Anicca
All created, compounded and conditioned things are not permanent and are subject to change.

Anatta
There is no permanent soul, self, ego or Atman to be found that is unchanging or continues after death.

First Noble Truth: Dukkha - The nature of Suffering (see above)

The Fourth Noble Truth is the Truth of Magga - The way leading to the cessation of Dukkha;

1. Samma ditthi - Right Understanding or Views: knowledge of the Four Noble Truths; understanding the Dharma; seeing the real nature of the self.
2. Samma sankappa - Right Thoughts or Intentions: thoughts of renunciation - not chasing pleasures; kind thoughts - not bearing ill will; harmlessness - not wishing cruelty.
3. Samma vaca - Right Speech: refraining from lying, slandering, harsh words, angry outbursts and gossiping.
4. Samma kammanta - Right Action: refraining from killing, hurting others, theft, sexual misconduct, sensual misconduct and intoxicants
5. Samma ajiva - Right Livelihood: not making a living from a trade that causes harm, specifically -
trade in weapons
trade in animals for slaughter
trade in slaves
trade in intoxicants
trade in poisons
6. Samma vayama - Right Effort: endeavouring to -
discard past evil
prevent future evil
develop past good
promote future good.
7. Samma sati - Right Mindfulness or Awareness: awareness of the body, feelings, mind and thoughts.
8. Samma samadhi - Right Meditation or Concentration: the gradual process of training the mind to be calm and concentrated.

The 5/8/10 Theravada Precepts
"I promise to train myself in the rule to ....."
1. refrain from taking the life of a sentient being
2. not to take what is not given
3. not to indulge in sensual/sexual misconduct
4. not to tell what is not true
5. not to indulge in drinks and drugs
6. not to eat after midday
7. not to indulge in dancing, singing, playing music, watching shows
8. not to use perfumes or jewellery
(and for novice monks:)
9. not to carry gold or money
10. not to sleep on a high bed

The six responsibilities of a householder:
1. Take care of your family; respect parents and educate children.
2. Make a success of your marriage
3. Choose the right friends
4. Respect your teachers
5. Respect your employer and employees
6. Earn a living in a good (ethical) way

Six ways of wasting time and money:
1. Drinking alcohol
2. Roaming the streets at night
3. Going to fairs and festivals
4. Gambling
5. Mixing with a bad crowd
6. Being idle or lazy

The Three Pure Precepts:
Cease to do Evil, do only good, do good for others.

The Ten Great Precepts:
1. Do not kill
2. Do not steal
3. Do not covet / commit sexual misconduct
4. Do not lie
5. Do not use or sell intoxicants
6. Do not speak against others
7. Do not be proud of yourself or devalue others
8. Do not be mean in giving teachings or wealth
9. Do not be angry
10. Do not defame the Buddha, the Dharma or the Sangha.

There are also 49 lesser precepts and monastic rules of etiquette.

Karma is one of the five laws of the world, it concerns the moral order; the others are physical order, biological order, supermundane order and mental order. Karma means ‘action’. Actions produce results or ‘Vipaka’. Karma involves volition and produces conditioning or habits. Buddhists regard actions as being skilful or unskilful. Skilful actions do not harm others. Karma is not chance nor is it judgement by a god in heaven or a devil in hell.

Rebirth or re-becoming is NOT reincarnation, eternal life nor annihilation. Just as the physical elements of the body are recycled after death, the Karmic patterns are passed on to future lives.

The five aggregates or skandhas
Rupa - Body or Form
Vedanas - Feelings, physical or mental sensations
Sanna - Perception, recognising the sensations and identifying them.
Sankharas - impulses, volitional actions and thoughts that arise.
Vinnana - Consciousness, the whole thing is recorded in the memory and becomes part of our ‘self ’, creating a karmic tendency for the future.

The wheel of life is a Tibetan visual teaching aid portraying beliefs common to both the Hinayana and Mahayana schools.

hub: a pig, cock and snake, representing the three fires of ignorance, greed and hatred.

spokes: divide the six realms. In each realm there is a Buddha who can lead the way to Nirvana.
Heaven - the realm of the gods and devas - a pleasure realm
Demon Realm - home of the Asuras, or wrathful titans, who are always angry and warring.
Human Realm - where both pleasure and suffering are experienced, but where free will can be exercised.
Animal Realm - animal behaviour is instinctive
Hell Realms - Fire, freezing and all sorts of torture - a realm of suffering.
Realm of the Hungry Ghosts - who have large bellies and very small necks, their hunger can never be satisfied - a realm dominated by desires.

rim: pictures representing the twelve links of conditioned arising: Ignorance represented by a blind person, Impulses - a potter, consciousness a monkey in a tree, body - a boat and four passengers, the six senses (including the mind) - a house with six windows/doors, contact - a couple embracing, feelings - a man with an arrow in his eye, desire - a man taking a drink from a woman, grasping - a person picking fruit, becoming - a pregnant woman, birth - childbirth, old age an death - a corpse.

held by: Yama the Hindu God of Death and Guardian of Hell

The five fetters or hindrances: lustful desires; ill-will, hatred or anger; sloth and torpor; restlessness and worry; sceptical doubts about the Dharma.

The Dharma - The teachings of the historical Buddha, or of all Buddhas and teachers, or Buddhist Scriptures, or the ability of all things to teach and help us on the path to enlightenment.

The Sangha - The ordained community of monks, or all those who practice Buddhism in the past, present and future.

New ‘heavenly’ Buddhas and Bodhisattvas were added to Buddhist cosmology, able to help people on their way to Nirvana. Pure Land Buddhists believe that devotion do Amida Buddha will ensure rebirth in his western heaven, which is only one lifetime away from Nirvana. Some Buddhas and Bodhisattvas represent different aspects of ‘perfection’; Manjushri is the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. Compassion is represented by Avalokiteshvara, known as Chenresig in Tibetan, Kwan Yin in Chinese, Kannon or Kanzeon in Japanese.

Sunyata (or Emptiness or Void): The ideas of anatta and anicca are extended to all things - they are all empty of any permanent self-identity.

The Paramitas (or Perfections) (six or ten): Charity, morality, patience, vigour, meditation and wisdom.

-o0o-

‘The Buddha said:
" There is the deed but no doer, there is suffering but no sufferer, there is the Path but no-one to enter, there is Nirvana but no one to attain it." Suffering is not going to go away; the one who suffers is going to go away. If "I" want Nirvana, it is out of reach’, Ayya Keema in When the iron eagle flies.