The
Essence of Buddhism
David Tuffley
But
if you do not find an intelligent companion, a wise and well-behaved
person going the same way as yourself, then go on your way alone,
like a king abandoning a conquered kingdom, or like a great elephant
in the deep forest
– The Buddha.
2nd Edition
Published by David Tuffley at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 David Tuffley
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
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Introduction
This book describes the basic principles of Buddhism. Much has been written about Buddhism and how to practice it. Readers will have no difficulty finding hundreds of books on the topic. This book simply focuses on the essence of Buddhism, as expressed in the Four Noble Truths and the Eight-fold Path.
Buddhism is not a religion as such; it does not propose an external God. It does not seek to replace a person’s existing religious beliefs, only to supplement them. The Buddha, in all likelihood, would rather his followers describe themselves simply as Followers of The Way.
The essence of Buddhism
The great Saint-Philosopher Atisha di Pankara was Bengali scholar of noble birth who settled in Tibet in the 11th Century CE. Atisha reintroduced Buddhism to Tibet after it had gone into serious decline under King Langdharma. He is credited with establishing Tibet as a centre of profound Buddhist learning. The list below is the distillation of his great insight into the essence of Buddhism:
The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the worlds ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.
The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths are the essence of the Buddha’s teaching. They are believed to be the basis of the first sermon that he gave after becoming enlightened.
If you are alive, you will suffer
We humans are imperfect creatures, and the world in which we live is also imperfect. As we journey through life we are certain to suffer physical pain from illness and injury, and emotional pain from a host of psychological factors. But not all of our time is spent suffering. Sometimes we experience pleasure and enjoyment. A pleasure-seeking person heightens their suffering because there is an expectation that there should not be suffering in the first place. This expectation leads to self-pity; Its not fair! This shouldn’t be happening! Why me?! Poor me! The first noble truth therefore counsels people to regard suffering as unavoidable in the unenlightened state. When happiness comes along, enjoy it while it lasts because it will not be permanent. You should not hold onto it as if it were permanent.
The enlightened person fully accepts the reality and unavoidability of suffering so that when it occurs they do not increase the suffering through their resistance to it. Acceptance should not be interpreted as enjoyment in a masochistic sense. The enlightened person can take immediate action to end the suffering, but while it lasts, they simply allow it to be.
The cause of suffering is attachment
Being attached to any worldly thing always leads to suffering, since nothing in the world is permanent and any attachment to impermanence is certain to cause suffering. All worldly entities, like the egoic self, social structures, relationships, human lives and cultures are bound to pass away sooner or later. People in the unenlightened state naturally form attachments to these impermanent things, thus creating the foundation for suffering. The underlying cause of attachment is desire, which manifests in a multitude of ways; it can be desire for higher status, wealth, sexual gratification, popularity, food, comfort, more possessions of all kinds to name a few.
The enlightened person understands the mind’s tendency to form attachments to worldly things, including, and perhaps most importantly, the concept of egoic self. They work daily to reduce this attachment, and recognise that while the objects of our desires were once life affirming goals that increased our chances of survival in a savage world back in humanity’s evolutionary past, these days, in a civilised world of plenty these aspects of our more primitive self need to be eliminated if we are to progress.
You can end suffering
The third noble truth holds that you can end your suffering by eliminating desire for sensual gratification and breaking the attachments you have to the egoic self and any of the other conceptual structures that are the furniture of your life.
The enlightened person works towards the full extinction of all clinging and craving as a way of eventually achieving Nirvana (absence of desire, or the extinguishment of the fires of greed, hatred and delusion). They know that the price they pay for this blissful state is the extinction of the egoic self. With no ego left, there are no boundaries to the mind. The enlightened person experiencing Nirvana expands their awareness to embrace the entire world, their selflessness generating infinite compassion for all living creatures. Transcending the egoic self in this way is a prerequisite for escaping the cycle of re-birth.
End suffering by following the eight-fold path
The eight-fold path is how the Buddha recommends you go about ending your suffering. It is useful for anyone seeking to live a more moral life in this world of suffering. The eight aspects are interconnected so that they form an integrated whole. As such they do not need to be performed in any sequence.
The eight-fold path aims to improve your (a) Wisdom by practicing right view and intention, (b) Ethical conduct by practicing right speech, action and livelihood, and (c) Mental capabilities by practicing right effort, mindfulness and concentration
These are powerful agents of transformation in a person’s life if they are practiced diligently over time. The eight-fold path enables the seeker after Satori to cultivate the mind-set in which Satori can spontaneously occur.
Right View
The cultivation of Right View is about applying the four noble truths in your life, taking them from an abstract idea into a living reality. The enlightened person sees the truth of the world, recognising the flawed and temporary nature of objects and ideas. They see the cause and effect relationships that connect the events of the world (karma).
Because all ideas and concepts are ultimately impermanent, the enlightened person does not rely on ideologies and other external explanations of the world in order to practice Right View. Instead they cultivate their Intuition and use it to build a deeper, more complete understanding of the world beyond the level of appearances.
Right Intention
Humans are volitional creatures, able to exercise choice. Yet having the capability to make choices does not mean a person will exercise it. They might take the effortless route of allowing their base desires to guide their actions which requires little conscious thought. Right Intention is the commitment to become a more conscious person with a self-improvement mind-set. Upon this foundation of conscious self-improvement, the enlightened person creates an inner environment in which they consciously choose, moment-by-moment, the course of action that will help them become a better person.
The are three aspects to Right Intention; (a) renunciation where you resolve to resist the pull of various desires, (b) good will where you resolve to avoid indulging in anger, and (c) harmlessness where you resolve to do no harm and be compassionate.
Right Speech
Words can be powerful. Words can make or break a person’s life, start wars or bring peace. Words can indeed be mightier than the sword, as great orators have proven. Right speech (including written words) is therefore the principle of always expressing oneself in a way that enhances the quality of people’s lives, and does no harm. It means to refrain from (a) lies and deceit, (b) malicious language (including slander), (c) angry or offensive language, and (d) idle chit-chat (including gossip).
The enlightened person therefore tells the truth, speaks with warm gentleness when they do speak, and refrains from speaking when they have nothing important to say.
Right Action
Right action can be defined in open-ended terms as that which a person should not do. That potentially leaves all else open. In broad terms, right action means refraining from (a) harming any sentient creature, (b) stealing, and (c) sexual misconduct. Doing no harm to others covers a very broad range of behaviours. The worst a person can do is to take the life of sentient creatures, hence many Buddhists are vegetarians. Not stealing includes all forms of robbery, theft, deceit and fraud; essentially taking what you have not earned the right to have.
The enlightened person is therefore a kind, compassionate person in their dealings with the world. They respect other people’s property, and do not engage in sexual behaviour that harms others either at a physical or emotional level.
Right Livelihood
Right livelihood is about earning one’s living in ways that do no harm to others. Of all the possible ways a person might earn money, they should avoid those that exploit people’s weaknesses.
Right livelihood means one should refrain from any employment that is contrary to the principles of right action and right speech, including but not limited to (a) trading in weapons, (b) trading in living beings, including slavery, prostitution and raising animals for slaughter, (c) butchery and meat processing, and (d) trading in drugs and poisons, including alcohol and recreational drugs.
Right Effort
Right effort is being prepared to put in as much effort as is needed to live the noble truths and eight-fold path. Some people are inclined to ration how much effort they will exert, which effectively excludes them from many worthy endeavours that do not appear to have a big enough return on their effort. Right effort is an attitude of I don’t care how much effort it takes, I’m going to do it! As such it underpins Right Intention.
The mental energy that is consumed by right effort is directed into self-discipline, truthfulness and compassion. The same energy might otherwise be channelled through a person’s base nature to produce desire, aggression and violence. Right effort ensures that this mental energy is expressed in wholesome ways.
The enlightened person therefore practices right effort by (a) preventing unwholesome states of mind from arising in them, (b) releasing unwholesome states that have already arisen, (c) arousing wholesome states that have not already arisen, and (d) preserving wholesome states that have already arisen.
Right Mindfulness
Right mindfulness is a state of heightened consciousness in which a person has cultivated the mental ability to see the world around them clearly, without delusion. Seeing the world clearly requires a person to allow sense perceptions to be received but not be thought about too much. Many people take a sense perception and immediately begin conceptualising and categorising it until a conclusion is reached after complex processing that bears little resemblance to external reality, having been filtered through the person’s preconceived ideas. This process occurs more or less unconsciously in most people. Right mindfulness is therefore about becoming conscious of your mind’s tendency to interpret and distort meaning from our experience of the world and work to limit this tendency.
The enlightened person has learned to observe their mind and control how it goes. They have cultivated consciousness about consciousness. It is doubtful whether any other creature on the planet is capable of meta-awareness, since it appears to be a function of the recently evolved portions of the human brain that other animals do not have. Exercising these higher brain functions does not happen automatically in most people, it must be cultivated through right mindfulness.
The enlightened person therefore cultivates right mindfulness through contemplating the four foundations; (a) the body, (b) one’s feelings (repulsion, neutrality, attraction), (c) one’s state of mind, and (d) observed phenomena.
Right Concentration
Right concentration is about developing the capability to focus all of one’s attention on a single object and maintain that focus over an extended period. All of the aspects of the mind are unified and working towards this one activity. Conflicting and distracting mental processes have been eliminated or sublimated into the unified effort. The object of this concentration is on some aspect of the noble truths and eight-fold path. These are considered wholesome objects for right concentration.
The enlightened person cultivates right concentration through regular meditation practice.
Meditation Practice
This section is an introduction to meditation practice. An expanded version can be obtained at : http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/62790
Meditation at its simplest is heightened awareness without the mental chatter.
With our restless minds in control and demanding entertainment, it may seem that meditation is difficult. Plus there are so many approaches a person can take. It is good to know that there is a very simple and effective method that anyone can use. It is the essence of every method, and is so simple that it only takes a few minutes to learn (though perhaps a lot longer to master).
Begin by sitting comfortably and begin to breathe rhythmically. Sit with spine straight but in a way that will not induce sleep. Breathe deeply, from the diaphragm, in through your nose and out through your mouth. If you get horizontal, or too comfortable, sleep will not be far away. Sleep is definitely not meditation. Sleep is unconsciousness, absence of awareness.
Focus your conscious awareness on the place immediately behind the centre of your forehead, the so-called Third Eye, the place where your Highest Self lives. Imagine your attention is a focused beam of light that illuminates and energises your Highest Self in its home, the Third Eye. Generate a strong desire to bring the Highest Self into your everyday awareness. You know that this place is the centre of your inner universe, your most sacred place and the very heart of who you are. You know you have succeeded with this step when you have a strong feeling of being cantered.
While maintaining this feeling of centeredness, allow your attention to expand outwards in all directions. The focussed beam of light now becomes a beacon of light radiating out in all directions. Expanding your awareness outwards like this should give you a sense of spaciousness, ease and lightness. The centering and expansion can proceed almost simultaneously and should involve no further effort beyond the effort to focus and then radiate your attention in the way described. It is not something you should try to do, or force yourself to do. You allow it to happen. It is a natural state of awareness that existed in our distant ancestors before we developed egoic thinking as a way of strategising survival in the world. It is the state of mind that is described in the Christian Bible story of Adam and Eve before the knowledge of good and evil took hold. This spacious but centred awareness is a natural state of mind that you are allowing to become re-established in yourself, not something new that you have to work to establish.
After centering your awareness and then allowing it to expand outwards, continue to consciously breathe deeply and rhythmically. Concentrate your awareness on the in-breath without engaging in any mental commentary. Simply be aware of the breath as it comes in, and be likewise aware as it goes out, all the while remaining centred, aware and thoughtless. This is the essence of meditation.
You can count sub-vocally on the out-breath up to a certain number of breaths, (say 50). Or you can set a timer to remind you when ten minutes has passed. Ten minutes is a good duration to begin with. Do the ten minutes for two weeks or so until it becomes well-established, then gradually increase the duration up to 30 minutes over the weeks that follow.
Your goal should be to meditate in this way for up to 30 minutes, twice a day. It is good to begin your day with a meditation session. Likewise end the day with a session in the evening not long before bed-time.
Of course, as you get used to your meditation practice, and start to feel the benefits (stress reduction, more even-tempered, expanded awareness, intuitive insights, increased creativity, improved relationships, enjoyment of life, to name a few) you may feel inclined to take some time during the day to meditate, say at lunch time. Just choose a safe place where you won’t be disturbed for half an hour, if that is possible. Even if it is not, you can snatch a few minutes here and there and still derive worthwhile benefit.
How do you know if you are doing it right? Remember, meditation is heightened awareness without the mental chatter. If you can get yourself into a state of heightened awareness and are able to quiet your mind of the chatter for a period of time, you are meditating. By doing this, you switch off the ego, activate the part of the brain where higher awareness is possible, and flush your body with plenty of oxygen. It is enough to make you feel relaxed with a deep sense of well-being.
Meditating for a short time is not difficult. Doing it for 15 or 20 minutes twice a day for the rest of your life will be more challenging. Resolve to meditate regularly for two weeks. Fourteen days, that is not too much to commit to. At the end of this time, you should be feeling the benefits for yourself at a deep level, and this might be enough to establish meditation as a permanent part of your life.
The End
About the Author
David Tuffley PhD combines a career as a university lecturer and researcher with his very personal search for spiritual enlightenment over the past 40 years. This work is the fruit of that journey.
David's academic interests range across Comparative Religion, Philosophy, Psychology, Anthropology, Literature, History, Software Engineering and Architecture. He blends his broad academic knowledge with the ancient practice of Buddhism and Taoism to create a truly unique work of timeless value.
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See these other titles by the same author:
The Bodhicaryavatara: A Guide to the Bodhisattva Way of Life: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/45368
The 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/49330
Communing with Nature: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26225
The Tao Te Ching: Lao Tzu’s Timeless Classic for Today:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/25703
Zen Koans: Ancient Wisdom for Today:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/25961
Satori Now: Awakening your Highest Self: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/25629
Cultivating Intuition: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26230
Leadership & the Tao: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/28342
What happens when I die? https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26221
Email Etiquette: Guide to email in the Information Age: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/49923