What the Buddha Taught
But in Buddhism emphasis is laid on ‘seeing’, knowing, understanding, and not on faith, or belief. In Buddhist texts there is a word saddhā (Skt. śraddhā) which is usually translated as ‘faith’ or ‘belief. But saddhā is not ‘faith’ as such, but rather ‘confidence’ born out of conviction. In popular Buddhism and also in ordinary usage in the texts t
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The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment.
Walpola Rahula • What the Buddha Taught
The theory of karma is the theory of cause and effect, of action and reaction; it is a natural law, which has nothing to do with the idea of justice or reward and punishment.
Walpola Rahula • What the Buddha Taught
compassion (karuṇā) on one side, and wisdom (paññā) on the other. Here compassion
Walpola Rahula • What the Buddha Taught
The First Noble Truth is Dukkha, the nature of life, its suffering, its sorrows and joys, its imperfection and unsatisfactoriness, its impermanence and insubstantiality. With regard to this, our function is to understand it as a fact, clearly and completely (pariññeyya).
Walpola Rahula • What the Buddha Taught
The Buddha once spent a night in a potter’s shed. In the same shed there was a young recluse who had arrived there earlier.1 They did not know each other. The Buddha observed the recluse, and thought to himself: ‘Pleasant are the ways of this young man. It would be good if I should ask about him’. So the Buddha asked him: ‘O bhikkhu,2 in whose name
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religious texts, nor by mere logic or inference, nor by considering appearances, nor by the delight in speculative opinions, nor by seeming possibilities, nor by the idea: ‘this is our teacher’. But, O Kālāmas, when you know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome (akusala), and wrong, and bad, then give them up . . . And when you know f
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The Third Noble Truth is the Cessation of Dukkha, Nirvāṇa, the Absolute Truth, the Ultimate Reality. Here our function is to realize it (sacchikātabba).
Walpola Rahula • What the Buddha Taught
Ethical Conduct (Sila) is built on the vast conception of universal love and compassion for all living beings, on which the Buddha’s teaching is based.