Buddhism Basics

Loving-kindness, compassion, sympathetic joy and equanimity: four noble qualities of the heart that can grow without limit to embrace all beings.

Beyond avoiding wrongdoing, the Buddha taught ten wholesome actions to cultivate — through our deeds, our words, and even our thoughts.

The five precepts aren’t harsh prohibitions but five gifts to yourself and the world — the foundation of a peaceful mind and a trustworthy life.

Taking refuge in the Buddha, Dhamma and Saṅgha is not a plea for protection but choosing a trustworthy path and walking it yourself.

Impermanence, dukkha and non-self: the three universal marks of all existence, the seal of the true Dhamma, and how seeing them clearly leads to freedom.

The five aggregates—form, feeling, perception, formations, consciousness—reveal that no fixed self stands behind what we call a “person.”

“This is, because that is.” Dependent origination is the Buddha’s deepest insight into how things arise from conditions—and how suffering ends.

The Buddha’s fourth noble truth as a practical path: eight interwoven factors grouped into wisdom, virtue and concentration, and how to begin.

In Buddhism, letting go means releasing clinging, not responsibility: we still act, love and strive, but with an open hand instead of a clenched fist.

Theravāda and Mahāyāna share one root but grew in different directions; understanding how they differ helps us respect both without confusing them.