Buddhist Basics

The Four Noble Truths

There is Dukkha.

Dukkha has a cause – Desire (Thirst).

There is a way out of Dukkha.

The way out is the Noble Eightfold Path

   Proper View

   Proper Intention

   Proper Speech

   Proper Action

   Proper Livelihood

   Proper Effort

   Proper Mindfulness

   Proper Concentration

The Five Moral Precepts (Proper Action)

1...To respect and protect all Life.

2...To respect the property of others and to refrain from taking what is not freely given.

3...To respect personal boundaries and refrain from inappropriate sexual behavior.

4...To respect the truth, to refrain from lying, slander, gossip, and harsh speech. To avoid using the truth to cause harm.

5...To respect yourself and refrain from the abuse of alcohol, drugs, and all intoxicants in order to remain mindful and aware of the first four precepts.

Karma

The word karma simply means action. The teaching of karma tells us action, positive or negative, has an effect.

Rebirth

The karmic line is reborn. The stream of consciousness, upon death becomes one of the contributing causes for the arising of a new aggregation. The consciousness in the new person is neither identical nor entirely different from that in the deceased but the two form a causal continuum or stream.

The Three Marks of All Conditioned Phenomena

   Impermanence

   Dukkha

   Nonself

The Four Noble Abodes

   Loving Kindness

   Compassion

   Sympathetic Joy

   Equanimity

The Three Poisons

   Greed/Desire

   Hatred/Anger

   Delusion/Ignorance

Everything exists because of Causes and Conditions

   Cause and Effect

      Where there is a cause, whether it is large or small, good or bad, there is 
      and will be an effect.

   Dependent Origination

      This is because that is. This is not because that is not.

 

Emptiness

This teaching does not mean nihilism. Phenomena do not exist of themselves, nor do they have a permanent or eternal existence.

Scripture

   The Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha – the most popular of all scripture.

   Dhammacakkappavattana Sutta (Discourse on the Turning of the Wheel of Dhamma),            popularly know as the Dhannacakka Sutta (the Wheel of Dhamma Discourse) – the            Buddha's first sermon.

   The Udana – 80 short suttas ti an incident that comes to the Buddha's attention

   The Itivuttaka – Suttas collected by the servant woman Khujjuttara and shared with her         mistress.

   The Mahaparinibbana – The Buddha's last days.