Buddhist Basics

The Four Noble Truths

........1...There is Dukkha (Stress, Anxiety, Discomfort).

........2...Dukkha has a cause – Desire (Thirst).

........3...There is a way out of Dukkha.

........4...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

Action. Every intentional 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

...Non-self

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 Dhammacakka 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.