Curated playlist
Buddhist philosophical concepts
- MahayanaMahayana is the largest branch of Buddhism, yet it left almost no trace for centuries.
- SassatavadaSassatavada is the ancient view that the self never truly changes. The Buddha rejected this belief, called eternalism.
- BodhipakkhiyādhammāBuddhaghosa cut a list of thirty-seven Buddhist qualities down to fourteen. He removed the repeats among the seven sets.
- Impermanence (Buddhism)Buddhism teaches that clinging to anything brings suffering, because nothing stays the same.
- Arya (Buddhism)In Buddhism, arya names people who have seen reality clearly, not people of high birth.
- Saṃsāra (Buddhism)If Buddhism says there is no self, who is reborn? Buddhaghosa compared rebirth to a flame passed between candles.
- ReincarnationIf Buddhism says there is no self, what exactly is reborn? Its answer is a flame passing from one candle to another.
- AnattāAnattā is the Buddhist teaching that nothing has a fixed, permanent self. Yet karma and rebirth remain real.
- DuḥkhaThe Sanskrit word dukkha may have first described a badly fitted cart wheel.
- Nirvana (Buddhism)What is left when the fire of nirvana goes out? Buddhist thinkers still disagree.
- Three marks of existenceBuddhism applies impermanence even to gods and hell realms. Only nibbana is said to know no change.
- Four Noble TruthsThe Four Noble Truths of Buddhism may not be among its earliest teachings. Some scholars say they came later.
- BodhisattvaA bodhisattva could leave suffering behind forever but chooses to stay.
- Five hindrancesBuddhist texts compare the five hindrances to a debt, a sickness, a prison and slavery.
- SatipatthanaScholars still disagree on how to translate the Pali word Satipatthana.
- Sentient beings (Buddhism)Buddhism compares a living being to a chariot that exists only when its parts are assembled.
- BuddhahoodAsked if he was a god, a spirit or a human, the Buddha said he was none of them. He likened himself to a lotus.
- Samatha-vipassanāDo calm and insight in Buddhist meditation need each other, or can one stand alone? Schools disagreed for centuries.
- Kleshas (Buddhism)Buddhist teaching names three mental poisons at the root of all troubled states of mind.
- ParinirvanaIn Buddhist teaching, parinirvana is the death of someone who already reached nirvana. That person is not reborn.
- SatyaIndia's national emblem carries the motto "Satyameva Jayate," meaning truth alone triumphs.
- NirvanaNirvana means blown out, like a fire that stops burning. It ends the cycle of rebirth in several Indian traditions.
- Merit (Buddhism)In 2016, two Taiwanese Buddhists freed crabs and lobsters at Brighton and were fined fifteen thousand pounds.
- DharmaTranslating the Rigveda, Karl Friedrich Geldner needed 20 English words for dharma.
- Middle WayThe Buddhist Middle Way is not moderation or a compromise. It means refusing both extremes, in practice and in belief.
- Noble Eightfold PathThe word "noble" in the Noble Eightfold Path does not describe the path. It means the path belongs to enlightened ones.
- PrajnaparamitaXuanzang was urged to shorten a huge Buddhist scripture, but dreams led him to translate all of it.
- Rebirth (Buddhism)If Buddhism says there is no soul, what exactly is reborn? Thinkers have argued over it for more than two millennia.
- Refuge in BuddhismOne Buddhist text says two of the Three Jewels are only partial refuges.
- AsavaBuddhist texts say destroying the asavas is the same as complete Awakening.