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 […]
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 […]