Yesterday I discussed the history of the man known as Siddharth Gautauma who would later in life be known as the Buddha (see here)
Now the history of the Buddha of course stretches well past his awakening and it is a rich and interesting one and I would highly reccomend people read about it. But for purposes of space I'm going to largely ignore that part of the Buddha's life; not because it's not important but because his life as the Buddha can best be summerized by his teachings.
As a precursor to those fellow Buddhists and to those curious I'm will only discuss what I view are the essential, central teachings of Buddhism (which includes the fundmental defintion of how you define yourself as a Buddhist, the 4 noble truths, the eight fold path). This is another concession to space.
I realize there are other teachings, but as it is discussing every possible teaching of Buddhism with it's many variant sects would take several books and so I chose as best I could.
What is it that makes someone a Buddhist?
That is perhaps the most common question I am asked when I talk about being Buddhist.
Many religions have ceremonies, like Christianity and Baptism. And while it is true that some sects of Buddhism do have rituals including rituals of inclusion.
That said those rituals (with all due respect) are not what makes you a Buddhist. The Buddha defined it quite simply as a willingness to search for the truth and a willingness to break the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. I feel this is an important point that needs emphasis because there is some subtlty here. The Buddha did not mandate any of his teachings, in fact the Buddha repeatedly said things like 'believe nothing you hear not even if I have said it unless it agrees with your experiences'.
The Buddha was not a guru, he never wanted his teachings regaurded as some unassailable truth that would always work or always hold true. The Buddha simply taught his experiences and tried to show people the path he blazed.
The analogy I've used (and I claim no credit for it) is that life is like a forest and the goal is to get to the over side. Now you can follow the path all the way, some of the way or not at all.
But you can be a Buddhist even as you reject some or even all of Buddhist teachings; that said I've found (as have most Buddhists) that the Buddha was a really wise, enlightened person who did know what he was talking about and his teachings have great value.
Thus Buddhism is about searching for the truth and trying to break the cycle.
Now having defined what a Buddhist should be, I will turn to what I consider the essential teachings of the Buddha, the points that he felt really defined the essence of his experiences.
The first of these is known as the Four Noble Truths and is regaurded as the very first teachings the Buddha gave after his enlightenement.
The first noble truth is: Pain is inevitable, Suffering is not
In many ways this forms the core of the Buddha's message in that he taught that we will experience pain, emotional and physical and that such pain is envitable. But that we don't have to suffer rather we suffer because we cling to the impermanent and because we try to control the uncontrollable. And out of our unwise attempts to cling and to control we suffer because we envitably fail and thus life becomes unsatisfactory.
By accepting that we are born into a realm of constant change, by accepting that everything around us will gradually decay and not getting attached to sorrow, grief, lamentation, material objects we would no longer suffer.
The second noble truth is: Craving is the probelm, desires are natural but craving (which is painful) is the extreme end of desire
This truth then addresses why we suffer, we suffer because we desire to such an extreme that we can no longer see that it is hurting us.
And this craving can and does take many forms (some of them incredibly subtle) and some are easier to overcome then others. For example in the US right now, I would say that perhaps the most difficult craving for many to over come is the craving for more. More toys, more better toys, more bigger toys, more immediate satisifacation, more money and so on. And yet that craving is causing untold suffering both at large and on a very personal level. And so the question becomes what now? Now that we have identified that we don't have to suffer and why we suffer what shall we do?
The begining of the answer comes with the third noble truth: Freedom is possible in this lifetime
This is perhaps the simplest noble truth in that, all it means is we don't have to wait for the next life, or for the next five or even have to wait till we've reached something specific in this life.
It is possible to have freedom we just have to work for it and we all (I believe) have had flashes of this freedom, of being in the moment, not worrying about the future and not being effected by the past. Moments of absolute peace and clarity, freed from delusion, anger, greed, and hatred.
We must not only remember those experiences but we must build on them.
Thus we come to the final noble truth: The path to freedom is though the eight fold path
Now finally the path to freedom is reveiled.
What is the Eight Fold Path?
It is simply:
Right Understanding
Right Intention
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Livelihood
Right Effort
Right Mindfulness
Right Concentration
But what do they really mean?
Well let's tackle them in order:
Right Understanding is knowing the truth of the way we create suffering for ourselves due to our craving for pleasure and our constant even vain attempts to escape from pain.
It is important to point out that karma is essential here. If we cling, we suffer, if we act selfishly or even violently we cause others to suffer as well as ourselves.
Thus karma is simply that positive actions have postive outcomes and negative actions have negative outcomes.
What are negative actions? Negative actions include (but are not limited to) intentionally killing any living being, stealing, partcipating in sexual misconduct, lying, praticing envy, gossiping, ill will, using abusive language.
Right Intention is simply the goals or aims of our actions.
Many times right intention is the difference between positive and negative karma because karma (and right understanding) is dependent on our intentions.
It is not enought to simply act in the right way we must believe it and have the intention to act right.
There are two levels of intention, the first is having the correct intention; it is training the mind in thoughts that are free from craving and ill will. It means thinking about the welfare of all beings including ourselves.
This level of intention can be as simple as paying attention to our motives and abstaining from actions motived by hate, greed or delusion. For example, if someone cuts me off in traffic even if it was rude I should not then try to do something to get back at that person. I am letting my anger poison my intention.
The second level of intention is much more difficult and goes from merely being reactive and practicing damage control to being proactive. We must train ourselves to think positively and cultivate, loving kindness, compassion and forgiveness.
This level of intention is much deeper but also much harder. To contain the above example, not only should I not act out of anger but I should forgive the person and have compassion for them; maybe they just weren't paying attention and didn't know I was there.
Right Speech entails nonharmful use of communicating, as we establish the correct thoughts and intentions we must also establish correct speech. Basically this entails being truthful and being careful and wise about what we say.
As for what wrong speech is, the Buddha defined it as speech that is harsh, malicious, vain, untrue or gossipy. As no matter how truthful it may be calling someone stupid may not be always the best thing to say. That said this part of the path requires quite a bit of discretion and judgement. Not everyone will always agree that something was wise to say, the best we can do though is hold to right intention and to right understanding as a guide.
Right Action this to an extent is similair to right intent but it is not the same thing. It is about being mindful of our actions; it is being free from drugs that would alter are mind and mood and thus muddy the waters further as we try to free our mind. It is training the ourselves respond to anger with compassion, greed with humility and so forth.
Right Livlihood means choosing a profession that is not harmful to the world. As we spend so much time working it only makes sense that we should work in a way that postively effects the world. Our livlihood also effects our karma because all intentional actions create karma and we have to choose our work (even if it is a choose made partially ignorant of the repercusions).
This goes beyond the obvious though to include things like being in a position to sell drugs (including alchol) or selling sex. While sexuality is natural, it is not sexuality that is being sold but lust and attachment.
Right Effort is the application of what we have talked about. None of these things are easy, I have been a Buddhist for years and yet still allow my temper to color my intentions (and even sometimes to my complete shame) my actions. It will take work and energy to achieve our freedom; some of which comes from avoiding things that create suffering, replacing harmful thoughts and actions with thoughts and actions off peace.
It is important to point out that sometimes right effort is just holding your ground; you might not always block out the wrong thought completely but even containing it to thought is a step in the right direction.
Right Mindfulness is being here, in the present moment, not dwelling on the past or fearing the future. Mostly our attention is scattered and we're thinking about many things swinging from present to past to future to fantasy and so on.
This inevitably includes pain too, we must remember that pain is only temporary and that it is important to be in the present and accept it.
It also includes being mindful to the causes of our own suffering so that we can change those causes and no longer suffer.
Right Concentration is focused attention and entails mediation to sharpen our focus so that we can employ the right mindfulness, or right action or any other branch in the path to the fullest effect.
Right concentration also aids us in seeing our cravings and delusions for what they are
Well that's simple right? All you do is take this nice easy path and you're done right?
Not exactly, while we finally have a path to freedom that doesn't mean it will not take effort, time and constant pratice and watching of yourself.
In fact it should be noted, clearly and loudly that enlightenment isn't something you earn then can just relax. You for example might always have to watch your temper, or you might still have moments of insecurity. The important thing to examine them and deal with them.
I'd like to close with saying that while some of these descriptions are brief I tried to choose as best I could some of the path is relatively easy to explain and others (such as right mindfulness) could easy take up a book.
I hope you enjoyed this and of course tomorrow will be the final part of this series and it will be about me.