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| meaning "to extinguish" or "to blow out," it refers to the extinction of suffering, impermanence, delusion and all that keeps the life cycle going. Nirvana is the goal for all Buddhists. |
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| The inspiration to become a monk for Siddhartha the Buddha, the four sights were an old crippled man (old age), a diseased man (illness), a decaying corpse (death), and finally an ascetic that Siddartha encountered on an unannounced journey outside of the palace. |
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| A person who renounces material comforts to live a self-disciplined life, especially in the area of religious devotion. |
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| The large, sacred fig tree at the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya where Siddhartha the Buddha arrived at enlightenment. |
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| The Buddhist teaching that liveration from samsura comes neither through severe ascetical practices nor through wild indulgences, but in the middle of the spectrum between those two opposites. |
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| At first just the Buddhist monastic community, later it came to describe the entire community of monks, nuns and lay persons. |
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| Items of religious devotion, especially a piece of the body or personal items of an important religious figure. |
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| From the Sanskrit, meaning "uphold," in Hinduism it is that which is in accordance with the laws of the cosmos and of nature such as righteous acts. In Buddhism it is the teachings of the Buddha. |
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| Literally the "Great Ox Cart." This branch differs from Theravada Buddhism because it accommodates a greater number of people from all walks of life. |
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| 240-550 CE, when the Gupta Empire ruled India with political peace and prosperity. |
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| The empire that controlled the Indian subcontinent from the eigth to twelfth centuries. The word pala means "protector." |
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| literally "Diamond Vehicle," it is the prominent branch of Buddhism in Tibet. |
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| A being that compassionately refrains from entering nirvana in order to save others and is worshipped as a deity in Mahayana Buddhism. |
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| In Tibetan Buddhism,teachers and often heads of monasteries. |
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| The head lama of Tibetan Buddhism who was the spiritual and political leader of Tibet until its takeover by Chinese communist leaders and a forced exile into India. |
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