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The Sutta Pitaka, the original discourses of the Buddha. This means for the most part "Ideas in Buddhism" is devoted to the ideas of original/early Buddhism. The words originating in the Sutta Pitaka are the words of Siddhatha Gotama and not those of other Buddhas appearing later in Buddhist history [Mahayana]. The Sutta Pitaka is one of three baskets [pitakas] of the Tipitaka [the Three Baskets] of the Pali Canon. The second pitaka is the Vinaya Pitaka which holds the Rules of Discipline for the Sangha [the community of Bhikkhus [monks] and Bhikkhunis [nuns] ] and the third is the Abhidhamma Pitaka, the philosophical treatment of the Sutta Pitaka.
What is the language of Buddhism?
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The language the Buddha spoke is unknown. The orally transmitted Sutta Pitaka was recorded by monks in the Pali language in Sri Lanka in the 1st Century BCE.
What are the most important ideas in Buddhism?
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The Four Noble Truths:
1) All this is suffering
2) Suffering is caused by this craving
3) Suffering is removed by removing this craving
4) The way to the removal of suffering is this Noble Eightfold Path
*** Right view
*** Right intention
*** Right speech
*** Right action
*** Right livelihood
*** Right effort
*** Right mindfulness
*** Right concentration
Other important ideas are Causality, The Three Characteristics of
Existence - Impermanence (anicca), Suffering (dukkha), and
Non Substantiality/Non Self (anatta)
What is the objective of Buddhism?
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The removal of suffering which is the equivalent of the attainment of Nibbana/Enlightenment. Nibbana is the complete removal of ignorance, craving and attachment in a person, or, more precisely it is the "Destruction of lust, hatred and delusion (SN4.251)".
The objective of Buddhism is the removal of individual suffering, but, Buddhism also has social objectives. High among these objectives are the seeking for the welfare and well being of society.
Is Buddhism a religion?
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Buddhism is most often described as the teachings of the Buddhist religion. This description may be true of the later self described transcendent Mahayana. Today, all of the major religions of the world are transcendental---Judaism, Hinduism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam and Mahayana Buddhism. However, it is difficult to find any commonality between the original [Theravada] Buddhism and religion. Among the thousands and thousands of religions in the world, are there any that refutes a personal relationship between an individual soul and a God or gods or some other kind of an ultimate reality? Original Buddhism, alone, maintains there is no such relationship nor are there any divine laws maintaining such a relationship. Does it make any sense to label a teaching religious when it is neither transcendental nor divine? Well, the original Buddhism is neither.
The Buddha said many times Buddhism is not a faith or a belief . In saying so, he unequivocally stated Buddhism is not a religion. So did Mogalliputtatissa, Buddhism's first great philosopher in his most well known work the Kathavathu. The Kathavathu rejected the Brahmanical [Brahmin/Hindu] description of the Buddha as permanent and eternal (HBP p. 123). More importantly, it reveals the human models most opposed by the Buddha---the Personalists, the Realists and the Transcendentalists. There never has been a consensus among Buddhists that Buddhism in fact is a religion. So, if Buddhism is not a religion, and it is not, what is it? Central to Buddhist thought is its ethics, which is tied directly to its objective, the removal of suffering. All the "components" of Buddhism serve only as supports for its ethical views, which primarily argues against the attachment based ethics of the transcendentalists and favors its own non-attachment/detachment based ethics.
The "components" of Buddhism include its 1) philosophy, 2) its world view and 3) its psychology all tailored to assist Buddhist ethical views, each in its own way. While transcendent religion need only to say their claims are of "divine origin" to validate their claims, Buddhist philosophy must justify every claim it makes. The Buddha was an Indian philosopher and rigorously applied reasoning and argumentation to his views. His views were also global and he consequently used philosophy's standards of investigation and reflection to any problem he faced. The Buddha encouraged his listeners to have confidence [saddha] in the Dhamma which is quite different from saying Buddhism is a faith or a belief. Buddhism is a confident teaching. It does not expect faith or belief from its followers.
If Buddhism is anything else it is a world view. In the Buddha's own words, Buddhism is the "middle way". The middle way is the middle way of impermanence, Buddhism's major world view. Impermanence is the first of the "Three Characteristics of Existence". The remaining are Dukkha [suffering] and Anatta [non-self/non-substantiality]. In the Buddha's time, the prevailing world view was that of "existence and non-existence". The Middle Way is the complete refutation of such a world view. No, the world is not explained by existence nor non-existence; it is the middle way of impermanence between these extremes which correctly describes the world and the self.
Buddhist ethics nor any of Buddhism's "components" are mutually exclusive. It's causality [paticasamupaddha] could be said to be a characteristic of existence and also foundational to its philosophy and ethics as well. Its psychology is also unique to Buddhism. Buddhism's empirical psychology was never practiced prior to the arrival of Buddhism anywhere in the world---not in India, China or Greece. It provided for the Buddha his understanding of the human mind which in turn led to his ethical views and for the need of his philosophy to validate his ethical views.
Of the Buddha himself, he was born a human, lived a human and died a human. Siddhattha Gotama attained enlightenment and then nibbana at age 35 and thereafter was addressed as Buddha, an Awakened One. He was not divine but awakened. Unlike an ordinary person, he had eliminated the causes of bondage which are ignorance, craving and attachment. Any notion of the Buddha's divinity will be dispelled once you are aware he is also remembered a "radical empiricist".
To this day, Buddhism still means different things to different people. The source of these differing views probably could be traced back to a statement the Buddha often made: "Do not accept my law from faith or reverence, don't take my word for it, test the Dhamma [teachings] for yourself." "Testing the Dhamma" requires knowing what the Dhamma says in the first place. Thus, in the Sutta Pitaka (DN iii. 128), the Buddha encourages followers to study the Dhamma "...meaning beside meaning and expression beside expression, without dissension..." This means the best way to understand original Buddhist teachings is to study the Sutta Pitaka and the other two sections of the Pali Cannon, the Abhidhamma Pitaka and Vinaya Pitaka.
It is inevitable the study of the Sutta Pitaka would result in many different interpretations of the Dhamma. These differing interpretations were later spread through two vehicles [yana], Hinayana [Theravada] and Mahayana; and a third distinct vehicle, the Vajrayana. Every Buddhist should have some knowledge of these vehicles and of the original Buddhism as embodied in the Sutta Pitaka. The interpretations of the Tipitaka by various philosophers of these vehicles comprises the history of Buddhism.
Does that ethic include an afterlife?
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Of the Buddha himself, he was born a human, lived a human and died a human. Siddhattha Gotama attained enlightenment and then nibbana at age 35 and thereafter was addressed as Buddha, an Awakened One. He was not divine but awakened. Unlike an ordinary person, he had eliminated the causes of bondage which are ignorance, craving and attachment. Any notion of the Buddha's divinity will be dispelled once you are aware he is also remembered a "radical empiricist".
To this day, Buddhism still means different things to different people. The source of these differing views probably could be traced back to a statement the Buddha often made: "Do not accept my law from faith or reverence, don't take my word for it, test the Dhamma [teachings] for yourself." "Testing the Dhamma" requires knowing what the Dhamma says in the first place. Thus, in the Sutta Pitaka (DN iii. 128), the Buddha encourages followers to study the Dhamma "...meaning beside meaning and expression beside expression, without dissension..." This means the best way to understand original Buddhist teachings is to study the Sutta Pitaka and the other two sections of the Pali Cannon, the Abhidhamma Pitaka and Vinaya Pitaka.
It is inevitable the study of the Sutta Pitaka would result in many different interpretations of the Dhamma. These differing interpretations were later spread through two vehicles [yana], Hinayana [Theravada] and Mahayana; and a third distinct vehicle, the Vajrayana. Every Buddhist should have some knowledge of these vehicles and of the original Buddhism as embodied in the Sutta Pitaka. The interpretations of the Tipitaka by various philosophers of these vehicles comprises the history of Buddhism.
Does that ethic include an afterlife?
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Even to an untrained eye, informed only by popular science, plants seem to biologically sense [as do all living things] that they are food for other living things and take defensive measures to assure their survival. Animals also seem to instinctively sense they are food for other animals and likewise are aware they can be harmed. Like humans, some animals also appear to be conscious of suffering, but, it is only human consciousness that allows humans to know of time, past, present and future and thus consciously know we are not immortal.
This knowledge brings existential suffering to humans leading many to wonder what the future will bring to them, giving rise to a variety of afterlife theories. Most theories involve the relationship between a soul and a God or some other kind of an ultimate power. Buddhism does not. Many pertain to a heavenly or hellish after-life.
The Buddhist version of the after-life, Samsara or rebirth into a new life, would fall into the hellish category since rebirth would not be a happy experience for most, amounting to nothing more than continued suffering in a new life. We are here because our Kamma, the individual ethical causal process, is baggaged by craving and attachment, tying us to repeated rounds of Samsara as long as ignorance, craving and attachment are present in our Kamma.
This means Kamma can be altered, therefore Samsara is not permanent nor is it nihilistic, as the ethical process of removing ignorance, craving and attachment will lead one out of Samsara or repeated rebirths. In this way Buddhism explains human continuity causally and ethically. This says that life is an opportunity to improve one's Kamma. Samsara should be recognized as such. Does Samsara mean Buddhism is a religion? In my opinion, it only means personal ethical continuity does not end with death.
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