the central buddhist teachings

7/31/2019 The Central Buddhist Teachings

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The Central Buddhist Teachings (the Middle Path)

The Three Jewels

I take refuge in the...

1) ________________________

2) ________________________

3) ________________________

The Three Marks of Existence1) Annica (Impermanence)

___________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

2) Dukkha (Suffering/Dissatisfaction)___________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________Three types of suffering:

Dukkha-Dukkha- obvious physical or mental pain___________________________________

Viparinama-Dukkha- suffering due to transformation or change________________________

Sankhara-Dukkha- suffering due to conditioned states_______________________________

3) Anatta/Anatman (Not self/No soul)__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The five aggregates (which give the illusion of a Self):

The aggregate of matter (eye, ear, nose, throat, hand etc..)____________________________

The aggregate of feelings and sensations (sight, sound, smell, taste, thought)______________

The aggregate of perception____________________________________________________

The aggregate of volitions or mental formations____________________________________

The aggregate of consciousness (response)________________________________________

The Four Noble Truths

1)______________________________________________________________________________2) ______________________________________________________________________________

3) ______________________________________________________________________________

4) ______________________________________________________________________________

The Eightfold Path

Right....*1) _____________________________________________________

2) _____________________________________________________

3) _____________________________________________________

4) _____________________________________________________5) _____________________________________________________

6) _____________________________________________________7) _____________________________________________________

8) _____________________________________________________

*Buddha uses the word right in the way we would say something is proper, appropriate or correct. Theuse of the word right in this context does not imply that there is a wrong. Such thinking is dualistic and

not a part of the Buddhist tradition.


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The Five Precepts

I undertake to refrain from...

1) ___________________________________________________

2) ___________________________________________________3) ___________________________________________________

4) ___________________________________________________5) ___________________________________________________

Buddhist Values1) _______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

2) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4) ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5) _______________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

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Activities

1) What is your opinion of the Three Marks of Existence?

a) Is everything impermanent?________________________________________________________

b) Does all life involve suffering?_____________________________________________________

c) Is there such a thing as a self?______________________________________________________

2) Which of the central teachings above relate to the sayings of Buddha below?

a) The fickle, unsteady mind, difficult to guard, difficult to control, the wise man makes straight, as the

fletcher

the arrow. ______________________________________________________________

b) He who, seeking his own happiness, torments with the rod creatures that are desirous of happiness,shall not obtain happiness hereafter.____________________________________________________

c) But whosoever in this world overcomes this wretched craving so difficult to overcome, his sorrows

fall away from him like water drops from a lotus leaf._______________________________

d) He whose senses are mastered like horses well under the charioteers control, he who is purged ofpride, free from passions, such a steadfast one even the gods envy (hold dear).__________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

3) How do the five precepts compare to the Ten Commandments?

Similarities:

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

Differences:

an arrow maker


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_________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________

The Automobile Parable

This is a parable about an automobile. First of all, you got a guy in the automobile drivingdown the street, he sees his girlfriend on the sidewalk, he waves to her and runs into the back

of a bus. There is a huge crash and what he feels is Dukkha-dukkha. The palpable physicalsuffering of an automobile accident. That's easy to understand.

The second kind of suffering comes if you are attached to that car. Many people relate to this,they have automobiles that they love. They don't have a very good time during the winter. The

winter is cruel. There is a lot of ice. People vandalize automobiles. Rust creeps into parts of thevehicle, the front end becomes unbalanced. As you see, the car begins to disintegrate. It causesyou suffering in relation to the pleasure, to the attachment that you have invested in thatobject, as it begins to slip away from you. That also is pretty clear. Viparinama-dukkha, thesuffering that comes from change is a pretty easy concept to grasp.

The third concept is a bit more difficult. And I'm not so sure much of the time that I'm really

able to convey it with this example. The way I do it is to imagine person in the car, fullyinvested, with all of his ego in this powerful object. Roaring up and down the avenue, feelingthe pleasure and energy from being in this powerful embodiment of his manhood. And ask

yourself whether at that moment he is really happy. If you ask him if he is happy, of course heis going to say yes. The pleasure of that experience is extremely satisfying. That can't bedenied. That's a physical and emotional sensation that grants reality in his own right. But is itreal happiness? I think we know enough about situations like that in our world to begin toquestion whether that's the place where satisfaction really comes from. In part because it is

based on a certain kind of illusion about the nature of the object, and an illusion about thenature of the self, and how your own ego can become invested in a physical object like that,that will arise and pass away

An illustration of the five aggregates

I pass by a pizzeria and my nose (matter) twitches as I smell (sensation) the scent of freshtomatoes and cheese. I think (perception), Wow, a piece of pizza would sure taste good. Mysenses are aroused and I decide (volition) to go in to buy myself a slice. I enter the pizzeria andput some money on the counter (response). Suddenly, a dog enters the pizza store. I see (withmy eyes-matter) the dog (sensation) and I remember (perception) that I forgot to walk mydog. I decide (volition) to go home quickly. When I arrive home, I take the dog out (response).

The person we call I is made up of these five aggregates and nothing more. These aggregatesare constantly changing. The person we call I is therefore always changing. We find there is

absolutely no fixed I. There is no permanent self, nothing to grab on to. The fixed I is anillusion.

David Humes Reflections on the Self

For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular

perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch

myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception. I may

venture to affirm of the rest of mankind, that they are nothing but a bundle or collection of different


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perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and

movement.

the central buddhist teachings

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