Buddhist Review F2024 Study Guide PDF

**[Overview on Buddhism:]** 1. How is Buddhism an expression of Axial Age reforms? What was it that Siddhartha found objectionable in Hinduism? 2. Explain philosophical Buddhism as a challenge to the Upanishad ideals. What ideas does the Buddha use from Hinduism? Which ones does he r...

**[Overview on Buddhism:]** 1. How is Buddhism an expression of Axial Age reforms? What was it that Siddhartha found objectionable in Hinduism? 2. Explain philosophical Buddhism as a challenge to the Upanishad ideals. What ideas does the Buddha use from Hinduism? Which ones does he reject? 3. Give some reasons why Buddhism might be considered the most counter-cultural religion we have studied of the five major world religions. 4. Be able to compare Hinduism's structured way of life to Buddhism's spontaneous and inspirational spirituality. 5. What is a parable? What is a monastery? What is samsara? What is asceticism? Apply each of these terms to our study of Buddhism. 6. **[The Story of Siddhartha.]** How is Siddhartha's life used as a parable in Buddhism? Describe the oracles surrounding the life of Siddhartha Gautama. What did his father do to ensure that his son would be his successor and not a religious prophet? 7. What are the Four Passing Sights? What was Siddhartha's reaction to them? What kind of lifestyle does the fourth passing sight involve? What kind of life does Siddhartha "jump into" when he leaves the palace? 8. What kind of life does Buddha live after he leaves the palace? Why is this lifestyle surprising for followers of Hinduism? How does this wandering life make for the first reform that leads to Buddhism? 9. Describe the further realizations / reforms that cause Siddhartha to begin a new religious movement. How are they departures from Hinduism, and so are Axial Age reforms? Where did Siddhartha have too much or too little before the "life of balance" or "Dharma" realization? 10. Describe the Bodhi tree experience as liberation. What are some ways to explain how liberation were even possible for Siddhartha? 11. How does he begin to "institutionalize" his movement after the Bodhi Tree experience? 12. What did Buddha do for the rest of his life? How is the portrayal of Buddha's death (the "Slumbering Buddha" and his last words) also a parable? How does his death compare to heroes for other religious traditions? 13. **[Buddhism as Theory].** What are the Three Jewels that Buddhism gives the world, according to Buddhists? How is the [Buddha] jewel so different from Hinduism? How is the [Dharma] jewel different? How is [Sangha] as (monastic) community a big change over Hinduism's ashram? 14. What story (or parable) does Buddha tell to explain what he thinks about whether his ideas qualify as "religion" and his view of religious questions like god(s), the afterlife, heaven, guilt, sin, etc.? 15. Describe how Siddhartha's theoretical observations (the Four "Negative" Principles/Realities about suffering / change / samsara) lead to Four Noble Truths. How does Siddhartha use---but change---the levels of reality the Hindus teach? Why is Maya so important for Buddha? What is Buddhism's belief about the Hindu idea of Atman, one's eternal selfhood or ego? What is it about [samsara] that makes suffering (and change) inevitable? 16. What are the Four Noble Truths? What are the two sources of suffering in this life? What is the difference between [dukka] and [trisha]? How does [dukka] sum up Siddhartha's "passing sights?" Can these sources of suffering be avoided? Which ones can be controlled? 17. How does Siddhartha use the "taxonomy of desire" to understand how to control desires? Describe how the Four Noble Truths point to self-control parallels in the 12-Step Program. How does the concept of identifying desires help one to control desires? How does it carry out the ancient prescription of Delphi to "know thyself"? 18. What is nirvana? Why is this fourth Noble Truth the gateway to speaking about Buddhism as a religion? What surprising and wonderful thing does Buddhism teach about Nirvana's power even over dukka desires when Nirvana happens? Interpret the saying "Remove the fuel and the fire goes out" in terms of desire and soul. 19. Describe the Noble 8-fold Path. What is the objective of this "path"? How is it like the Hindu practice of yoga? How is it like an acquired skill or art to be learned over a lifetime and not like an instantaneous solution? 20. How would a Buddhist see Nirvana in comparison to how a Hindu would see Moksha? 21. **[Buddhism as Religious Form]**. Give the history of Buddhism's development once Buddha died. Who is Ashoka? How does he transform Buddhism? 22. Why is [Theravada], "the way of the monks," a path not many can take? How does it differ from the approaches of other Buddhisms? What kind of Dharma would be practiced by Theravada Buddhists? 23. How does the monastic practice of mindfulness ("meta-thinking") bring about detachment? What is the ultimate goal of mindfulness? 24. What are the artistic representations of the Buddha's life covered in the class? To what do they correspond in the various forms of religious Buddhism? 25. Why is [Mahayana], "big boat," often called the "way of the many" or "mainstream?" Compare its Dharma to the Dharma of Theravada. 26. What are Mahayana's main teachings? How does it emphasize the Buddha's message of compassion? What is its [bodhisattva] core? Who can be a [bodhisattva]? Describe how [Mahayana] Buddhism contributed to a more complex Buddha and the making of Buddhism into a full-fledged religion. How does this complex Buddha explain how the [bodhisattva] theology allows everyone to achieve Nirvana? How would you imagine that the way Mahayanas teach the three levels of Buddha lead to a divine Buddha? 27. Why might Mahayana considered to be "green" Buddhism? 28. Describe one form of Mahayana, Zen Buddhism. Why is it so distinctive in its meditation? What is the Koan? How do ritual and handiwork tie into the Zen approach? What role does rationality play? 29. Why is Haiku poetry a good art form for Zen? 30. How could [Vajrayana], "diamond" or "lightning boat," be called the "way of the \[enlightened\] one?" How is [Vajrayana] a merger of Tantric Buddhism and shamanism? \[What is shamanism? What is Tantric Buddhism?\] Describe how nature has played a role in the development of this Buddhism. 31. What role do monasteries play in [Vajrayana] Buddhism? What is the role of the lama? How do the followers of the Dalai Lama see him as the answer to the problem of the moral decline of leadership? How is the Dalai Lama chosen as head? 32. How does the Dalai Lama tie together Tantric Buddhism and shamanism? How does he symbolize the concept of Vajrayana Buddhism? 33. What is a mandala?\] 34. Describe the recent history of Dalai Lama Buddhism. What is the relationship of Communist China to the religion?