The Story of Buddhism Vocabulary Table

By: Stefanie >w<

Buddhism

Definition: A religion of India bugun by Prince Siddhartha, or the Buddha

Sentence: Buddhism is practiced everyday, even by monks.
Buddha

Definition: A man originally named Siddhartha Gautama who lived in India from
about 563 to 483 B.C.E. and began the religion of Buddhism
Sentence: The Buddha has thought people to be a good person and to not do the
wrong things.
Prince Siddhartha

Definition: A prince who became the Buddha

Sentence: The prince left his royal life to find happiness in meditating.
Ascetic

Definition: A person who gives up worldly pleasures

Sentence: Spending life with the ascetics made Siddhartha upset.
Alms

Definition: Goods given to the poor

Sentence: Siddhartha kept a small bowl of alms.
Nirvana

Definition: An ideal state of happiness and peace

Sentence: Siddhartha learned how to reach nirvana during his meditation.
The Eightfold Path

Definition: The path to nirvana

Sentence: The eightfold path helps people reach nirvana.
The Four Noble Truths

Definition: The four central beliefs containing the Buddhist teaching

Sentence: The four noble truth shows you the idea that all things change.
Bonus: The story of Prince Siddhartha

Before Prince Siddhartha was born, the queen had a dream. There was a white
elephant with six tusks. The elephant walked around her and then struck her right
side. When the queen and king asked the Brahmins to explain what the dream
was, the Brahmins said that the Prince’s life held two possible paths. The prince
could rule the universe. But if the prince left the palace to see the suffering of the
world, he would become the buddha. The queen gave birth to Siddhartha in a
garden. When he was born, he could already walk and talk. He took a few steps
and said, “I am the leader of the world and the guide to the world.”
Prince Siddhartha’s father wanted his son to be a powerful ruler. He worried about the
Brahmin’s predictions. He did not want his son to see the suffering of the world. If he did,
he would give up his royal duties and seek a spiritual path. So the king decided to raise
his son in perfect wealth and beauty. He gave his son good education, gardens, houses,
and food. Servants washed his clothes and played music for his amusement. The prince
enjoyed his life. But he wondered what was outside the palace walls. When Siddhartha
was 16 years old, he married a beautiful noblewoman. The couple lived in peace for 12
years. When Siddhartha turned 29, he had a son.
When Siddhartha became a father, the king gave him freedom to travel outside the royal
palaces. On the first trip, Siddhartha saw a thin man who walked with a stick. When the
prince asked what was wrong with the man, the driver said that the man was old.
Everyone’s body weakens as they get older. On the second trip, the prince saw a man
who was crying out in pain on the ground. Siddhartha learned that the man was sick. On
the third trip, the prince saw a group carrying a figure wrapped in white cloth. The driver
said that death came for the man. It will come for Siddhartha too. The prince was
troubled with his discovery of aging, sickness, and death. When the prince set out the
fourth time, he met an ascetic. The prince asked the man how can he be so calm when
there was so much suffering? The ascetic told the prince, “To be free of suffering, one
must give up the desires, pleasures, and comforts of the world. I find peace by helping
others find peace.”
The prince suddenly felt that his royal life seemed empty. He wanted to find the
happiness the ascetic had found. Siddhartha decided to give up his royal life. So one
night, the prince asked his driver to take him to the forest. At the edge of the woods,
Siddhartha put on a simple robe, cut of his hair with a knife, and kept a small bowl of
alms. Soon, the prince started his life as an ascetic. Siddhartha met other ascetics. They
also wanted to find happiness. They focused their minds on spiritual questions.
Siddhartha became an expert on meditation. The ascetics also denied their bodies basic
needs. They sat in the sun without shelter. They held their breaths for long periods of
time. They didn’t eat for many days. They hoped to find spiritual truth through self-denial.
Siddhartha followed the astics until he became thin from lack of food. He unfortunately
did not like this extreme way of living. And yet, he did not find the key to enlightenment.
Siddhartha learned that giving up bodily pleasures did not bring happiness. He decided to
seek a middle way as a path to enlightenment. The prince’s new way of thinking made
the other ascetics leave him. But Siddhartha was supposed to be alone. A full moon rose
on the prince’s birthday. A grass cutter gave him grass as a birthday present. Then,
Siddhartha walked to a tree and put the grass at the foot of the tree. After that, he sat
down. He vowed to meditate until he reached enlightenment. While the prince meditated,
a wicked god named Mara, tried to frighten him to get him to stop meditating. He did not
want Siddhartha to be a god. So he sent his three daughters to make him fall in love with
them. However, Siddhartha ignored them. He still meditated and resisted them all. This
made the Mara so mad that he decided to attack Siddhartha himself. He brought his
army and his army started to attack with arrows. The arrows went straight for Siddhartha.
But Siddhartha just sat there and the the arrows turn into flowers. It was impossible for
him to defeat him. So after that, he disappeared. As Siddhartha meditated, he found the
truth he had been seeking. He saw his past lives and the cycle of rebirth. He saw the
importance of Karma. Soon he saw how to gain his freedom and ended all suffering.
Morning came and the price had become the awaken one. He reached enlightenment.
He thought other people his discoveries and truths. The Buddha learned that pleasure
does not last forever. So he thought others and his learning is spread throughout India.
The buddha has meditated for 49 days.