Buddhism

qas: question: What type of religion is Buddhism?
answers: text: nontheistic

question: What are the practices of Buddhism based on?
answers: text: teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha

question: Where did the Buddha live?
answers: text: present-day Nepal

question: How do Buddhists believe their suffering can be ended?
answers: text: through the direct understanding and perception of dependent origination and the Four Noble Truths

question: What did the Buddha teach should be given up to end suffering?
answers: text: ignorance and craving

question: What type of religion is Buddhism?
answers: text: nontheistic religion

question: Who's teaching is Buddhism based upon?
answers: text: Gautama Buddha

question: When was Buddha alive?
answers: text: between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE

question: Where did Buddha reside when he was alive?
answers: text: present-day Nepal

question: Who's teachings is Buddhism based upon?
answers: text: Gautama Buddha

question: Where was Buddha thought to live?
answers: text: Nepal

question: When approximately was Buddha alive?
answers: text: sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE

question: Buddhism is based on the teaching of who?
answers: text: Gautama Buddha

question: How many noble truths are there?
answers: text: 4

question: Buddha was part of what subcontinent?
answers: text: Indian

question: Who is "the awakened one"
answers: text: Buddha
context: Buddhism /ˈbudɪzəm/ is a nontheistic religion[note 1] or philosophy (Sanskrit: धर्म dharma; Pali: धम्म dhamma) that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to Gautama Buddha, commonly known as the Buddha ("the awakened one"). According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent, present-day Nepal sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE.[note 1] He is recognized by Buddhists as an awakened or enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient beings end their suffering through the elimination of ignorance and craving. Buddhists believe that this is accomplished through the direct understanding and perception of dependent origination and the Four Noble Truths.

qas: question: What are the two major branches of Buddhism?
answers: text: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle")

question: What is sometimes viewed as the third branch of Buddhism?
answers: text: Vajrayana

question: Where does Theravada have the largest following?
answers: text: Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia

question: Mahayana includes which practices of Buddhism?
answers: text: Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, and Tiantai (Tendai)

question: What is the estimated number of Buddhists in the world?
answers: text: 488 million[web 1] and 535 million

question: Which branch practices the teachings of Zen?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: What minor branch is sometimes attributed to Mahayana?
answers: text: Vajrayana

question: What kind of teachings does Tibetan Buddhism preserve?
answers: text: Vajrayana

question: Vajrayana is attributed to who?
answers: text: Indian siddhas

question: Theravada means what?
answers: text: The School of the Elders
context: Two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars: Theravada ("The School of the Elders") and Mahayana ("The Great Vehicle"). Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a third branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Theravada has a widespread following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, and Tiantai (Tendai) is found throughout East Asia. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Mongolia and Kalmykia. Buddhists number between an estimated 488 million[web 1] and 535 million, making it one of the world's major religions.

qas: question: What is the goal of Theravada Buddhism?
answers: text: the attainment of the sublime state of Nirvana

question: How is Nirvana achieved?
answers: text: practicing the Noble Eightfold Path (also known as the Middle Way)

question: What is the bodhisattva path?
answers: text: a state wherein one remains in this cycle to help other beings reach awakening

question: What is the goal of Tibetan Buddhism?
answers: text: Buddhahood or rainbow body

question: How is Nirvana attained?
answers: text: by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path

question: In what buddhism is the goal a state of nirvana?
answers: text: Theravada

question: What buddhism has a goal of Buddhahood or rainbow body?
answers: text: Tibetan

question: The Noble Eightfold Path is also known as what?
answers: text: the Middle Way

question: Mahayana aspires to Buddhahood through what path?
answers: text: bodhisattva

question: Theravada escapes what cycle?
answers: text: suffering and rebirth
context: In Theravada Buddhism, the ultimate goal is the attainment of the sublime state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path (also known as the Middle Way), thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering and rebirth. Mahayana Buddhism instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in this cycle to help other beings reach awakening. Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body.

qas: question: What are the Three Jewels of the Buddhist tradition?
answers: text: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings), and the Sangha (the community)

question: What is one of the Ten Meritorious Deeds of Buddhism?
answers: text: cultivation of higher wisdom and discernment

question: What other practices do Buddhists adhere to?
answers: text: Ten Meritorious Deeds

question: What is one of the Ten Meritorious Deeds?
answers: text: renouncing conventional living and becoming a monastic

question: Buddhism denies what kind of deity?
answers: text: creator

question: Of the Ten Meritorious Deeds, giving charity reduces what?
answers: text: greediness

question: Invocation of buddhas and bodhisattvas is in what tradition?
answers: text: Mahayana
context: Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. Buddhism denies a creator deity and posits that mundane deities such as Mahabrahma are misperceived to be a creator. The foundations of Buddhist tradition and practice are the Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings), and the Sangha (the community). Taking "refuge in the triple gem" has traditionally been a declaration and commitment to being on the Buddhist path, and in general distinguishes a Buddhist from a non-Buddhist. Other practices are Ten Meritorious Deeds including, giving charity to reduce the greediness; following ethical precepts; renouncing conventional living and becoming a monastic; the development of mindfulness and practice of meditation; cultivation of higher wisdom and discernment; study of scriptures; devotional practices; ceremonies; and in the Mahayana tradition, invocation of buddhas and bodhisattvas.

qas: question: The Nidānakathā of the Jataka tales of the Theravada is attributed to who?
answers: text: Nidānakathā of the Jataka tales of the Theravada

question: What are some other biographies that differ from the Jataka tales?
answers: text: Buddhacarita, the Lokottaravādin Mahāvastu, and the Sarvāstivādin Lalitavistara Sūtra

question: What do scholars recognize about the life of the Buddha?
answers: text: Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order

question: When was the Buddhagohosa written?
answers: text: 5th century CE

question: What is one of the earlier biographies on Buddhism?
answers: text: the Buddhacarita

question: Who founded a monastic order in his life?
answers: text: Buddha

question: Scholars do not make claims without evidence about who's life?
answers: text: Buddha

question: Most accept that Buddha lived and taught in what type of order?
answers: text: monastic

question: The Jataka tales of the Theravada happened in what century?
answers: text: 5th ce
context: This narrative draws on the Nidānakathā of the Jataka tales of the Theravada, which is ascribed to Buddhaghoṣa in the 5th century CE. Earlier biographies such as the Buddhacarita, the Lokottaravādin Mahāvastu, and the Sarvāstivādin Lalitavistara Sūtra, give different accounts. Scholars are hesitant to make unqualified claims about the historical facts of the Buddha's life. Most accept that he lived, taught and founded a monastic order, but do not consistently accept all of the details contained in his biographies.

qas: question: Who said "the outline of the life must be true: birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death."?
answers: text: Michael Carrithers

question: What are some of the outlines of life?
answers: text: birth, maturity, renunciation

question: Who wrote a biography of Buddha?
answers: text: Karen Armstrong

question: What do some say is Buddha's real name?
answers: text: Siddhatta Gotama

question: What are the helpers called that helped Buddha?
answers: text: disciples

question: Who believes "the outline of the life must be true" in reference to Buddha?
answers: text: Michael Carrithers

question: Karen Armstrong wrote a biography on who?
answers: text: the Buddha

question: Karen Armstrong has said that we can be confident who existed?
answers: text: Siddhatta Gotama
context: According to author Michael Carrithers, while there are good reasons to doubt the traditional account, "the outline of the life must be true: birth, maturity, renunciation, search, awakening and liberation, teaching, death." In writing her biography of the Buddha, Karen Armstrong noted, "It is obviously difficult, therefore, to write a biography of the Buddha that meets modern criteria, because we have very little information that can be considered historically sound... [but] we can be reasonably confident Siddhatta Gotama did indeed exist and that his disciples preserved the memory of his life and teachings as well as they could."[dubious – discuss]

qas: question: According to early texts, when was Siddhārtha Gautama born?
answers: text: fifth century BCE

question: According to early texts, where was Siddhārtha Gautama born?
answers: text: in a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent

question: What type of community was Siddhārtha Gautama raised in?
answers: text: It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch.

question: Where was Siddhārtha Gautama born?
answers: text: the northeastern Indian subcontinent

question: When did Siddhārtha Gautama live?
answers: text: fifth century BCE

question: What size was Siddhārtha Gautama's birthplace?
answers: text: a small republic

question: Where did we find proof of his existence?
answers: text: early texts

question: What was most likely Siddhārtha Gautama's father?
answers: text: an oligarchy

question: Who was born in a northeastern part of India/
answers: text: Siddhārtha Gautama

question: If Siddhartha lived in a small republic, his father would have been a what?
answers: text: elected chieftain
context: The evidence of the early texts suggests that Siddhārtha Gautama was born in a community that was on the periphery, both geographically and culturally, of the northeastern Indian subcontinent in the fifth century BCE. It was either a small republic, in which case his father was an elected chieftain, or an oligarchy, in which case his father was an oligarch.

qas: question: What was the name of the astrologer who visited Prince Gautama's father?
answers: text: Asita

question: What was the prediction made by Asita?
answers: text: Siddhartha would either become a great king or renounce the material world to become a holy man

question: According to Asita, how would Siddhartha decide which path to take in life?
answers: text: depending on whether he saw what life was like outside the palace walls

question: What was the occupation of the person who visited Gautama?
answers: text: an astrologer

question: What was the name of his father?
answers: text: Suddhodana

question: What was Buddha predicted to become contrary with his life as we know it?
answers: text: a great king

question: What was the name of the astrologer that visited Gautama's father?
answers: text: Asita

question: What is Gautama's fathers name?
answers: text: Suddhodana

question: Asita prophesied that Siddhartha would be a kind or a what?
answers: text: holy man
context: According to this narrative, shortly after the birth of young prince Gautama, an astrologer named Asita visited the young prince's father, Suddhodana, and prophesied that Siddhartha would either become a great king or renounce the material world to become a holy man, depending on whether he saw what life was like outside the palace walls.

qas: question: What did Śuddhodana do to ensure that his son became a king instead of a holy man?
answers: text: prevented him from leaving the palace grounds

question: How old was Gautama when he first left the palace grounds?
answers: text: 29

question: What happened when Gautama left the palace grounds?
answers: text: he learned of the suffering of ordinary people

question: What are the four sights in Buddhism?
answers: text: encountering an old man, a sick man, a corpse and, finally, an ascetic holy man

question: What did Buddha's father want him to become?
answers: text: a king

question: By what age was he venturing outside?
answers: text: 29

question: What were his first four encounters called?
answers: text: the four sights

question: What did Gautama do after learning about the outside world?
answers: text: abandon royal life

question: Suddhodana wanted his son to become what?
answers: text: a king

question: At what age did Gautama venture out from the palace area?
answers: text: 29

question: How many "sights" did Gautama have that are well known?
answers: text: four

question: Gautama encountered an old man, a sick man, a holy man, and a what?
answers: text: corpse
context: Śuddhodana was determined to see his son become a king, so he prevented him from leaving the palace grounds. But at age 29, despite his father's efforts, Gautama ventured beyond the palace several times. In a series of encounters—known in Buddhist literature as the four sights—he learned of the suffering of ordinary people, encountering an old man, a sick man, a corpse and, finally, an ascetic holy man, apparently content and at peace with the world. These experiences prompted Gautama to abandon royal life and take up a spiritual quest.

qas: question: What was the first thing Gautama did on his spiritual quest?
answers: text: went to study with famous religious teachers of the day

question: What is the path of moderation between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification called?
answers: text: the Middle Way

question: What are some of the practices Gautama underwent on his quest?
answers: text: prolonged fasting, breath-holding, and exposure to pain

question: What was the first skill Gautama learnt?
answers: text: meditation

question: What almost killed Gautama in his pursuit?
answers: text: asceticism

question: What did he receive from the locals that changed his approach?
answers: text: milk and rice

question: What is the path of moderation called he followed?
answers: text: Middle Way

question: Gautama didn't like the religious teaching he initially found because of why?
answers: text: they did not provide a permanent end to suffering

question: What did Gautama accept from a village girl?
answers: text: milk and rice

question: Gautama devoted himself to what type of meditation?
answers: text: anapanasati

question: Buddhists call anapanasati what?
answers: text: the Middle Way
context: Gautama first went to study with famous religious teachers of the day, and mastered the meditative attainments they taught. But he found that they did not provide a permanent end to suffering, so he continued his quest. He next attempted an extreme asceticism, which was a religious pursuit common among the śramaṇas, a religious culture distinct from the Vedic one. Gautama underwent prolonged fasting, breath-holding, and exposure to pain. He almost starved himself to death in the process. He realized that he had taken this kind of practice to its limit, and had not put an end to suffering. So in a pivotal moment he accepted milk and rice from a village girl and changed his approach. He devoted himself to anapanasati meditation, through which he discovered what Buddhists call the Middle Way (Skt. madhyamā-pratipad): a path of moderation between the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.[web 2][web 3]

qas: question: How old was Gautama when he sat under the Bodhi Tree?
answers: text: 35

question: What kind of tree was the Bodhi Tree?
answers: text: Ficus religiosa

question: What did Gautama spend the rest of his life doing after reaching enlightenment?
answers: text: he spent the rest of his life teaching the path of awakening he had discovered

question: How old was the Buddha at the time of his death?
answers: text: 80

question: What is the south branch of the tree Gautama sat under called?
answers: text: Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi

question: What was the tree called he sat under?
answers: text: Ficus religiosa

question: What was the tree renamed that Gautama achieved enlightenment under?
answers: text: Bodhi Tree

question: At what age did Gautama come to pass?
answers: text: 80

question: When he was 35 Gautama sat in meditation under what tree?
answers: text: Bodhi Tree

question: What type of tree was the Bodhi Tree?
answers: text: Ficus religiosa

question: What town was the Bodhi Tree in?
answers: text: Bodh Gaya

question: The south branch of the original fig tree is known as?
answers: text: Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi
context: Gautama was now determined to complete his spiritual quest. At the age of 35, he famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya and vowed not to rise before achieving enlightenment. After many days, he finally destroyed the fetters of his mind, thereby liberating himself from the cycle of suffering and rebirth, and arose as a fully enlightened being (Skt. samyaksaṃbuddha). Soon thereafter, he attracted a band of followers and instituted a monastic order. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his life teaching the path of awakening he had discovered, traveling throughout the northeastern part of the Indian subcontinent, and died at the age of 80 (483 BCE) in Kushinagar, India. The south branch of the original fig tree available only in Anuradhapura Sri Lanka is known as Jaya Sri Maha Bodhi.

qas: question: What is samsara?
answers: text: the continual repetitive cycle of birth and death

question: What is avidya?
answers: text: ignorance

question: What is dukkha?
answers: text: suffering, anxiety, dissatisfaction

question: Is liberation from samsara possible?
answers: text: In the Buddhist view, liberation from samsara is possible by following the Buddhist path.

question: The cycle of birth and death is called what in Buddhism?
answers: text: Samsara

question: How many realms of existence are there in Buddhism?
answers: text: six

question: avidya is what kind of samsara?
answers: text: ignorance

question: How can you be freed from samsara?
answers: text: by following the Buddhist path

question: What is samsara defined as?
answers: text: the continual repetitive cycle of birth and death

question: How many realms of existance are within the cycle of rebirths?
answers: text: six

question: Realms can be understood as physical realms of what type of states?
answers: text: psychological

question: Samsara is caused by what?
answers: text: avidya

question: A person can get away from samsara by doing what?
answers: text: following the Buddhist path
context: Within Buddhism, samsara is defined as the continual repetitive cycle of birth and death that arises from ordinary beings' grasping and fixating on a self and experiences. Specifically, samsara refers to the process of cycling through one rebirth after another within the six realms of existence,[note 2] where each realm can be understood as physical realm or a psychological state characterized by a particular type of suffering. Samsara arises out of avidya (ignorance) and is characterized by dukkha (suffering, anxiety, dissatisfaction). In the Buddhist view, liberation from samsara is possible by following the Buddhist path.

qas: question: What does the Sanskrit term Karma translate as?
answers: text: action, work

question: What is karma according to Buddhism?
answers: text: the force that drives saṃsāra

question: What is theavoidance of unwholesome actions and the cultivation of positive actions called?
answers: text: sīla

question: What actions does karma refer to in Buddhism?
answers: text: actions of body, speech or mind that spring from mental intent

question: What is the definition of Karma from Sanskrit?
answers: text: action, work

question: What is the avoidance of bad acts called?
answers: text: sīla

question: Karma's actions come from what?
answers: text: cetanā

question: What is the result of Karma called?
answers: text: vipāka

question: What is Karma?
answers: text: the force that drives saṃsāra

question: Avoidance of unwholesome actions and use of positive actions is called what?
answers: text: sīla

question: what does vipaka mean?
answers: text: result
context: In Buddhism, Karma (from Sanskrit: "action, work") is the force that drives saṃsāra—the cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skillful deeds (Pali: "kusala") and bad, unskillful (Pāli: "akusala") actions produce "seeds" in the mind that come to fruition either in this life or in a subsequent rebirth. The avoidance of unwholesome actions and the cultivation of positive actions is called sīla. Karma specifically refers to those actions of body, speech or mind that spring from mental intent (cetanā), and bring about a consequence or phala "fruit" or vipāka "result".

qas: question: In which branch of Buddhism is it believed that there can be no divine salvation or forgiveness for karma?
answers: text: Theravada Buddhism

question: In Mahayana Buddhism, what are some Mahayana sutras that are believed to remove negative karma just by the hearing of the texts?
answers: text: the Lotus Sutra, the Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra and the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra

question: The reciting of mantras as a means for removing past negative karma is a part of which branch of Buddhism?
answers: text: Vajrayana

question: According to Genshin, who has the power to destroy karma?
answers: text: Amitābha

question: What Buddhism says that salvation is unattainable?
answers: text: Theravada Buddhism

question: Who has the power to destroy bad karma?
answers: text: Amitābha

question: What type of sutra is the Lotus Sutra?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: Some mantras are used for cutting off what type of karma?
answers: text: negative

question: Who was the Japanese Pure Land teacher?
answers: text: Genshin

question: According to Genshin, whats has the power to destroy karma?
answers: text: Amitābha
context: In Theravada Buddhism there can be no divine salvation or forgiveness for one's karma, since it is a purely impersonal process that is a part of the makeup of the universe.[citation needed] In Mahayana Buddhism, the texts of certain Mahayana sutras (such as the Lotus Sutra, the Aṅgulimālīya Sūtra and the Mahāyāna Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra) claim that the recitation or merely the hearing of their texts can expunge great swathes of negative karma. Some forms of Buddhism (for example, Vajrayana) regard the recitation of mantras as a means for cutting off of previous negative karma. The Japanese Pure Land teacher Genshin taught that Amitābha has the power to destroy the karma that would otherwise bind one in saṃsāra.

qas: question: What is the process in which beings go through cycles of lifetimes as many forms of sentient life?
answers: text: Rebirth

question: Which doctrine denies the concept of a permanent self or soul?
answers: text: The doctrine of anattā (Sanskrit anātman)

question: In Buddhism, rebirth into consecutive lives is determined by what?
answers: text: the laws of cause and effect

question: Sentient life according to Buddhism runs between what two points?
answers: text: from conception to death.

question: The laws of cause and effect can also be called?
answers: text: karma

question: What is the name for the process of a succession of lifetimes?
answers: text: Rebirth

question: What doctrine rejects the idea of permanent self?
answers: text: anatta

question: "dependent arising" is the meaning of what word?
answers: text: pratītyasamutpāda

question: Hinduism and Christianity use what term for a permanent self?
answers: text: eternal soul
context: Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of sentient life, each running from conception to death. The doctrine of anattā (Sanskrit anātman) rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul, as it is called in Hinduism and Christianity. According to Buddhism there ultimately is no such thing as a self independent from the rest of the universe. Buddhists also refer to themselves as the believers of the anatta doctrine—Nairatmyavadin or Anattavadin. Rebirth in subsequent existences must be understood as the continuation of a dynamic, ever-changing process of pratītyasamutpāda ("dependent arising") determined by the laws of cause and effect (karma) rather than that of one being, reincarnating from one existence to the next.

qas: question: Rebirth into the Śuddhāvāsa Worlds or Pure Abodes can only be attained by who?
answers: text: skilled Buddhist practitioners known as anāgāmis (non-returners)

question: Rebirth into the formless realms can only be attained by who?
answers: text: those who can meditate on the arūpajhānas, the highest object of meditation

question: How many planes of existence are there?
answers: text: 31

question: What are the higher heavens called?
answers: text: Pure Abodes

question: What are skilled Buddhists called?
answers: text: anāgāmis

question: What is another name for Ārūpyadhātu?
answers: text: formless realms

question: What is the highest object of meditation called?
answers: text: arūpajhānas

question: How many planes of existence?
answers: text: 31

question: Skilled buddhist practictioners that can get to the higher heavens are known as what?
answers: text: anāgāmis

question: What is the highest object of meditation?
answers: text: arūpajhānas

question: What does arupyadhatu mean?
answers: text: formless realms
context: The above are further subdivided into 31 planes of existence.[web 4] Rebirths in some of the higher heavens, known as the Śuddhāvāsa Worlds or Pure Abodes, can be attained only by skilled Buddhist practitioners known as anāgāmis (non-returners). Rebirths in the Ārūpyadhātu (formless realms) can be attained by only those who can meditate on the arūpajhānas, the highest object of meditation.

qas: question: There is a transitional state between one life and the next according to what branches of Buddhism?
answers: text: East Asian and Tibetan

question: What branch of Buddhism rejects that there is a transitional state between lives?
answers: text: Theravada

question: Passages in what teaching support the idea that the Buddha taught of a stage between lives?
answers: text: Samyutta Nikaya of the Pali Canon

question: What is the state called between lives?
answers: text: bardo

question: Which major part of Buddhism rejects bardo?
answers: text: Theravada

question: What book discusses bardo?
answers: text: Samyutta Nikaya

question: Other than Tibetan Buddhism, what other Buddhism supports bardo?
answers: text: East Asian

question: There is an intermediate state between one life and the next according to what Buddism?
answers: text: East Asian and Tibetan

question: What type of Theravada rejects the intermediate state idea?
answers: text: orthodox

question: Some passages of what Canon support the idea of intermediate stages?
answers: text: Pali
context: According to East Asian and Tibetan Buddhism, there is an intermediate state (Tibetan "bardo") between one life and the next. The orthodox Theravada position rejects this; however there are passages in the Samyutta Nikaya of the Pali Canon that seem to lend support to the idea that the Buddha taught of an intermediate stage between one life and the next.[page needed]

qas: question: What is considered to be central to the teachings of Buddhism?
answers: text: the Four Noble Truths

question: What do the Four Noble Truths explain?
answers: text: the nature of dukkha (suffering, anxiety, unsatisfactoriness), its causes, and how it can be overcome

question: What teachings are the most important to Buddhism?
answers: text: the Four Noble Truths

question: What part of Dukkha deals with pain?
answers: text: suffering

question: What is considered central to the teachings of Buddhism?
answers: text: Four Noble Truths

question: The four truths explain the nature of what?
answers: text: dukkha
context: The teachings on the Four Noble Truths are regarded as central to the teachings of Buddhism, and are said to provide a conceptual framework for Buddhist thought. These four truths explain the nature of dukkha (suffering, anxiety, unsatisfactoriness), its causes, and how it can be overcome. The four truths are:[note 4]

qas: question: What does the first of the Four Noble Truths explain?
answers: text: the nature of dukkha

question: What is Dukkha?
answers: text: "suffering", "anxiety", "unsatisfactoriness", "unease", etc.

question: What does the first truth cover?
answers: text: Dukkha

question: What is another word for Dukkha?
answers: text: suffering

question: What is another nature of Dukkha?
answers: text: anxiety

question: How many aspects are there to Dukkha?
answers: text: three

question: Dukkha can be translated as what word in regards to unhappiness?
answers: text: unsatisfactoriness

question: Suffering, anxiety, unsatisfactoriness, and unease is the translation of what word?
answers: text: Dukkha

question: How many aspects does dukkha have?
answers: text: three
context: The first truth explains the nature of dukkha. Dukkha is commonly translated as "suffering", "anxiety", "unsatisfactoriness", "unease", etc., and it is said to have the following three aspects:

qas: question: What does the second of the Four Noble Truths explain?
answers: text: that the origin of dukkha can be known

question: What is the origin of dukkha?
answers: text: craving (Pali: tanha) conditioned by ignorance (Pali: avijja)

question: What is the third of the Four Noble Truths explain?
answers: text: the complete cessation of dukkha is possible

question: What is the fourth of the Four Noble Truths explain?
answers: text: identifies a path to this cessation

question: What is the second truth?
answers: text: dukkha can be known.

question: How is the meaning of Dukkha explained?
answers: text: craving

question: What is a contributing factor to Dukkha?
answers: text: ignorance

question: The second truth is?
answers: text: the origin of dukkha can be known

question: The origin of dukkha is explained as craving conditioned by what?
answers: text: ignorance

question: The root cause of dukkha is identified as ignorance of what?
answers: text: true nature of things

question: The third noble truth is that the complete cessation of what is possible?
answers: text: dukkha
context: The second truth is that the origin of dukkha can be known. Within the context of the four noble truths, the origin of dukkha is commonly explained as craving (Pali: tanha) conditioned by ignorance (Pali: avijja). On a deeper level, the root cause of dukkha is identified as ignorance (Pali: avijja) of the true nature of things. The third noble truth is that the complete cessation of dukkha is possible, and the fourth noble truth identifies a path to this cessation.[note 7]

qas: question: What is the fourth of the Buddha's Four Noble Truths?
answers: text: The Noble Eightfold Path

question: What is the purpose of the Noble Eightfold Path?
answers: text: lead to the cessation of dukkha

question: What are the eight factors of the Noble Eightfold Path?
answers: text: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration

question: The Noble Eightfold Path is which of Buddha's Truths?
answers: text: the fourth

question: The fourth truth consists of how many factors?
answers: text: Eight

question: What is the end goal of the Fourth Truth?
answers: text: the cessation of dukkha

question: What is one of the eight factors?
answers: text: Right Action

question: The Noble Eightfold Path is which Noble Truth?
answers: text: the fourth

question: The noble Eightfold path is a set of how many inerconnected factors?
answers: text: eight

question: When the eight factors are developed together, is leads to the cessation of what?
answers: text: dukkha
context: The Noble Eightfold Path—the fourth of the Buddha's Noble Truths—consists of a set of eight interconnected factors or conditions, that when developed together, lead to the cessation of dukkha. These eight factors are: Right View (or Right Understanding), Right Intention (or Right Thought), Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

qas: question: Who describes the Noble Eightfold Path as "a mandala of interconnected factors that support and moderate each other."?
answers: text: Ajahn Sucitto

question: How are the eight factors of the Noble Eightfold Path to be understood?
answers: text: as eight significant dimensions of one's behaviour

question: What can one's behaviour be divided into?
answers: text: mental, spoken, and bodily

question: Who describes the path as "a mandala of interconnected factor that support and moderate each other"?
answers: text: Ajahn Sucitto
context: Ajahn Sucitto describes the path as "a mandala of interconnected factors that support and moderate each other." The eight factors of the path are not to be understood as stages, in which each stage is completed before moving on to the next. Rather, they are understood as eight significant dimensions of one's behaviour—mental, spoken, and bodily—that operate in dependence on one another; taken together, they define a complete path, or way of living.

qas: question: During his search for enlightenment, Gautama combined what teachings?
answers: text: the yoga practice of his teacher Kalama with what later became known as "the immeasurables"

question: What was the new kind of human invented by Gautama?
answers: text: one without egotism

question: What are the Four Immeasurable Minds also known as?
answers: text: brahmaviharas, divine abodes, or simply as four immeasurables

question: What is the best known of the four immeasurables?
answers: text: mettā or loving-kindness meditation

question: The Four Immeasurables are taught as a form of meditation that cultivates what?
answers: text: wholesome attitudes towards all sentient beings

question: Gautama combined the yoga practice of what teacher?
answers: text: Kalama

question: Gautama invented a new kind of human without what?
answers: text: egotism

question: What are the "four Immeasurable minds"?
answers: text: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity

question: Who calls the four immeasurable minds "four limitless ones"?
answers: text: Pema Chödrön

question: The Four Immeasurables are taught as a form of what?
answers: text: meditation
context: While he searched for enlightenment, Gautama combined the yoga practice of his teacher Kalama with what later became known as "the immeasurables".[dubious – discuss] Gautama thus invented a new kind of human, one without egotism.[dubious – discuss] What Thich Nhat Hanh calls the "Four Immeasurable Minds" of love, compassion, joy, and equanimity[full citation needed] are also known as brahmaviharas, divine abodes, or simply as four immeasurables.[web 5] Pema Chödrön calls them the "four limitless ones". Of the four, mettā or loving-kindness meditation is perhaps the best known.[web 5] The Four Immeasurables are taught as a form of meditation that cultivates "wholesome attitudes towards all sentient beings."[web 6][web 7]

qas: question: When did Gautama Buddha discover the Middle Way?
answers: text: prior to his enlightenment

question: An important guiding priciple of Buddhist practice is what?
answers: text: the Middle Way

question: Guatama discovered the middle path before his what?
answers: text: enlightenment
context: An important guiding principle of Buddhist practice is the Middle Way (or Middle Path), which is said to have been discovered by Gautama Buddha prior to his enlightenment. The Middle Way has several definitions:

qas: question: What are some of the theories and philosophies produced by Buddhist scholars?
answers: text: Abhidharma, Buddhist philosophy and Reality in Buddhism

question: Does Buddhism encourage or discourage doctrinal studies?
answers: text: Some schools of Buddhism discourage doctrinal study, and some regard it as essential practice.

question: Who has produced a number of theories and concepts such as Abhidharma and Reality in Buddhism?
answers: text: Buddhist scholars

question: Some schools within Buddhism discourage what type of study?
answers: text: doctrinal
context: Buddhist scholars have produced a number of intellectual theories, philosophies and world view concepts (see, for example, Abhidharma, Buddhist philosophy and Reality in Buddhism). Some schools of Buddhism discourage doctrinal study, and some regard it as essential practice.

qas: question: What is the goal of the Buddhist path?
answers: text: liberation

question: Upon awakening to the true nature of the self, what is one is liberated from?
answers: text: suffering (dukkha) and the cycle of incessant rebirths (saṃsāra)

question: Liberation is know as what?
answers: text: nirvāṇa

question: What is the goal of the buddhist path?
answers: text: nirvāṇa

question: In awakening to the true nature of the self, one no longer care about what?
answers: text: objects

question: Buddha recommended viewing thing by how many marks of existence?
answers: text: three
context: The concept of liberation (nirvāṇa)—the goal of the Buddhist path—is closely related to overcoming ignorance (avidyā), a fundamental misunderstanding or mis-perception of the nature of reality. In awakening to the true nature of the self and all phenomena one develops dispassion for the objects of clinging, and is liberated from suffering (dukkha) and the cycle of incessant rebirths (saṃsāra). To this end, the Buddha recommended viewing things as characterized by the three marks of existence.

qas: question: What is the meaning of impermanence in Buddhism?
answers: text: all compounded or conditioned phenomena (all things and experiences) are inconstant, unsteady, and impermanent

question: According to the Buddhist doctrine of impermanence, how does life express impermanence?
answers: text: in the aging process, the cycle of rebirth (saṃsāra), and in any experience of loss

question: Why is attachment to things futile?
answers: text: because things are impermanent

question: What is in a constant flux?
answers: text: Everything

question: Everything is continuously coming into being and what?
answers: text: ceasing to be

question: The cycle of rebirth is also called what?
answers: text: saṃsāra

question: According to doctrine, because all thing don't last, attachment can lead to what?
answers: text: suffering
context: Impermanence (Pāli: anicca) expresses the Buddhist notion that all compounded or conditioned phenomena (all things and experiences) are inconstant, unsteady, and impermanent. Everything we can experience through our senses is made up of parts, and its existence is dependent on external conditions. Everything is in constant flux, and so conditions and the thing itself are constantly changing. Things are constantly coming into being, and ceasing to be. Since nothing lasts, there is no inherent or fixed nature to any object or experience. According to the doctrine of impermanence, life embodies this flux in the aging process, the cycle of rebirth (saṃsāra), and in any experience of loss. The doctrine asserts that because things are impermanent, attachment to them is futile and leads to suffering (dukkha).

qas: question: The term dukkha corresponds to what English terms?
answers: text: suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration

question: Dukkha is often translated as suffering, but the philosophical meaning of dukkha of more closely related to what term?
answers: text: disquietude

question: Buddhism seeks to be neither pessimistic or optimistic, but what?
answers: text: realistic

question: Suffering is a central concept in what?
answers: text: Buddhism

question: The philosophical meaning of suffering is close what term?
answers: text: disquietude

question: The condition of being disturbed is what?
answers: text: disquietude

question: In translation what term is often left untranslated to keep of fuller definition?
answers: text: dukkha
context: Suffering (Pāli: दुक्ख dukkha; Sanskrit दुःख duḥkha) is also a central concept in Buddhism. The word roughly corresponds to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, unsatisfactoriness, sorrow, affliction, anxiety, dissatisfaction, discomfort, anguish, stress, misery, and frustration. Although the term is often translated as "suffering", its philosophical meaning is more analogous to "disquietude" as in the condition of being disturbed. As such, "suffering" is too narrow a translation with "negative emotional connotations"[web 9] that can give the impression that the Buddhist view is pessimistic, but Buddhism seeks to be neither pessimistic nor optimistic, but realistic. In English-language Buddhist literature translated from Pāli, "dukkha" is often left untranslated, so as to encompass its full range of meaning.[note 8]

qas: question: What is the third mark of existence in Buddhism?
answers: text: Not-self (Pāli: anatta; Sanskrit: anātman)

question: The Buddha rejected the metaphysical assertions "I have a Self" and "I have no Self" as views that bind one to what?
answers: text: suffering

question: What was the answer given when the Buddha was asked if the body is the same as the self?
answers: text: the Buddha refused to answer

question: What is the conclusion that one comes to when analyzing the changing physical and mental components or  person or thing?
answers: text: neither the respective parts nor the person as a whole comprise a self

question: What is the 3rd mark of existence?
answers: text: Not-self

question: In what form is anatta not meant as a metaphysical assertion?
answers: text: Nikayas

question: Buddha rejected the assertion "I have a Self" and what other related assertion?
answers: text: "I have no Self"

question: What is the term for constantly changing physical and mental parts?
answers: text: skandhas
context: Not-self (Pāli: anatta; Sanskrit: anātman) is the third mark of existence. Upon careful examination, one finds that no phenomenon is really "I" or "mine"; these concepts are in fact constructed by the mind. In the Nikayas anatta is not meant as a metaphysical assertion, but as an approach for gaining release from suffering. In fact, the Buddha rejected both of the metaphysical assertions "I have a Self" and "I have no Self" as ontological views that bind one to suffering.[note 9] When asked if the self was identical with the body, the Buddha refused to answer. By analyzing the constantly changing physical and mental constituents (skandhas) of a person or object, the practitioner comes to the conclusion that neither the respective parts nor the person as a whole comprise a self.

qas: question: What is the name of the Buddhist doctrine that states that phenomena arise together in a mutually interdependent web of cause and effect?
answers: text: pratītyasamutpāda, (Sanskrit; Pali: paticcasamuppāda; Tibetan Wylie: rten cing 'brel bar 'byung ba; Chinese: 緣起)

question: Translated into English, what does pratītyasamutpāda mean?
answers: text: "dependent origination", "conditioned genesis", "dependent relationship", "dependent co-arising", "interdependent arising", or "contingency"

question: The doctrine of pratityasumatupada is a important part of what type of metaphysics?
answers: text: Buddhist
context: The doctrine of pratītyasamutpāda, (Sanskrit; Pali: paticcasamuppāda; Tibetan Wylie: rten cing 'brel bar 'byung ba; Chinese: 緣起) is an important part of Buddhist metaphysics. It states that phenomena arise together in a mutually interdependent web of cause and effect. It is variously rendered into English as "dependent origination", "conditioned genesis", "dependent relationship", "dependent co-arising", "interdependent arising", or "contingency".

qas: question: What is the most common application of the concept of pratītyasamutpāda?
answers: text: the scheme of Twelve Nidānas

question: What does the scheme of Twelve Nidānas explain?
answers: text: the continuation of the cycle of suffering and rebirth (saṃsāra) in detail.

question: An application of the idea of pratityasamutpada is the scheme of what?
answers: text: Twelve Nidānas

question: What doe nidana mean?
answers: text: cause, foundation, source or origin
context: The best-known application of the concept of pratītyasamutpāda is the scheme of Twelve Nidānas (from Pāli "nidāna" meaning "cause, foundation, source or origin"), which explain the continuation of the cycle of suffering and rebirth (saṃsāra) in detail.[note 10]

qas: question: What describes the connection between the conditions of cyclic existence?
answers: text: The Twelve Nidānas

question: What describes the causal connection between the subsequent conditions of cyclic existance?
answers: text: The Twelve Nidānas
context: The Twelve Nidānas describe a causal connection between the subsequent characteristics or conditions of cyclic existence, each one giving rise to the next:

qas: question: How are sentient beings freed from suffering?
answers: text: by attaining Nirvana

question: What is the first Nidāna?
answers: text: ignorance

question: The absence of ignorance leads to what?
answers: text: the absence of the others

question: Who always suffers throughout samsara?
answers: text: Sentient beings

question: What is suffering also called?
answers: text: dukkha

question: How do you free yourself of dukkha?
answers: text: attaining Nirvana

question: What is the first Nidana?
answers: text: ignorance
context: Sentient beings always suffer throughout saṃsāra until they free themselves from this suffering (dukkha) by attaining Nirvana. Then the absence of the first Nidāna—ignorance—leads to the absence of the others.

qas: question: Nagarjuna's main contribution was the exposition of the concept of what?
answers: text: śūnyatā

question: What does sunyata mean?
answers: text: emptiness

question: Nagarjuna said that sentient beings are empty of what?
answers: text: ātman

question: What does dharmas mean?
answers: text: phenomena
context: Mahayana Buddhism received significant theoretical grounding from Nagarjuna (perhaps c. 150–250 CE), arguably the most influential scholar within the Mahayana tradition. Nagarjuna's primary contribution to Buddhist philosophy was the systematic exposition of the concept of śūnyatā, or "emptiness", widely attested in the Prajñāpāramitā sutras that emerged in his era. The concept of emptiness brings together other key Buddhist doctrines, particularly anatta and dependent origination, to refute the metaphysics of Sarvastivada and Sautrantika (extinct non-Mahayana schools). For Nagarjuna, it is not merely sentient beings that are empty of ātman; all phenomena (dharmas) are without any svabhava (literally "own-nature" or "self-nature"), and thus without any underlying essence; they are "empty" of being independent; thus the heterodox theories of svabhava circulating at the time were refuted on the basis of the doctrines of early Buddhism. Nagarjuna's school of thought is known as the Mādhyamaka. Some of the writings attributed to Nagarjuna made explicit references to Mahayana texts, but his philosophy was argued within the parameters set out by the agamas. He may have arrived at his positions from a desire to achieve a consistent exegesis of the Buddha's doctrine as recorded in the Canon. In the eyes of Nagarjuna the Buddha was not merely a forerunner, but the very founder of the Mādhyamaka system.

qas: question: What teaching were criticized by Nagarjuna?
answers: text: Sarvastivada teachings

question: What scholars reformed Sarvastivada teachings?
answers: text: Vasubandhu and Asanga

question: What is the doctrine that says that the mind and only the mind are real?
answers: text: cittamatra

question: What Yogacarins asserted that the mind was not truly existent?
answers: text: Vasubandhu and Asanga
context: Sarvastivada teachings—which were criticized by Nāgārjuna—were reformulated by scholars such as Vasubandhu and Asanga and were adapted into the Yogacara school. While the Mādhyamaka school held that asserting the existence or non-existence of any ultimately real thing was inappropriate, some exponents of Yogacara asserted that the mind and only the mind is ultimately real (a doctrine known as cittamatra). Not all Yogacarins asserted that mind was truly existent; Vasubandhu and Asanga in particular did not.[web 11] These two schools of thought, in opposition or synthesis, form the basis of subsequent Mahayana metaphysics in the Indo-Tibetan tradition.

qas: question: What does tathagatagarbha mean?
answers: text: Buddha-nature

question: what does prajnaparamita mean?
answers: text: perfected spiritual insight

question: According to what school is tathgatagarbha the inseparability of clairty and emptiness of one's mind?
answers: text: Sakya

question: According to what school does it refer to the innate qualities of the mind that express themselves as omniscience?
answers: text: Jonang

question: What type of sutras were generally ignored in india?
answers: text: tathāgatagarbha
context: Besides emptiness, Mahayana schools often place emphasis on the notions of perfected spiritual insight (prajñāpāramitā) and Buddha-nature (tathāgatagarbha). There are conflicting interpretations of the tathāgatagarbha in Mahāyāna thought. The idea may be traced to Abhidharma, and ultimately to statements of the Buddha in the Nikāyas. In Tibetan Buddhism, according to the Sakya school, tathāgatagarbha is the inseparability of the clarity and emptiness of one's mind. In Nyingma, tathāgatagarbha also generally refers to inseparability of the clarity and emptiness of one's mind. According to the Gelug school, it is the potential for sentient beings to awaken since they are empty (i.e. dependently originated). According to the Jonang school, it refers to the innate qualities of the mind that expresses themselves as omniscience etc. when adventitious obscurations are removed. The "Tathāgatagarbha Sutras" are a collection of Mahayana sutras that present a unique model of Buddha-nature. Even though this collection was generally ignored in India, East Asian Buddhism provides some significance to these texts.

qas: question: What term means cessation?
answers: text: Nirvana

question: What term means awakening?
answers: text: nirvana

question: What is the term for someone who has achieved nirvana?
answers: text: arahant
context: Nirvana (Sanskrit; Pali: "Nibbāna") means "cessation", "extinction" (of craving and ignorance and therefore suffering and the cycle of involuntary rebirths (saṃsāra)), "extinguished", "quieted", "calmed"; it is also known as "Awakening" or "Enlightenment" in the West. The term for anybody who has achieved nirvana, including the Buddha, is arahant.

qas: question: What is the term applied to the experience of the awakening of arahants?
answers: text: Bodhi

question: In early Buddhism Bodhi used a meaning synonymous to what word?
answers: text: nirvana

question: What is the term for greed or craving?
answers: text: raga

question: what is the word for hate or aversion?
answers: text: dosa

question: What does moha mean?
answers: text: delusion
context: Bodhi (Pāli and Sanskrit, in devanagari: बॊधि) is a term applied to the experience of Awakening of arahants. Bodhi literally means "awakening", but it is more commonly translated into English as "enlightenment". In Early Buddhism, bodhi carried a meaning synonymous to nirvana, using only some different metaphors to describe the experience, which implies the extinction of raga (greed, craving),[web 12] dosa (hate, aversion)[web 13] and moha (delusion).[web 14] In the later school of Mahayana Buddhism, the status of nirvana was downgraded in some scriptures, coming to refer only to the extinction of greed and hate, implying that delusion was still present in one who attained nirvana, and that one needed to attain bodhi to eradicate delusion:

qas: question: What has achieved nirvana and also liberation from delusion?
answers: text: bodhisattva

question: If bodhi is attained what do you become?
answers: text: a buddha

question: In theravada buddhism, bodhi and what term have the same meaning?
answers: text: nirvana
context: Therefore, according to Mahayana Buddhism, the arahant has attained only nirvana, thus still being subject to delusion, while the bodhisattva not only achieves nirvana but full liberation from delusion as well. He thus attains bodhi and becomes a buddha. In Theravada Buddhism, bodhi and nirvana carry the same meaning as in the early texts, that of being freed from greed, hate and delusion.

qas: question: What term is used for the complete nirvana attained by the arahant at death?
answers: text: parinirvana
context: The term parinirvana is also encountered in Buddhism, and this generally refers to the complete nirvana attained by the arahant at the moment of death, when the physical body expires.

qas: question: Who is a fully awakened being who has purified his mind of the three poisons of desire, aversion, and ignorance?
answers: text: a Buddha

question: A Buddha is no longer bound by what?
answers: text: Samsara

question: What do unawakend people experience?
answers: text: suffering
context: According to Buddhist traditions a Buddha is a fully awakened being who has completely purified his mind of the three poisons of desire, aversion and ignorance. A Buddha is no longer bound by Samsara and has ended the suffering which unawakened people experience in life.

qas: question: How many Buddhas are considered to have existed in the Pali Canon?
answers: text: 28

question: A Theravada and Mahayana belief is that the next Buddha will be one named what?
answers: text: Maitreya

question: Mahayana has many Buddhas of what origin?
answers: text: celestial
context: Buddhists do not consider Siddhartha Gautama to have been the only Buddha. The Pali Canon refers to many previous ones (see List of the 28 Buddhas), while the Mahayana tradition additionally has many Buddhas of celestial, rather than historical, origin (see Amitabha or Vairocana as examples, for lists of many thousands Buddha names see Taishō Shinshū Daizōkyō numbers 439–448). A common Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist belief is that the next Buddha will be one named Maitreya (Pali: Metteyya).

qas: question: A person can awaken from the "sleep of ignorance" by acknowledging the true nature of what?
answers: text: reality

question: At the end of the cycle of rebirth a person is called what?
answers: text: arahants
context: In Theravada doctrine, a person may awaken from the "sleep of ignorance" by directly realizing the true nature of reality; such people are called arahants and occasionally buddhas. After numerous lifetimes of spiritual striving, they have reached the end of the cycle of rebirth, no longer reincarnating as human, animal, ghost, or other being. The commentaries to the Pali Canon classify these awakened beings into three types:

qas: question: Nirvana and what term carry the same meaning?
answers: text: Bodhi

question: What is the term for extinction of only hatred and greed, with residue of delusion?
answers: text: anagami
context: Bodhi and nirvana carry the same meaning, that of being freed from craving, hate, and delusion. In attaining bodhi, the arahant has overcome these obstacles. As a further distinction, the extinction of only hatred and greed (in the sensory context) with some residue of delusion, is called anagami.

qas: question: In the Mahayana, who is thought to be an omnipresent being?
answers: text: Buddha

question: Who is thought to be beyond the range and reach of thought?
answers: text: Buddha

question: In what sutras are the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha viewed as One?
answers: text: Mahayana
context: In the Mahayana, the Buddha tends not to be viewed as merely human, but as the earthly projection of a beginningless and endless, omnipresent being (see Dharmakaya) beyond the range and reach of thought. Moreover, in certain Mahayana sutras, the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are viewed essentially as One: all three are seen as the eternal Buddha himself.

qas: question: Buddha's death is seen as an illusion, as he is living in other planes of what?
answers: text: existence

question: Who is permitted to offer "new truths" based on Buddhas input?
answers: text: monks

question: What is the term for the idea of ultimately nothing has existance?
answers: text: śūnyatā

question: Who are enlightened people who vow to continue being reborn?
answers: text: bodhisattvas
context: The Buddha's death is seen as an illusion, he is living on in other planes of existence, and monks are therefore permitted to offer "new truths" based on his input. Mahayana also differs from Theravada in its concept of śūnyatā (that ultimately nothing has existence), and in its belief in bodhisattvas (enlightened people who vow to continue being reborn until all beings can be enlightened).

qas: question: What is characterized by the deep truts in the "other-power" of Amitabha Buddha
answers: text: Pure Land

question: What is perhaps the most faith-oriented for of Buddhism?
answers: text: Pure Land

question: What Buddha vowed to rescue all beings from samsaric suffering?
answers: text: Amitabha
context: 
The method of self-exertion or "self-power"—without reliance on an external force or being—stands in contrast to another major form of Buddhism, Pure Land, which is characterized by utmost trust in the salvific "other-power" of Amitabha Buddha. Pure Land Buddhism is a very widespread and perhaps the most faith-orientated manifestation of Buddhism and centres upon the conviction that faith in Amitabha Buddha and the chanting of homage to his name liberates one at death into the Blissful (安樂), Pure Land (淨土) of Amitabha Buddha. This Buddhic realm is variously construed as a foretaste of Nirvana, or as essentially Nirvana itself. The great vow of Amitabha Buddha to rescue all beings from samsaric suffering is viewed within Pure Land Buddhism as universally efficacious, if only one has faith in the power of that vow or chants his name.

qas: question: Who is believed to have achieved enlightenment first?
answers: text: Gautama Buddha

question: What is the term for the stretch of history during which people rmember and practice the teachings of the earliest known buddha?
answers: text: A Buddha era

question: Who is the Buddha of this Buddha era?
answers: text: Gautama Buddha

question: Who taught directly or indirectly to all other Buddhas?
answers: text: Gautama Buddha
context: Buddhists believe Gautama Buddha was the first to achieve enlightenment in this Buddha era and is therefore credited with the establishment of Buddhism. A Buddha era is the stretch of history during which people remember and practice the teachings of the earliest known Buddha. This Buddha era will end when all the knowledge, evidence and teachings of Gautama Buddha have vanished. This belief therefore maintains that many Buddha eras have started and ended throughout the course of human existence.[web 15][web 16] The Gautama Buddha, therefore, is the Buddha of this era, who taught directly or indirectly to all other Buddhas in it (see types of Buddhas).

qas: question: Who believes there are innumerable other Buddhas in other universes?
answers: text: Mahayana Buddhists

question: What buddhist belief says that Buddhas come one at a time and not within other eras?
answers: text: Theravada
context: In addition, Mahayana Buddhists believe there are innumerable other Buddhas in other universes. A Theravada commentary says that Buddhas arise one at a time in this world element, and not at all in others. The understandings of this matter reflect widely differing interpretations of basic terms, such as "world realm", between the various schools of Buddhism.

qas: question: What form of Buddhism has declined to the point where few are capable of following the path?
answers: text: Pure Land
context: The idea of the decline and gradual disappearance of the teaching has been influential in East Asian Buddhism. Pure Land Buddhism holds that it has declined to the point where few are capable of following the path, so it may be best to rely on the power of Amitābha.

qas: question: What does Bodhisattva mean?
answers: text: enlightenment being

question: What is the term for the spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all beings?
answers: text: bodhicitta
context: Bodhisattva means "enlightenment being", and generally refers to one who is on the path to buddhahood. Traditionally, a bodhisattva is anyone who, motivated by great compassion, has generated bodhicitta, which is a spontaneous wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings. Theravada Buddhism primarily uses the term in relation to Gautama Buddha's previous existences, but has traditionally acknowledged and respected the bodhisattva path as well.[web 17]

qas: question: What term means "great vehicle"?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: What is an honorary synonym for Bodhisattvayana?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: The Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra is an important text of what type?
answers: text: Mahayana
context: According to Jan Nattier, the term Mahāyāna "Great Vehicle" was originally even an honorary synonym for Bodhisattvayāna "Bodhisattva Vehicle." The Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, an early and important Mahayana text, contains a simple and brief definition for the term bodhisattva: "Because he has enlightenment as his aim, a bodhisattva-mahāsattva is so called."

qas: question: What buddhism encourages everyone to become bodhisattvas?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: What is the idea there the practitioner promises to work for the complete enlightenment of all beings by practicing the six paramitas?
answers: text: bodhisattva vow

question: What are the six perfections under Mahayana teachings?
answers: text: dāna, śīla, kṣanti, vīrya, dhyāna, and prajñā
context: Mahayana Buddhism encourages everyone to become bodhisattvas and to take the bodhisattva vow, where the practitioner promises to work for the complete enlightenment of all beings by practicing the six pāramitās. According to Mahayana teachings, these perfections are: dāna, śīla, kṣanti, vīrya, dhyāna, and prajñā.

qas: question: Which Dalai Lama cites Shantideva's famous saying?
answers: text: the 14th Dalai Lama
context: A famous saying by the 8th-century Indian Buddhist scholar-saint Shantideva, which the 14th Dalai Lama often cites as his favourite verse, summarizes the Bodhisattva's intention (Bodhicitta) as follows: "For as long as space endures, and for as long as living beings remain, until then may I too abide to dispel the misery of the world."[citation needed]

qas: question: Devotion is an important part of the practice of most what?
answers: text: Buddhists

question: What are the devotional practices?
answers: text: bowing, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting
context: Devotion is an important part of the practice of most Buddhists. Devotional practices include bowing, offerings, pilgrimage, and chanting. In Pure Land Buddhism, devotion to the Buddha Amitabha is the main practice. In Nichiren Buddhism, devotion to the Lotus Sutra is the main practice.

qas: question: Buddhism traditionally incorporates states of what type of absorption?
answers: text: meditative

question: The most acient yogic ideas is found in the early sermons of who?
answers: text: the Buddha

question: The difference between the Buddha's teaching and the yoga presented in what what type of texts is significant?
answers: text: Brahminic

question: According to the Buddha event he highest meditative state is not what?
answers: text: liberating
context: Buddhism traditionally incorporates states of meditative absorption (Pali: jhāna; Skt: dhyāna). The most ancient sustained expression of yogic ideas is found in the early sermons of the Buddha. One key innovative teaching of the Buddha was that meditative absorption must be combined with liberating cognition. The difference between the Buddha's teaching and the yoga presented in early Brahminic texts is striking. Meditative states alone are not an end, for according to the Buddha, even the highest meditative state is not liberating. Instead of attaining a complete cessation of thought, some sort of mental activity must take place: a liberating cognition, based on the practice of mindful awareness.

qas: question: Meditation was an aspect of the practice of who?
answers: text: the yogis

question: In Buddhism, what must be developed at all times?
answers: text: mindfulness and clear awareness
context: Meditation was an aspect of the practice of the yogis in the centuries preceding the Buddha. The Buddha built upon the yogis' concern with introspection and developed their meditative techniques, but rejected their theories of liberation. In Buddhism, mindfulness and clear awareness are to be developed at all times; in pre-Buddhist yogic practices there is no such injunction. A yogi in the Brahmanical tradition is not to practice while defecating, for example, while a Buddhist monastic should do so.

qas: question: Religious knowledge is also known as what?
answers: text: vision

question: What type of techniques were shared with other traditions of his day?
answers: text: meditative

question: There is an idea where ethics are causally related to the attainment of what?
answers: text: transcendent wisdom
context: Religious knowledge or "vision" was indicated as a result of practice both within and outside of the Buddhist fold. According to the Samaññaphala Sutta, this sort of vision arose for the Buddhist adept as a result of the perfection of "meditation" coupled with the perfection of "discipline" (Pali sīla; Skt. śīla). Some of the Buddha's meditative techniques were shared with other traditions of his day, but the idea that ethics are causally related to the attainment of "transcendent wisdom" (Pali paññā; Skt. prajñā) was original.[web 18]

qas: question: What are probably the earliest texts describing meditation techniques?
answers: text: Buddhist texts

question: What describes meditative states exising before the Buddha?
answers: text: Buddhist texts

question: What two items were written after the rise of Buddhism?
answers: text: Upanishads
context: The Buddhist texts are probably the earliest describing meditation techniques. They describe meditative practices and states that existed before the Buddha as well as those first developed within Buddhism. Two Upanishads written after the rise of Buddhism do contain full-fledged descriptions of yoga as a means to liberation.

qas: question: In pre-buddhist early Brahminic texts there is no evidence for what?
answers: text: meditation

question: The upanishads statements reflect what type of tradition?
answers: text: contemplative

question: What contains evidence for a contemplative tradition?
answers: text: Nasadiya Sukta
context: While there is no convincing evidence for meditation in pre-Buddhist early Brahminic texts, Wynne argues that formless meditation originated in the Brahminic or Shramanic tradition, based on strong parallels between Upanishadic cosmological statements and the meditative goals of the two teachers of the Buddha as recorded in the early Buddhist texts. He mentions less likely possibilities as well. Having argued that the cosmological statements in the Upanishads also reflect a contemplative tradition, he argues that the Nasadiya Sukta contains evidence for a contemplative tradition, even as early as the late Rig Vedic period.

qas: question: What is the first step in a school of Buddhism?
answers: text: the Three Jewels

question: What mentions taking refuge on behalf of young or unborn children?
answers: text: Majjhima Nikaya

question: What type of Buddhism adds a fourth refuge?
answers: text: Tibetan

question: The Three Jewels are preceived as possessed of an eternal and unchanging what?
answers: text: essence.

question: What has an irreversable effect?
answers: text: The Three Jewels
context: Traditionally, the first step in most Buddhist schools requires taking refuge in the Three Jewels (Sanskrit: tri-ratna, Pāli: ti-ratana)[web 19] as the foundation of one's religious practice. The practice of taking refuge on behalf of young or even unborn children is mentioned in the Majjhima Nikaya, recognized by most scholars as an early text (cf. Infant baptism). Tibetan Buddhism sometimes adds a fourth refuge, in the lama. In Mahayana, the person who chooses the bodhisattva path makes a vow or pledge, considered the ultimate expression of compassion. In Mahayana, too, the Three Jewels are perceived as possessed of an eternal and unchanging essence and as having an irreversible effect: "The Three Jewels have the quality of excellence. Just as real jewels never change their faculty and goodness, whether praised or reviled, so are the Three Jewels (Refuges), because they have an eternal and immutable essence. These Three Jewels bring a fruition that is changeless, for once one has reached Buddhahood, there is no possibility of falling back to suffering.

qas: question: Who presented himself as a model?
answers: text: Gautama Buddha

question: What offers a refuge by providing guidelines for the alleviation of suffering?
answers: text: Dharma

question: What provides refuge by preserving the authentic teachings of the Buddha?
answers: text: Sangha
context: According to the scriptures, Gautama Buddha presented himself as a model. The Dharma offers a refuge by providing guidelines for the alleviation of suffering and the attainment of Nirvana. The Sangha is considered to provide a refuge by preserving the authentic teachings of the Buddha and providing further examples that the truth of the Buddha's teachings is attainable.

qas: question: What is an action committed through the body and involves intentional effort?
answers: text: Śīla

question: Sila is the second what?
answers: text: pāramitā
context: Śīla (Sanskrit) or sīla (Pāli) is usually translated into English as "virtuous behavior", "morality", "moral discipline", "ethics" or "precept". It is an action committed through the body, speech, or mind, and involves an intentional effort. It is one of the three practices (sīla, samādhi, and paññā) and the second pāramitā. It refers to moral purity of thought, word, and deed. The four conditions of śīla are chastity, calmness, quiet, and extinguishment.

qas: question: What keeps the cultivator from rebirth in the four realms of existance?
answers: text: keeping the precepts

question: What is the foundation of Samadhi/Bhavana?
answers: text: Śīla

question: What promotes not only the peace of mind but also peace in the community?
answers: text: keeping the precepts
context: Śīla is the foundation of Samādhi/Bhāvana (Meditative cultivation) or mind cultivation. Keeping the precepts promotes not only the peace of mind of the cultivator, which is internal, but also peace in the community, which is external. According to the Law of Karma, keeping the precepts is meritorious and it acts as causes that would bring about peaceful and happy effects. Keeping these precepts keeps the cultivator from rebirth in the four woeful realms of existence.

qas: question: What does sila refer to?
answers: text: overall principles of ethical behavior

question: Lay people tend to live by the five what?
answers: text: precepts

question: Schools can undertake eight precepts, which add basic what?
answers: text: asceticism.
context: Śīla refers to overall principles of ethical behavior. There are several levels of sīla, which correspond to "basic morality" (five precepts), "basic morality with asceticism" (eight precepts), "novice monkhood" (ten precepts) and "monkhood" (Vinaya or Patimokkha). Lay people generally undertake to live by the five precepts, which are common to all Buddhist schools. If they wish, they can choose to undertake the eight precepts, which add basic asceticism.

qas: question: Precepts are not created as imperatives, but as what?
answers: text: training rules

question: The cultivation of dana and what kind of conduct refine consciousness?
answers: text: ethical

question: Even if there is no further Buddhist practice, what heavens is still likely?
answers: text: lower
context: The precepts are not formulated as imperatives, but as training rules that laypeople undertake voluntarily to facilitate practice. In Buddhist thought, the cultivation of dana and ethical conduct themselves refine consciousness to such a level that rebirth in one of the lower heavens is likely, even if there is no further Buddhist practice. There is nothing improper or un-Buddhist about limiting one's aims to this level of attainment.

qas: question: Of the eight precepts which one is on sexual misconduct?
answers: text: third

question: What is the third strict precept on sexual misconduct?
answers: text: a precept of celibacy
context: In the eight precepts, the third precept on sexual misconduct is made more strict, and becomes a precept of celibacy. The three additional precepts are:

qas: question: How many precepts are on the list?
answers: text: ten

question: In the complete list of precepts, which one is partitioned into two?
answers: text: seventh
context: The complete list of ten precepts may be observed by laypeople for short periods. For the complete list, the seventh precept is partitioned into two, and a tenth added:

qas: question: How many basic precepts are there for monastics?
answers: text: the ten precepts

question: What is the specific moral code for monks and nuns?
answers: text: vinaya

question: How many rules dows the patimokkha have?
answers: text: 227

question: What are the scriptures on vinaya called?
answers: text: vinayapitaka
context: Vinaya is the specific moral code for monks and nuns. It includes the Patimokkha, a set of 227 rules for monks in the Theravadin recension. The precise content of the vinayapitaka (scriptures on Vinaya) differs slightly according to different schools, and different schools or subschools set different standards for the degree of adherence to Vinaya. Novice-monks use the ten precepts, which are the basic precepts for monastics.

qas: question: Regarding the monastic rules, the Buddha reminds his hearers that it is the spirit that what?
answers: text: counts

question: The rules themselves are designed to assure a satisfying what?
answers: text: life

question: The rules are a perfect springboard for what?
answers: text: higher attainments

question: Monastics are instructed by the Buddha to live as what?
answers: text: islands unto themselves
context: Regarding the monastic rules, the Buddha constantly reminds his hearers that it is the spirit that counts. On the other hand, the rules themselves are designed to assure a satisfying life, and provide a perfect springboard for the higher attainments. Monastics are instructed by the Buddha to live as "islands unto themselves". In this sense, living life as the vinaya prescribes it is, as one scholar puts it: "more than merely a means to an end: it is very nearly the end in itself."

qas: question: Distinctive Vinaya and ethics are contained within what sutra?
answers: text: Mahayana Brahmajala

question: Bodhisattvas are not encouraged to eat what?
answers: text: meat

question: Where is the monastic vinaya displaced and clergy is allowed to marry?
answers: text: Japan
context: In Eastern Buddhism, there is also a distinctive Vinaya and ethics contained within the Mahayana Brahmajala Sutra (not to be confused with the Pali text of that name) for Bodhisattvas, where, for example, the eating of meat is frowned upon and vegetarianism is actively encouraged (see vegetarianism in Buddhism). In Japan, this has almost completely displaced the monastic vinaya, and allows clergy to marry.

qas: question: In Chinese Buddhism what meditation is more popular?
answers: text: Zen

question: Evidence has shown some lay people got to proficiency in all eight what?
answers: text: jhānas
context: Buddhist meditation is fundamentally concerned with two themes: transforming the mind and using it to explore itself and other phenomena. According to Theravada Buddhism the Buddha taught two types of meditation, samatha meditation (Sanskrit: śamatha) and vipassanā meditation (Sanskrit: vipaśyanā). In Chinese Buddhism, these exist (translated chih kuan), but Chán (Zen) meditation is more popular. According to Peter Harvey, whenever Buddhism has been healthy, not only monks, nuns, and married lamas, but also more committed lay people have practiced meditation. According to Routledge's Encyclopedia of Buddhism, in contrast, throughout most of Buddhist history before modern times, serious meditation by lay people has been unusual. The evidence of the early texts suggests that at the time of the Buddha, many male and female lay practitioners did practice meditation, some even to the point of proficiency in all eight jhānas (see the next section regarding these).[note 11]

qas: question: What does the word samyaksamadhi mean?
answers: text: right concentration

question: Meditation is the primary means of cultivating what?
answers: text: samādhi

question: Upon development of samadhi, a person gets rid of what?
answers: text: defilement, calm, tranquil, and luminous
context: In the language of the Noble Eightfold Path, samyaksamādhi is "right concentration". The primary means of cultivating samādhi is meditation. Upon development of samādhi, one's mind becomes purified of defilement, calm, tranquil, and luminous.

qas: question: What is powerful concentration called?
answers: text: jhāna

question: What is the term when the mind is ready to penetrate and gain insight?
answers: text: vipassanā

question: Mindfulness is essential to concentration, which is neede to achieve what?
answers: text: insight
context: Once the meditator achieves a strong and powerful concentration (jhāna, Sanskrit ध्यान dhyāna), his mind is ready to penetrate and gain insight (vipassanā) into the ultimate nature of reality, eventually obtaining release from all suffering. The cultivation of mindfulness is essential to mental concentration, which is needed to achieve insight.

qas: question: Samatha meditation starts from being mindful of an object or what?
answers: text: idea

question: What is the term for tranquility?
answers: text: jhāna
context: Samatha meditation starts from being mindful of an object or idea, which is expanded to one's body, mind and entire surroundings, leading to a state of total concentration and tranquility (jhāna). There are many variations in the style of meditation, from sitting cross-legged or kneeling to chanting or walking. The most common method of meditation is to concentrate on one's breath (anapanasati), because this practice can lead to both samatha and vipassana'.

qas: question: In Buddhism, samatha meditation can calm the what?
answers: text: mind

question: Vipassana meditation can reveal how the mind was what?
answers: text: disturbed

question: What is the term for insight knowledge?
answers: text: jñāna

question: What is the term for understanding?
answers: text: prajñā

question: What eradicates the defilements completely?
answers: text: understanding
context: In Buddhist practice, it is said that while samatha meditation can calm the mind, only vipassanā meditation can reveal how the mind was disturbed to start with, which is what leads to insight knowledge (jñāna; Pāli ñāṇa) and understanding (prajñā Pāli paññā), and thus can lead to nirvāṇa (Pāli nibbāna). When one is in jhana, all defilements are suppressed temporarily. Only understanding (prajñā or vipassana) eradicates the defilements completely. Jhanas are also states that Arahants abide in order to rest.

qas: question: In Theravada Buddhism, what is the cause of human existence and suffering?
answers: text: craving

question: What does craving carry with it?
answers: text: defilements

question: Deeply rooted afflictions of the mind create what?
answers: text: suffering and stress

question: What is the ultimate goal for Theravadins?
answers: text: Nibbāna
context: In Theravāda Buddhism, the cause of human existence and suffering is identified as craving, which carries with it the various defilements. These various defilements are traditionally summed up as greed, hatred and delusion. These are believed deeply rooted afflictions of the mind that create suffering and stress. To be free from suffering and stress, these defilements must be permanently uprooted through internal investigation, analyzing, experiencing, and understanding of the true nature of those defilements by using jhāna, a technique of the Noble Eightfold Path. It then leads the meditator to realize the Four Noble Truths, Enlightenment and Nibbāna. Nibbāna is the ultimate goal of Theravadins.

qas: question: How many Noble Truths are there?
answers: text: Four

question: Prajna is the wisom that is able to extinguish afflictions and bring about what?
answers: text: bodhi

question: What is listed as the sixth of the six paramitas of the mahayana?
answers: text: Prajñā
context: Prajñā (Sanskrit) or paññā (Pāli) means wisdom that is based on a realization of dependent origination, The Four Noble Truths and the three marks of existence. Prajñā is the wisdom that is able to extinguish afflictions and bring about bodhi. It is spoken of as the principal means of attaining nirvāṇa, through its revelation of the true nature of all things as dukkha (unsatisfactoriness), anicca (impermanence) and anatta (not-self). Prajñā is also listed as the sixth of the six pāramitās of the Mahayana.

qas: question: Initially prajna is attained at a conceptual level by means of listening to what?
answers: text: sermons

question: In theory when can one attain Nirvana during practice?
answers: text: at any point

question: What can be applied to daily life once it is attained?
answers: text: conceptual understanding
context: Initially, prajñā is attained at a conceptual level by means of listening to sermons (dharma talks), reading, studying, and sometimes reciting Buddhist texts and engaging in discourse. Once the conceptual understanding is attained, it is applied to daily life so that each Buddhist can verify the truth of the Buddha's teaching at a practical level. Notably, one could in theory attain Nirvana at any point of practice, whether deep in meditation, listening to a sermon, conducting the business of one's daily life, or any other activity.

qas: question: Zen Buddhism is known as what in Korea?
answers: text: seon

question: What form of buddhism lays special emphasis on meditation?
answers: text: Zen

question: What form of Buddhism places less emphasis on scriptures?
answers: text: Zen

question: Zen focuses on what type of breakthroughs?
answers: text: spiritual
context: Zen Buddhism (禅), pronounced Chán in Chinese, seon in Korean or zen in Japanese (derived from the Sanskrit term dhyāna, meaning "meditation") is a form of Buddhism that became popular in China, Korea and Japan and that lays special emphasis on meditation.[note 12] Zen places less emphasis on scriptures than some other forms of Buddhism and prefers to focus on direct spiritual breakthroughs to truth.

qas: question: Zen Buddhism is divided into how many main schools?
answers: text: two

question: Which schools of Zen likes the use of meditation on the koan for spiritual breakthroughs?
answers: text: Rinzai
context: Zen Buddhism is divided into two main schools: Rinzai (臨済宗) and Sōtō (曹洞宗), the former greatly favouring the use in meditation on the koan (公案, a meditative riddle or puzzle) as a device for spiritual break-through, and the latter (while certainly employing koans) focusing more on shikantaza or "just sitting".[note 13]

qas: question: What Buddhist teachings are often full of paradox?
answers: text: Zen

question: What type of self is equated with the Buddha?
answers: text: True Self

question: What is not allowed to confine and bind oneself?
answers: text: Thinking and thought
context: Zen Buddhist teaching is often full of paradox, in order to loosen the grip of the ego and to facilitate the penetration into the realm of the True Self or Formless Self, which is equated with the Buddha himself.[note 14] According to Zen master Kosho Uchiyama, when thoughts and fixation on the little "I" are transcended, an Awakening to a universal, non-dual Self occurs: "When we let go of thoughts and wake up to the reality of life that is working beyond them, we discover the Self that is living universal non-dual life (before the separation into two) that pervades all living creatures and all existence." Thinking and thought must therefore not be allowed to confine and bind one.

qas: question: What type of Buddhism is Tibeto-Mongolian based on?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: What is the English term for Vajrayana?
answers: text: Diamond Vehicle

question: What type of Buddhism is concerned with ritual and meditative practices?
answers: text: Tantric

question: Psycho-physical energy is harnessed through what?
answers: text: ritual
context: Though based upon Mahayana, Tibeto-Mongolian Buddhism is one of the schools that practice Vajrayana or "Diamond Vehicle" (also referred to as Mantrayāna, Tantrayāna, Tantric Buddhism, or esoteric Buddhism). It accepts all the basic concepts of Mahāyāna, but also includes a vast array of spiritual and physical techniques designed to enhance Buddhist practice. Tantric Buddhism is largely concerned with ritual and meditative practices. One component of the Vajrayāna is harnessing psycho-physical energy through ritual, visualization, physical exercises, and meditation as a means of developing the mind. Using these techniques, it is claimed that a practitioner can achieve Buddhahood in one lifetime, or even as little as three years. In the Tibetan tradition, these practices can include sexual yoga, though only for some very advanced practitioners.

qas: question: What time period was the beginning of Buddhism?
answers: text: second half of the first millennium BCE

question: Scholars believe that karma originated in what?
answers: text: the shramanas

question: What groups broke with Brahmanic tradition?
answers: text: shramanas

question: Shramanas were a continuation of what type of trand of Indian thought?
answers: text: non-Vedic
context: Historically, the roots of Buddhism lie in the religious thought of ancient India during the second half of the first millennium BCE. That was a period of social and religious turmoil, as there was significant discontent with the sacrifices and rituals of Vedic Brahmanism.[note 15] It was challenged by numerous new ascetic religious and philosophical groups and teachings that broke with the Brahmanic tradition and rejected the authority of the Vedas and the Brahmans.[note 16] These groups, whose members were known as shramanas, were a continuation of a non-Vedic strand of Indian thought distinct from Indo-Aryan Brahmanism.[note 17] Scholars have reasons to believe that ideas such as samsara, karma (in the sense of the influence of morality on rebirth), and moksha originated in the shramanas, and were later adopted by Brahmin orthodoxy.[note 18][note 19][note 20][note 21][note 22][note 23]

qas: question: Buddhism arose in what area?
answers: text: Greater Magadha

question: Greater magadha stretched from Sravasti in the north-west to what area in the south-east?
answers: text: Rajagrha

question: What time period did the eastward spread of Brahmanism start?
answers: text: 2nd or 3rd centuries
context: This view is supported by a study of the region where these notions originated. Buddhism arose in Greater Magadha, which stretched from Sravasti, the capital of Kosala in the north-west, to Rajagrha in the south east. This land, to the east of aryavarta, the land of the Aryas, was recognized as non-Vedic. Other Vedic texts reveal a dislike of the people of Magadha, in all probability because the Magadhas at this time were not Brahmanised.[page needed] It was not until the 2nd or 3rd centuries BCE that the eastward spread of Brahmanism into Greater Magadha became significant. Ideas that developed in Greater Magadha prior to this were not subject to Vedic influence. These include rebirth and karmic retribution that appear in a number of movements in Greater Magadha, including Buddhism. These movements inherited notions of rebirth and karmic retribution from an earlier culture[page needed]

qas: question: Movements were influenced by philosophical thought within the Vedic tradition such as what?
answers: text: in the Upanishads

question: The movement included atomists such as what?
answers: text: Pakudha Kaccayana

question: What is the term for agnostics?
answers: text: Ajnanas

question: What movement focused on the idea that the sould must be freed from matter?
answers: text: Jains
context: At the same time, these movements were influenced by, and in some respects continued, philosophical thought within the Vedic tradition as reflected e.g. in the Upanishads. These movements included, besides Buddhism, various skeptics (such as Sanjaya Belatthiputta), atomists (such as Pakudha Kaccayana), materialists (such as Ajita Kesakambali), antinomians (such as Purana Kassapa); the most important ones in the 5th century BCE were the Ajivikas, who emphasized the rule of fate, the Lokayata (materialists), the Ajnanas (agnostics) and the Jains, who stressed that the soul must be freed from matter. Many of these new movements shared the same conceptual vocabulary—atman ("Self"), buddha ("awakened one"), dhamma ("rule" or "law"), karma ("action"), nirvana ("extinguishing"), samsara ("eternal recurrence") and yoga ("spiritual practice").[note 24] The shramanas rejected the Veda, and the authority of the brahmans, who claimed they possessed revealed truths not knowable by any ordinary human means. Moreover, they declared that the entire Brahmanical system was fraudulent: a conspiracy of the brahmans to enrich themselves by charging exorbitant fees to perform bogus rites and give useless advice.

qas: question: A criticism the Buddha gave dealing with animals was?
answers: text: Vedic animal sacrifice

question: The Buddha mocked what hymn of the Vedic?
answers: text: hymn of the cosmic man

question: The original Veda of the rishis was altered by a few Brahmins who introduced what?
answers: text: animal sacrifices

question: The Buddha refused to pay respect to who, during their time of animal sacrifice?
answers: text: Vedas
context: A particular criticism of the Buddha was Vedic animal sacrifice.[web 18] He also mocked the Vedic "hymn of the cosmic man". However, the Buddha was not anti-Vedic, and declared that the Veda in its true form was declared by "Kashyapa" to certain rishis, who by severe penances had acquired the power to see by divine eyes. He names the Vedic rishis, and declared that the original Veda of the rishis[note 25] was altered by a few Brahmins who introduced animal sacrifices. The Buddha says that it was on this alteration of the true Veda that he refused to pay respect to the Vedas of his time. However, he did not denounce the union with Brahman,[note 26] or the idea of the self uniting with the Self. At the same time, the traditional Hindu itself gradually underwent profound changes, transforming it into what is recognized as early Hinduism.

qas: question: What is in dispute regarding the research into the core of the teachings?
answers: text: The reliability
context: Information of the oldest teachings may be obtained by analysis of the oldest texts. One method to obtain information on the oldest core of Buddhism is to compare the oldest extant versions of the Theravadin Pali Canon and other texts.[note 27] The reliability of these sources, and the possibility to draw out a core of oldest teachings, is a matter of dispute.[page needed][page needed][page needed][page needed] According to Vetter, inconsistencies remain, and other methods must be applied to resolve those inconsistencies.[note 28]

qas: question: A large problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relationship of dhyana and what else?
answers: text: insight

question: Liberating insight is attained after mastering what?
answers: text: Rupa Jhanas

question: Later edition of texts such as what has the Rupa Jhanas?
answers: text: Majjhima Nikaya
context: A core problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relation between dhyana and insight. Schmithausen, in his often-cited article On some Aspects of Descriptions or Theories of 'Liberating Insight' and 'Enlightenment' in Early Buddhism notes that the mention of the four noble truths as constituting "liberating insight", which is attained after mastering the Rupa Jhanas, is a later addition to texts such as Majjhima Nikaya 36.[page needed]

qas: question: According the Bronkhorst, intentions and desire are responsible for what?
answers: text: rebirth

question: Bronkhurst says that Buddha had a view of 'what' much different then current day?
answers: text: karma
context: Bruce Matthews notes that there is no cohesive presentation of karma in the Sutta Pitaka, which may mean that the doctrine was incidental to the main perspective of early Buddhist soteriology. Schmithausen is a notable scholar who has questioned whether karma already played a role in the theory of rebirth of earliest Buddhism.[page needed][note 32] According to Vetter, "the Buddha at first sought "the deathless" (amata/amrta), which is concerned with the here and now. According to Vetter, only after this realization did he become acquainted with the doctrine of rebirth." Bronkhorst disagrees, and concludes that the Buddha "introduced a concept of karma that differed considerably from the commonly held views of his time." According to Bronkhorst, not physical and mental activities as such were seen as responsible for rebirth, but intentions and desire.

qas: question: What was the earliest Buddhism type?
answers: text: dhyana

question: Buddha's way to release was by means of what type of practices? 
answers: text: meditative
context: According to Tilmann Vetter, the core of earliest Buddhism is the practice of dhyāna. Bronkhorst agrees that dhyana was a Buddhist invention, whereas Norman notes that "the Buddha's way to release [...] was by means of meditative practices." Discriminating insight into transiency as a separate path to liberation was a later development.

qas: question: From which jhana did Buddha gain bodhi?
answers: text: fourth

question: A logic problem arises when noting that the four truths constitute what?
answers: text: liberating insight

question: The four truths depict what type of path of practice?
answers: text: linear
context: According to the Mahāsaccakasutta,[note 33] from the fourth jhana the Buddha gained bodhi. Yet, it is not clear what he was awakened to.[page needed] "Liberating insight" is a later addition to this text, and reflects a later development and understanding in early Buddhism.[page needed][page needed] The mentioning of the four truths as constituting "liberating insight" introduces a logical problem, since the four truths depict a linear path of practice, the knowledge of which is in itself not depicted as being liberating.[note 34]

qas: question: What is the Sanskrit form of Nibbana?
answers: text: Nirvāna

question: Many terms for Nibbana can be found throughout the what?
answers: text: Nikayas

question: The desired goal for buddhism is what?
answers: text: Nirvāna
context: Although "Nibbāna" (Sanskrit: Nirvāna) is the common term for the desired goal of this practice, many other terms can be found throughout the Nikayas, which are not specified.[note 35]

qas: question: A description of the Buddhist path may have been as simplistic as what term?
answers: text: the middle way

question: The description of buddhism was broadened resulting in what path?
answers: text: eightfold
context: According to Vetter, the description of the Buddhist path may initially have been as simple as the term "the middle way". In time, this short description was elaborated, resulting in the description of the eightfold path.

qas: question: Authors Bronkhorst and Anderson claim the four truths bacame a substitution for what?
answers: text: prajna

question: What is prajna called in english?
answers: text: liberating insight

question: Gotamas teachings may have been personal and adjusted to the need of each what?
answers: text: person
context: According to both Bronkhorst and Anderson, the four truths became a substitution for prajna, or "liberating insight", in the suttas in those texts where "liberating insight" was preceded by the four jhanas. According to Bronkhorst, the four truths may not have been formulated in earliest Buddhism, and did not serve in earliest Buddhism as a description of "liberating insight". Gotama's teachings may have been personal, "adjusted to the need of each person."

qas: question: How many marks of existence reflect Upanishadic influences?
answers: text: three
context: The three marks of existence may reflect Upanishadic or other influences. K.R. Norman supposes that the these terms were already in use at the Buddha's time, and were familiair to his hearers.

qas: question: The periods of Buddhisma in India is divided into how many periods?
answers: text: five

question: What is the first period of Buddhism called?
answers: text: Early Buddhism

question: What is another name for Nikaya buddhism?
answers: text: Sectarian

question: What is the last period of Buddhism?
answers: text: Esoteric Buddhism

question: What is Esoteric Buddhism also called?
answers: text: Vajrayana
context: The history of Indian Buddhism may be divided into five periods: Early Buddhism (occasionally called Pre-sectarian Buddhism), Nikaya Buddhism or Sectarian Buddhism: The period of the Early Buddhist schools, Early Mahayana Buddhism, Later Mahayana Buddhism, and Esoteric Buddhism (also called Vajrayana Buddhism).

qas: question: Was is the earliest phase of buddhism?
answers: text: Pre-sectarian

question: Gautama Buddha most likely taught the idea of Karma and what?
answers: text: rebirth

question: Gautama buddha taught what Path concept?
answers: text: Noble Eightfold
context: Pre-sectarian Buddhism is the earliest phase of Buddhism, recognized by nearly all scholars. Its main scriptures are the Vinaya Pitaka and the four principal Nikayas or Agamas. Certain basic teachings appear in many places throughout the early texts, so most scholars conclude that Gautama Buddha must have taught something similar to the Three marks of existence, the Five Aggregates, dependent origination, karma and rebirth, the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and nirvana. Some scholars disagree, and have proposed many other theories.

qas: question: Soon after the parinirvana of Gautama Buddha, what type of council was held?
answers: text: Buddhist

question: Who was cousin of the Buddha?
answers: text: Ānanda

question: What are the discourses of the Buddha called?
answers: text: sūtras

question: Some sources say that discourse of who else were recited along with Buddha's?
answers: text: abhidhamma
context: According to the scriptures, soon after the parinirvāṇa (from Sanskrit: "highest extinguishment") of Gautama Buddha, the first Buddhist council was held. As with any ancient Indian tradition, transmission of teaching was done orally. The primary purpose of the assembly was to collectively recite the teachings to ensure that no errors occurred in oral transmission. In the first council, Ānanda, a cousin of the Buddha and his personal attendant, was called upon to recite the discourses (sūtras, Pāli suttas) of the Buddha, and, according to some sources, the abhidhamma. Upāli, another disciple, recited the monastic rules (vinaya). Most scholars regard the traditional accounts of the council as greatly exaggerated if not entirely fictitious.[note 36]Richard Gombrich noted Sariputta led communal recitations of the Buddha's teaching for preservation in the Buddha's lifetime in Sangiti Sutta (Digha Nikaya #33), and something similar to the First Council must have taken place to compose Buddhist scriptures.

qas: question: The Sangha began to break into separte factions after what council?
answers: text: the Second

question: According to the Dipavamsa they started immediately after what council?
answers: text: the Second Council

question: The Mahasanghika places the breakup at what time?
answers: text: 100 BCE
context: According to most scholars, at some period after the Second Council the Sangha began to break into separate factions.[note 37] The various accounts differ as to when the actual schisms occurred. According to the Dipavamsa of the Pāli tradition, they started immediately after the Second Council, the Puggalavada tradition places it in 137 AN, the Sarvastivada tradition of Vasumitra says it was in the time of Ashoka and the Mahasanghika tradition places it much later, nearly 100 BCE.

qas: question: The major schism was between the Sthaviras and what other group?
answers: text: Mahasanghikas

question: The Dipavamsa says that the losing party broke away in protest and formed what?
answers: text: Mahasanghika

question: The Mahasanghikas argued that the Sthaviras were trying to expand what?
answers: text: the vinaya
context: The root schism was between the Sthaviras and the Mahāsāṅghikas. The fortunate survival of accounts from both sides of the dispute reveals disparate traditions. The Sthavira group offers two quite distinct reasons for the schism. The Dipavamsa of the Theravāda says that the losing party in the Second Council dispute broke away in protest and formed the Mahasanghika. This contradicts the Mahasanghikas' own vinaya, which shows them as on the same, winning side. The Mahāsāṅghikas argued that the Sthaviras were trying to expand the vinaya and may also have challenged what they perceived were excessive claims or inhumanly high criteria for arhatship. Both parties, therefore, appealed to tradition.

qas: question: Who gave rise to the Theravada school?
answers: text: Sthaviras

question: Monks following different schools of thought seem to have lived happily together in the same what?
answers: text: monasteries

question: By the latest at around 100 CE, schisms were being caused by what type of desagreements?
answers: text: doctrinal
context: The Sthaviras gave rise to several schools, one of which was the Theravāda school. Originally, these schisms were caused by disputes over vinaya, and monks following different schools of thought seem to have lived happily together in the same monasteries, but eventually, by about 100 CE if not earlier, schisms were being caused by doctrinal disagreements too.

qas: question: What is a detailed scholastic reworking of doctrinal material called?
answers: text: Abhidharma

question: The abhidharma texts do not contain treatises, but what?
answers: text: summaries or numerical lists

question: The Abhidharma texts are from what time?
answers: text: 3rd century BCE

question: There is a disagreement on whether a school had an Abhidhamma or not, which school is it?
answers: text: Mahasanghika
context: Following (or leading up to) the schisms, each Saṅgha started to accumulate an Abhidharma, a detailed scholastic reworking of doctrinal material appearing in the Suttas, according to schematic classifications. These Abhidharma texts do not contain systematic philosophical treatises, but summaries or numerical lists. Scholars generally date these texts to around the 3rd century BCE, 100 to 200 years after the death of the Buddha. Therefore the seven Abhidharma works are generally claimed not to represent the words of the Buddha himself, but those of disciples and great scholars.[note 38] Every school had its own version of the Abhidharma, with different theories and different texts. The different Abhidharmas of the various schools did not agree with each other. Scholars disagree on whether the Mahasanghika school had an Abhidhamma Pitaka or not.[note 38]

qas: question: Which sutras are among the earliest Mahayana sutras?
answers: text: Prajñāpāramitā

question: The Prajnaparamita sutras were developed along the krsna river in what region of South India?
answers: text: Āndhra
context: Several scholars have suggested that the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, which are among the earliest Mahāyāna sūtras, developed among the Mahāsāṃghika along the Kṛṣṇa River in the Āndhra region of South India.

qas: question: The earliest Mahayana sutra include the very first version of what genre?
answers: text: Prajñāpāramitā

question: Texts concerning Aksobhya Buddha were written down in what century?
answers: text: 1st century BCE

question: Author Warder believes that the Mahayana originated in the south of India in what area?
answers: text: Āndhra
context: The earliest Mahāyāna sūtras to include the very first versions of the Prajñāpāramitā genre, along with texts concerning Akṣobhya Buddha, which were probably written down in the 1st century BCE in the south of India. Guang Xing states, "Several scholars have suggested that the Prajñāpāramitā probably developed among the Mahāsāṃghikas in southern India, in the Āndhra country, on the Kṛṣṇa River." A.K. Warder believes that "the Mahāyāna originated in the south of India and almost certainly in the Āndhra country."

qas: question: The ancient buddhist site  in the lower Krsna Valley can be traced to at least what century BCE?
answers: text: third

question: Evidence suggests that many Early mahayana scriptures originated in what part of India?
answers: text: South
context: Anthony Barber and Sree Padma note that "historians of Buddhist thought have been aware for quite some time that such pivotally important Mahayana Buddhist thinkers as Nāgārjuna, Dignaga, Candrakīrti, Āryadeva, and Bhavaviveka, among many others, formulated their theories while living in Buddhist communities in Āndhra." They note that the ancient Buddhist sites in the lower Kṛṣṇa Valley, including Amaravati, Nāgārjunakoṇḍā and Jaggayyapeṭa "can be traced to at least the third century BCE, if not earlier." Akira Hirakawa notes the "evidence suggests that many Early Mahayana scriptures originated in South India."

qas: question: There is no evidence that Mahayana ever referred to a separate school of what?
answers: text: Buddhism

question: The mahayana never tried to have separte what?
answers: text: Vinaya

question: We know that both Mahayana and non Mahayana monks live in the same what?
answers: text: monasteries
context: There is no evidence that Mahāyāna ever referred to a separate formal school or sect of Buddhism, but rather that it existed as a certain set of ideals, and later doctrines, for bodhisattvas. Initially it was known as Bodhisattvayāna (the "Vehicle of the Bodhisattvas"). Paul Williams has also noted that the Mahāyāna never had nor ever attempted to have a separate Vinaya or ordination lineage from the early schools of Buddhism, and therefore each bhikṣu or bhikṣuṇī adhering to the Mahāyāna formally belonged to an early school. This continues today with the Dharmaguptaka ordination lineage in East Asia, and the Mūlasarvāstivāda ordination lineage in Tibetan Buddhism. Therefore Mahāyāna was never a separate rival sect of the early schools. From Chinese monks visiting India, we now know that both Mahāyāna and non-Mahāyāna monks in India often lived in the same monasteries side by side.

qas: question: Most of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mhayana comes from what type of translations?
answers: text: Chinese

question: The Mahayana teachings were first propagated into China by who?
answers: text: Lokakṣema

question: The earliest Mahayana sutras included the very first versions of what series?
answers: text: Prajñāpāramitā

question: Texts concerning Aksobhya Buddha were probably composed in what century BCE?
answers: text: 1st
context: Much of the early extant evidence for the origins of Mahāyāna comes from early Chinese translations of Mahāyāna texts. These Mahāyāna teachings were first propagated into China by Lokakṣema, the first translator of Mahāyāna sūtras into Chinese during the 2nd century CE.[note 39] Some scholars have traditionally considered the earliest Mahāyāna sūtras to include the very first versions of the Prajñāpāramitā series, along with texts concerning Akṣobhya Buddha, which were probably composed in the 1st century BCE in the south of India.[note 40]

qas: question: What four types of thought developed during the period of late mahayna buddhism?
answers: text: Madhyamaka, Yogacara, Tathagatagarbha, and Buddhist Logic

question: What was the latest thought type?
answers: text: Buddhist Logic

question: In India the two main philosophical schools of the Mahayana were Madhyamaka and what else?
answers: text: Yogacara
context: During the period of Late Mahayana Buddhism, four major types of thought developed: Madhyamaka, Yogacara, Tathagatagarbha, and Buddhist Logic as the last and most recent. In India, the two main philosophical schools of the Mahayana were the Madhyamaka and the later Yogacara. According to Dan Lusthaus, Madhyamaka and Yogacara have a great deal in common, and the commonality stems from early Buddhism. There were no great Indian teachers associated with tathagatagarbha thought.

qas: question: Buddhism may have spread quickly because of what Mauryan emperor?
answers: text: Ashoka

question: The support of Asoka and his descendants led to what being built more?
answers: text: stūpas

question: What does stupas mean in English?
answers: text: Buddhist religious memorials
context: Buddhism may have spread only slowly in India until the time of the Mauryan emperor Ashoka, who was a public supporter of the religion. The support of Aśoka and his descendants led to the construction of more stūpas (Buddhist religious memorials) and to efforts to spread Buddhism throughout the enlarged Maurya empire and even into neighboring lands—particularly to the Iranian-speaking regions of Afghanistan and Central Asia, beyond the Mauryas' northwest border, and to the island of Sri Lanka south of India. These two missions, in opposite directions, would ultimately lead, in the first case to the spread of Buddhism into China, and in the second case, to the emergence of Theravāda Buddhism and its spread from Sri Lanka to the coastal lands of Southeast Asia.

qas: question: Emissaries were sent to various countries to what direct from India?
answers: text: west

question: Scholars disagree on whether emissaries were accompanied by Buddhist what?
answers: text: missionaries

question: What were the emissaries used for?
answers: text: to spread Buddhism
context: This period marks the first known spread of Buddhism beyond India. According to the edicts of Aśoka, emissaries were sent to various countries west of India to spread Buddhism (Dharma), particularly in eastern provinces of the neighboring Seleucid Empire, and even farther to Hellenistic kingdoms of the Mediterranean. It is a matter of disagreement among scholars whether or not these emissaries were accompanied by Buddhist missionaries.

qas: question: The gradual spread of Buddhism exposed it to a variety of influences including what civilization?
answers: text: Persian and Greek

question: Who was the Greek king immortalized in Buddhist canon?
answers: text: Menander
context: The gradual spread of Buddhism into adjacent areas meant that it came into contact with new ethnical groups. During this period Buddhism was exposed to a variety of influences, from Persian and Greek civilization, to changing trends in non-Buddhist Indian religions—themselves influenced by Buddhism. Striking examples of this syncretistic development can be seen in the emergence of Greek-speaking Buddhist monarchs in the Indo-Greek Kingdom, and in the development of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhāra. A Greek king, Menander, has even been immortalized in the Buddhist canon.

qas: question: The Theravada school spread south from india in what century BCE?
answers: text: 3rd century

question: The Dharmagupta schol spread in what century to Kashmir?
answers: text: 3rd century
context: The Theravada school spread south from India in the 3rd century BCE, to Sri Lanka and Thailand and Burma and later also Indonesia. The Dharmagupta school spread (also in 3rd century BCE) north to Kashmir, Gandhara and Bactria (Afghanistan).

qas: question: When was the first documented translation efforts by foreign Buddhist monks in China?
answers: text: 2nd century CE
context: The Silk Road transmission of Buddhism to China is most commonly thought to have started in the late 2nd or the 1st century CE, though the literary sources are all open to question.[note 41] The first documented translation efforts by foreign Buddhist monks in China were in the 2nd century CE, probably as a consequence of the expansion of the Kushan Empire into the Chinese territory of the Tarim Basin.

qas: question: Mahayana Sutras spread to China during what century?
answers: text: 2nd century CE

question: What two countries after China was the Mahayana sutras spread?
answers: text: Korea and Japan

question: When did Buddhism apread from India to Tibet?
answers: text: 8th century onwards
context: In the 2nd century CE, Mahayana Sutras spread to China, and then to Korea and Japan, and were translated into Chinese. During the Indian period of Esoteric Buddhism (from the 8th century onwards), Buddhism spread from India to Tibet and Mongolia.

qas: question: China and India are now starting to fund what type of shrines in various Asian countries?
answers: text: Buddhist
context: By the late Middle Ages, Buddhism had become virtually extinct in India, although it continued to exist in surrounding countries. It is now again gaining strength worldwide. China and India are now starting to fund Buddhist shrines in various Asian countries as they compete for influence in the region.[web 20]

qas: question: What is the Dharma?
answers: text: the teachings of the Buddha

question: What is the Sangha?
answers: text: the Buddhist community

question: West Buddhism is often seen as exotic and what?
answers: text: progressive

question: New forms of Buddhism are created because of what reason?
answers: text: Modern influences
context: Formal membership varies between communities, but basic lay adherence is often defined in terms of a traditional formula in which the practitioner takes refuge in The Three Jewels: the Buddha, the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha), and the Sangha (the Buddhist community). At the present time, the teachings of all three branches of Buddhism have spread throughout the world, and Buddhist texts are increasingly translated into local languages. While in the West Buddhism is often seen as exotic and progressive, in the East it is regarded as familiar and traditional. Buddhists in Asia are frequently well organized and well funded. In countries such as Cambodia and Bhutan, it is recognized as the state religion and receives government support. Modern influences increasingly lead to new forms of Buddhism that significantly depart from traditional beliefs and practices.

qas: question: When did a number of modern movement in Buddhism emerge?
answers: text: second half of the 20th Century

question: What is the Dalit buddhist movement sometimes called?
answers: text: neo-Buddhism
context: A number of modern movements or tendencies in Buddhism emerged during the second half of the 20th Century, including the Dalit Buddhist movement (also sometimes called 'neo-Buddhism'), Engaged Buddhism, and the further development of various Western Buddhist traditions.

qas: question: What Buddhism emerged in the second half of the 20th century in Japan?
answers: text: Nichiren Buddhism: Soka Gakkai

question: What does Soka Gakkai mean in English?
answers: text: Value Creation Society

question: What Buddhist movement has linked more than 12 million people?
answers: text: Soka Gakkai International

question: What is the largest Buddhist movement in the world?
answers: text: SGI
context: In the second half of the 20th Century a modern movement in Nichiren Buddhism: Soka Gakkai (Value Creation Society) emerged in Japan and spread further to other countries. Soka Gakkai International (SGI) is a lay Buddhist movement linking more than 12 million people around the world, and is currently described as "the most diverse" and "the largest lay Buddhist movement in the world".[web 21]

qas: question: What religion is practiced by an estimated 488 to 535 million people?
answers: text: Buddhism
context: Buddhism is practiced by an estimated 488 million,[web 1] 495 million, or 535 million people as of the 2010s, representing 7% to 8% of the world's total population.

qas: question: What country has the largest population of Buddhists?
answers: text: China

question: How many Buddhists are in China?
answers: text: 244 million
context: China is the country with the largest population of Buddhists, approximately 244 million or 18.2% of its total population.[web 1] They are mostly followers of Chinese schools of Mahayana, making this the largest body of Buddhist traditions. Mahayana, also practiced in broader East Asia, is followed by over half of world Buddhists.[web 1]

qas: question: How may adherents does Mahayana have?
answers: text: 360 million

question: How many adherents does Thervada have?
answers: text: 150 million

question: How many Buddists are outside of Asia?
answers: text: Seven million
context: According to a demographic analysis reported by Peter Harvey (2013): Mahayana has 360 million adherents; Theravada has 150 million adherents; and Vajrayana has 18,2 million adherents. Seven million additional Buddhists are found outside of Asia.

qas: question: How many Buddhists were there in 1910?
answers: text: 138 million

question: How many Buddhists are there in 2010?
answers: text: 495 million

question: How many buddhists are in Asia?
answers: text: 487 million
context: According to Johnson and Grim (2013), Buddhism has grown from a total of 138 million adherents in 1910, of which 137 million were in Asia, to 495 million in 2010, of which 487 million are in Asia. According to them, there was a fast annual growth of Buddhism in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and several Western European countries (1910–2010). More recently (2000–2010), the countries with highest growth rates are Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and some African countries.

qas: question: What does Hinayana mean in English?
answers: text: lesser vehicle

question: What is used by Mahayana followers to name the early schools?
answers: text: Hinayana
context: Some scholars[note 44] use other schemes. Buddhists themselves have a variety of other schemes. Hinayana (literally "lesser vehicle") is used by Mahayana followers to name the family of early philosophical schools and traditions from which contemporary Theravada emerged, but as this term is rooted in the Mahayana viewpoint and can be considered derogatory, a variety of other terms are increasingly used instead, including Śrāvakayāna, Nikaya Buddhism, early Buddhist schools, sectarian Buddhism, conservative Buddhism, mainstream Buddhism and non-Mahayana Buddhism.

qas: question: Each tradition has its own core what?
answers: text: concepts

question: there are common concepts to both major buddhist branches according to what organization?
answers: text: Buddhist ecumenical organization
context: Not all traditions of Buddhism share the same philosophical outlook, or treat the same concepts as central. Each tradition, however, does have its own core concepts, and some comparisons can be drawn between them. For example, according to one Buddhist ecumenical organization,[web 23] several concepts common to both major Buddhist branches:

qas: question: What is the oldest surviving Buddhist school?
answers: text: Theravada

question: Where does the name theravada come from?
answers: text: ancestral Sthāvirīya

question: Sinhalese buddhist reformer portrayed what Canon as the original version of scripture?
answers: text: Pali Canon
context: Theravada ("Doctrine of the Elders", or "Ancient Doctrine") is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It is relatively conservative, and generally closest to early Buddhism. The name Theravāda comes from the ancestral Sthāvirīya, one of the early Buddhist schools, from which the Theravadins claim descent. After unsuccessfully trying to modify the Vinaya, a small group of "elderly members", i.e. sthaviras, broke away from the majority Mahāsāṃghika during the Second Buddhist council, giving rise to the Sthavira sect. Sinhalese Buddhist reformers in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries portrayed the Pali Canon as the original version of scripture. They also emphasized Theravada being rational and scientific.

qas: question: Where is there a growing presence of Theravada?
answers: text: the west
context: Theravāda is primarily practiced today in Sri Lanka, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia as well as small portions of China, Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh. It has a growing presence in the west.

qas: question: What type of Buddhists believe that personal effort is required to realize rebirth?
answers: text: Theravadin

question: Laypersons can perform good actions, producing what?
answers: text: merit
context: Theravadin Buddhists believe that personal effort is required to realize rebirth. Monks follow the vinaya: meditating, teaching and serving their lay communities. Laypersons can perform good actions, producing merit.

qas: question: What was the most important Mahayana centre of learning?
answers: text: Nālandā University
context: Mahayana Buddhism flourished in India from the 5th century CE onwards, during the dynasty of the Guptas. Mahāyāna centres of learning were established, the most important one being the Nālandā University in north-eastern India.

qas: question: Mahayana schools recognize all or part of what?
answers: text: Mahayana Sutras

question: A few of the sutras for Mahayanists became a manifestation of who?
answers: text: the Buddha

question: Faith in and veneration of Mahayana are stated in what sutras?
answers: text: Lotus Sutra and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra
context: Mahayana schools recognize all or part of the Mahayana Sutras. Some of these sutras became for Mahayanists a manifestation of the Buddha himself, and faith in and veneration of those texts are stated in some sutras (e.g. the Lotus Sutra and the Mahaparinirvana Sutra) to lay the foundations for the later attainment of Buddhahood itself.

qas: question: Native Mahayana buddhism is also called what?
answers: text: Eastern Buddhism

question: The Buddhism practiced in Tibet, the Himalayan regions and Mongolia are often referred to as?
answers: text: Northern Buddhism

question: What is the most widely practised Eastern Buddhism?
answers: text: the Pure Land school of Mahayana
context: Native Mahayana Buddhism is practiced today in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, parts of Russia and most of Vietnam (also commonly referred to as "Eastern Buddhism"). The Buddhism practiced in Tibet, the Himalayan regions, and Mongolia is also Mahayana in origin, but is discussed below under the heading of Vajrayana (also commonly referred to as "Northern Buddhism"). There are a variety of strands in Eastern Buddhism, of which "the Pure Land school of Mahayana is the most widely practised today.". In most of this area however, they are fused into a single unified form of Buddhism. In Japan in particular, they form separate denominations with the five major ones being: Nichiren, peculiar to Japan; Pure Land; Shingon, a form of Vajrayana; Tendai, and Zen. In Korea, nearly all Buddhists belong to the Chogye school, which is officially Son (Zen), but with substantial elements from other traditions.

qas: question: The royal courts sponsored both Buddhism and what?
answers: text: Saivism

question: Mantras taught in the Saiva, Garuda, and Vaisnava tantra will be effective if applied by who?
answers: text: Buddhists

question: What work is associated with Guhyasamaja tradition?
answers: text: The Guhyasiddhi of Padmavajra
context: Various classes of Vajrayana literature developed as a result of royal courts sponsoring both Buddhism and Saivism. The Mañjusrimulakalpa, which later came to classified under Kriyatantra, states that mantras taught in the Saiva, Garuda and Vaisnava tantras will be effective if applied by Buddhists since they were all taught originally by Manjushri. The Guhyasiddhi of Padmavajra, a work associated with the Guhyasamaja tradition, prescribes acting as a Saiva guru and initiating members into Saiva Siddhanta scriptures and mandalas. The Samvara tantra texts adopted the pitha list from the Saiva text Tantrasadbhava, introducing a copying error where a deity was mistaken for a place.

qas: question: There is a great variety of what type of scripture?
answers: text: Buddhist

question: Some schools venerate certain texts as religious what?
answers: text: objects
context: Buddhist scriptures and other texts exist in great variety. Different schools of Buddhism place varying levels of value on learning the various texts. Some schools venerate certain texts as religious objects in themselves, while others take a more scholastic approach. Buddhist scriptures are mainly written in Pāli, Tibetan, Mongolian, and Chinese. Some texts still exist in Sanskrit and Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit.

qas: question: Unlike most religions, Buddhism has no single central what?
answers: text: text

question: Tibetan Buddhists have not even translated most of the what?
answers: text: āgamas

question: Some scholars say there is no universally accepted common what?
answers: text: core

question: What has been seen by some as a hinderance to understanding Buddhist philosophy?
answers: text: size and complexity of the Buddhist canons
context: Unlike many religions, Buddhism has no single central text that is universally referred to by all traditions. However, some scholars have referred to the Vinaya Pitaka and the first four Nikayas of the Sutta Pitaka as the common core of all Buddhist traditions.[page needed] This could be considered misleading, as Mahāyāna considers these merely a preliminary, and not a core, teaching. The Tibetan Buddhists have not even translated most of the āgamas (though theoretically they recognize them) and they play no part in the religious life of either clergy or laity in China and Japan. Other scholars say there is no universally accepted common core. The size and complexity of the Buddhist canons have been seen by some (including Buddhist social reformer Babasaheb Ambedkar) as presenting barriers to the wider understanding of Buddhist philosophy.

qas: question: In Sri Lanka, what was determined to be the best unifying scripture?
answers: text: Dhammapada

question: There have been attempts to create a single text with all the main ideas of what religion?
answers: text: Buddhism

question: condensed study texts where created in what tradition?
answers: text: Theravada
context: Over the years, various attempts have been made to synthesize a single Buddhist text that can encompass all of the major principles of Buddhism. In the Theravada tradition, condensed 'study texts' were created that combined popular or influential scriptures into single volumes that could be studied by novice monks. Later in Sri Lanka, the Dhammapada was championed as a unifying scripture.

qas: question: Goddard collected mainly what type of Buddhist scripture?
answers: text: Zen

question: Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar attempted to create a single combined document with all Buddhist principles and called it?
answers: text: The Buddha and His Dhamma
context: Dwight Goddard collected a sample of Buddhist scriptures, with the emphasis on Zen, along with other classics of Eastern philosophy, such as the Tao Te Ching, into his 'Buddhist Bible' in the 1920s. More recently, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar attempted to create a single, combined document of Buddhist principles in "The Buddha and His Dhamma". Other such efforts have persisted to present day, but currently there is no single text that represents all Buddhist traditions.

qas: question: What means "three baskets"?
answers: text: Pāli Tipitaka

question: What does the "three baskets" refer to?
answers: text: the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka

question: What contains disciplinary rules for Buddhist Monks and nuns?
answers: text: Vinaya Pitaka

question: What contains discourses ascribed to Gautama Buddha?
answers: text: the Sutta Pitaka

question: What contains material ofen described as systematic expositions of the Gautama Buddha teachings?
answers: text: Abhidhamma Pitaka
context: The Pāli Tipitaka, which means "three baskets", refers to the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka. The Vinaya Pitaka contains disciplinary rules for the Buddhist monks and nuns, as well as explanations of why and how these rules were instituted, supporting material, and doctrinal clarification. The Sutta Pitaka contains discourses ascribed to Gautama Buddha. The Abhidhamma Pitaka contains material often described as systematic expositions of the Gautama Buddha's teachings.

qas: question: What is the only Tipitaka to survive intact in its original language?
answers: text: Pāli Tipitaka

question: Is is said that some early schools of buddhism had how many pitakas?
answers: text: five or seven
context: The Pāli Tipitaka is the only early Tipitaka (Sanskrit: Tripiṭaka) to survive intact in its original language, but a number of early schools had their own recensions of the Tipitaka featuring much of the same material. We have portions of the Tipitakas of the Sārvāstivāda, Dharmaguptaka, Sammitya, Mahāsaṅghika, Kāśyapīya, and Mahīśāsaka schools, most of which survive in Chinese translation only. According to some sources, some early schools of Buddhism had five or seven pitakas.

qas: question: Which monk presided after the death of the Buddha?
answers: text: Mahākāśyapa

question: What was the goal of the council?
answers: text: to record the Buddha's teachings

question: the vinaya was recited by?
answers: text: Upāli

question: Who was the Buddha's personal attendant?
answers: text: Ānanda

question: Ananda was called upon to recite what?
answers: text: dhamma
context: According to the scriptures, soon after the death of the Buddha, the first Buddhist council was held; a monk named Mahākāśyapa (Pāli: Mahākassapa) presided. The goal of the council was to record the Buddha's teachings. Upāli recited the vinaya. Ānanda, the Buddha's personal attendant, was called upon to recite the dhamma. These became the basis of the Tripitaka. However, this record was initially transmitted orally in form of chanting, and was committed to text in the last century BCE. Both the sūtras and the vinaya of every Buddhist school contain a wide variety of elements including discourses on the Dharma, commentaries on other teachings, cosmological and cosmogonical texts, stories of the Gautama Buddha's previous lives, and various other subjects.

qas: question: Much of the material in the Canon is not specifically what?
answers: text: Theravadin

question: Who may have added texts to the Canon for some time?
answers: text: The Theravadins
context: Much of the material in the Canon is not specifically "Theravadin", but is instead the collection of teachings that this school preserved from the early, non-sectarian body of teachings. According to Peter Harvey, it contains material at odds with later Theravadin orthodoxy. He states: "The Theravadins, then, may have added texts to the Canon for some time, but they do not appear to have tampered with what they already had from an earlier period."

qas: question: What are considered the original teachings of the Buddha?
answers: text: Mahayana sutras

question: What is a very broad genre of Buddhist scripture?
answers: text: Mahayana sutras

question: What teaching was criticized by Nagarjuna?
answers: text: Sarvastivada Abhidharma
context: The Mahayana sutras are a very broad genre of Buddhist scriptures that the Mahayana Buddhist tradition holds are original teachings of the Buddha. Some adherents of Mahayana accept both the early teachings (including in this the Sarvastivada Abhidharma, which was criticized by Nagarjuna and is in fact opposed to early Buddhist thought) and the Mahayana sutras as authentic teachings of Gautama Buddha, and claim they were designed for different types of persons and different levels of spiritual understanding.

qas: question: What sutras are reserved for those who follow the bodhisattva path?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: What does Mahayana mean?
answers: text: the Great Vehicle

question: What path is described as being built upon the motivation to liberate all living beings?
answers: text: bodhisattva path
context: The Mahayana sutras often claim to articulate the Buddha's deeper, more advanced doctrines, reserved for those who follow the bodhisattva path. That path is explained as being built upon the motivation to liberate all living beings from unhappiness. Hence the name Mahāyāna (lit., the Great Vehicle).

qas: question: What sutras were transmitted in secret?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: What sutras could have been preserved in non-human worlds?
answers: text: Mahayana

question: What tradition says that sutras might have come from other Buddhas or Bodhisattvas?
answers: text: Mahayana tradition
context: According to Mahayana tradition, the Mahayana sutras were transmitted in secret, came from other Buddhas or Bodhisattvas, or were preserved in non-human worlds because human beings at the time could not understand them:

qas: question: How many Mahayana sutras have survivied in Sanskrit or in Chinese or Tibetan translations?
answers: text: six hundred

question: What buddhism recognizes sutras of Chinese origin?
answers: text: East Asian Buddhism
context: Approximately six hundred Mahayana sutras have survived in Sanskrit or in Chinese or Tibetan translations. In addition, East Asian Buddhism recognizes some sutras regarded by scholars as of Chinese rather than Indian origin.

qas: question: When did Mahayana sutras start to influence the behavior of mainstream buddhists in India?
answers: text: after the 5th century CE

question: What was the pejorative label for those that rejected Mahayana sutras?
answers: text: Hinayana
context: Generally, scholars conclude that the Mahayana scriptures were composed from the 1st century CE onwards: "Large numbers of Mahayana sutras were being composed in the period between the beginning of the common era and the fifth century", five centuries after the historical Gautama Buddha. Some of these had their roots in other scriptures composed in the 1st century BCE. It was not until after the 5th century CE that the Mahayana sutras started to influence the behavior of mainstream Buddhists in India: "But outside of texts, at least in India, at exactly the same period, very different—in fact seemingly older—ideas and aspirations appear to be motivating actual behavior, and old and established Hinnayana groups appear to be the only ones that are patronized and supported." These texts were apparently not universally accepted among Indian Buddhists when they appeared; the pejorative label Hinayana was applied by Mahayana supporters to those who rejected the Mahayana sutras.

qas: question: What school does not include the Mahayava scriptures in its canon?
answers: text: the Theravada

question: The modern Theravada school stablished itself in what country?
answers: text: Sri Lanka

question: What Mahayana related label is considered derogatory?
answers: text: hinayana
context: Only the Theravada school does not include the Mahayana scriptures in its canon. As the modern Theravada school is descended from a branch of Buddhism that diverged and established itself in Sri Lanka prior to the emergence of the Mahayana texts, debate exists as to whether the Theravada were historically included in the hinayana designation; in the modern era, this label is seen as derogatory, and is generally avoided.

qas: question: The mahayana occasionally referred to early Buddhism as what?
answers: text: Hinayana

question: What term was more politically correct term for the word Hinayana?
answers: text: Śrāvakayāna
context: Scholar Isabelle Onians asserts that although "the Mahāyāna ... very occasionally referred contemptuously to earlier Buddhism as the Hinayāna, the Inferior Way," "the preponderance of this name in the secondary literature is far out of proportion to occurrences in the Indian texts." She notes that the term Śrāvakayāna was "the more politically correct and much more usual" term used by Mahāyānists. Jonathan Silk has argued that the term "Hinayana" was used to refer to whomever one wanted to criticize on any given occasion, and did not refer to any definite grouping of Buddhists.

qas: question: What provides chances for comparative study with a large range of subjects?
answers: text: Buddhism

question: Buddhism's emphasis on the Middle Way provides a guideline for what?
answers: text: ethics

question: Buddism has what kind of parallels withother systems of thought?
answers: text: moral and spiritual

question: Buddhism had similiar tenets to what other common religion?
answers: text: Christianity

question: Buddhist concept of dependent origination has been compared to what modern thought?
answers: text: scientific
context: Buddhism provides many opportunities for comparative study with a diverse range of subjects. For example, Buddhism's emphasis on the Middle way not only provides a unique guideline for ethics but has also allowed Buddhism to peacefully coexist with various differing beliefs, customs and institutions in countries where it has resided throughout its history. Also, its moral and spiritual parallels with other systems of thought—for example, with various tenets of Christianity—have been subjects of close study. In addition, the Buddhist concept of dependent origination has been compared to modern scientific thought, as well as Western metaphysics.

qas: question: What school of thought is questioned on whether or not it is a religion?
answers: text: Buddhism

question: What is often referred to as a religion by many sources?
answers: text: Buddhism
context: There are differences of opinion on the question of whether or not Buddhism should be considered a religion. Many sources commonly refer to Buddhism as a religion. For example: