buddhism: basic teachings and the difficulties of following them

So what is Buddhism? Religion-ish philosophy maybe?  First things first, Buddha is not a god. He was a prince, as the story goes, who (to make a long story short) went on to become enlightened (Buddha literally means "enlightened one").  Enlightened to what you ask?  The true nature of the cosmos, the world, the inter-relationship of all things. 

The Buddha taught the 4 noble truths.

1. Suffering is universal

2. Suffering has an origin

3.Suffering can cease

4.There is a path out of suffering

 

Pretty vague right?  Well it actually can get pretty complicated.  I'll try to give you my simplified take on it.  Suffering is universal, we can all relate to that.  Suffering in the Buddhist sense isn't just the obvious: fear, pain, disease, having to watch Dora the Explore with (or without I would imagine) your kids.  It also encompasses the desire for power and money, addictions, other mental and physical limitations we all have.  So we have all experienced some sort of suffering...in fact, it's a daily (moment to moment) occurrence.

 

The Buddha taught that all of our individual suffering has an origin.  He linked all of our suffering to attachment.  We as people are really good at trying to keep good things in and bad things out.  The result is attachment.  Attachment is everywhere in our lives.  We are attached to our ideals, our identities, our cultural norms, and we are always clinging to the things that bring us happiness and trying to fight/shut out everything else.

 

The good news: all this nonsense can be stopped, and the Buddha has the way out.  He lays it all out in the Eightfold Path. 

1.  Right understanding: seeing the true nature of things

2.  Right intent: acting from a place of love and compassion

3.  Right speech:  clear, truthful, uplifting and non-harmful communication

4.  Right action: the five precepts (refrain from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying, intoxication which leads to carelessness)

5.  Right livelihood:  ethical principle of non-exploitation

6.  Right effort:  consciously directing our efforts to good deeds for yourself and others

7.  Right mindfulness:  Developing awareness

8.  Right concentration:  sometimes thought of as meditation.  "Samadhi"

 

You can find a lot more information with a quick search of the topic, but for the purpose of a quick explanation, you can see its a moral standard of living that can lead to a happier life.  The results of practicing the eightfold path is enlightenment/nirvana.  Seems to have the same effect as the 10 commandments.  Live a moral/helpful life and you will find peace.

 

Seems simple enough, but I'm finding it very difficult.  The mind is an awesome and totally f''ed up thing (at least mine is).  Since starting meditation more seriously I can see some of my habits and how they contribute to a less happy me.  The really crazy part about my brain, now that I have more understanding of what things lead to happiness/suffering, is I can't always keep up the practice. (really I CAN, but my damn brain is persuasive and I CHOOSE not to)  I will make conscious decisions at lunch time about what place has the best fresh ingredients and how I'm going to avoid soda this time because that damned HFCS is going to kill  us all.  And truthfully, I have the best intentions, but then I completely lose my focus and the next thing I know I'm tasting the delicious dr. pepper in my mouth when I realize "you really should have gotten water".  I also know deep down that I should throw the soda out and get some water, but my brain has been trained to get what it wants for a long time.  It clings to the idea that I deserve the soda because it will go with the meal, it wants the instant gratification of the sugar rush and all the sweet memories attached to drinking soda, all the while trying to convince myself that this drink that I know is not benefitting my health, environment (insert any other reasons soda is bad) and yet I do it anyway.  Realize that all of this happens during 10 minutes of my lunch...its ridiculous how many times my ego/brain wins throughout a typical day.  Mindfulness is great, but a bitch to keep.

 

When you really think about what we do to ourselves and each other on a day to day basis, both physically and mentally, it's hard not to see the truth in the first noble truth.  The key is to do a little self investigating to find the roots or your problems.  Remember, bad things do not happen to us...things happen to us and we decide the rest.  If you are filled with fear, hatred, aggression, anxiety...the things that happen to you look awfully grim.  If you are filled with love, compassion, mindfulness of yourself and others, things look like life.  And fortunately for us, life can always be a wonderful teacher and a beautiful thing.

 

 This is just a quick overview of my take on Buddhism.  Just like Christianity and Islam, cultures have taken the basic truths and transformed the teachings styles to suit different times in history.  This leads to many different forms of Buddhism, with even more interpretations of what the Buddha actually meant.  I will try to do an overview of some traditional interpretations of Buddhism and to answer some common questions I have heard about Buddhism.

In the mean time, if you have any questions, let me know...I will try to answer them the best I can.

Namaste