No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions About Core Buddhist Teachings

by Noah Rasheta

Buddha is a word that means “awakened one” or “a person who is awake” in both Sanskrit and Pali. The idea of awakening and being awake runs throughout Buddhist philosophy. Buddhism teaches that there’s reality as it is, and then there’s reality as we humans perceive or understand it. Our perception of reality is influenced by how our minds are conditioned; in other words, our ideas, cultural beliefs, concepts, and opinions all directly affect how we see reality. A Buddha is someone who is completely liberated from the mistaken perceptions of reality to which we are all so susceptible, thus experiencing nirvana (a Sanskrit word meaning “blown out” or “extinguished”), which is the state of awakened understanding of existence that is the ultimate goal of Buddhist practice.