Mandala (Sanskrit Maṇḍala, ‘circle’) is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Indian religions, representing the universe. The basic form of most mandalas is a square with four gates containing a circle with a center point. Each gate is in the general shape of a T. Mandalas often exhibit radial balance. The term appears in the […]
A bhikkhu (Pali, Sanskrit: bhikṣu) is an ordained monastic (“monk”) in Buddhism. A female monastic (nun) is called a bhikkhuni (Sanskrit bhikṣuṇī). The lives of all Buddhist monastics governed by a set of rules called the prātimokṣa or pātimokkha.[1] Their lifestyle is shaped to support their spiritual practice: to live a simple and meditative life […]
Gautama Buddha, also known as Siddhārtha Gautama, Shakyamuni, or simply the Buddha, was a sage on whose teachings Buddhism was founded. He is believed to have lived and taught mostly in eastern India sometime between the sixth and fourth centuries BCE. The word Buddha means “awakened one” or “the enlightened one”. “Buddha” is also used […]
“Mantra” (/ˈmæntrə, ˈmɑːn-, ˈmʌn-/; Sanskrit: मन्त्र) means a sacred utterance, numinous sound, or a syllable, word, phonemes, or group of words believed by some to have psychological and spiritual power. A mantra may or may not have syntactic structure or literal meaning; the spiritual value of a mantra comes when it is audible, visible, or […]
The Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: catvāri āryasatyāni; Pali: cattāri ariyasaccāni) are the truths of the Noble Ones, which express the basic orientation of Buddhism: this worldly existence is fundamentally unsatisfactory, but there is a path to liberation from repeated worldly existence. The truths are as follows: 1. The Truth of Dukkha is that all conditional […]
Namaste (/ˈnɑːməsteɪ/, nah-məs-tay; Hindi: नमस्ते; Hindi: [nəməsteː] ( listen)), sometimes expressed as Namaskar or Namaskaram, is a customary greeting when people meet or depart. It is commonly found among people of the Indian Subcontinent and Nepal. Namaste is spoken with a slight bow and hands pressed together, palms touching and fingers pointing upwards, thumbs close […]