Supporting His Holiness, The 14th Dalai Lama, and The Government Of Tibet In Exile - This is A Portal To The Understanding Of Buddhism!
What The Buddha Taught!
Perhaps, before we move into the lessons that Buddha discovered and taught, it might be beneficial to understand what benefits or Goal, of the teachings were meant to provide, which are: Ending Anger.
Ending Despair.
Ending Suffering.
Ending Pain.
Bringing Peace Of Mind To The Practitioner.
Self-Realization of The Ultimate Truth.
The Buddha was a Bohdisattva, which is someone who goes through an extended study of understanding and practice in order to attain Nirvana, successful enlightenment and Buddhahood.
To achieve Enlightenment, in Buddhism the goal is to achieve Truth and understanding it.
Buddhism has nothing to do with Blind Faith. Instead Buddhism says, “Come and check out out our teachings”, rather than “Come and believe what we teach”.
As I discussed earlier, Buddha was not and should in no way be considered like the omnipotent "(all-powerful) GOD" in the Christian-Judeo-Islamic Organized Religions (the religions of Abraham).
Buddha was a man who taught that everything he had learned and practiced could be achieved by every sentient being (all living things that can feel joy and sadness, happiness and sorrow, healthiness and disease, pain and pleasure. Buddha was omniscient (all knowing), and after he achieved his enlightenment (Nirvana), at 35 years of age, he spent the next 45 years teaching and explaining what he had discovered to everyone who was interested in learning how to enhance their lives and practice compassion.
Buddhism is rational, some might say it is scientific, and requires personal effort in order to achieve Enlighenment.It is possible for everyone to come to that conclusion, if they become responsible for their own escape from anger, suffering, inward pain, and confusion.
Without personal responsibility and study, Truth and Inward Freedom cannot occur.
Blind Faith is replaced with individual understanding and responsibility.
Buddhism is not dogmatic and requires no creeds, no rites, no ceremonies, no sacrifices, no penances, all of which are normally related to organized religions who ask their followers to accept their precepts with Blind Faith.
It is not a system of Faith and worship, but instead it is a path that everyone can take to achieve enlightenment and to escape suffering and to find, as Joseph Campbell, continually wrote and lectured about, Bliss. As stated earlier, the goal of placing this website on the internet, is to simplify the subject of Buddhism, which means I am going to write in a simple layman’s terminology and remove the mysterious Sanscrit words that more advanced practitioners of Buddhism might use.Great words, but sometimes they add confusion to Buddhist study and are not necessary of those people beginning their study. As we begin, let’s look at what began Buddha’s quest, his observation of the reality of the “World Out There”, that as we look at our lives and live our lives, we will encounter frustration and suffering.We shall begin there.
The Three Marks of Existence These are the things that Prince Sidhartha noticed and questioned, “Is there a way to resolve these sorrows that everyone has during their lives?”Then he sought the aswer to his question. Each moment and day of our lives, we have to deal with:
Suffering (Dukkha) – Our physical and mental health is constantly challenged, unsuccessfully, to provide any of us permanent satisfaction.Eventually, our physical and mental health will fail.
Impermanence (Anitya) – Simplified, “Nothing lasts forever”, and that creates problems for us.Every thing and every relationship, for many reasons, eventually ceases to exist, and everything in life is subject to immediate change.For example, we have a loving relationship, but eventually that relationship ends when one of the two or more people involved in the relationship, die, move, loose interest in the other person, etc.But as we know, as the seasons change, a leaf falls to the ground in the fall, but is replaced by another leaf in the spring.
Egolessness (Anatman) - We all attempt to develop strong Egos, but as we pass through life, our Egos are challenged, for example, we loose our careers which we’ve meticulously tendered to perfection and all of a sudden, our careers are ended for whatever reason, or we discover our image of ourself is not shared by others, and we discover that their impression of us is correct, and we’ve lived in our own manufactured fantasy world, and realization leads us to question and doubt our self worth.The goal of course, is to not take ourselves so seriously and realize we are just simple people walking through this life, just like everyone else.
These three marks are often summized into the word Samsara (inward chaos and confusion), which is the opposite of Nirvana (inward peace). The Four Noble Truths When Prince Sidhartha went on his quest to find answers to the questions he sought that might be resolutions to The Three Marks of Existence, at the end of the quest, when he became enlightened, and became The Buddha, these are the foundation of what became his teachings for the next 45 years:
Life means suffering – inevitably, all living creatures are subjected to chaos in the form of illness, old age, loss of egos, loss of loved ones, and eventually death.
The origin of suffering is attachment – suffering occurs when we form attachments to possessions, wealth, friendships, loved ones, our own egos, and our good health, and for some reason or reasons, and perhaps even old age and eminent death, we suffer.
The cessation of suffering is attainable - suffering can be overcome and eliminated simply by removing the cause of suffering.If one can accomplish the elimination of suffering, then Nirvana can be achieved.At this point I will reference a quote from Buddha, “He who loves 50 people has 50 woes; he who loves no one has no woes.”Think on this insight for a moment.It is very significant and leave the practioner in charge of their destiny.Simplicity that gives each of us a choice.But few of us are willing to accept the insight, and therefore, suffering will remain with us and have to be contended with.
The path to the cessation of suffering.We have been presented a solution and cessation of suffering at this point.Now what will we personally decide to do?If we decide to proceed, The Buddha presents us a road map, entitled The Eightfold Path.It is the “Middle Way”, that place between the two extremes that we all continually live in, “Self-Indulgence” (hedonism), and excessive self-mortification (ascetism); and in time, it will lead us to the cycle of rebirth.The path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes.Yes, that does mean reincarnation.But if we achieve the middle way, then we will have achieved Nirana, the freedom from all worries and troubles and ideas.It is a special realization that cannot be attained by most of us.
It is, The Noble Eightfold Path.
The Noble Eightfold Path
The Buddha taught that in order to achieve liberation from the miseries of the world, which everyone can achieve, is the Noble Eightfold Path:
Right View – The first step in achieving liberation is the Right Way we should view the world, which occurs when we see things as they actually are, rather than how we wish they were.We abandon dependence on hope, eliminate fear from our lives, and take pleasure in a simple and forward looking approach to our lives.The opposite of Right View occurs when we selfishly force our expectations on how we hope things will be or afraid things might be, on others.
Right Intention – The second step in achieving liberation is Right Intention, which continues after the achievement of Right View because after we abandon our expectations of others and eliminate our hopes and fears, we no longer have to manipulate others.Our intentions become selfless and we begin to work with the reality of the situation, rather than our preconceived view of the situation.
Right Speech – The third step in achieving liberation is Right Speech, which occurs after we have achieved Right View and Right Intention, and because we no longer need to manipulate others, we can now simply express our thoughts in a genuine and non-manipulative way.
Right Discipline – The fourth step in achieving liberation is Right Discipline, which occurs when we are finally able to abandon our tendency to complicate issues, once caused by our judgment of others and situations, and begin finally to have simplistic and down-to-earth relations with others and our surroundings.
Right Livelihood – The fifth step in achieving liberation is Right Livelihood, which occurs when we make peace and form a simple relationship with our job or work, rather than wishing that had taken a different employment path when we were younger, or being envious of others who seem to be happier in the profession they chose than we are.We come to realize that if the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, it may simply be that the neighboring grass is simply getting better care.No matter how we presently earn our living, we should nurture it, make peace with it, and do the best we can when we are working.
Right Effort – The sixth step in achieving liberation is Right Effort, which occurs when we begin to understand the reality of the situation, and rather than struggle and concur what we may perceive as an obstacle in our way, we can now see things as they are and work with the reality of the situation, without involving aggression and struggle.
Right Mindfulness – The seventh step in achieving liberation is Right Mindfulness, which is being intimately and detailed mindful of the way we perform our jobs, and our attitudes toward our friendships, acquaintances, and families.
Right Concentration -The eighth and final step in achieving liberation is Right Concentration, which is taking the time to, and learning how to, practice meditation, allowing each person to daily allow their minds to escape briefly from the preoccupation we all have, with ourselves, our surroundings, our dreams, our work, and other things that confuse our lives, and provides us a brief ability to focus on the steps involved in the Noble Eightfold Path.