Buddhism is one of the three major religions in the world, founded between the 6th and 5th centuries BC by Shakyamuni (Buddha), who was born in Lumbini, in present-day Nepal. Around the time of the Gregorian calendar, Buddhism was introduced to China and spread throughout the country during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and many schools of thought emerged.
The Sui and Tang dynasties entered its heyday, and many sects with Chinese national characteristics were formed. Over the past 2,500 years, Buddhism has demonstrated its tenacious vitality with the unity of pluralism and inclusiveness, variability and permanence. Today, I will share 30 common knowledge of Buddhism with you, and friends who are interested in Buddhism can learn about it.
1. What is Buddhism?
As the saying goes, "Do not do all evil, practice all good, and purify one's mind, it is all Buddhism", the meaning of this sentence is that we should not do all the evil deeds in the world, and we should actively strive to practice all the good deeds in the world, and this is Buddhism.
Buddhism is not a religion, and some eminent Buddhist monks in the past also held the same view, saying that Buddhism is not a religion. Buddhism is the words and deeds of Shakyamuni Buddha to all sentient beings throughout his life, and to be able to practice according to the teachings is to do what Shakyamuni Buddha said, which is Buddhism.
2. What is a Buddha?
The word "Buddha" is a Sanskrit transliteration, which means "wisdom, enlightenment". A Buddha is also a human being, not a god, and the perfection of enlightenment is a Buddha. In Buddhism, a Buddha is a wise man who has attained full enlightenment in wisdom and virtue, and is a teacher of heaven and man, and Buddha is not an omnipotent god.
3. What is the law?
Dharma is all the Buddhist truths that Shakyamuni said, and its Sanskrit transliteration is "dharma" (dharma), that is, the meaning of "rules", which refers to the inherent nature of a certain thing, such as the nature of flowers and flowers, and the nature of trees and trees.
4. What is a monk?
The so-called monks, Sanskrit Sangha, Yiyun and Hezhong, that is, the monks who follow the Buddha's teachings. There are five types of monks: bhikshus, bhikshunis, novices, novices, novices, and shiksaka manani. There are two groups in the family, called the white clothes, that is, Youposai and Youpoyi.
5. What is a bodhisattva?
Bodhisattva is the abbreviation of "Bodhisattva", Bodhi is the meaning of enlightenment, wisdom and Tao, and Sata is the meaning of sentient beings and sentient beings. In layman's terms, a Buddhist who vows to engage in the act of compassion and relief is a "bodhisattva."
6. What is an Arhat?
Arhats are arhats, and they are enlightened disciples of the Buddha, the highest attainment attained in Theravada Buddhism. In Buddhism, cultivating to the state of an arhat means that you have cut off the afflictions of the Three Realms. In this sense, the arhat fruit, also known as the "Infinite Fruit" or "Unlearned Fruit", indicates that the extreme has been reached, that everything has been learned, and that there is nothing left to learn.
7. What are the Four Noble Truths?
The Four Noble Truths are the four truths of primitive Buddhism about how to get rid of suffering forever, namely suffering, concentration, extinction, and path. The Truth of Suffering explains that there must be suffering in life, the Truth Sets reveals that the cause of suffering of sentient beings is the karmic cause of greed, prudence, and ignorance, the Truth of Extinction clearly states that in order to get rid of suffering, one must fundamentally achieve the state of silence and nirvana, and the Truth of the Path points out the way to liberation from the suffering of birth and death.
8. What is the Noble Eightfold Path?
The Noble Eightfold Path refers to the eight correct pathways to ultimate liberation, and the Noble Eightfold Path is the specific content of the Four Noble Truths. The Noble Eightfold Path includes: right view, right thinking, right speech, right karma, right life, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. Buddhism believes that through the practice of the Noble Eightfold Path, one can lead to Buddhahood.
9. What does "Nan Wu" mean?
"Nan Wu" is actually a transliteration of the Sanskrit word Nama, and "Nama" is to maintain the original ancient pronunciation. In many parts of the modern world, this ancient sound is still maintained, and its meaning is 'salute'.
10. What does "as I smell" mean?
Before the Buddha reached Nirvana, the last of the four things asked by the disciple Ananda. This sentence plus the pre-scripture can break the doubts of later generations. It shows that it is the collection of scriptures collected by Venerable Ananda, all of which he heard and received before he inherited the Buddha. In layman's terms, it is intended to show that the content of the scriptures is what Ananda listened to and received before he personally received the Buddha.
11. The four are the "four big" in the air
In Buddhism, the "Four Elements" refer to the earth, water, fire, and wind, which are the basic factors that make up everything in the universe, similar to the "Five Elements" in China.
12. What is conversion?
To take refuge means to turn to it and to rely on it. Those who take refuge in the Three Jewels are Buddhists. 'Return' can also be written as 'refuge', and 'convert' has the same pronunciation and meaning as 'gui'.
13. What does "dependent voidness" mean?
The so-called "dependent arising" refers to the fact that there are no unique things in the world, and there are no permanent and unchanging things, and everything arises from the combination of causes and conditions. The so-called "emptiness" refers to the false existence that arises from the harmony of causes and conditions, and the nature is empty, and if the nature is not empty, then it cannot exist, and this is the meaning of "the vacuum gives rise to wonderful existence".
14. What does "Three Treasures" mean?
The "Three Jewels" of Buddhism refer to the Buddha Treasure, the Dharma Treasure, and the Sangha Treasure, the Buddha Treasure refers to all the Buddhas who have attained the Buddha's Path, the Dharma Treasure refers to the teachings of Buddhism, and the Sangha Treasure is simply the Sangha that points out the family.
15. What are the aggregates?
The five aggregates contain the five types of dharma, namely, color, receiving, thinking, acting, and knowing, each of which is combined into a single set, all of which are caused and combined, and they continue to arise and perish, so the five aggregates mean five different aggregates, and the five aggregates are also translated as the five beings or the five yin.
16. What is Mahayana? What is Hinayana ?
Riding is the Sanskrit word "yanna" paraphrase, refers to the means of transportation, metaphor Buddhism to help sentient beings, like a boat is actually the meaning of the car - Hinayana Buddhism, it means that my car is very small, can only put myself (crossing oneself), and Mahayana Buddhism means that my car is very large, and people who are willing to get on it come together (crossing people).
17. What does "three poisons" mean?
The three poisons of Buddhism refer to greed, hatred, and ignorance, greed is the greed for the five desires, the idea of possession of all good times is called greed, anger is anger and intolerance, the idea of hatred for all adversity is called anger, naivety is ignorance, and confusion and reversal of things are called ignorance, also known as ignorance.
18. What is the meaning of "three learnings".
The three learnings refer to the three learnings of precepts, concentration, and wisdom, the precepts are the norms and codes of conduct for Buddhists, the concentration is meditation and meditation, and the wisdom is the wisdom of Prajna that thoroughly understands the truth of life in the universe.
19. What does the "Three Realms" mean?
In Buddhism, the Three Realms refer to the realm of desire, the realm of color, and the realm of colorlessness. The Three Realms are the living places of delusional and sentient beings in the cycle of life and death, so the Three Realms are also called the Sea of Suffering.
20. What does "Sanhui" mean?
Sanhui refers to Wenhui, Sihui, and Xiuhui, which is the name of Sanhui. Hearing wisdom is to hear the Dharma can produce wisdom, thinking wisdom is to think about the Buddha's principles to produce wisdom, and cultivating wisdom is to practice diligently and even meditate to produce wisdom.
21. What does "Dharma Seal" mean?
The seal is the meaning of the seal, which is a metaphor for the main teachings of Buddhism, all actions are impermanent, all laws have no self, nirvana is silent', and it is called the three Dharma seals, or add 'there are leaks and suffering', also known as the four Dharma seals.
22. What are the "Five Precepts"?
The "precepts" of Buddhism are to prevent mistakes in behavior, speech, and thought. The five precepts are: not killing, not stealing, not committing adultery, not lying, and not drinking.
23. What are the "six roots"?
The six roots refer to the six sensory organs, or cognitive abilities: eyes, ears, nose, tongue, body, and mind. Buddhism believes that all afflictions are inseparable from the six roots and six dusts.
24. What are the "eight sufferings"?
The eight sufferings are the suffering of birth, the suffering of old age, the suffering of illness, the suffering of death, the suffering of love and separation, the suffering of resentment, the suffering of not seeking, and the suffering of the five extracts (Buddhism calls the eight sufferings of life)
25. What are the "eight major sects"?
In the past, there were many schools of Buddhism, and now there are eight main schools that are popular: the Three Treatises (also known as the Dharma Nature Sect), the Yoga Sect (also known as the Dharma Xiang Sect), the Tiantai Sect, the Xianshou Sect (also known as the Huayan Sect), the Zen Buddhism, the Pure Land Buddhism, the Vinaya Buddhism, and the Tantric Buddhism (also known as the Shingon Buddhism).
26. Who are the "three Buddhas of the Heng World"?
The three very important Buddhas in Buddhism are Amitabha Buddha (in charge of the Western Elysium), Medicine Buddha (in charge of the Eastern Glass Light World), and Shakyamuni Buddha (in charge of the Central Sampa World).
27. Who are the "three Buddhas" respectively?
The three Buddhas of the vertical Buddha are the Buddha of the past and the Buddha of the lamp, the present Buddha Shakyamuni Buddha, the future Buddha Maitreya Buddha, and the Buddha Shakyamuni is in the center, and it is also the center of the three Buddhas of the Heng.
28. Who are the "Eight Great Bodhisattvas"?
There are many sayings about the eight Bodhisattvas of Buddhism, and the ones with a relatively high degree of recognition are Guanyin Bodhisattva, Puxian Bodhisattva, Manjushri Bodhisattva, Jizo Bodhisattva, Maitreya Bodhisattva, Dashi Zhi Bodhisattva, Sunshine Bodhisattva, and Moonlight Bodhisattva.
29. The Four Famous Mountains of Buddhism
The four famous mountains of Buddhism are Wutai Mountain in Shanxi, Putuo Mountain in Zhejiang, Emei Mountain in Sichuan, and Jiuhua Mountain in Anhui, which are the dojos of Manjushri Bodhisattva, Guanyin Bodhisattva, Fuxian Bodhisattva, and Jizo Bodhisattva.
30. Who introduced Buddhism to China?
In the seventh year of Yongping in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Emperor Liu Zhuang of the Han Ming Dynasty sent more than ten people such as Cai Yin and Qin Jing to the Western Regions to pray for Buddhist scriptures and Buddhism.
Write to the end
Over the past 2,500 years, Buddhism has demonstrated its tenacious vitality with the unity of pluralism and inclusiveness, variability and permanence. Although Buddhism originated in ancient India, it was developed in China and spread from China to Japan, Korea and other countries.
Buddhism has had a profound impact on Chinese culture and has also imported many new ideological resources into Chinese culture. The spirit of traditional Chinese culture has also infiltrated Buddhism, forming a Chinese version of Buddhism.
Buddhism has three major language families in China: Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, and Theravada Buddhism. If you don't understand Buddhism, it's hard to understand the true development of Chinese culture, and if you don't understand Chinese Buddhism, it's hard to grasp the true meaning of Buddhist thought.
There is still a lot of common knowledge in Buddhism, but here is just a part of it, what else do you know? Welcome to leave a message and discuss in the comment area. (The picture comes from the Internet invasion and deletion)