The Anunatva-Apurnatva-Nirdesa ("Exposition of Non-Decrease and Non-Increase") is a Buddhist sutra belonging to the Tathagatagarbha class of sutras. It is noteworthy for its teaching (delivered, in this text, by the Buddha to Sariputra) that Nirvana is not cessation of being or utter vacuity, but is the realm of the Tathagatagarbha, the unfabricated, utterly pure and everlasting essence of all creatures and beings. The Buddha links the Tathagatagarbha to the spotless immaculacy of the "Dharmakaya" (ultimate true nature of the Buddha) ...

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Including:

• Mahaparinirvana - External link

Read more here: » Mahaparinirvana: Encyclopedia - Mahaparinirvana

The role of faith in Mahayana Buddhism is, if anything, even stronger. Its depth and range become intensified, particularly in the tathagatagarbha sutras and the “Pure Land” literature. In the Mahaparinirvana Sutra, the Buddha accords a foundational position to faith. He states: "we say that unsurpassed Awakening [bodhi] has faith as its cause. The causes of Awakening are innumerable, but if stated as faith, this covers everything." Faith as understood in this, the Buddha’s final Mahayana sutra, is belief in the te ...

See also:

Faith in Buddhism, Faith in Buddhism - Faith in Early Buddhism Theravada, Faith in Buddhism - Faith in Mahayana Buddhism, Faith in Buddhism - Literature

Read more here: » Faith in Buddhism: Encyclopedia II - Faith in Buddhism - Faith in Mahayana Buddhism

Buddha-nature (originally in Sanskrit, "Buddha-dhatu" - "Buddha Element", "Buddha-Principle") is a doctrine important for many schools of Mahayana Buddhism. The Buddha-nature ("Buddha-dhatu") is taught to be a truly real eternal potential or principle, present in all sentient beings, for awakening and becoming Enlightened. The Buddha-nature doctrine relates to the possession by sentient beings of the innate buddha-mind or buddha-element ("Buddha-dhatu"), which is, prior to the full attainment of buddhahood, not fully actualized, or at ...

Including:

• Buddha-nature - Development of Buddha-nature
• Buddha-nature - Buddha-nature vs. atman

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Buddha (Sanskrit, Pali, others: literally Awakened One, from the root: √budh, "to awaken") is a title used in Buddhism for anyone who has discovered their enlightenment (bodhi), although it is commonly used to refer to Siddhartha Gautama, the historical founder of Buddhism, who was born in Lumbini--a place situated in modern Nepal. Generally, Buddhists do not consider Siddhartha Gautama—who lived in ancient India from about 623 BC to 543 BC, and attained bodhi around 588 BC—to have been ...

Including:

• Buddha - Eternal Buddha
• Buddha - Names of the Buddhas
• Buddha - Sources

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The first lay precept in Buddhism is usually translated as "I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures." Many see this as implying that Buddhists should not eat the meat of animals. However, this is not necessarily the case. There is a divergence of views within Buddhism on the need for vegetarianism, with the majority of schools of Buddhism rejecting such a claimed need and with most Buddhists in fact eating meat. A minority of Mahayana Buddhists, howeve ...

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There are a great variety of Buddhist texts. Buddhists place varying value on them: attitudes range from worship of the text itself, to dismissal of some texts as falsification of the ineffable truth. They therefore cannot be called "scripture" in the sense of other religions. The texts can be categorized in a number of ways, but the most fundamental division is that between canonical and non-canonical texts. The former, also called the Sutras (Sanskrit) or Suttas (Pali), are held to be, literally or metaphoricall ...

Including:

• Buddhist texts - Canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Texts of the Nikaya Schools
• Buddhist texts - Sutta
• Buddhist texts - Abhidharma
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - Mahayana texts
• Buddhist texts - Perfection of Wisdom Texts
• Buddhist texts - Saddharma-pundarika
• Buddhist texts - Pure Land Sutras
• Buddhist texts - The Vimalakirti Nirdesha Sutra
• Buddhist texts - Samadhi Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Confession Sutras
• Buddhist texts - The Avatamsaka Sutra
• Buddhist texts - Third Turning Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Tathagatagarbha class sutras
• Buddhist texts - Collected Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Transmigration Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Discipline Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Sutras Devoted to Individual Figures
• Buddhist texts - Proto-Mahayana Sutras
• Buddhist texts - Non-canonical texts
• Buddhist texts - References
• Buddhist texts - Vajrayana Texts
• Buddhist texts - Buddhist tantras
• Buddhist texts - Other products of the Vajrayana literature

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Buddhism is generally regarded as a non-theistic religion. Although it does teach the existence of “gods” (devas), these are merely heavenly beings who temporarily dwell in celestial worlds of great happiness. Such beings, however, are not eternal in that incarnational form and are subject to death and eventual rebirth into lower realms of existence. However, a distinction needs to be drawn between the seemingly non-deistic and non-theistic teachings of the Buddha in the Pāli Canon and the “agamas”, and the mystically-hued id ...

Including:

• God in Buddhism - The God Idea in Early Buddhism
• God in Buddhism - Mahayana and Tantric Mystical Doctrines
• God in Buddhism - Literature

Read more here: » God in Buddhism: Encyclopedia - God in Buddhism

Buddhism is a philosophy and/or religion based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (Sanskrit; in Pali, Siddhattha Gotama), who lived between approximately 563 and 483 BCE. Originating in India, Buddhism gradually spread throughout Asia to Central Asia, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, as well as the East Asian countries of China, Mongolia, Korea, and Japan.

Read more here: » Buddhism: Introduction to Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of the Buddha, Siddhārtha Gautama, who lived in what is now Northern India and Nepal between 566 and 483 BCE. Buddhism spread throughout the ancient Indian sub-continent in the five centuries following his death. It continued to spread into Central, Southeast, and East Asia over the next two millennia. With approximately 708 million followers, Buddhism is a major world religion whose adherents are called Buddhists. Buddhist denominations are historically categ ...

Including:

• Buddhism - What is a Buddha?
• Buddhism - Origins
• Buddhism - Principles of Buddhism
• Buddhism - The Four Noble Truths
• Buddhism - The Noble Eightfold Path
• Buddhism - Practices of Buddhism
• Buddhism - Refuge in The Three Jewels
• Buddhism - The Five Precepts
• Buddhism - Meditation
• Buddhism - Buddha-dhatu Buddha-Principle, Buddha-nature
• Buddhism - Other principles and practices
• Buddhism - Vegetarianism
• Buddhism - Buddhist religious philosophy and branches
• Buddhism - Buddhism after the Buddha
• Buddhism - Principal schools of Buddhist philosophy
• Buddhism - Scriptures
• Buddhism - Relations with other Eastern faiths
• Buddhism - Buddhism in the modern world
• Buddhism - Buddhism and the West
• Buddhism - Buddhism
• Buddhism - Related systems and religions
• Buddhism - References and Links
• Buddhism - References
• Buddhism - Footnotes
• Buddhism - External links

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Buddhism Beliefs: Buddhist Vegetarianism

The first lay precept in Buddhism prohibits killing. Many see this as implying that Buddhists should not eat the meat of animals. However, this is not necessarily the case. The Buddha made distinction between killing an animal and consumption of meat, stressing that it is immoral conduct that makes one impure, not the food one eats.

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Faith (saddha/ sraddha) is an important constituent element of the teachings of the Buddha - both in the Theravada tradition as in the Mahayana. While not of the “blind” variety and on occasion linked with insight (prajna), Buddhist faith (as advocated by the Buddha of the various scriptures) nevertheless requires a degree of trusting confidence and belief primarily in the spiritual attainment and salvational knowledge of the Buddha. Faith in Buddhism centres on belief in the Buddha as a supremely Awakened being, on his unexcelled ...

Including:

• Faith in Buddhism - Faith in Early Buddhism Theravada
• Faith in Buddhism - Faith in Mahayana Buddhism
• Faith in Buddhism - Literature

Read more here: » Faith in Buddhism: Encyclopedia - Faith in Buddhism

Atman is a Sanskrit word, normally translated as 'soul' or 'self' (also ego). In Buddhism, the concept of Atman is the prime consequence of ignorance, – itself the cause of all misery - the foundation of Samsara itself. In a number of sutras of Mahayana Buddhism, as well as in certain Buddhist Tantras, however, the term "Atman" is used in a dual sense, in some instances denoting the impermanent, mundane ego (attachment to which needs to be overcome), and on other occasions explicitly referring to the ultimately real, p ...

Including:

• Atman Buddhism - The need for Buddhists to understand Atman
• Atman Buddhism - The definition of Atman in Buddhism
• Atman Buddhism - The ontological status of Atman in Buddhism
• Atman Buddhism - Atman in Nikaya
• Atman Buddhism - The abandonment of Atman in later Buddhist metaphysics
• Atman Buddhism - Positive teachings on the Atman in Mahayana Buddhism

Read more here: » Atman Buddhism: Encyclopedia - Atman Buddhism

The Tathagatagarbha doctrine (tathāgatagarbha) teaches that each sentient being contains the effulgent Buddhic element or potential to become a Buddha. "Tathagata-garbha" means "Buddha Womb/ Buddha Matrix" or "Buddha Embryo", and this notion is explicated by the Buddha in the "Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra" as the "True Self" within all sentient beings - the unconditioned, boundless, nurturing, sustaining, deathless and diamond-like Self of Buddha, which is indiscernible to worldly, unawakened vision as a result of the masses of neg ...

Including:

• Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Tathagatagarbha in Zen
• Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Buddha-bots
• Tathagatagarbha doctrine - Texts

Read more here: » Tathagatagarbha doctrine: Encyclopedia - Tathagatagarbha doctrine

Buddha-nature (originally in Sanskrit, "Buddha-dhatu" - "Buddha Element", "Buddha-Principle") is a doctrine important for many schools of Mahayana Buddhism. The Buddha-nature ("Buddha-dhatu") is taught to be a truly real eternal potential or principle, present in all sentient beings, for awakening and becoming Enlightened. The Buddha-nature doctrine relates to the possession by sentient beings of the innate buddha-mind or buddha-element ("Buddha-dhatu"), which is, prior to the full attainment of buddhahood, not fully actualized, or at ...

Including:

• Buddha-nature - Development of Buddha-nature
• Buddha-nature - Buddha-nature vs. atman

Read more here: » Buddha-nature: Encyclopedia - Buddha-nature

Impermanence (Sanskrit: anitya; Pali anicca; Tibetan: mi rtag pa; Chinese: 無常, wúcháng; Japanese: mujō) is one of the essential doctrines or the three marks of Buddhism. According to it, everything is constantly in flux. This changing flux excludes nothing--even planets, stars and gods. This is embodied in human life in the aging process and the cycle of birth and rebirth (samsara), and in any experience of loss; because things are impermanent, attachment to them is futile, and leads to suffering. The only true end of anicca is ...

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Brahmaviharā (Pali and Sanskrit) can be translated as Sublime Attitudes or Abodes of God. They form a sequence of Buddhism meditations recommended in the Pali Brahmavihara Sutta and the Sanskrit Brahmavihara Sutra. Metta/Maitri: lovingkindness towards all; the hope that a person will be well Karuna: compassion; the hope that a person's sufferings will diminish Mudita: altruistic joy in the accomplishments of a person, oneself or other Upekkha/Upeksha: equanimity, or learning to accept both loss and gain, praise and blame, success and failure with det ...

Including:

• Brahmavihara - The Brahma-viharas in Early Buddhism
• Brahmavihara - The Brahma-viharas in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra
• Brahmavihara - Literature

Read more here: » Brahmavihara: Encyclopedia - Brahmavihara

In the Indian religions Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism, nirvāna (from the Sanskrit निर्वाण, Pali: Nibbāna -- Chinese: 涅槃; Pinyin: niè pán), literally "extinction" and/or "extinguishing", is the culmination of the yogi's pursuit of liberation. Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, described the Dharma as "... a raft used to cross the river. Only a fool would carry the raft around after he had already reached the other shore of liberation." Hinduism and Jainism also use the word nirvana to describe the state of moksha, and it is spoken of in several Hin ...

Including:

• Nirvana - Nirvana in the Mahaparinirvana Sutra
• Nirvana - Quotations

Read more here: » Nirvana: Encyclopedia - Nirvana

Mahāyāna (literally "great vehicle"; from the Indian language of Sanskrit. Chinese: 大乘, Dàshèng; Japanese: 大乗, Daijō; Vietnamese: Đại Thừa; Korean:대승, Dae-seung) is one of the major branches of Buddhism. (See Yana for the classification of Buddhism into vehicles, and Schools of Buddhism for further information.) Mahayana originated in the Indian subcontinent, and some of the areas in which it is practiced today are India, China, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, and Taiwan. From Mahayana d ...

Including:

• Mahayana - Doctrine
• Mahayana - Universalism
• Mahayana - Enlightened wisdom
• Mahayana - Compassion
• Mahayana - Salvation
• Mahayana - Headline text
• Mahayana - Origins
• Mahayana - Epigraphical evidence
• Mahayana - Scriptures
• Mahayana - The 4th Buddhist Council
• Mahayana - Expansion 1st c.CE–10th c.CE
• Mahayana - Bibliography
• Mahayana - Older works

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The first lay precept in Buddhism is usually translated as "I undertake the precept to refrain from destroying living creatures." Many see this as implying that Buddhists should not eat the meat of animals. However, this is not necessarily the case. There is a divergence of views within Buddhism on the need for vegetarianism, with the majority of schools of Buddhism rejecting such a claimed need and with most Buddhists in fact eating meat. A minority of Mahayana Buddhists, howeve ...

Read more here: » Buddhist vegetarianism: Encyclopedia - Buddhist vegetarianism