sentence-transformers/squad huggingface dataset:
Passage: 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.

Question: In Theravada Buddhism, what is the cause of human existence and suffering?

Question: What does craving carry with it?

Question: Deeply rooted afflictions of the mind create what?

Question: What is the ultimate goal for Theravadins?
Passage: 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.

Question: How many Noble Truths are there?

Question: Prajna is the wisom that is able to extinguish afflictions and bring about what?

Question: What is listed as the sixth of the six paramitas of the mahayana?
Passage: 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.

Question: Initially prajna is attained at a conceptual level by means of listening to what?

Question: In theory when can one attain Nirvana during practice?

Question: What can be applied to daily life once it is attained?
Passage: 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.

Question: Zen Buddhism is known as what in Korea?

Question: What form of buddhism lays special emphasis on meditation?

Question: What form of Buddhism places less emphasis on scriptures?

Question: Zen focuses on what type of breakthroughs?
Passage: 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]

Question: Zen Buddhism is divided into how many main schools?

Question: Which schools of Zen likes the use of meditation on the koan for spiritual breakthroughs?
Passage: 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.

Question: What Buddhist teachings are often full of paradox?

Question: What type of self is equated with the Buddha?

Question: What is not allowed to confine and bind oneself?
Passage: 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.

Question: What type of Buddhism is Tibeto-Mongolian based on?

Question: What is the English term for Vajrayana?

Question: What type of Buddhism is concerned with ritual and meditative practices?

Question: Psycho-physical energy is harnessed through what?
Passage: 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]

Question: What time period was the beginning of Buddhism?

Question: Scholars believe that karma originated in what?

Question: What groups broke with Brahmanic tradition?

Question: Shramanas were a continuation of what type of trand of Indian thought?
Passage: 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]

Question: Buddhism arose in what area?

Question: Greater magadha stretched from Sravasti in the north-west to what area in the south-east?

Question: What time period did the eastward spread of Brahmanism start?
Passage: 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.

Question: Movements were influenced by philosophical thought within the Vedic tradition such as what?

Question: The movement included atomists such as what?

Question: What is the term for agnostics?

Question: What movement focused on the idea that the sould must be freed from matter?
Passage: 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.

Question: A criticism the Buddha gave dealing with animals was?

Question: The Buddha mocked what hymn of the Vedic?

Question: The original Veda of the rishis was altered by a few Brahmins who introduced what?

Question: The Buddha refused to pay respect to who, during their time of animal sacrifice?
Passage: 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]

Question: What is in dispute regarding the research into the core of the teachings?
Passage: 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]

Question: A large problem in the study of early Buddhism is the relationship of dhyana and what else?

Question: Liberating insight is attained after mastering what?

Question: Later edition of texts such as what has the Rupa Jhanas?
Passage: 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.

Question: According the Bronkhorst, intentions and desire are responsible for what?

Question: Bronkhurst says that Buddha had a view of 'what' much different then current day?
Passage: 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.

Question: What was the earliest Buddhism type?

Question: Buddha's way to release was by means of what type of practices?
Passage: 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]

Question: From which jhana did Buddha gain bodhi?

Question: A logic problem arises when noting that the four truths constitute what?

Question: The four truths depict what type of path of practice?
Passage: 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]

Question: What is the Sanskrit form of Nibbana?

Question: Many terms for Nibbana can be found throughout the what?

Question: The desired goal for buddhism is what?
Passage: 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.

Question: A description of the Buddhist path may have been as simplistic as what term?

Question: The description of buddhism was broadened resulting in what path?
Passage: 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."

Question: Authors Bronkhorst and Anderson claim the four truths bacame a substitution for what?

Question: What is prajna called in english?

Question: Gotamas teachings may have been personal and adjusted to the need of each what?
Passage: 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.

Question: How many marks of existence reflect Upanishadic influences?
Passage: 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).

Question: The periods of Buddhisma in India is divided into how many periods?

Question: What is the first period of Buddhism called?

Question: What is another name for Nikaya buddhism?

Question: What is the last period of Buddhism?

Question: What is Esoteric Buddhism also called?
Passage: 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.

Question: Was is the earliest phase of buddhism?

Question: Gautama Buddha most likely taught the idea of Karma and what?

Question: Gautama buddha taught what Path concept?
Passage: 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.

Question: Soon after the parinirvana of Gautama Buddha, what type of council was held?

Question: Who was cousin of the Buddha?

Question: What are the discourses of the Buddha called?

Question: Some sources say that discourse of who else were recited along with Buddha's?
Passage: 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.

Question: The Sangha began to break into separte factions after what council?

Question: According to the Dipavamsa they started immediately after what council?

Question: The Mahasanghika places the breakup at what time?
Passage: 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.

Question: The major schism was between the Sthaviras and what other group?

Question: The Dipavamsa says that the losing party broke away in protest and formed what?

Question: The Mahasanghikas argued that the Sthaviras were trying to expand what?
Passage: 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.

Question: Who gave rise to the Theravada school?

Question: Monks following different schools of thought seem to have lived happily together in the same what?

Question: By the latest at around 100 CE, schisms were being caused by what type of desagreements?
Passage: 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]

Question: What is a detailed scholastic reworking of doctrinal material called?

Question: The abhidharma texts do not contain treatises, but what?

Question: The Abhidharma texts are from what time?

Question: There is a disagreement on whether a school had an Abhidhamma or not, which school is it?
Passage: 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.

Question: Which sutras are among the earliest Mahayana sutras?

Question: The Prajnaparamita sutras were developed along the krsna river in what region of South India?
Passage: 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."

Question: The earliest Mahayana sutra include the very first version of what genre?

Question: Texts concerning Aksobhya Buddha were written down in what century?

Question: Author Warder believes that the Mahayana originated in the south of India in what area?
Passage: 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."

Question: The ancient buddhist site in the lower Krsna Valley can be traced to at least what century BCE?

Question: Evidence suggests that many Early mahayana scriptures originated in what part of India?