Basic Buddhist teachings for Zen students Click to view and download or print the PDF.
the Three Pure Precepts:
I vow to refrain of all harmful actions
I vow to do all that is good
I vow to live for the benefit of all beings
Ten Grave Prohibitory Precepts:
A disciple of the Buddha abstains from:
Talking of Life
Taking what is not given
Misusing sexuality
Telling falsehoods
Taking harmful intoxicants
Speaking ill of others
Extolling the self while slandering others
Being attached to anything, even the teaching
Harboring hatred, malice or ill-will
Denouncing the Triple Treasure
Four Vows
Sentient beings are numberless,
I vow to save them.
Greed, hatred and ignorance rise endlessly,
I vow to put an end to them.
Dharmas are boundless,
I vow to wake to them.
The Buddha Way is beyond compare,
I vow to embody it.
Verse of the Triple Treasure
I take refuge in the Buddha,
Vowing with all sentient beings,
acquiring the Great Way,
awakening the unsurpassable mind.
I take refuge in the Dharma
Vowing with all sentient beings,
deeply entering the teaching,
wisdom like the sea.
I take refuge in the Sangha
Vowing with all sentient beings,
bringing harmony to all
completely without hindrance.
Ω— strike the bell; Ø — dampen the bell
Gatha of Atonement (San Ge Mon)
Ω — Ω — Ω
All evil karma ever committed by me since of old.
On account of my beginingless greed, anger, and ignorance.
Born of my body, mouth, and consciousness.
Now (Ω) I atone (Ω) for it all. (Ø)
The Basic Teaching:
Four Noble Truths
The First Noble Truth is that life is characterized by suffering.
The Second Noble Truth is that attachment to ego-centered desires is the cause of suffering..
The Third Noble Truth is that there is a way to end the suffering.
The Fourth Noble Truth is the path that leads to refraining from the things that cause us to suffer. This path is the path of Eight Right Practices.
I. Life Involves Suffering
Birth is suffering, old age is suffering, sickness is suffering, death is suffering. Involvement with what is unpleasant is suffering. Separation from what is pleasant is suffering. Also, not getting what one wants and strives for is suffering…[In sum, the] five agglomerations (skandhas in Sanskrit, aggregates in English), which are the basis of clinging to existence, are suffering.
II. The Cause of Suffering is “Desire”
And what is the [second] Noble Truth of the origination of suffering? It is the thirst for further existence, which comes along with pleasure and passion and brings passing enjoyment here and there. This is the Noble Truth of the origination of suffering
III. Suffering Will Cease When Desires Cease
And what is the [third] Noble Truth of the cessation of suffering? It is this: the destruction without remainder of this very thirst for further existence, which comes along with pleasure and passion, bringing passing enjoyment here and there. It is without passion. It is cessation, forsaking, abandoning, renunciation. This is the Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering.
IV. There is a Way to Realize this State of cessation of suffering;
The Noble Eightfold Path
The Buddha’s Eightfold Path towards the cessation of suffering can be divided into three groups:
—Wisdom
Right Understanding
Right Intention
—Morality
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
—Meditation
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration
Right View:
And what is right view? Knowledge with reference to suffering, knowledge with reference to the origination of suffering, knowledge with reference to the cessation of suffering, knowledge with reference to the way of practice leading to the cessation of suffering: This is called right view.
Right Intention:
And what is right resolve? Being resolved on renunciation, on freedom from ill will, on harmlessness: This is called right resolve.
Right Speech:
And what is right speech? Abstaining from lying, from divisive speech, from abusive speech, and from idle chatter: This is called right speech.
Right Action:
And what is right action? Abstaining from taking life, from stealing, and from illicit sex [or sexual misconduct]. This is called right action.
Right Livelihood:
And what is right livelihood? There is the case where a disciple of the noble ones, having abandoned dishonest livelihood, keeps his life going with right livelihood: This is called right livelihood.
The five types of businesses that are harmful to undertake are:
Business in weapons: trading in all kinds of weapons and instruments for killing.
Business in human beings: slave trading, prostitution, or the buying and selling of children or adults.
Business in meat: "meat" refers to the bodies of beings after they are killed. This includes breeding animals for slaughter.
Business in intoxicants: manufacturing or selling intoxicating drinks or addictive drugs.
Business in poison: producing or trading in any kind of toxic product designed to kill.
Right Effort:
And what, monks, is right effort?
(i) There is the case where a monk generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the non-arising of evil, unskillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
(ii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the abandonment of evil, unskillful qualities that have arisen.
(iii) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the sake of the arising of skillful qualities that have not yet arisen.
(iv) He generates desire, endeavors, activates persistence, upholds and exerts his intent for the maintenance, non-confusion, increase, plenitude, development, and culmination of skillful qualities that have arisen:
This, monks, is called right effort.
Right Mindfulness:
And what, monks, is right mindfulness?
(i) There is the case where a monk remains focused on the body in and of itself—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.
(ii) He remains focused on feelings in and of themselves—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.
(iii) He remains focused on the mind in and of itself—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.
(iv) He remains focused on mental qualities in and of themselves—ardent, aware, and mindful—putting away greed and distress with reference to the world.
This, monks, is called right mindfulness.
Right Concentration:
And what is right concentration?
(i) Herein a monk aloof from sense desires, aloof from unwholesome thoughts, attains to and abides in the first meditative absorption [jhana], which is detachment-born and accompanied by applied thought, sustained thought, joy, and bliss.
(ii) By allaying applied and sustained thought he attains to, and abides in the second jhana, which is inner tranquillity, which is unification (of the mind), devoid of applied and sustained thought, and which has joy and bliss.
(iii) By detachment from joy he dwells in equanimity, mindful, and with clear comprehension and enjoys bliss in body, and attains to and abides in the third jhana, which the noble ones [ariyas] call "dwelling in equanimity, mindfulness, and bliss".
(iv) By giving up of bliss and suffering, by the disappearance already of joy and sorrow, he attains to, and abides in the fourth jhana, which is neither suffering nor bliss, and which is the purity of equanimity — mindfulness.
This is called right concentration.
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End of Eightfold Path:
In the Mahacattarisaka Sutta which appears in the Chinese and Pali canons, the Buddha explains that cultivation of the noble eightfold path leads to the development of two further factors, which are right knowledge, or insight (samma-ñana), and right liberation, or release (samma-vimutti). These two factors fall under the category of wisdom (pañña).
Right knowledge and right liberation:
Right knowledge is seeing things as they really are by direct experience, not as they appear to be, nor as the practitioner wants them to be, but as they truly are. A result of Right Knowledge is the tenth factor - Right liberation.
From the Dhammapada:
All experience is preceded by mind,
Led by mind,
Made by mind.
Speak or act with a corrupted mind,
And suffering follows
As the wagon wheel follows the hoof of the ox.
All experience is preceded by mind,
Led by mind,
Made by mind.
Speak or act with a peaceful mind,
And happiness follows
Like a never-departing shadow.
Skandhas: Rupa, vedana, sanna, sankhata, [and] vijnana:
Body, form, sensations, perceptions, and consciousness:
In Buddhist phenomenology and soteriology, the skandhas (Sanskrit) or khandhas (Pali, aggregates in English) are any of five types of phenomena that serve as objects of clinging and bases for a sense of self.[1] The Buddha teaches that nothing among them is really "I" or "mine".
In the Theravada tradition, suffering arises when one identifies with or otherwise clings to an aggregate; hence, suffering is extinguished by relinquishing attachments to aggregates. The Mahayana tradition further puts forth that ultimate freedom is realized by deeply penetrating the nature of all aggregates as intrinsically empty of independent existence.
the Five Skandhas (aggregates):
"form" or "matter" (Skt., Pali rupa, Tib. gzugs): external and internal matter. Externally, rupa is the physical world. Internally, rupa includes the material body and the physical sense organs.
"sensation" or "feeling" (Skt., Pali vedan?, Tib. tshor-ba): sensing an object as either pleasant or unpleasant or neutral.
"perception", "conception", "apperception" or "cognition" (Skt. samjña, Pali sañña, Tib. 'du-shes): registers whether an object is recognized or not (for instance, the sound of a bell or the shape of a tree).
"mental formations" or "volition" (Skt. samskara, Pali sankhara, Tib. 'du-byed) : all types of mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, compulsions, and decisions triggered by an object or not.
"consciousness" (Skt. vijñana, Pali viññana, Tib. rnam-par-shes-pa): Can be found as one of a handful of synonyms for the mental force that animates the otherwise inert material body. Awareness of the self.
The Six Paramitas (perfection practices)
Generosity: Giving beyond yourself without measure.
Morality: Precepts, living within your vows.
Forbearance: Patience, demonstrating restraint, and tolerance.
Vigor: Diligence, consistent & sustained practice.
Meditation: Focused thought, holistic perception.
Wisdom: A deep understanding [and realizing of people, things, events or situations, resulting in the ability to choose or act to consistently produce the optimum results with a minimum of time and energy]. Compassion in action.
The Five Remembrances
I am of the nature to grow old
I am of the nature to have ill health
I am of the nature to die
I am of the nature to change
My actions are my only true belongings,
I can not escape the consequences of my actions,
My actions are the ground on which I stand.
3 Poisons are greed, hatred, delusion
