“Windows To Spirituality”
Yogachara Yogachara (Yogācāra; literally “yoga practice”; “one whose practice is yoga”) is an influential tradition of Buddhist philosophy and psychology emphasizing the study of cognition, perception, and consciousness through the interior lens of meditative and yogic practices. It is also variously termed Vijñānavāda (the doctrine of consciousness), Vijñaptivāda (the doctrine of ideas or...
Buddha-nature Buddha-nature refers to several related terms, most notably tathāgatagarbha and buddhadhātu. Tathāgatagarbha means “the womb” or “embryo” (garbha) of the “thus-gone” (tathagata), or “containing a tathagata”, while buddhadhātu literally means “Buddha-realm” or “Buddha-substrate”. Tathāgatagarbha has a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) meanings in Indian and later East Asian and Tibetan Buddhist literature, and the...
Samatha Samatha or śamatha (शमथ; 止 zhǐ) is a Buddhist term that is often translated as the “tranquility of the mind”, or “mind-calmness”. The Pali Canon describes it as one of two qualities of mind which is developed (bhāvanā) in Buddhist meditation, the other being vipassana (insight). Samatha is said to be achieved by practicing single-pointed meditation....
Arhat In Buddhism, an arhat (or arahant) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved nirvana. Mahayana Buddhist traditions have used the term for people far advanced along the path of Enlightenment, but who may not have reached full Buddhahood. The understanding of the concept has changed over...
Bodhisattva In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is any person who is on the path towards Buddhahood. In the Early Buddhist schools as well as modern Theravada Buddhism, a bodhisattva (bodhisatta) refers to anyone who has made a resolution to become a Buddha and has also received a confirmation or prediction from a living Buddha that...
Āgama In Buddhism In Buddhism, an āgama (आगम Sanskrit and Pāli for “sacred work” or “scripture”) is a collection of Early Buddhist Texts. The five āgamas together comprise the Suttapiṭaka of the early Buddhist schools, which had different recensions of each āgama. In the Pali Canon of the Theravada, the term nikāya is used. The word āgama does not occur in this collection. Meaning In Buddhism, the term āgama is used...
Navayana Navayana (नवयान, Navayāna) means “new vehicle” and refers to the re-interpretation of Buddhism by B. R. Ambedkar. Ambedkar was born in a Dalit (untouchable) family during the colonial era of India, studied abroad, became a Dalit leader, and announced in 1935 his intent to convert from Hinduism to Buddhism. Thereafter Ambedkar studied...
Pre-sectarian Buddhism Pre-sectarian Buddhism, also called early Buddhism, the earliest Buddhism, and original Buddhism, is Buddhism as theorized to have existed before the various subsects of Buddhism came into being. The contents and teachings of this pre-sectarian Buddhism must be deduced or re-constructed from the earliest Buddhist texts, which by themselves are already sectarian....
Early Buddhism The term Early Buddhism can refer to two distinct periods, both of which are covered in a separate article: Pre-sectarian Buddhism, which refers to the teachings and monastic organization and structure, founded by Gautama Buddha. Lambert Schmithausen (1987): “the canonical period prior to the development of different schools with their different positions.”...
Vajrayana Vajrayāna, Vajrayana, Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Tibetan Buddhism, Tantric Buddhism and Esoteric Buddhism are terms referring to the various Buddhist traditions of Tantra and “Secret Mantra“, which developed in medieval India and spread to Tibet, Bhutan, and East Asia. In Tibet, Buddhist Tantra is termed Vajrayāna, while in China it is generally known as Tángmì Hanmi (“Chinese Esotericism”) or Mìzōng (“Esoteric Sect”), in Pali it is...
Brahma In Buddhism Brahmā or Brahma is a leading god (deva) and heavenly king in Buddhism. He was adopted from other Indian religions such as Hinduism that considered him a protector of teachings (dharmapala), and he is never depicted in early Buddhist texts as a creator god. In Buddhist tradition, it was the deity...
Brahmavihara The brahmavihāras or Brahmavihara (sublime attitudes, lit. “abodes of brahma“) are a series of four Buddhist virtues and the meditation practices made to cultivate them. They are also known as the four immeasurables (apramāṇa, appamaññā). The Brahma-viharas are: loving-kindness or benevolence (metta) compassion (karuna) empathetic joy (mudita) equanimity (upekkha) According to the Metta Sutta, cultivation of the four...
Refuge In Buddhism Buddhists take refuge in the Three Jewels or Triple Gem (also known as the “Three Refuges”). The Three Jewels are: the Buddha, the fully enlightened one the Dharma, the teachings expounded by the Buddha the Sangha, the monastic order of Buddhism that practice the Dharma Refuge is common to all major...
Vipassana Vipassanā or vipaśyanā (विपश्यना), “insight,” in the Buddhist tradition is insight into the true nature of reality, defined as dukkha (suffering or unsatisfactoriness), anatta (non-self), and anicca (impermanence), the three marks of existence in the Theravada tradition, and as sunyata and Buddha-nature in the Mahayana traditions. Meditation practice in the Theravada tradition ended in the 10th century, but was re-introduced...
Buddhist Paths To Liberation The Buddhist tradition gives a wide variety of descriptions of the Buddhist path to liberation. The classical description is the Noble Eightfold Path, described in the Sutta Pitaka. This description is preceded by even older descriptions in the Sutta Pitaka, and elaborated in the various Buddhist traditions. A...
Sangha Sangha is a Pali/Magadhi Prakrit word used in many Indian languages, meaning “association”, “assembly”, “company” or “community”. It was historically used in a political context to denote a governing assembly in a republic or a kingdom. It is used in modern times by groups such as the political party...
The Kaaba The Kaaba (كَعْبَة kaʿbah, “Cube”), also referred to as al-Kaʿbah al-Musharrafah (ٱلْكَعْبَة ٱلْمُشَرَّفَة, lit. ‘Honorable Ka’bah’), also spelled Ka’bah, is a building at the center of Islam‘s most important mosque, Great Mosque of Mecca (ٱلْمَسْجِد ٱلْحَرَام, lit. ‘The Sacred Mosque’), in the Hejazi city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is the most sacred site in Islam. It is considered by Muslims to be the Bayt Allāh (بَيْت ٱللَّٰه, “House of God”). Its...
Farewell Sermon The Farewell Sermon (خطبة الوداع, Khuṭbatu l-Wadāʿ), also known as Muhammad’s Final Sermon or the Last Sermon, is a religious speech, believed by Muslims to have been delivered by the Islamic prophet Muhammad on Friday the 9th of Dhu al-Hijjah, 10 AH (6 March 632) in the Uranah valley of Mount Arafat, during the Islamic pilgrimage of Hajj. Muhammad al-Bukhari refers to the sermon...
Dhyana In Buddhism In the oldest texts of Buddhism, dhyāna, dhyana or jhāna is the training of the mind, commonly translated as meditation, to withdraw the mind from the automatic responses to sense-impressions, 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...
Brahmacarya Brahmacarya (ब्रह्मचर्य, ব্রহ্মচর্য) is a concept within Indian religions that literally means “conduct consistent with Brahman” or “on the path of Brahman”. In Yoga, Hinduism, and Buddhism it generally refers to a lifestyle characterized by sexual continence or abstinence. Brahmacarya is somewhat different from the English term “celibacy,” which merely means non-indulgence in sexual activity. Brahmacarya is when...
