Outline of Buddhism


Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha, "the awakened one".
The following outline is provided as an overview of, and topical guide to, Buddhism.

The Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Branches of Buddhism

Schools of Buddhism

Schools of Buddhism

Theravāda

Theravada — literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", it is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India. It is relatively conservative, and generally closer to early Buddhism, and for many centuries has been the predominant religion of Sri Lanka and most of continental Southeast Asia.Bangladesh:

Mahāyāna

Mahayana — literally the "Great Vehicle", it is the largest school of Buddhism, and originated in India. The term is also used for classification of Buddhist philosophies and practice. According to the teachings of Mahāyāna traditions, "Mahāyāna" also refers to the path of seeking complete enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings, also called "Bodhisattvayāna", or the "Bodhisattva Vehicle."

Vajrayāna

Vajrayana

Early Buddhist schools

Early Buddhist schools

Buddhist modernism

Buddhist modernism

Buddhism worldwide

Buddhism by country

Buddhist scriptures and texts

Buddhist texts

Theravada texts

Pali literature

Mahayana texts

Vajrayana texts

History of Buddhism

History of Buddhism

Doctrines of Buddhism

Three Jewels (''Tiratana'' • ''Triratna'')

Three Jewels
  • Buddha — Gautama Buddha, the Blessed One, the Awakened One, the Teacher
  • * Accomplished
  • * Fully enlightened
  • * Perfect in true knowledge and conduct
  • * Sublime
  • * Knower of the worlds
  • * Incomparable leader of persons to be tamed
  • * Teacher of devas and humans
  • * The Enlightened One
  • * The Blessed One
  • Dhamma — the cosmic principle of truth, lawfulness, and virtue discovered, fathomed, and taught by the Buddha; the Buddha's teaching as an expression of that principle; the teaching that leads to enlightenment and liberation
  • * Well expounded by the Blessed One
  • * Directly visible
  • * Immediate
  • * Inviting one to come and see
  • * Worthy of application
  • * To be personally experienced by the wise
  • Saṅgha — the spiritual community, which is twofold the monastic Saṅgha, the order of monks and nuns; and the noble Saṅgha, the spiritual community of noble disciples who have reached the stages of world-transcending realization
  • * Practicing the good way
  • * Practicing the straight way
  • * Practicing the true way
  • * Practicing the proper way
  • * Worthy of gifts
  • * Worthy of hospitality
  • * Worthy of offerings
  • * Worthy of reverential salutation
  • * The unsurpassed field of merit for the world

Four Noble Truths (''Cattāri ariyasaccāni'' • ''Catvāri āryasatyāni'')

Four Noble Truths

1. The Noble Truth of Suffering (''Dukkha ariya sacca'')

2. The Noble Truth of the Origin of Suffering (''Dukkha samudaya ariya sacca'')

3. The Noble Truth of the Cessation of Suffering (''Dukkha nirodha ariya sacca'')

  • Nirvana — to be realized
  • * Nibbāna element with residue remaining
  • * Nibbāna element with no residue remaining — Parinirvana

4. The Noble Truth of the Path of Practice leading to the Cessation of Suffering (''Dukkha nirodha gāminī paṭipadā ariya sacca'')

Three Characteristics of Existence (''Tilakkhaṇa'' • ''Trilakṣaṇa'')

Three marks of existence

Five Aggregates (''Pañca khandha'' • ''Pañca-skandha'')

Skandha

Dependent Origination (''Paticcasamuppāda'' • ''Pratītyasamutpāda'')

This/that Conditionality (''Idappaccayatā'')

Describing the causal nature of everything in the universe, as expressed in the following formula:

Twelve Links (''Nidāna'')

Describes how suffering arises.

Transcendental Dependent Origination

Describes the path out of suffering.

Karma (Kamma)

Karma in Buddhism
  • Definition — volitional action, considered particularly as a moral force capable of producing, for the agent, results that correspond to the ethical quality of the action; thus good karma produces happiness, and bad karma produces suffering
  • Result of karma
  • Intention
  • * Wholesome intention
  • * Unwholesome intention
  • Three doors of action
  • * Body — Bodily acts
  • * Speech — Verbal acts
  • * Mind — Mental acts
  • Roots
  • * Unwholesome
  • ** Greed
  • ** Hatred
  • ** Delusion
  • * Wholesome
  • ** Nongreed — renunciation, detachment, generosity
  • ** Nonhatred — loving-kindness, sympathy, gentleness
  • ** Nondelusion — wisdom
  • Courses of action
  • * Unwholesome
  • ** Bodily
  • *** Destroying life
  • *** Taking what is not given
  • *** Wrong conduct in regard to sense pleasures
  • ** Verbal
  • *** False speech
  • *** Slanderous speech
  • *** Harsh speech
  • *** Idle chatter
  • ** Mental
  • *** Covetousness
  • *** Ill will
  • *** Wrong view
  • * Wholesome
  • ** Bodily
  • *** Abstaining from destroying life
  • *** Abstaining from taking what is not given
  • *** Abstaining from wrong conduct in regard to sense pleasures
  • ** Verbal
  • *** Abstaining from false speech
  • *** Abstaining from slanderous speech
  • *** Abstaining from harsh speech
  • *** Abstaining from idle chatter
  • ** Mental
  • *** Being free from covetousness
  • *** Being free from ill will
  • *** Holding right view
  • Function
  • * Reproductive kamma — that which produces mental aggregates and material aggregates at the moment of conception
  • * Supportive kamma — that which comes near the Reproductive Kamma and supports it
  • * Obstructive kamma — that which tends to weaken, interrupt and retard the fruition of the Reproductive Kamma
  • * Destructive kamma — that which not only obstructs but also destroys the whole force of the Reproductive Kamma
  • Order to take effect
  • * Weighty kamma — that which produces its results in this life or in the next for certain
  • ** Five heinous crimes, causing rebirth in hell immediately after death
  • *** Intentionally killing one's father
  • *** Intentionally killing one's mother
  • *** Intentionally killing an arahant
  • *** Maliciously causing blood to flow from the body of a Buddha
  • *** Creating a schism in the sangha
  • * Proximate kamma — that which one does or remembers immediately before the dying moment
  • * Habitual kamma — that which one habitually performs and recollects and for which one has a great liking
  • * Reserve kamma — refers to all actions that are done once and soon forgotten
  • Time of taking effect
  • * Immediately effective kamma
  • * Subsequently, effective kamma
  • * Indefinitely effective kamma
  • * Defunct kamma
  • Place of taking effect
  • * Immoral kamma pertaining to the sense-sphere
  • * Moral kamma pertaining to the sense-sphere
  • * Moral kamma pertaining to the form-sphere
  • * Moral kamma pertaining to the formless-sphere
  • Niyama Dhammas
  • * Utu Niyama — Physical Inorganic Order, the natural law pertaining to physical objects and changes in the natural environment, such as the weather; the way flowers bloom in the day and fold up at night; the way soil, water and nutrients help a tree to grow; and the way things disintegrate and decompose. This perspective emphasizes the changes brought about by heat or temperature
  • * Bīja Niyama — Physical Organic Order, the natural law pertaining to heredity, which is best described in the adage, "as the seed, so the fruit”
  • * Citta Niyama — Order of Mind and Psychic Law, the natural law pertaining to the workings of the mind, the process of cognition of sense objects and the mental reactions to them
  • * Kamma Niyama — Order of Acts and Results, the natural law pertaining to human behavior, the process of the generation of action and its results. In essence, this is summarized in the words, "good deeds bring good results, bad deeds bring bad results”
  • * Dhamma Niyama — Order of the Norm, the natural law governing the relationship and interdependence of all things: the way all things arise, exist and then cease. All conditions are subject to change, are in a state of affliction and are not self: this is the Norm

Rebirth (''Punabbhava'' • ''Punarbhava'')

  • Saṃsāra — Lit., the "wandering," the round of rebirths without discoverable beginning, sustained by ignorance and craving

Buddhist cosmology

Buddhist cosmology

Sense bases (''Āyatana'')

Ayatana

Six Great Elements (''Dhātu'')

Faculties (''Indriya'')

Indriya

Mental Factors (''Cetasika'' • ''Caitasika'' )

Theravāda abhidhamma

Mahayana abhidharma

  • Five universal mental factors common to all:
  1. Sparśa — contact, contacting awareness, sense impression, touch
  2. Vedanā — feeling, sensation
  3. Saṃjñā — perception
  4. Cetanā — volition
  5. Manasikara — attention
  • Five determining mental factors :
  1. Chanda — desire, intention, interest
  2. Adhimoksha — decision, interest, firm conviction
  3. Smṛti — mindfulness
  4. Prajñā — wisdom
  5. Samādhi — concentration
  • Eleven virtuous mental factors
  1. Sraddhā — faith
  2. Hrī — self-respect, conscientiousness, sense of shame
  3. Apatrāpya — decorum, regard for consequence
  4. Alobha — non-attachment
  5. Adveṣa — non-aggression, equanimity, lack of hatred
  6. Amoha — non-bewilderment
  7. Vīrya — diligence, effort
  8. Praśrabdhi — pliancy
  9. Apramāda — conscientiousness
  10. Upekṣa — equanimity
  11. Ahiṃsā — nonharmfulness
  • Six root mental defilements :
  1. Raga — attachment
  2. Pratigha — anger
  3. Avidya — ignorance
  4. Māna — pride, conceit
  5. Vicikitsa — doubt
  6. Dṛiṣṭi — wrong view
  • Twenty secondary defilement :
  1. Krodha — rage, fury
  2. Upanāha — resentment
  3. Mrakśa — concealment, slyness-concealment
  4. Pradāśa — spitefulness
  5. Irshya — envy, jealousy
  6. Mātsarya — stinginess, avarice, miserliness
  7. Māyā — pretense, deceit
  8. Śāṭhya — hypocrisy, dishonesty
  9. Mada — self-infatuation, mental inflation, self-satisfaction
  10. Vihiṃsā — malice, hostility, cruelty, intention to harm
  11. Āhrīkya — lack of shame, lack of conscious, shamelessness
  12. Anapatrāpya — lack of propriety, disregard, shamelessness
  13. Styāna — lethargy, gloominess
  14. Auddhatya — excitement, ebullience
  15. Āśraddhya — lack of faith, lack of trust
  16. Kausīdya — laziness, slothfulness
  17. Pramāda — heedlessness, carelessness, unconcern
  18. Muṣitasmṛtitā — forgetfulness
  19. Asaṃprajanya — non-alertness, inattentiveness
  20. Vikṣepa — distraction, desultoriness
  • Four changeable mental factors :
  1. Kaukṛitya — regret, worry,
  2. Middha — sleep, drowsiness
  3. Vitarka — conception, selectiveness, examination
  4. Vicāra — discernment, discursiveness, analysis

Mind and Consciousness

Citta — Mind, mindset, or state of mindCetasika — Mental factorsManas — Mind, general thinking faculty
  • Consciousness
  • Mindstream — the moment-to-moment continuity of consciousnessBhavanga — the most fundamental aspect of mind in Theravada
  • Luminous mind
  • Consciousness-only
  • Eight Consciousnesses
  • * Eye-consciousness – seeing apprehended by the visual sense organs
  • * Ear-consciousness – hearing apprehended by the auditory sense organs
  • * Nose-consciousness – smelling apprehended through the olfactory organs
  • * Tongue-consciousness – tasting perceived through the gustatory organs
  • * Ideation-consciousness – the aspect of mind known in Sanskrit as the "mind monkey"; the consciousness of ideation
  • * Body-consciousness – tactile feeling apprehended through skin contact, touch
  • * The manas consciousness – obscuration-consciousness – a consciousness which through apprehension, gathers the hindrances, the poisons, the karmic formations
  • * Store-house consciousness — the seed consciousness, the consciousness which is the basis of the other seven
  • Mental proliferation — the deluded conceptualization of the world through the use of ever-expanding language and concepts
  • Monkey mind — unsettled, restless mind

Obstacles to Enlightenment

Two Kinds of Happiness (''Sukha'')

  • Bodily pleasure
  • Mental happiness

Two Kinds of Bhava

Two Guardians of the World (''Sukka lokapala'')

Three Conceits

  • "I am better"
  • "I am equal"
  • "I am worse"

Three Standpoints

Three Primary Aims

  • Welfare and happiness directly visible in this present life, attained by fulfilling one's moral commitments and social responsibilities
  • Welfare and happiness pertaining to the next life, attained by engaging in meritorious deeds
  • The ultimate good or supreme goal, Nibbāna, final release from the cycle of rebirths, attained by developing the Noble Eightfold Path

Three Divisions of the Dharma

Four Kinds of Nutriment

Four Kinds of Acquisitions (''Upadhi'')

Eight Worldly Conditions

Truth (''Sacca'' • ''Satya'')

Higher Knowledge (''Abhiññā'' • ''Abhijñā'')

Abhijñā
  • Six types of higher knowledges
  • * Supernormal powers
  • ** Multiplying the body into many and into one again
  • ** Appearing and vanishing at will
  • ** Passing through solid objects as if space
  • ** Ability to rise and sink in the ground as if in water
  • ** Walking on water as if land
  • ** Flying through the skies
  • ** Touching anything at any distance
  • ** Traveling to other worlds with or without the body
  • * Divine ear, that is, clairaudience
  • * Mind-penetrating knowledge, that is, telepathy
  • * Remembering one's former abodes, that is, recalling one's own past lives
  • * Divine eye, that is, knowing others' karmic destinations
  • * Extinction of mental intoxicants, upon which arahantship follows
  • Three knowledges
  • * Remembering one's former abodes
  • * Divine eye
  • * Extinction of mental intoxicants

Great fruits of the contemplative life (''Maha-Phala'')

Phala

Concepts unique to Mahayana and Vajrayana

Other concepts

Buddhist practices

Buddhist devotion

Buddhist devotion

Moral discipline and precepts (''Sīla'' • ''Śīla'')

  • Five Precepts
  • * Abstaining from taking life
  • * Abstaining from taking what is not given
  • * Abstaining from sexual misconduct
  • * Abstaining from false speech
  • * Abstaining from drinks and drugs that cause heedlessness
  • Eight Precepts
  • * Abstaining from taking life
  • * Abstaining from taking what is not given
  • * Abstaining from all sexual activity
  • * Abstaining from telling lies
  • * Abstaining from using intoxicating drinks and drugs which lead to carelessness
  • * Abstaining from eating at the wrong time
  • * Abstaining from singing, dancing, playing music, attending entertainment performances, wearing perfume, and using cosmetics and garlands
  • * Abstaining from luxurious places for sitting or sleeping
  • Ten Precepts
  • * Abstaining from killing living things
  • * Abstaining from stealing
  • * Abstaining from un-chastity
  • * Abstaining from lying
  • * Abstaining from taking intoxicants
  • * Abstaining from taking food at inappropriate times
  • * Abstaining from singing, dancing, playing music or attending entertainment programs
  • * Abstaining from wearing perfume, cosmetics and garland
  • * Abstaining from sitting on high chairs and sleeping on luxurious, soft beds
  • * Abstaining from accepting money
  • Sixteen Precepts
  • * Three Treasures
  • ** Taking refuge in the Buddha
  • ** Taking refuge in the Dharma
  • ** Taking refuge in the Sangha
  • * Three Pure Precepts
  • ** Not Creating Evil
  • ** Practicing Good
  • ** Actualizing Good For Others
  • * Ten Grave Precepts
  • ** Affirm life; Do not kill
  • ** Be giving; Do not steal
  • ** Honor the body; Do not misuse sexuality
  • ** Manifest truth; Do not lie
  • ** Proceed clearly; Do not cloud the mind
  • ** See the perfection; Do not speak of others errors and faults
  • ** Realize self and other as one; Do not elevate the self and blame others
  • ** Give generously; Do not be withholding
  • ** Actualize harmony; Do not be angry
  • ** Experience the intimacy of things; Do not defile the Three Treasures
  • Vinaya
  • * Pātimokkha — the code of monastic rules binding on members of the Buddhist monastic order
  • ** Parajika — four rules entailing expulsion from the sangha for life
  • *** Sexual intercourse, that is, any voluntary sexual interaction between a bhikkhu and a living being, except for mouth-to-mouth intercourse which falls under the sanghadisesa
  • *** Stealing, that is, the robbery of anything worth more than 1/24 troy ounce of gold
  • *** Intentionally bringing about the death of a human being, even if it is still an embryo — whether by killing the person, arranging for an assassin to kill the person, inciting the person to die, or describing the advantages of death
  • *** Deliberately lying to another person that one has attained a superior human state, such as claiming to be an arahant when one knows one is not, or claiming to have attained one of the jhanas when one knows one hasn't
  • ** Sanghadisesa — thirteen rules requiring an initial and subsequent meeting of the sangha
  • ** Aniyata — two indefinite rules where a monk is accused of having committed an offence with a woman in a screened or private place by a lay person
  • ** Nissaggiya pacittiya — thirty rules entailing "confession with forfeiture"
  • ** Pacittiya — ninety-two rules entailing confession
  • ** Patidesaniya — four violations which must be verbally acknowledged
  • ** Sekhiyavatta — seventy-five rules of training, which are mainly about the deportment of a monk
  • *** Sāruppa — proper behavior
  • *** Bhojanapatisamyutta — food
  • *** Dhammadesanāpatisamyutta — teaching dhamma
  • *** Pakinnaka — miscellaneous
  • ** Adhikarana-samatha — seven rules for settlement of legal processes that concern monks only
  • Bodhisattva vows
  • Samaya — a set of vows or precepts given to initiates of an esoteric Vajrayana Buddhist order
  • Ascetic practices — a group of thirteen austerities, or ascetic practices, most commonly observed by Forest Monastics of the Theravada Tradition of Buddhism

Three Resolutions

  • To abstain from all evil
  • To cultivate the good
  • To purify one's mind

Three Pillars of Dharma

Threefold Training (''Sikkhā'')

Threefold Training
  • The training in the higher moral discipline — morality
  • The training in the higher mind — concentration
  • The training in the higher wisdom — wisdom

Five Qualities

Five Powers of a Trainee

Five Things that lead to Enlightenment

Five Subjects for Contemplation

Upajjhatthana Sutta
  • I am subject to ageing, I am not exempt from ageing
  • I am subject to illness, I am not exempt from illness
  • I am subject to death, I am not exempt from death
  • There will be change and separation from all that I hold dear and near to me
  • I am the owner of my actions, heir to my actions, I am born of my actions, I am related to my actions and I have my actions as refuge; whatever I do, good or evil, of that I will be the heir

Gradual training (''Anupubbikathā'')

Seven Good Qualities (''Satta saddhammā'')

Ten Meritorious Deeds (''Dasa Punnakiriya vatthu'')

Perfections (''Pāramī'' • ''Pāramitā'')

Ten Theravada Pāramīs (''Dasa pāramiyo'')

Six Mahayana Pāramitās

States Pertaining to Enlightenment (''Bodhipakkhiyādhammā'' • ''Bodhipakṣa dharma'')

Four Foundations of Mindfulness (''Cattāro satipaṭṭhānā'' • ''Smṛtyupasthāna'')

Satipatthana

Four Right Efforts (''Cattārimāni sammappadhānāni'' • ''Samyak-pradhāna'')

Four Right Exertions
  • The effort to prevent the arising of unarisen unwholesome mental states
  • The effort to abandon arisen unwholesome mental states
  • The effort to generate unarisen wholesome mental states
  • The effort to maintain and perfect arisen wholesome mental states

Four Roads to Mental Power (''Iddhipāda'' • ''Ṛddhipāda'')

Iddhipada

Five Spiritual Faculties (''Pañca indriya'')

Indriya

Five Powers (''Pañca bala'')

Five Strengths

Seven Factors of Enlightenment (''Satta sambojjhaṅgā'' • ''Sapta bodhyanga'')

Seven Factors of Enlightenment
Neutral

Noble Eightfold Path (''Ariya aṭṭhaṅgika magga'' • ''Ārya 'ṣṭāṅga mārgaḥ'')

Noble Eightfold Path
Wisdom (''Paññākkhandha'')

Buddhist meditation

Theravada meditation practices

Tranquillity/Serenity/Calm (''Samatha'' • ''Śamatha'')
Samatha

Zen meditation practices

  • Zazen
  • * Concentration
  • * Kōan — a story, dialogue, question, or statement in Zen, containing aspects that are inaccessible to rational understanding, yet may be accessible to intuition
  • * Shikantaza — just sitting

Vajrayana meditation practices

Other practices

Attainment of Enlightenment

Enlightenment in Buddhism

General

  • Nirvana — the final goal of the Buddha's teaching; the unconditioned state beyond the round of rebirths, to be attained by the destruction of the defilements; Full Enlightenment or Awakening, the cessation of suffering; saupādisesa-nibbāna-dhātu – Nibbāna with residue remaining
  • * Parinirvana — final passing away of an enlightened person, final Nibbāna, Nibbāna at death; anupādisesa-nibbāna-dhātu – Nibbāna without residue remaining
  • Bodhi — the awakening attained by the Buddha and his accomplished disciples, referring to insight into the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path
  • Types of Buddha
  • * Sammāsambuddha — one who, by his own efforts, attains Nirvana, having rediscovered the Noble Eightfold Path after it has been lost to humanity, and makes this Path known to others
  • * Paccekabuddha — "a lone Buddha", a self-awakened Buddha, but one who lacks the ability to spread the Dhamma to others
  • * Sāvakabuddha — enlightened 'disciple of a Buddha'. Usual being named Arhat

Theravada

  • Four stages of enlightenment
  • * Sotāpanna — Stream-enterer — one who has "opened the eye of the Dhamma", and is guaranteed enlightenment after no more than seven successive rebirths, having eradicated the first three fetters
  • ** The four factors leading to stream-entry
  • *** Association with superior persons
  • *** Hearing the true Dhamma
  • *** Careful attention
  • *** Practice in accordance with the Dhamma
  • ** The four factors of a stream-enterer
  • *** Possessing confirmed confidence in the Buddha
  • *** Possessing confirmed confidence in the Dhamma
  • *** Possessing confirmed confidence in the Sangha
  • *** Possessing moral virtues dear to the noble ones
  • * Sakadagami — Once-returner — will be reborn into the human world once more, before attaining enlightenment, having eradicated the first three fetters and attenuated greed, hatred, and delusion
  • * Anāgāmi — Non-returner — does not come back into human existence, or any lower world, after death, but is reborn in the "Pure Abodes", where he will attain Nirvāṇa, having eradicated the first five fetters
  • * Arahant — "Worthy One",, a fully enlightened human being who has abandoned all ten fetters, and who upon decease will not be reborn in any world, having wholly abandoned saṃsāra

Mahayana

Zen

  • Satori — a Japanese Buddhist term for "enlightenment", which translates as a flash of sudden awareness, or individual enlightenment
  • Kensho — "Seeing one's nature"

Buddhist monasticism and laity

Buddhist monasticism
  • Disciple 声闻弟子ShengWenDiZi
  • Male lay follower (忧婆塞 YouPoSai) and Female lay follower (忧婆夷 YouPoYi)
  • * Householder 在家弟子ZaiJiaDiZi
  • * Dhammacārī — lay devotees who have seriously committed themselves to Buddhist practice for several years
  • * Anāgārika — lay attendant of a monk
  • * 近侍Jisha, JinShi — personal attendant of a monastery's abbot or teacher in Chan/Zen Buddhism
  • * Ngagpa — non-monastic male practitioners of such disciplines as Vajrayana, shamanism, Tibetan medicine, Tantra and Dzogchen
  • * Thilashin — Burmese Buddhist female lay renunciant
  • * Mae ji — Buddhist laywomen in Thailand occupying a position somewhere between that of an ordinary lay follower and an ordained monk
  • Lower ordination
  • * Novice monk
  • * Novice nun
  • Higher ordination
  • * Monk
  • * Nun
  • Titles for Buddhist teachers
  • * General
  • ** Acariya — teacher
  • ** Upajjhaya — preceptor
  • ** Pandita — a learned master, scholar or professor in Buddhist philosophy
  • ** Bhante — Venerable Sir
  • * in Theravada
  • ** in Southeast Asia
  • *** Ayya — commonly used as a veneration in addressing or referring to an ordained Buddhist nun
  • ** in Thailand
  • *** Ajahn — Thai term which translates as teacher
  • *** Luang Por — means "venerable father" and is used as a title for respected senior Buddhist monastics
  • ** in Burma
  • *** Sayādaw — a Burmese senior monk of a monastery
  • ** in China
  • *** 和尚，Heshang — high-ranking or highly virtuous Buddhist monk; respectful designation for Buddhist monks in general
  • *** 僧侣，SengLv — Monk
  • *** 住持，ZhuChi — Abbot
  • *** 禅师，ChanShi — Chan/Zen Master
  • *** 法师，FaShi — Dharma Master
  • *** 律师，LvShi — Vinaya Master, teacher who focuses on the discipline and precepts
  • *** 开山祖师，KaiShanZuShi — founder of a school of Buddhism or the founding abbot of a Zen monastery
  • *** 比丘，BiQiu — transliteration of Bhikkhu
  • *** 比丘尼，BiQiuNi — transliteration of Bhikkhuni
  • *** 沙弥，ShaMi — transliteration of Samanera
  • *** 沙弥尼，ShaMiNi — transliteration of Samaneri
  • *** 尼姑，NiGu — Nun
  • *** 论师，LunShi — Abhidharma Master, one who is well versed in the psychology, thesis and higher teachings of Buddhism
  • *** 师兄，ShiXiong — dharma brothers, used by laity to address each other, note that all male or female lay disciples are called 'Dharma Brothers'
  • * in Japan
  • ** Ajari — a Japanese term that is used in various schools of Buddhism in Japan, specifically Tendai and Shingon, in reference to a "senior monk who teaches students
  • ** 和尚 Oshō — high-ranking or highly virtuous Buddhist monk; respectful designation for Buddhist monks in general
  • * in Zen
  • ** in Japan
  • *** 开山 Kaisan — founder of a school of Buddhism or the founding abbot of a Zen monastery
  • *** 老师 Roshi — a Japanese honorific title used in Zen Buddhism that literally means "old teacher" or "elder master" and usually denotes the person who gives spiritual guidance to a Zen sangha
  • *** 先生 Sensei — ordained teacher below the rank of roshi
  • *** Zen master — individual who teaches Zen Buddhism to others
  • ** in Korea
  • *** Sunim — Korean title for a Buddhist monk or Buddhist nun
  • * in Tibetan Buddhism
  • ** Geshe — Tibetan Buddhist academic degree for monks
  • ** Guru
  • ** Khenpo — academic degree similar to that of a doctorate or Geshe. Khenpos often are made abbots of centers and monasteries
  • ** Khenchen — academic degree similar in depth to post doctorate work. Senior most scholars often manage many Khenpos
  • ** Lama — Tibetan teacher of the Dharma
  • ** Rinpoche — an honorific which literally means "precious one"
  • ** Tulku — an enlightened Tibetan Buddhist lama who has, through phowa and siddhi, consciously determined to take birth, often many times, to continue his or her Bodhisattva vow

Major figures of Buddhism

List of Buddhists

Founder

Gautama Buddha — The Buddha, Siddhattha Gotama, Siddhārtha Gautama, Śākyamuni, The Awakened One, The Enlightened One, The Blessed One, ''Tathāgata''

Buddha's disciples and early Buddhists

Chief Disciples

  • Sāriputta — Chief disciple, "General of the Dhamma", foremost in wisdom
  • Mahamoggallāna — Second chief disciple, foremost in psychic powers

Great Disciples

Monks

Laymen

Laywomen

First five disciples of the Buddha

Two seven-year-old Arahants

Other disciples

Later Indian Buddhists (after Gotama Buddha)

Indo-Greek Buddhists

Chinese Buddhists

Tibetan Buddhists

Japanese Buddhists

Vietnamese Buddhists

Burmese Buddhists

Thai Buddhists

Sri Lankan Buddhists

American Buddhists

Brazilian Buddhists

British Buddhists

German Buddhists

Irish Buddhists

Buddhist philosophy

Buddhist philosophy

Buddhist culture

Buddhist pilgrimage

Buddhist pilgrimage

Comparative Buddhism

Other topics related to Buddhism

Lists