Preparation for the Final Exam
A) TERMS:
Be prepared to identify the following terms and names:
Gautama, Siddhartha, buddha, Theravada, Mahayana, Hinayana,
esoteric, Nagarjuna, Vasubandhu, Madhyamika, Yogacara, sunya,
nirvana, dukkha, four noble truths, karma, transmigration, rupa,
skandha, buddha-nature, Zen, Pure Land, Dogen, Ganjokoan, shusho
ichinyo, Bodhidharma, Kamakura-poeriod, rinzai, Soto, zazen,
shikantaza, nembutsu, Shotoku, 5 skandhas, pratitya-samutpada,
storehouse consciousness, anataman, Lotus sutra, Tripitaka,
arhat, bodhisattva, avidya, samsara, vijnana, Heart Sutra, three
mysteries, mandala, mudra, mantra, trikaya, Amida, Hui-neng,
Shinran, twofold truth, cittamatra, upaya, dhyana, koan,
eternalism, annihilationism, middle path, Padma Sambhava, Tantra,
Lama, Stupa, sila, the triple vow, dharma, sangha, Shingon,
Kukai, mappo, T'ien T'ai/Tendai, Hua Yen/Kegon,
Mahavairochana/Dainichi Nyorai, Saicho, Avaloketisvara/Kanon,
p'an chiao, syncretism, jiriki/self-power, tariki/other-power,
buddha-nature, Shintoism, icchantika, Yhich, Nhat Hanh, engaged
Buddhism
B) QUESTIONS:
Be prepared to answer the following questions:
1. How does Thich Nhat Hanh apply meditation theory to political
action?
2. Explain the ten oxherding pictures.
3. What are the theoretical and practical implications of
Buddhist universalism?
4. Illustrate the concept of upaya and explain it and its
practical and ethical implications.
5. What are the basic differences between Pure Land and Zen?
6. What is the primary problem Buddhism attempts to solve?
7. Explain the four noble truths.
8. Explain the notion of sunyata. What are its
implications?
9. What is nirvana?
10. What problems does the notion of nirvana address?
11. What problems does the notion of nirvana engender?
12. How does Mahayana propose to address the problems created by
the notion of nirvana?
13. What is the notion of anatman?
14. What are its implications?
15. How does Buddhism account for the phenomenal self?
16. How does Buddhism explain reincarnation?
17. What are Nagasena's allegories for no-self, karma,
reincarnation, and nirvana?
18. What are the main differences between Mahayana and
Theraveda?
19. Why was Mahayana Buddhism accepted as the third religious
pillar of China?
20. What were the Chinese criticisms of Buddhism?
21. What happens during meditation?
22. What are the two basic forms of knowledge in Buddhism?
23. What is the practical dimension of the middle path?
24. What is the conceptual dimension of the middle path?
25. What are the four principles of Zen?
26. What happens in the process of meditation?