering ascetic ( sa, śramaṇa). After leading a life of begging, asceticism, and meditation, he attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya in what is now India. The Buddha thereafter wandered through the lower Indo-Gangetic Plain, teaching and building a monastic order. He taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, leading to Nirvana, that is, freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth, and suffering. His teachings are summarized in the Noble Eightfold Path, a training of the mind that includes meditation and instruction in Buddhist ethics such as right effort, mindfulness, and '' jhana''. He di ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Atthakatha
Aṭṭhakathā (Pali for explanation, commentary) refers to Pali-language Theravadin Buddhist commentaries to the canonical Theravadin Tipitaka. These commentaries give the traditional interpretations of the scriptures. The major commentaries were based on earlier ones, now lost, in Prakrit and Sinhala, which were written down at the same time as the Canon, in the last century BCE. Some material in the commentaries is found in canonical texts of other schools of Buddhism, suggesting an early common source. According to K.R. Norman: There is no direct evidence that any commentarial material was in fact recited at the first council, but there is clear evidence that some parts of the commentaries are very old, perhaps even going back to the time of the Buddha, because they afford parallels with texts which are regarded as canonical by other sects, and must therefore pre-date the schisms between the sects. As has already been noted, some canonical texts include commentarial pas ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bhante Sujato
Bhante Sujato, known as Ajahn Sujato or Bhikkhu Sujato (born Anthony Best), is an Australian Theravada Buddhist monk ordained into the Thai forest lineage of Ajahn Chah. Life Bhante Sujato identifies as an anarchist. A former musician with the post punk Alternative rock Australian band Martha's Vineyard, who had toured with, amongst others, Simply Red, INXS, Eurythmics, and proto-punk garage band The Saints before disbanding in 1990, Sujato became a monk in 1994 in the ascetic Forest Tradition of Ajahn Chah, a religious order which encourages a life of contemplation and meditation. He took Upasampadā higher ordination in Thailand and lived there for years before returning to Australia. He spent several years at Bodhinyana Monastery in Western Australia before going on to found Santi Forest Monastery in 2003 where he served as the abbot. Following Bhante Sujato's wishes, Santi became a Bhikkhunī ( Buddhist nun's ) monastery Vihara in 2012, and he returned to live in Bodhin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Buddhist Ethics
Buddhist ethics are traditionally based on what Buddhists view as the Enlightenment in Buddhism, enlightened perspective of the Buddha. The term for ethics or morality used in Buddhism is ''Śīla'' or ''sīla'' (Pāli). ''Śīla'' in Buddhism is one of three sections of the Noble Eightfold Path, and is a code of conduct that embraces a commitment to harmony and self-restraint with the principal motivation being nonviolence, or freedom from causing harm. It has been variously described as virtue, moral discipline and precept. ''Sīla'' is an internal, aware, and intentional ethical behavior, according to one's commitment to the path of liberation. It is an ethical compass within self and relationships, rather than what is associated with the English word "morality" (i.e., obedience, a sense of obligation, and external constraint). ''Sīla'' is one of the Threefold Training, three practices foundational to Buddhism and the non-sectarian Vipassana movement; ''sīla,'' ''Samadhi#Bu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Right Livelihood
The Noble Eightfold Path (Pali: ; Sanskrit: ) is an early summary of the path of Buddhist practices leading to liberation from samsara, the painful cycle of rebirth, in the form of nirvana. The Eightfold Path consists of eight practices: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right ''samadhi'' ('meditative absorption or union'; alternatively, equanimous meditative awareness). In early Buddhism, these practices started with understanding that the body-mind works in a corrupted way (right view), followed by entering the Buddhist path of self-observance, self-restraint, and cultivating kindness and compassion; and culminating in ''dhyana'' or ''samadhi'', which reinforces these practices for the development of the body-mind. In later Buddhism, insight ('' prajñā'') became the central soteriological instrument, leading to a different concept and structure of the path, in which the "goal" of the Buddhist pa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ottappa
Apatrapya (Sanskrit, also ''apatrāpya''; Pali: ottappa; Tibetan Wylie: ''khrel yod pa'') is a Buddhist term translated as "decorum" or "shame". It is defined as shunning unwholesome actions so as to not be reproached by others of good character.Guenther (1975), Kindle Locations 528-531.Kunsang (2004), p. 24. It is one of the virtuous mental factors within the Abhidharma teachings. The Abhidharma-samuccaya states: :What is apatrapya? It is to avoid what is objectionable in the eyes of others. The difference between hri (self-respect) and ''apatrapya'' (decorum) is that ''hri'' means to refrain from unwholesome actions due to one's own conscience, while ''apatrapya'' means to refrain from unwholesome actions to avoid being reproached by others. Alternate translations *decorum- Guenther, Rangjung Yeshe Wiki *shame - Erik Pema Kunsang *consideration - Rangjung Yeshe Wiki *propriety - Rangjung Yeshe Wiki See also * Mental factors (Buddhism) Mental factors ( sa, चैत ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Moksha
''Moksha'' (; sa, मोक्ष, '), also called ''vimoksha'', ''vimukti'' and ''mukti'', is a term in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism for various forms of emancipation, enlightenment, liberation, and release. In its soteriology, soteriological and eschatology, eschatological senses, it refers to freedom from ''saṃsāra'', the cycle of death and Reincarnation, rebirth. In its epistemology, epistemological and psychological senses, ''moksha'' is freedom from ignorance: self-realization, self-actualization and self-knowledge. In Hindu traditions, ''moksha'' is a central concept and the utmost aim of human life; the other three aims being ''dharma'' (virtuous, proper, moral life), ''artha'' (material prosperity, income security, means of life), and ''kama'' (pleasure, sensuality, emotional fulfillment). Together, these four concepts are called Puruṣārtha in Hinduism. In some schools of Indian religions, ''moksha'' is considered equivalent to and used interchange ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Four Noble Truths
In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: ; pi, cattāri ariyasaccāni; "The four Arya satyas") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones".[aFour Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY Encyclopaedia Britannica, Quote: "Although the term Four Noble Truths is well known in English, it is a misleading translation of the Pali term Chattari-ariya-saccani (Sanskrit: Chatvari-arya-satyani), because noble (Pali: ariya; Sanskrit: arya) refers not to the truths themselves but to those who recognize and understand them. A more accurate rendering, therefore, might be “four truths for the [spiritually] noble” [...]";[''Arhat (Buddhism)'' Encyclopædia Britannica The truths are: * '' dukkha'' (literally "suffering"; here "unsatisfactoriness") is an innate characteristic of existence in the realm of '' samsara''; [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |