Friday, September 23, 2011

Buddhism in Japan - Basic concepts.

Four Noble Truths 四諦 | したい | Shitai      
  1. Life is suffering (苦諦 | くたい | Kutai)
  2. Suffering has cause (集諦 | じったい | Jittai)
  3. Eliminate cause and thereby eliminate suffering (滅諦 | めったい | Mettai)   
  4. Learn and pursue the Eightfold Path (道諦 | どうたい | Dōtai)     
Eightfold Path  八正道 | はっしょうどう | Hasshō-do     
  1. Right View (正見 | しょうけん | Shōken)
  2. Right Resolve Right Thinking (正思惟 | しょうしゆい | Shōshiyui)
  3. Right Speech (正話 | しょうご | Shōgo)
  4. Right Action (正業 | しょうごう | Shōgō)
  5. Right Living or Right Occupation (正命 | しょうみょう | Shōmyō)
  6. Right Effort (正精進 | しょうしょうじん | Shōshōjin)
  7. Right Mindfulness or Right Memory (正念 | しょうねん | Shōnen)
  8. Right Concentration or Right Meditation (正定 | しょうじょう | Shōjyō)
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Twelve Causes of Suffering
十二因縁 | じゅうにいんねん | Jūni In Nen     
  1. Ignorance (無明 | むみょう | Mumyō), the fundamental cause of suffering
  2. Activity based on Ignorance (行 | ぎょう | Gyō)
  3. Mistaken conciousness based on actions arising from ignorance (識 | しき | Shiki)
  4. Objects of Consciousness (名色 | みょうしき | Myōshiki); both material objects and the organs of sense
  5. Six Entrances (六入 | ろくにゅう | Rokunyū); refers to the eye, ear, nose, tongue, body, and mind -- the six sense organs -- by which we encounter the objects of consciousness
  6. Contact with External Objects (触 | しょく | Shoku); refers to our reception of the objects of consciousness via our six entrances
  7. Sensation (受 | じゅ | Jyu); that which occurs from contact with external objects
  8. Desire for Pleasure and Hatred (愛 | あい | Ai); the human penchant for either desiring or detesting the object of sensation
  9. Clinging (取 | しゅ | Shu); positive or negative attachment to what one desires or detests
  10. State of Transmigration (有 | う | U); our level of attachment reflects our location within the "six realms of existence"
  11. Birth (生 | しょう | Shō); our rebirth within the six realms reflects cause and effect
  12. Old Age and Death (老死 | ろうし | Rōshi); the law of causation means that humans must grow old and die (we will experience suffering until we can overcome our ignorance -- the first of the Twelve Causes and the fundamental cause of suffering)
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Take the Middle Path  中道 | ちゅうどう | Chū-dō
Enlightenment cannot be achieved by practicing either austerity or pleasure. The road to enlightenment is the middle path.

Four Sufferings and Eight Sufferings
Shiku 四苦 and Hakku 八苦

Gautama Buddha believed that all life was suffering, and that suffering was caused by desire. He sought, through meditation, to attain a state known as Nirvana, in which one is free of desire and therefore suffering. Suffering is caused by human weakness -- desire, lust, pride, anger, greed and a host of other foibles. The philosophical foundations of Buddhism proclaim that all worldly phenomena is unsatisfactory, transient and impermanent; there is nothing one can call one's own; the world is an illusion; and our suffering is caused by our clinging to the world of illusion (the world of desire). There are four basic sufferings, to which four more were added in later times: 
  1. Birth
  2. Old Age
  3. Illness
  4. Death
  5. Parting from those one loves
  6. Having to meet those one hates
  7. Not being able to have what one desires
  8. Clinging to the five aggregates (sufferings of the mind and body)

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