Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Saṃyutta Nikāya
• Nirvāṇa/nibbana, as with saṃsāra, is not a place. Instead it is a form
of existence which is free from the conditions of saṃsāra.
• Nirvāṇa is attained through seeing the world as it really is
(yathābhūtadarśana). One must have a complete understanding of
the nature of Dependent Origination, saṃsāra, and karma.
• Nirvāṇa is often described using negatives. This is to show that it is
not conditioned, there is no death, no rebirth, no karma.
• The Buddha had attained enlightenment during his lifetime, he did
not die nor did he vanish. Despite being enlightened he still had to
receive the results of previous karmic actions. It should be
remembered that one enlightened the Buddha was not producing
any karma.
• Upon death a person who has nirvāṇic existence is understood to
enter a state known as parinirvāṇa/ parinibbana.
• In the religious landscape that Buddhism arose in there was an
emphasis based on the importance of a lineage of teachers and
disciples. The Buddha had his own disciples who went on to teach
the Dharma (the teachings of the Buddha) to their pupils. This lead to
the creation of a monastic community which is known as the Saṅgha.
• The Buddha ordained monks (bhikkhus) and nuns (bhikkhunis)
during his lifetime and there were was the creation of the Vinaya, a
text outlining the rules of the monastic community.
• The Saṅgha appears to be a single entity until several years after the
Buddha’s death when there was a disagreement between Saṅgha
(the reason for this is still the subject of debate for scholars) and the
Saṅgha split into two. The two sects were known as the sthaviras/
theras (elders) and the mahāsāṃghikas (those of the great
community).
• The split in the Saṅgha saw the creation of different schools of
thought within Buddhism. After the initial spilt, more divisions in the
Saṅgha occurred.
• The different approaches towards the Buddha’s teaching can be split
into two different parties: Mainstream Buddhism and Mahāyāna
Buddhism.
• Mainstream Buddhist schools include: Sarvāstivāda, Sautrāntika,
Theravāda, Pudgalavāda, and Mahāsāṃghika.
• In modern Buddhism the only surviving mainstream school is
Theravāda Buddhism.
• Mahāyāna schools include: Zen/Chan, Pure Land, Shingon,
Tendai, Nichiren, and Tibetan Buddhism.