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Numbers have always played an important role in Buddhism. They help give structure to the teachings and practices of Buddhism.

3 Jewels of Refuge

  • Buddha

  • Dharma (the teachings)

  • Sangha (the Buddhist community)

3 higher trainings

  • Morality

  • Concentration

  • Wisdom

4 noble truths

  • Suffering

  • Cause of suffering

  • Cessation of suffering

  • Eight-fold path to the cessation of suffering

4 marks of Buddha's teachings

  • Compound phenomena are impermanent

  • Ordinary phenomena are unsatisfactory

  • All phenomena are insubstantial (selfless)

  • Nirvana is peace

5 aggregates (skandhas)

  • Form

  • Feeling

  • Recognition

  • (Mental) formations

  • Consciousness

6 Mahayana perfections

  • Generosity (giving)

  • Moral discipline (ethics)

  • Patience

  • Effort, energy

  • Meditative concentration

  • Wisdom

10 Theravada perfections

  • Generosity

  • Moral discipline

  • Patience

  • Effort

  • Meditative concentration

  • Wisdom

  • Renunciation

  • Truthfulness

  • Loving-kindness

  • Equanimity

8-fold path

  • Right view

  • Right intention

  • Right speech

  • Right action

  • Right livelihood

  • Right effort

  • Right mindfulness

  • Right concentration

10 non-virtuous actions

  • Body

    • Killing

    • Stealing

    • Sexual misconduct

  • Speech

    • Lying

    • Divisive speech

    • Harsh speech

    • Idle gossip

  • Mind

    • Craving

    • Aversion

    • Delusion

12 links of dependent arising

  • Ignorance

  • (Mental) formations

  • Consciousness

  • Name and form

  • Six Senses

  • Contact

  • Feeling

  • Craving

  • Grasping

  • Becoming

  • Birth

  • Aging and death

About This Article

This article is from the book: 

About the book author:

Jonathan Landaw is the former English Translation Editor, Translation Bureau of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

Stephan Bodian is an internationally known author, psychotherapist, and teacher. He leads regular intensives and retreats and offers spiritual counseling and mentoring to people throughout the world. His bestselling app Mindfulness Meditation (with Mental Workout) has been praised in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.

Gudrun Bühnemann is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she teaches the Sanskrit Language and its literature, along with courses on the religions of South Asia.