Buddhism

==Worldview==
<!--NOTE: the structure of this section has been agreed by consensus. If you think major changes should be made, please propose them on the discussion page-->
{{Main|Glossary of Buddhism}}
The term "Buddhism" is an occidental neologism, commonly (and "rather roughly" according to [[Donald S. Lopez Jr.]]) used as a translation for the [[Dharma]] of the [[Gautama Buddha|Buddha]], ''fójiào'' in Chinese, ''bukkyō'' in Japanese, ''nang pa sangs rgyas pa'i chos'' in Tibetan, ''buddhadharma'' in Sanskrit, ''buddhaśāsana'' in Pali.<ref>{{Cite book|author=[[Donald S. Lopez Jr.]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SNA6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PR14|title=Hyecho's Journey: The World of Buddhism|date=2017-12-21|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-51806-0|language=en|page=XIV|access-date=27 September 2020|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055821/https://books.google.com/books?id=SNA6DwAAQBAJ&pg=PR14|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Four Noble Truths===
{{Main|Four Noble Truths}}
[[File:Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Dharmacakra Discourse.jpeg|thumb|right|alt=color manuscript illustration of Buddha teaching the [[Four Noble Truths]], Nalanda, Bihar, India|The Buddha teaching the Four Noble Truths. [[Sanskrit]] manuscript. [[Nalanda]], Bihar, India]]

The Four Noble Truths, or the truths of the [[Arhat|Noble Ones]],<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Four-Noble-Truths |title=Four Noble Truths: BUDDHIST PHILOSOPHY |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica |date=31 March 2024 |quote=Although the term Four Noble Truths is well known in English, it is a misleading translation of the Pali term Chattari-ariya-saccani (Sanskrit: Chatvari-arya-satyani), because noble (Pali: ariya; Sanskrit: arya) refers not to the truths themselves but to those who recognize and understand them. A more accurate rendering, therefore, might be 'four truths for the [spiritually] noble'}}</ref> taught in Buddhism are:
* ''[[Dukkha]]'' ("not being at ease", "suffering") is an innate characteristic of the perpetual cycle (''[[samsara]]'', {{literally|wandering}}) of [[Upādāna|grasping]] at things, ideas and habits
* ''Samudaya'' (origin, arising, combination; "cause"): ''dukkha'' is caused by ''[[taṇhā]]'' ("craving", "desire" or "attachment", literally "thirst")
* ''[[Nirodha]]'' (cessation, ending, confinement): ''dukkha'' can be ended or contained by the confinement or letting go of ''taṇhā''
* ''Marga'' (path): the path leading to the confinement of ''taṇhā'' and ''dukkha'', classically the [[Noble Eightfold Path]] but sometimes [[Buddhist paths to liberation|other paths to liberation]]

===Three marks of existence===
{{main|Three marks of existence}}

Most schools of Buddhism teach [[three marks of existence]]:{{sfnp|Gombrich|2005a|p=47, Quote: "All phenomenal existence [in Buddhism] is said to have three interlocking characteristics: impermanence, suffering and lack of soul or essence."}} 
* ''[[Dukkha]]'': unease, suffering
* ''Anicca'': [[impermanence]]
* ''[[Anattā]]'': non-self; living things have no permanent soul or essence<ref name=britannicaanatta>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta Anatta Buddhism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122042635/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=22 January 2021 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013)</ref><ref>[a] {{cite book|author=Christmas Humphreys|title=Exploring Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC|year=2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-22877-3|pages=42–43|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC|url-status=live}}<br />[b] {{harvtxt|Gombrich|2005a|p=47}}, Quote: "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."</ref><ref name=5sourcesanatta>''[a]'' [https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta Anatta] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210122042635/https://www.britannica.com/topic/anatta |date=22 January 2021 }}, Encyclopædia Britannica (2013), Quote: "Anatta in Buddhism, the doctrine that there is in humans no permanent, underlying soul. The concept of anatta, or anatman, is a departure from the Hindu belief in atman ("the self").";<br />''[b]'' Steven Collins (1994), Religion and Practical Reason (Editors: Frank Reynolds, David Tracy), State Univ of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-0-7914-2217-5}}, p. 64; "Central to Buddhist [[soteriology]] is the doctrine of [[Anattā|not-self]] (Pali: anattā, Sanskrit: anātman, the opposed doctrine of ātman is central to Brahmanical thought). Put very briefly, this is the [Buddhist] doctrine that human beings have no soul, no self, no unchanging essence.";<br />''[c]'' John C. Plott et al. (2000), ''Global History of Philosophy: The Axial Age'', Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-81-208-0158-5}}, p. 63, Quote: "The Buddhist schools reject any Ātman concept. As we have already observed, this is the basic and ineradicable distinction between Hinduism and Buddhism";<br />''[d]'' Katie Javanaud (2013), [https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana Is The Buddhist 'No-Self' Doctrine Compatible With Pursuing Nirvana?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913132314/https://philosophynow.org/issues/97/Is_The_Buddhist_No-Self_Doctrine_Compatible_With_Pursuing_Nirvana |date=13 September 2017 }}, Philosophy Now;<br />''[e]'' David Loy (1982), "Enlightenment in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta: Are Nirvana and Moksha the Same?", ''International Philosophical Quarterly'', Volume 23, Issue 1, pp. 65–74</ref>

Buddhism teaches that the idea that anything is permanent or that there is self in any being is ignorance or misperception (''[[Avidyā (Buddhism)|avijjā]]''), and that this is the primary source of clinging and dukkha.<ref>{{cite book |author=Brian Morris |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8 |page=51 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |url-status=live }}, Quote: "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps – the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."</ref><ref name="GombrichScherrer2008p209">{{cite book|author1=Richard Francis Gombrich|author2=Cristina Anna Scherrer-Schaub|title=Buddhist Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7_Rea05eAMC|year=2008|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-3248-0|pages=209–210|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=U7_Rea05eAMC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="HoffmanMahinda2013p162">{{cite book |author1=Frank Hoffman |author2=Deegalle Mahinda |title=Pali Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pSNeAgAAQBAJ |year=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-78553-5 |pages=162–165 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055821/https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pali_Buddhism/pSNeAgAAQBAJ?hl=en |url-status=live }}</ref>

Some schools describe four characteristics or "four seals of the Dharma", adding to the above:
* [[Nirvana]] is peaceful/peace (''śānta/śānti'')<ref>Ulrich Timme Kragh (editor), ''The Foundation for Yoga Practitioners'': ''The Buddhist Yogācārabhūmi Treatise and Its Adaptation in India, East Asia, and Tibet, Volume 1'' Harvard University, Department of South Asian studies, 2013, p. 144.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Questions of the Nāga King Sāgara (3) &#124; 84000 Reading Room |url=https://read.84000.co/translation/toh155.html}}</ref>

===The cycle of rebirth===
[[File:Wheel_of_Existence.jpg|thumb|Traditional [[Tibetan Buddhism|Tibetan Buddhist]] [[Thangka]] depicting the [[Bhavacakra|Wheel of Life]] with its six realms]]

====Saṃsāra====
{{Main|Saṃsāra (Buddhism)}}
''Saṃsāra'' means "wandering" or "world", with the connotation of cyclic, circuitous change.{{sfnp|Klostermaier|2010|p=604}}{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}} It refers to the theory of rebirth and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence", a fundamental assumption of Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions.{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}}{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|p=58, Quote: "Buddhism shares with Hinduism the doctrine of Samsara, whereby all beings pass through an unceasing cycle of birth, death and rebirth until they find a means of liberation from the cycle. However, Buddhism differs from Hinduism in rejecting the assertion that every human being possesses a changeless soul which constitutes his or her ultimate identity, and which transmigrates from one incarnation to the next.}} Samsara in Buddhism is considered to be ''[[dukkha]]'', unsatisfactory and painful,{{sfnp|Wilson|2010}} perpetuated by desire and ''[[Avidyā (Buddhism)|avidya]]'' (ignorance), and the resulting [[karma]].{{sfnp|Juergensmeyer|Roof|2011|pp=271–272}}{{sfnp|McClelland|2010|pp=172, 240}}{{sfnp|Williams|Tribe|Wynne|2012|pp=18–19, chapter 1}} Liberation from this cycle of existence, ''nirvana'', has been the foundation and the most important historical justification of Buddhism.{{sfnp|Conze|2013|p=71, Quote: "Nirvana is the ''raison d'être'' of Buddhism, and its ultimate justification."}}{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|p=119}}

Buddhist texts assert that rebirth can occur in six realms of existence, namely three good realms (heavenly, demi-god, human) and three evil realms (animal, hungry ghosts, hellish).{{refn|group=note|name=realms2|Earlier Buddhist texts refer to five realms rather than six realms; when described as five realms, the god realm and demi-god realm constitute a single realm.{{sfnp|Buswell|2004|pp=711–712}}}} Samsara ends if a person attains [[nirvana]], the "blowing out" of the afflictions through insight into [[impermanence]] and "[[anatta|non-self]]".{{sfnp|Buswell|Gimello|1992|pp=7–8, 83–84}}{{sfnp|Choong|1999|pp=28–29, Quote: "Seeing (''passati'') the nature of things as impermanent leads to the removal of the view of self, and so to the realisation of nirvana."}}{{sfnp|Rahula|2014|pp=51-58}}

====Rebirth====
{{Main|Rebirth (Buddhism)}}
[[File:Kushinara1.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A very large hill behind two palm trees and a boulevard, where the Buddha is believed to have been cremated|Ramabhar Stupa in [[Kushinagar]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], India, is regionally believed to be Buddha's cremation site.]]
Rebirth refers to a process whereby beings go through a succession of lifetimes as one of many possible forms of [[Sentient beings (Buddhism)|sentient life]], each running from conception to death.{{sfnp|Keown|1996|p=107}} In Buddhist thought, this rebirth does not involve a [[soul]] or any fixed substance. This is because the Buddhist doctrine of [[anatta|anattā]] (Sanskrit: ''anātman'', no-self doctrine) rejects the concepts of a permanent self or an unchanging, eternal soul found in other religions.<ref name="Leaman2002p23">{{cite book |author=Oliver Leaman |title=Eastern Philosophy: Key Readings |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-68919-4 |pages=23–27 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=vK-GAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[a] {{cite book |author=Christmas Humphreys |title=Exploring Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC |year=2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-22877-3 |pages=42–43 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=V3rYtmCZEIEC |url-status=live }}<br />[b] {{cite book |author=Brian Morris |title=Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |year=2006 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-85241-8 |page=51 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055822/https://books.google.com/books?id=PguGB_uEQh4C&pg=PA51 |url-status=live }}, Quote: "(...) anatta is the doctrine of non-self, and is an extreme empiricist doctrine that holds that the notion of an unchanging permanent self is a fiction and has no reality. According to Buddhist doctrine, the individual person consists of five skandhas or heaps – the body, feelings, perceptions, impulses and consciousness. The belief in a self or soul, over these five skandhas, is illusory and the cause of suffering."<br />[c] {{harvtxt|Gombrich|2005a|p=47}}, Quote: "(...) Buddha's teaching that beings have no soul, no abiding essence. This 'no-soul doctrine' (anatta-vada) he expounded in his second sermon."</ref>

The Buddhist traditions have traditionally disagreed on what it is in a person that is reborn, as well as how quickly the rebirth occurs after death.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}}<ref name="Neufeldt1986p123">{{cite book|author=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|year=1986|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-87395-990-2|pages=123–131|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055823/https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|url-status=live}}</ref> Some Buddhist traditions assert that "no self" doctrine means that there is no enduring self, but there is ''avacya'' (inexpressible) personality (''[[Pudgalavada|pudgala]]'') which migrates from one life to another.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}} The majority of Buddhist traditions, in contrast, assert that [[vijñāna]] (a person's consciousness) though evolving, exists as a continuum and is the mechanistic basis of what undergoes the rebirth process.{{sfnp|Williams|2002|pp=74–75}}{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}} The quality of one's rebirth depends on the [[Merit (Buddhism)|merit]] or demerit gained by one's karma (i.e., actions), as well as that accrued on one's behalf by a family member.{{Refn|group=note|This merit gaining may be on the behalf of one's family members.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=708–709}}<ref name="Neufeldt1986p123"/><ref name="SwatosKivisto1998p66">{{cite book|author1=William H. Swatos|author2=Peter Kivisto|title=Encyclopedia of Religion and Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMFoMFe-D8C|year=1998|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0-7619-8956-1|page=66|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055832/https://books.google.com/books?id=6TMFoMFe-D8C|url-status=live}}</ref>}} Buddhism also developed [[Buddhist cosmology|a complex cosmology]] to explain the various realms or planes of rebirth.{{sfnp|Wilson|2010}}

====Karma====
{{Main|Karma in Buddhism}}
[[Karma in Buddhism|In Buddhism]], [[karma]] (from [[Sanskrit]]: "action, work") drives ''[[saṃsāra]]'' – the endless cycle of suffering and rebirth for each being. Good, skilful deeds (Pāli: ''kusala'') and bad, unskilful deeds (Pāli: ''akusala'') produce "seeds" in the unconscious receptacle (''ālaya'') that mature later either in this life or in a subsequent [[Rebirth (Buddhism)|rebirth]].{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=131, 32–34<!-- Should this be 132–134? -->}}{{sfnp|Kasulis |2006|pp=1–12}} The existence of karma is a core belief in Buddhism, as with all major Indian religions, and it implies neither fatalism nor that everything that happens to a person is caused by karma.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}} (Diseases and suffering induced by the disruptive actions of other people are examples of non-karma suffering.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}})

A central aspect of Buddhist theory of karma is that intent (''[[cetanā]]'') matters and is essential to bring about a consequence or ''[[phala]]'' "fruit" or [[vipāka]] "result".{{sfnp|Krishan|1997|pages=59–78 }} The emphasis on intent in Buddhism marks a difference from the karmic theory of Jainism, where karma accumulates with or without intent.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=40}}{{sfnp|Krishan|1997|pp=47, 55 }} The emphasis on intent is also found in Hinduism, and Buddhism may have influenced karma theories of Hinduism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Norman C. McClelland|title=Encyclopedia of Reincarnation and Karma|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S_Leq4U5ihkC |year=2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5675-8|page=141}}</ref>

In Buddhism, good or bad karma accumulates even if there is no physical action, and just having ill or good thoughts creates karmic seeds; thus, actions of body, speech or mind all lead to karmic seeds.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}} In the Buddhist traditions, life aspects affected by the law of karma in past and current births of a being include the form of rebirth, realm of rebirth, social class, character and major circumstances of a lifetime.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}}{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|p=430 with footnote 1}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Karl Potter|editor=Ronald Wesley Neufeldt|title=Karma and Rebirth: Post Classical Developments|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|year=1986|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-0-87395-990-2|page=109|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055823/https://books.google.com/books?id=iaRWtgXjplQC|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the theory, it operates like the laws of physics, without external intervention, on every being in all [[Samsara (Buddhism)|six realms]] of existence including human beings and gods.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=40–41}}{{sfnp|Lopez|2001|pp=239–248}}

A notable aspect of the karma theory in modern Buddhism is merit transfer.<ref name=appletonp129>{{cite book |author=Naomi Appleton |title=Narrating Karma and Rebirth: Buddhist and Jain Multi-Life Stories |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AhT7AgAAQBAJ |year=2014 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-91640-0 |pages=129–131 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055838/https://books.google.com/books?id=AhT7AgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|pp=124–128}} A person accumulates merit not only through intentions and ethical living, but also is able to gain merit from others by exchanging goods and services, such as through ''dāna'' (charity to monks or nuns).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=45–46}} The theory also states a person can transfer one's own good karma to living family members and ancestors.{{sfnp|Spiro|1982|pp=124–128}}

This Buddhist idea may have roots in the ''quid-pro-quo'' exchange beliefs of the Hindu Vedic rituals.<ref name="Egge2013">{{cite book|author=James Egge |title=Religious Giving and the Invention of Karma in Theravada Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y1tcAgAAQBAJ |year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-85922-9 |pages=31–34 }}</ref> The "karma merit transfer" concept has been controversial, not accepted in later Jainism and Hinduism traditions, unlike Buddhism where it was adopted in ancient times and remains a common practice.<ref name=appletonp129/> According to Bruce Reichenbach, the "merit transfer" idea was generally absent in early Buddhism and may have emerged with the rise of Mahayana Buddhism; he adds that while major Hindu schools such as Yoga, Advaita Vedanta and others do not believe in merit transfer, some bhakti Hindu traditions later adopted the idea just like Buddhism.<ref>{{cite book|author=Bruce Reichenbach |title=The Law of Karma: A Philosophical Study |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=euWuCwAAQBAJ |year=1990|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-349-11899-1 |pages=152–155 }}</ref>

===Liberation===
{{Main|Moksha|Nirvana (Buddhism)}}
[[File:050_Mucilinda_with_his_Wives_around_the_Buddha_(32999346203).jpg|thumb|An [[Aniconism|aniconic]] depiction of the Buddha's spiritual liberation (''moksha'') or awakening (''bodhi''), at [[Sanchi]]. The Buddha is not depicted, only symbolized by the Bodhi tree and the empty seat]]
The cessation of the ''[[Kleshas (Buddhism)|kleshas]]'' and the attainment of [[nirvana]] (''nibbāna''), with which the cycle of rebirth ends, has been the primary and the [[soteriological]] goal of the Buddhist path for monastic life since the time of the Buddha.{{sfnp|Samuel|2008|p=136}}{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=589–590}}{{sfnp|Collins|1998|pp=135–177, 188, 443}} The term "path" is usually taken to mean the [[Noble Eightfold Path]], but [[Buddhist Paths to liberation|other versions]] of "the path" can also be found in the Nikayas.{{refn|group=note|Another variant, which may be condensed to the eightfold or tenfold path, starts with a ''Tathagatha'' entering this world. A layman hears his teachings, decides to leave the life of a householder, starts living according to the moral precepts, guards his sense-doors, practises mindfulness and the four jhanas, gains the three knowledges, understands the Four Noble Truths and destroys the [[Asava|taints]], and perceives that he is liberated.{{sfnp|Bucknell|1984}}}} In some passages in the Pali Canon, a distinction is being made between right knowledge or insight (''sammā-ñāṇa''), and right liberation or release (''sammā-vimutti''), as the means to attain cessation and liberation.{{sfnp|Choong|2000|p=141}}{{sfnp|Fuller|2005|pp=55–56}}

Nirvana literally means "blowing out, quenching, becoming extinguished".<ref name="Collins2010p63">{{cite book|author=Steven Collins |title=Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5pshUYiUVwC |year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-88198-2 |pages=33–34, 47–50, 63–64, 74–75, 106 }}</ref>{{sfnp|Cousins|1996|p=9}} In early Buddhist texts, it is the state of restraint and self-control that leads to the "blowing out" and the ending of the cycles of sufferings associated with rebirths and redeaths.{{sfnp|Vetter|1988}}{{sfnp|Gombrich|1997|p=66}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Steven Collins |title=Nirvana: Concept, Imagery, Narrative |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d5pshUYiUVwC |year=2010|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-88198-2 |page=31}}, Quote: "This general scheme remained basic to later Hinduism, to Jainism, and to Buddhism. Eternal salvation, to use the Christian term, is not conceived of as world without end; we have already got that, called samsara, the world of rebirth and redeath: that is the problem, not the solution. The ultimate aim is the timeless state of moksha, or as the Buddhists seem to have been the first to call it, nirvana."</ref> Many later Buddhist texts describe nirvana as identical with ''[[anatta]]'' with complete "emptiness, nothingness".<ref>{{cite book|author=Steven Collins|title=Selfless Persons: Imagery and Thought in Theravada Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|year=1990|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-39726-1|pages=82–84|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055833/https://books.google.com/books?id=8sLMkNn26-gC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Ray Billington |title=Understanding Eastern Philosophy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dACFAgAAQBAJ |year=2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-79348-8 |pages=58–60 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055833/https://books.google.com/books?id=dACFAgAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=David Loy|title=Awareness Bound and Unbound: Buddhist Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|year=2009|publisher=State University of New York Press|isbn=978-1-4384-2680-8|pages=35–39|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055836/https://books.google.com/books?id=R5KHnVVjwKQC|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|The early Mahayana Buddhism texts link their discussion of "emptiness" (''shunyata'') to ''Anatta'' and ''Nirvana''. They do so, states Mun-Keat Choong, in three ways: first, in the common sense of a monk's meditative state of emptiness; second, with the main sense of ''anatta'' or 'everything in the world is empty of self'; third, with the ultimate sense of ''nirvana'' or realisation of emptiness and thus an end to rebirth cycles of suffering.<ref name="Choong1999p85">{{cite book| author=Mun-Keat Choong| title=The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC| year=1999| publisher=Motilal Banarsidass| isbn=978-81-208-1649-7| pages=1–4, 85–88| access-date=10 July 2016| archive-date=11 January 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055835/https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC| url-status=live}}</ref>}} In some texts, the state is described with greater detail, such as passing through the gate of emptiness (''sunyata'') – realising that there is no soul or self in any living being, then passing through the gate of signlessness (''animitta'') – realising that nirvana cannot be perceived, and finally passing through the gate of wishlessness (''apranihita'') – realising that nirvana is the state of not even wishing for nirvana.{{sfnp|Buswell|Lopez|2003|pp=589–590}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Dan Lusthaus |title=Buddhist Phenomenology |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QMrKAgAAQBAJ |year=2014|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-97343-0 |page=124 with footnotes 2–3 on pp. 266–267 }}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|Some scholars such as Cousins and Sangharakshita translate ''apranaihita'' as "aimlessness or directionless-ness".{{sfnp|Williams|2005b|page=56, note 23}}}}

The nirvana state has been described in Buddhist texts partly in a manner similar to other Indian religions, as the state of complete liberation, enlightenment, highest happiness, bliss, fearlessness, freedom, permanence, non-dependent origination, unfathomable, and indescribable.{{sfnp|Collins|1998|pp=191–233}}<ref>{{cite book |author=Peter Harvey |year=2013 |title=The Selfless Mind: Personality, Consciousness and Nirvana in Early Buddhism |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-78336-4 |pages=198–226 |access-date=10 July 2016 |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055837/https://books.google.com/books?id=SfPcAAAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> It has also been described in part differently, as a state of spiritual release marked by "emptiness" and realisation of ''[[anatta|non-self]]''.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mun-Keat Choong|title=The Notion of Emptiness in Early Buddhism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC|year=1999|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|isbn=978-81-208-1649-7|pages=21–22|access-date=10 July 2016|archive-date=11 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111055835/https://books.google.com/books?id=HJafx7uO0VsC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Gananath Obeyesekere |title=The Awakened Ones: Phenomenology of Visionary Experience |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BB1Q0aWJpO8C |year=2012|publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-15362-1 |pages=145–146 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Edward Conze |title=Buddhism: Its Essence and Development |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PwXCAgAAQBAJ |year=2012|publisher=Courier |isbn=978-0-486-17023-7 |pages=125–137 }}</ref>{{Refn|group=note|These descriptions of nirvana in Buddhist texts, states Peter Harvey, are contested by scholars because nirvana in Buddhism is ultimately described as a state of "stopped consciousness (blown out), but one that is not non-existent", and "it seems impossible to imagine what awareness devoid of any object would be like".{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=75–76}}{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=74-84}}}}

While Buddhism considers the liberation from [[Saṃsāra (Buddhism)|saṃsāra]] as the ultimate spiritual goal, in traditional practice, the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists has been to seek and accumulate merit through good deeds, donations to monks and various Buddhist rituals in order to gain better rebirths rather than nirvana.{{sfnp|Coogan|2003|p=192}}{{sfnp|Trainor|2004|p=62}}{{Refn|group=note |Scholars note that better rebirth, not nirvana, has been the primary focus of a vast majority of lay Buddhists. This they attempt through merit accumulation and good ''kamma''.{{sfnp|Gowans|2004|p=169}}<ref name="Merv Fowler 1999 65">{{harvp|Fowler|1999|p=65}} Quote: "For a vast majority of Buddhists in Theravadin countries, however, the order of monks is seen by lay Buddhists as a means of gaining the most merit in the hope of accumulating good karma for a better rebirth."</ref>}}

===Dependent arising===
{{Main|Pratītyasamutpāda|Twelve Nidānas}}
''Pratityasamutpada'', also called "dependent arising, or dependent origination", is the Buddhist theory to explain the nature and relations of being, becoming, existence and ultimate reality. Buddhism asserts that there is nothing independent, except the state of nirvana.{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=54}} All physical and mental states depend on and arise from other pre-existing states, and in turn from them arise other dependent states while they cease.<ref>[[John Bowker (theologian)|John Bowker]], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of World Religions|The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions]]'' (1997), Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-213965-7}}</ref>

The 'dependent arisings' have a causal conditioning, and thus ''Pratityasamutpada'' is the Buddhist belief that causality is the basis of [[ontology]], not a creator God nor the ontological Vedic concept called universal Self ([[Brahman]]) nor any other 'transcendent creative principle'.{{sfnp|Williams|2002|p=64, Quote: In the ''Mahatanhasankhaya Sutta'' the Buddha [stresses] that things originate in dependence upon causal conditioning, and this emphasis on causality describes the central feature of Buddhist ontology. All elements of samsara exist in some sense or another relative to their causes and conditions.}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Neville |editor=Jeremiah Hackett|others=Jerald Wallulis|title= Philosophy of Religion for a New Century: Essays in Honor of Eugene Thomas Long|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEER8fGxCfMC |year=2004|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-4020-2073-5 |page=257}}, Quote: "[Buddhism's ontological hypotheses] that nothing in reality has its own-being and that all phenomena reduce to the relativities of pratitya samutpada. The Buddhist ontological hypothesese deny that there is any ontologically ultimate object such a God, Brahman, the Dao, or any transcendent creative source or principle."</ref> However, Buddhist thought does not understand causality in terms of Newtonian mechanics; rather it understands it as conditioned arising.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=153–155}}<ref>{{cite book|author=Guy Debrock |editor=Paul B. Scheurer|others=G. Debrock|title=Newton's Scientific and Philosophical Legacy |year=2012|publisher=Springer |isbn=978-94-009-2809-1 |page=376, note 12 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y18yBwAAQBAJ}}</ref> In Buddhism, dependent arising refers to conditions created by a plurality of causes that necessarily co-originate a phenomenon within and across lifetimes, such as karma in one life creating conditions that lead to rebirth in one of the realms of existence for another lifetime.<ref name="Kalupahana1975p54">{{cite book |author=David J. Kalupahana|title=Causality: The Central Philosophy of Buddhism |publisher=University of Hawaii Press|year=1975 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOYGAAAAYAAJ |isbn=978-0-8248-0298-1|pages=54–60}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Genjun Sasaki |title=Linguistic Approach to Buddhist Thought |year=1986 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass |isbn=978-81-208-0038-0 |pages=67–69 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vUBPAzlxJPUC}}</ref>{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=151–152}}

Buddhism applies the theory of dependent arising to explain origination of endless cycles of ''dukkha'' and rebirth, through [[Twelve Nidānas]] or "twelve links". It states that because [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|Avidyā]] (ignorance) exists, [[Saṅkhāra|Saṃskāras]] (karmic formations) exist; because Saṃskāras exist therefore [[Vijñāna]] (consciousness) exists; and in a similar manner it links [[Nāmarūpa]] (the sentient body), [[Ṣaḍāyatana]] (our six senses), [[Sparśa]] (sensory stimulation), [[Vedanā]] (feeling), [[Taṇhā]] (craving), [[Upādāna]] (grasping), [[Bhava]] (becoming), [[Jāti (Buddhism)|Jāti]] (birth), and [[Jarāmaraṇa]] (old age, death, sorrow, and pain).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=65–72}}{{sfnp|Emmanuel|2013|pp=51–66}} By breaking the circuitous links of the Twelve Nidanas, Buddhism asserts that liberation from these endless cycles of rebirth and dukkha can be attained.{{sfnp|Harvey|1998|p=54, Quote: "The main concrete application of the abstract principle is in the form of a series of conditioned links (''nidanas''), culminating in the arising of dukkha." (...) "This [doctrine] states the principle of conditionality, that all things, mental and physical, arise and exist due to the presence of certain conditions, and cease once their conditions are removed: nothing (except ''Nibbana'') is independent. The doctrine thus complements the teaching that no permanent, independent self can be found."}}

===Not-Self and Emptiness===
{{Main|Anātman|Śūnyatā}}
{{PancaKhandha}}
A related doctrine in Buddhism is that of ''anattā'' (Pali) or ''anātman'' (Sanskrit). It is the view that there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or essence in phenomena.{{sfnp|Gombrich|2006|p=47}} The Buddha and Buddhist philosophers who follow him such as Vasubandhu and Buddhaghosa, generally argue for this view by analyzing the person through the schema of the [[five aggregates]], and then attempting to show that none of these five components of personality can be permanent or absolute.<ref>Siderits, Mark (2007). ''"Buddhism as philosophy,"'' p. 39</ref> This can be seen in Buddhist discourses such as the ''[[Anattalakkhana Sutta]]''.

"Emptiness" or "voidness" (Skt'': Śūnyatā'', Pali: ''Suññatā)'', is a related concept with many different interpretations throughout the various Buddhisms. In early Buddhism, it was commonly stated that all five aggregates are void (''rittaka''), hollow (''tucchaka''), coreless (''asāraka''), for example as in the ''Pheṇapiṇḍūpama Sutta'' (SN 22:95).<ref>Shi Huifeng, ''Is "Illusion" a Prajñāpāramitā Creation? The Birth and Death of a Buddhist Cognitive Metaphor'', Fo Guang University, Journal of Buddhist Philosophy, Vol.2, 2016.</ref> Similarly, in Theravada Buddhism, it often means that the five aggregates are empty of a Self.<ref>Ronkin, Noa (2005). ''"Early Buddhist Metaphysics: The Making of a Philosophical Tradition"'' p. 91. RoutledgeCurzon.</ref>

Emptiness is a central concept in Mahāyāna Buddhism, especially in [[Nagarjuna]]'s [[Madhyamaka]] school, and in the ''[[Prajnaparamita|Prajñāpāramitā]] sutras''. In Madhyamaka philosophy, emptiness is the view which holds that all phenomena are without any ''[[svabhava]]'' (literally "own-nature" or "self-nature"), and are thus without any underlying essence, and so are "empty" of being independent.{{example needed|date=March 2024}} This doctrine sought to refute the heterodox theories of ''svabhava'' circulating at the time.{{sfnp|Lindtner|1997|p=324}}

===The Three Jewels===
{{Main|Three Jewels}}
[[File:Sanchi Stupa number 2 KSP 3667 Wheel and Triratna.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|[[Dharmachakra|Dharma Wheel]] and [[triratna]] symbols from [[Sanchi]] Stupa number 2]]
All forms of Buddhism revere and take spiritual refuge in the "three jewels" (''triratna''): Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=244–245}}

====Buddha====
{{Main|Buddhahood}}
While all varieties of Buddhism revere "Buddha" and "buddhahood", they have different views on what these are. Regardless of their interpretation, the concept of Buddha is central to all forms of Buddhism.

In Theravada Buddhism, a Buddha is someone who has become awake through their own efforts and insight. They have put an end to their cycle of rebirths and have ended all unwholesome mental states which lead to bad action and thus are morally perfected.<ref name="Crosby, Kate 2013 p. 16">Crosby, Kate (2013). ''"Theravada Buddhism: Continuity, Diversity, and Identity,"'' p. 16. John Wiley & Sons.</ref> While subject to the limitations of the human body in certain ways (for example, in the early texts, the Buddha suffers from backaches), a Buddha is said to be "deep, immeasurable, hard-to-fathom as is the great ocean", and also has immense psychic powers ([[abhijñā]]).{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|pp=27-28}} Theravada generally sees Gautama Buddha (the historical Buddha Sakyamuni) as the only Buddha of the current era.

Mahāyāna Buddhism meanwhile, has a vastly expanded [[Buddhist cosmology|cosmology]], with various [[Buddhahood|Buddhas]] and other holy beings (''aryas'') residing in different realms. Mahāyāna texts not only revere numerous [[Buddhist deities#Buddhas|Buddhas]] besides [[The Buddha|Shakyamuni]], such as [[Amitābha|Amitabha]] and [[Vairochana|Vairocana]], but also see them as transcendental or supramundane (''lokuttara'') beings.{{sfnp|Williams|2008 |p=21}} Mahāyāna Buddhism holds that these other Buddhas in other realms can be contacted and are able to benefit beings in this world.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=162}} In Mahāyāna, a Buddha is a kind of "spiritual king", a "protector of all creatures" with a lifetime that is countless of eons long, rather than just a human teacher who has transcended the world after death.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=27}} Shakyamuni's life and death on earth is then usually understood as a "mere appearance" or "a manifestation skilfully projected into earthly life by a long-enlightened transcendent being, who is still available to teach the faithful through visionary experiences".{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=27}}{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=164}}

====Dharma====
{{Main|Dharma}}
The second of the three jewels is "Dharma" (Pali: Dhamma), which in Buddhism refers to the Buddha's teaching, which includes all of the main ideas outlined above. While this teaching reflects the true nature of reality, it is not a belief to be clung to, but a pragmatic teaching to be put into practice. It is likened to a raft which is "for crossing over" (to nirvana) not for holding on to.{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=31}} It also refers to the universal law and cosmic order which that teaching both reveals and relies upon.<ref>"[http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/dharma.aspx#1 Dharma] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160926234045/http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/dharma.aspx#1 |date=26 September 2016 }}", ''The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions''.</ref> It is an everlasting principle which applies to all beings and worlds. In that sense it is also the ultimate truth and reality about the universe, it is thus "the way that things really are".

====Sangha====
{{Main|Sangha|Bodhisattva|Arhat}}
[[File:Praying monks and nuns in the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple of Singapore.jpg|thumb|Buddhist monks and nuns praying in the [[Buddha Tooth Relic Temple]] of Singapore]]
The third "jewel" which Buddhists take refuge in is the "Sangha", which refers to the monastic community of monks and nuns who follow Gautama Buddha's monastic discipline which was "designed to shape the Sangha as an ideal community, with the optimum conditions for spiritual growth."{{sfnp|Harvey|2013|p=88}} The Sangha consists of those who have chosen to follow the Buddha's ideal way of life, which is one of celibate monastic renunciation with minimal material possessions (such as an alms bowl and robes).{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|pp=85-88}}

The Sangha is seen as important because they preserve and pass down Buddha Dharma. As Gethin states "the Sangha lives the teaching, preserves the teaching as Scriptures and teaches the wider community. Without the Sangha there is no Buddhism."{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|p=92}} The Sangha also acts as a "field of merit" for laypersons, allowing them to make spiritual merit or goodness by donating to the Sangha and supporting them. In return, they keep their duty to preserve and spread the Dharma everywhere for the good of the world.{{sfnp|Gethin|1998|p=86}}

There is also a separate definition of Sangha, referring to those who have attained any [[Four stages of enlightenment|stage of awakening]], whether or not they are monastics. This sangha is called the [[Śrāvaka#The community of disciples|''āryasaṅgha'']] "noble Sangha".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/triplegem.html|title=What is the Triple Gem?|website=www.accesstoinsight.org|access-date=12 April 2020|archive-date=30 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730060230/http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/thai/lee/triplegem.html|url-status=live}}</ref> All forms of Buddhism generally reveres these ''[[Arya (Buddhism)|āryas]]'' (Pali: ''ariya'', "noble ones" or "holy ones") who are spiritually attained beings. Aryas have attained the fruits of the Buddhist path.<ref>Williams, Paul (2002), "Buddhist Thought", p. 52, Taylor & Francis Kindle Edition</ref> Becoming an arya is a goal in most forms of Buddhism. The ''āryasaṅgha'' includes holy beings such as [[bodhisattva]]s, [[arhat]]s and stream-enterers.

===Other key Mahāyāna views===
{{Main|Yogachara|Buddha-nature}}

Mahāyāna Buddhism also differs from Theravada and the other schools of early Buddhism in promoting several unique doctrines which are contained in Mahāyāna sutras and philosophical treatises.

One of these is the unique interpretation of emptiness and dependent origination found in the Madhyamaka school. Another very influential doctrine for Mahāyāna is the main philosophical view of the [[Yogachara|Yogācāra]] school variously, termed ''Vijñaptimātratā-vāda'' ("the doctrine that there are only ideas" or "mental impressions") or ''Vijñānavāda'' ("the doctrine of consciousness"). According to Mark Siderits, what classical Yogācāra thinkers like Vasubandhu had in mind is that we are only ever aware of mental images or impressions, which may appear as external objects, but "there is actually no such thing outside the mind".<ref>Siderits, Mark, ''Buddhism as philosophy'', 2017, p. 149.</ref> There are several interpretations of this main theory, many scholars see it as a type of Idealism, others as a kind of phenomenology.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gold |first=Jonathan C. |date=April 22, 2011 |title=Vasubandhu |encyclopedia=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Archive (Summer 2018 Edition) |editor=Edward N. Zalta |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/vasubandhu/ |access-date=13 April 2020 |archive-date=5 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190705225152/https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/vasubandhu/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Another very influential concept unique to Mahāyāna is that of "Buddha-nature" (''buddhadhātu'') or "Tathagata-womb" (''tathāgatagarbha''). Buddha-nature is a concept found in some 1st-millennium CE Buddhist texts, such as the ''[[Tathāgatagarbha sūtras]]''. According to Paul Williams these [[Sutra]]s suggest that 'all sentient beings contain a Tathagata' as their 'essence, core inner nature, Self'.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=104}}{{refn|group=note|Wayman and Wayman have disagreed with this view, and they state that the ''Tathagatagarbha'' is neither self nor sentient being, nor soul, nor personality.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=107}}}} According to Karl Brunnholzl "the earliest mahayana sutras that are based on and discuss the notion of tathāgatagarbha as the buddha potential that is innate in all sentient beings began to appear in written form in the late second and early third century."<ref>Brunnholzl, Karl, When the Clouds Part, The ''Uttaratantra'' and Its Meditative Tradition as a Bridge between Sutra and Tantra, Snow Lion, Boston & London, 2014, page 3.</ref> For some, the doctrine seems to conflict with the Buddhist anatta doctrine (non-Self), leading scholars to posit that the ''Tathāgatagarbha Sutras'' were written to promote Buddhism to non-Buddhists.{{sfnp|Williams|2008|pp=104–105, 108–109; Quote: "...&nbsp;[The ''Mahaparinirvana Sutra''] refers to the Buddha using the term "Self" in order to win over non-Buddhist ascetics."}}<ref>{{harvp|Fowler|1999|pp=101–102}} Quote: "Some texts of the ''tathagatagarbha'' literature, such as the ''Mahaparinirvana Sutra'' actually refer to an ''atman'', though other texts are careful to avoid the term. This would be in direct opposition to the general teachings of Buddhism on ''anatta''. Indeed, the distinctions between the general Indian concept of ''atman'' and the popular Buddhist concept of Buddha-nature are often blurred to the point that writers consider them to be synonymous."</ref> This can be seen in texts like the ''[[Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra]]'', which state that Buddha-nature is taught to help those who have fear when they listen to the teaching of anatta.<ref>Suzuki, D.T. (1956), ''The Lankavatara Sutra: A Mahayana Text''. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd. p.69</ref> Buddhist texts like the ''[[Ratnagotravibhāga]]'' clarify that the "Self" implied in ''Tathagatagarbha'' doctrine is actually "[[Anattā|not-self]]".{{sfnp|Williams|2008|p=112}}{{sfnp|Hookham|1991|p=96}} Various interpretations of the concept have been advanced by Buddhist thinkers throughout the history of Buddhist thought and most attempt to avoid anything like the [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Hindu Atman]] doctrine.

These Indian Buddhist ideas, in various synthetic ways, form the basis of subsequent Mahāyāna philosophy in Tibetan Buddhism and East Asian Buddhism.