Basic Buddhist Concepts

1. The biggest problems

a. The Lack of text written by the Buddha or anyone near him near his life

b. The first texts were written over a century after his death

c. Different interpretations hindered the clarity of the Buddha’s original teachings

d. Was very quiet during his teachings – didn’t say much because people were left to figure things out for themselves

e. Didn’t answer many of the questions asked of him because it wasn’t the part that mattered within the religion – not focusing on the end goal and metaphtysical

2. Nirvana

a. Smith uses the example of a fire running out of fuel – that is nirvana

b. The end goal of Buddhism but you can’t want it or think about it because we can’t understand it

c. When the fuel of private desire and boundless life has become extinct

d. The Buddha’s successor, Nagasena, described nirvana as simply bliss one time

e. The complete annihilation of impermanence

f. Nirvana is close to the concept of Godhead but it isn’t a personal God

3. Anatta

a. This is the lack of a personal, animating soul or ataman

b. There is no specific soul or pre formed entity passed on from one life to another

4. Transmigration

a. Transmigration is present and there is no predetermined destiny for everything, rather everyone in their present state is the way they are from the actions in the previous lives.

b. Free will is present because there isn’t a single entity that knows the ultimate outcome of the world, but rather there only exists the present so everything one does influences the future and future lives

c. Karma determines a person’s presence in the next life, but it isn’t the karma of the soul, just the karma of the person and casual connectedness of life

5. Why Buddha Suggested Annica

a. Using his Three Marks of Existence he defined annica which is the impermanence part

i. Impermanence

ii. Suffering

iii. The absence of a permanent identity

b. All things are completely impermanent, even down to the forms of atoms, so we cannot have a permanent self

6. Biggest problem with “do humans survive humanly death”

a. People live on indirectly through their actions with karma

b. Non definable, almost like legacy

c. You always exist in the impermanent and permanent world