Q: What does the word Buddha mean? A: It means the Enlightened One.

Q: Has there been more than one Buddha? A: Yes

Q: When did the last Buddha live and where was he born? A: He lived about 25,500 years ago and was born in India, in Lumbini Garden in 623 B.C.

Q: What was his name? A: His name was Siddhartha Gautama.  His parents were King Sudhodana and Queen Maya.

Q: What happened when he was born? A: Wise foretold that he would become a great teacher or a great king.  A wise hermit Asita said, "Truly this child will become a Buddha and show to all men the path to salvation.

Q: Was his father, the King, glad to hear what the wise hermit said about Siddhartha. A: No, he did not want his son to become a teacher, he wanted him to become a King. His father, built beautiful palaces and gardens for him and tried to keep all knowledge of old age, sickness, and death from him.

Q: Did this plan of the King succeed? A: No, when Siddhartha passed along the streets of the city he met an old man, a sick man, and a funeral of a dead man.

Q: What did the prince think when he became aware of these things? A: "How can I save all men from suffering and sorrow."

Q: What did the prince decide to do? A: At the age of 29, he left his wife, little boy and his home to go out in search of the truth.

Q: What path did Siddhartha follow? A: He went to the forest to visit wise hermits and learn from them.  They taught that by torturing his body and going without food he would find the truth. For nearly six years he tortured his body and ate very little food, until he nearly died of weakness and pain.

Q: What did he decide to do then? A: He decided to eat enough to keep the strength in his body and to stop torturing himself and to look for the Truth in his own mind.

Q: Did he succeed this time? A: Yes, while sitting under the Bodhi Tree he suddenly saw the face of Truth and the reason for sorrow, birth and death and the way to a better life.  He became Enlightened.

Q: What do we mean when we say that the Prince became Enlightened? A: We mean that he became One with the Amitabha and saw Truth face to face.

Q: How can we express the Teaching of the Buddha in a few words? A: We can say, the Teaching of Buddha leads us from suffering, through love, to peace.

Q: Why do we mention love next? A: Because suffering is the fundamental fact in nature and life.

Q: Why do we bring love next? A: Because love shows us the way from suffering to peace.

Q: Why do we mention peace last? A: Because peace is our goal or last aim.

Q: What is suffering? A: Suffering is sorrow, pain or any form of ill-faring.

Q: What is meant by love and peace? A: Love in Buddhism means compassion for all forms of life. It means giving up all selfishness and having sympathy for others.  Peace mean inner happiness. (Harmony)

Q: What does Buddhism teach about life? A: Buddhism teaches that all life is one.

Q: What does this mean? A: It means that animal life, plant life, mineral life and human life are one in their essence.

Q: We said that Buddha saw truth face to face. What do we understand by this? A: This means he understood the Four Noble Truths.

Q: What are the Four Noble Truths? A: #1- That life, as we live it, is full of suffering and sorrow. Life is full of discord, jealousy and angry contention.  #2- That there is a cause of this suffering and sorrow. Ignorance, desire, thinking ourselves apart from other forms of life. #3- That this suffering and sorrow may be alleviated. #4- The Way by which this may be done and finally brought to an end. The Way that Buddha taught is the Eight Fold Noble path.

Q: What is the Eight Fold Noble path? A: It consists of eight rules. They are Right Understanding, Right Purpose, Right Speech, Right Conduct, Right Livelihood, Right Endeavor, Right Thought and Right Meditation.

Q: What is Karma? A: Karma means that we sow we shall reap. If we live in the way the Buddha shows us, we shall reap happiness.

Q: What are the three guides which a Buddhist should take refuge in? A: The Buddha, the Dharma (teaching), the Sangha (church). These "Three Treasures of the Truth" means that we regard the Buddha as our All-Wise Teacher, that we believe his Teaching contains principles of Truth and Justice, and the Bhikshus of His Church will tell us what these principles and teachings are.

Q: Does Buddhism teach Immortality? A: Yes, because Buddhism teaches rebirth. Rebirth means that the ever-changing, ever-evolving spirit within us is reborn in other lives until freedom from ignorance is attainted; then we are born in the Buddha country.

Q: Has Buddhism a Bible? A: yes, Buddhism has several books of sacred scriptures,  They are divided into three parts, and called the Tripitaka.  These parts are the Sutra Pitaka, the Vinaya Pitaka, and the Abhidharma Pitaka.

Q: What is the Teaching relating to Amida Buddha? A: The teaching of Amida Buddha means the divine character and continued power of the Buddha to lead all people, who follow the Teaching and repeat His Holy Name, to Nirvana.  Faith in Amida Buddha means to surrender the self and abandon the heart and mind to the guidance of Amida Buddha.

Q: Has Gautama the Buddha anything to do with Amida Buddha. A: Yes, Gautama who attained Buddhahood when he became one with Amida, gave us his teaching.

Q: If asked what Buddhism stands for, how can we express it briefly? A: By stating that Buddhism is a religion of Compassion and Gratitude which leads from suffering and sorrow through love to peace.

Q: What is Amida Buddha? A: Amida Buddha is the Buddha of Infinite Compassion and Infinite Wisdom. He is the savior of all mankind forever.

Q: How can we know Amida Buddha? A: If we really want to know about Amida, we will. Amida is always trying to reach us but our self-centered nature will not let us know.  Amida is with us at all times under all conditions, for the power of Love and Wisdom never dies.  That is the truth of all Buddhism.

Q: What does Shinshu teach us? A: Shinshu emphasizes the fact that most of us find it impossible to follow perfectly the strict moral and intellectual teachings of Buddhism. Therefore, we must rely completely upon a power outside of small selves for salvation. This reliance upon another power is called faith and it is essentially the same as the non-eqoity all Buddhists strive for.

Q: What is the Nembutsu? A: The Nembutsu is an expression of our gratitude to Amida Buddha and when we say Namu Amida Butsu we are saying: "Homage to the Buddha of Infinite Wisdom and Love."

Q: What is Eighteenth Vow of Amida Buddha? A: All who have faith in Amida Buddha will got to the Land of Purity. Since faith comes from Amida, there is nothing required of us for birth into the Land of Purity. This means that Amida will never withhold compassion and it proves his nature is pure love.

Q: What is the Land of Purity? A: It is the one name given to the goal of Buddhism, other names being Law Body (Dharmakaya) and Nirvana. Like anything else one must experience it before he or she can really know it.

Q: Who are the Seven Masters of Jodo Shinshu? A: Nagarjuna and Vasubandhu (Indians);Tan-luan, Tao-cho and Shan-tao (Chinese); Genshin and Honen (Japanese). It is interesting to know that our religion has such an international brotherhood. These seven great scholars have give us important explanations of Amida Buddha and the Land of Purity, which Shinran Shonin formed into the school we call Jodo Shinshu.

Q: What is the "Kyo-Gyo-Shin-Sho'? A: It means Teaching-Practice-Faith-Attainment, and it is the most important work by Shinran Shonin. This book summarizes and organizes the teachings of the Seven Masters...In the section on "Teaching," we find the "Greater Sutra on the Land of Infinite Bliss," mentioned as the true teaching of Amida Buddha. Also we read that Sakyamuni came into this world to teach the path of faith in Amida Buddha...The section on "Practice teaches that Namu Amida Butsu is the means by which Amida calls to us and we answer. Common mortals without the strength to attain enlightenment by themselves say Name Amide Bust and faith comes to them through the Other-Power...The "Faith" section shows how our gift of faith from Amide Buddha includes sincerity and the desire to be born in the Land of Purity.  Our Name Amide Butsu in gratitude to Amide should express our sincerity of desire to be reborn in the Land of Purity, and our faith also....The section on "Attainment" speaks about our attaining the Pure Land and then helping others to attain it.  This idea of helping others is basic to our won attainment since we are supposed to selfishly think only of ourselves.

Q: What can Buddhism offer to the World? A: to all people of the world Buddhism offers the highest ideals known to man, and it does not discriminate according to race or difference of any kind among people of the world. The following is a message of Buddhism:  Of whatever teachings, you can assure yourself that they conduce to dispassion and not to uncontrolled passions; to freedom and not to bondage; to humanistic and not materialistic values; to generousness and not to covet ness; to content and not to discontent; to energy and not to sluggishness; to delight in good and not to delight in evil; of such teachings you may with certainty affirm; this is the Middle Path. This is the Dharma. This is the Buddha's message.