Buddhism is a complete system of spiritual practice, including contemplative, ethical, and philosophical elements. For many Buddhists around the world, it also includes ritual or ceremonial elements (though most of these are considered secondary to and supportive of the contemplative, ethical, and philosophical elements).
WHAT DO BUDDHISTS PRACTICE?
The pithiest distillation of the instructions of the Buddha can be expressed in these three lines:
Abandon harmful actions
Perfect the practice of virtue
Purify your perception and master your mind
From there, the world of Buddhism opens wide to incorporate a rich diversity of practices and teachings, providing opportunities for each of us to find the ones that best suit our own individual learning styles and personal proclivities.
All expressions of Buddhist practice have these elements in common:
- Meditation: regularly practicing one or more meditation techniques to help us calm the body, open the heart, and train the mind
- Mindful presence: taking meditation “beyond the cushion” into daily life, by cultivating the practice of paying conscious attention to the fullness of our own experience (including mental, emotional, and practical aspects) and that of others, and aspiring to host and observe all experience with more understanding and less judgment
- Compassionate engagement: relating to all beings with an empathetic attitude and doing what we can to help prevent and relieve suffering, spread joy, and increase wisdom and harmony in the world
- Ethical behavior: holding ourselves to certain ethical standards, and aspiring to practice virtue (e.g. loving-kindness, honesty and integrity, generosity, self-discipline, patience, etc.), ever more consistently as our wisdom and our capacity for skillful practice increase over time
- Inquiry and reflection: aspiring to open our eyes, to see reality (including ourselves, others, and the world) ever more clearly and with wonder and curiosity, which includes living the examined life, always seeking insight and opportunities for growth and transformation
WHAT DO BUDDHISTS BELIEVE?
The essence of the Buddhist tradition is more about what we do and how we perceive than what we believe. Buddhist tradition does not require practitioners to profess or subscribe to any particular belief, but rather asks us to stay open and attentive as we learn about the practices from qualified teachers and then experience the practices ourselves over time, and let our beliefs be formed (and re-formed) organically by reflection throughout this ongoing process.
“Just as a goldsmith assays gold by rubbing, burning, and cutting it before buying it, so too, you should examine my words before accepting them, and not just out of respect for me.”
— Buddha Shakyamuni as quoted in the Ghanavyuha Sutra (Sutra of Dense Array)
The kind of faith that the Buddhist tradition values most is the kind born of first-hand experience with properly informed practice. It has been noted by many that the principal contemplative practices of Buddhism (such as widely practiced forms of meditation) have been so successful in part because they are effective regardless of what the practitioners believe (or what they don’t believe, or what they aren’t sure whether they believe). The practices just work.
With that said, the Buddhist tradition certainly has its share of philosophical and conceptual explorations, ranging from reflections on the practices themselves to all the rest of life’s questions, including phenomenology, cosmology, psychology, epistemology, ethics, and vital topics such as medicine and holistic health, wise leadership, creativity, and more. All of this, collectively, is the Dharma, broadly speaking.
The essence of the worldview presented in the Buddha Dharma could be summarized in these five points:
- All phenomena are non-dual, dependent, and ever-changing, meaning there is no objectively existing “this” separate from “that” or “me” separate from “you.” Rather, all phenomena arise, transform, and pass, all in dependence on other phenomena, subject to constantly fluctuating causes and conditions. As it is said, all phenomena are empty of “thing-ness” yet full of possibility.
- All sentient beings, being of the same non-dual reality, have the same ultimate nature (“Buddha nature”), which cannot be represented accurately by any conceptual description but, for the purposes of providing a taste of it, it could be said that this ultimate nature has intrinsic qualities of boundless spaciousness, luminous awareness, non-conceptual wisdom, and undiscriminating compassion.
- This ultimate nature is timeless, changeless, and always present within all sentient beings and all of the natural world, so it isn’t something we need to acquire or build, nor is it something that can be lost or damaged; it’s simply the most fundamental aspect of our own nature, which we all have but don’t yet recognize, so we simply need to learn to recognize it.
- Practicing various contemplative methods and techniques correctly, as passed down with care through the lineages within the tradition, supported by a life of ethical and compassionate behavior, can help us recognize our true nature and, through habituating to that recognition, gradually realize and increasingly embody our full potential as awakened, wise, and skillful beings.
- Until we realize that fully awakened state, all sentient beings are in the same boat: we’re all the same in wanting happiness and wanting to avoid suffering but not understanding clearly how to achieve this for ourselves or support it in others, and we all suffer as a consequence of this and other shortfalls of understanding and wisdom. So, the more deeply we understand that we’re all in this together and the purpose in life is to help one another awaken fully, the more our views and actions naturally begin to express with wisdom, compassion, and skillful means, creating positive impacts in the world.
TRADITIONAL BUDDHIST TEACHINGS
There are said to be 84,000 canonical teachings of the Buddha (many of which have not yet been translated into English or other modern languages, though that work is underway). Here we summarize a few of the key teachings for the benefit of those seeking a quick overview of some of the fundamentals.
Four Noble Truths
The first teaching given by the Buddha addresses the suffering we experience in life and the path by which we can transform and gradually eliminate it.
These four truths can be summarized briefly as follows:
- The truth of the existence of suffering: In the mode of existence that all humans (and other sentient beings) are conditioned to experience, our experience is marked by varying degrees of suffering, ranging from the subtlest unsatisfactoriness or feeling not-quite-at-ease to the most extreme kinds of pain and anguish.
- The truth of the cause of suffering: This suffering is not intrinsic to life itself, but rather arises from certain causes and conditions — primarily the fact that we lack sufficient insight into the nature of reality, the nature of our own minds, and the wisest ways to navigate the world and our experience of it.
- The truth of the elimination of suffering: Because this suffering arises from specific causes that are not intrinsic and unchanging, but rather are knowable and changeable, it is possible to transform and ultimately eliminate suffering by addressing its causes. As the cause changes, the effect will change automatically. When the cause is gone, the effect will be gone automatically.
- The truth of the path to eliminate suffering: There are methods that one can rely upon to address the causes of suffering, thereby transforming and ultimately eliminating the suffering itself.
The Eightfold Path
The Buddha taught the Eightfold Path as a concise overview of the ways that the wisdom of the Dharma can be applied in different realms of life. These eight aspects of the path are presented here in three categories: those pertaining to insight, ethics, and mental discipline, respectively. (For a note on translation, see below.*)
Cultivation of insight
These two are the foundations of the Eightfold Path, so even though they are sometimes listed last among the eight (by virtue of being in some respects the most “profound” or “advanced” of the eight), traditionally they are often explained first (since everything that follows depends on them). As it is often pointed out, it’s helpful to think of the eight as more circular than linear: each supports the next, and the last takes us deeper into the first, and so on.
- Wise View: Ultimately, the wisest view is the perfect direct awareness of reality as it is, which dawns with enlightenment, and which is completely beyond words or concepts; but in the meantime, while we are still on the path, Wise View means being very open and curious in our observation of life, remembering what we’ve learned about the interconnected, mutually-dependent, ever-changing nature of reality, and holding all of our experience lightly and humbly, full of wonder, always seeking ever-deeper insight.
- Wise Intention: This refers to knowing the best direction in which to point ourselves in any given context, and is also translated as “thought,” “aspiration,” “motivation,” and “resolve.” To use a car metaphor, Wise Intention is both the steering wheel and the accelerator pedal: it’s setting a course (based on insight into a situation), and then putting our will and power behind that aspiration, or in modern terms, “leaning into it.”
Ethical practices
These three guide us to apply wisdom and compassion in daily life, thereby benefiting others while also supporting our own evolution. These relate also to the Five Mindfulness Trainings (or Five Precepts) of Buddhism (explored further below).
- Beneficial Speech: Using the power of speech in ways that are insightful, honest and helpful and promote joy and harmony, not deceptive or harmful or promoting conflict.
- Beneficial Action: Acting with mindfulness and care, and thus using the power of our actions to reduce suffering and increase joy, wisdom, and harmony.
- Beneficial Livelihood: Sustaining our own life and well-being, and that of others close to us, through means that support the world and all its living beings to flourish in harmony (or, at the very least, cause as little harm as possible). For example, as great Buddhist teachers such as H.H. the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh have pointed out, Beneficial Livelihood necessarily includes social and ecological responsibility.
Mental discipline
These three directly support our progress on the path, and enhance our experience and practice of all eight aspects.
- Steadfast Diligence: Also translated as “effort,” this refers to an unwavering joyful persistence in our inner and outer practice, bringing every experience of life to the path, with wisdom, mindfulness, love and compassion. Diligence based on insight also means we make wiser choices about where to focus our efforts, considering what works and where our limited time and energy can be invested most fruitfully. To be effective, this also means being vigilant to ensure we don’t waste our limited time, attention, and energy on things that distract us from our wiser aspirations or run counter to them.
- Steadfast Mindfulness: Broadly, this means always being aware, rather than distracted or absent-mindedly cruising on autopilot. We aspire to be unwaveringly mindful both of self (our own bodies, breath, thoughts, emotions, intentions, and actions) and of others, and specifically to be constantly mindful of the teachings and our practice, including all eight aspects of the Eightfold Path. Without mindfulness of all of this, we can scarcely progress on the path, so mindfulness is essential.
- Steadfast Abiding in Integrated Awareness: This refers to state of meditative awareness that arises with practice over time, which is both calmly settled and lucidly aware, and highly conducive to the fruits of meditative practice such as deeper listening and empathy, profound insight, and eventually non-dual perception. Along with “Wise View,” this is perhaps the most difficult of the eight points to understand well until one has some personal experience of it. It is a translation of the Sanskrit word “Samadhi,” which is commonly translated in this context simply as “concentration” (which can be a bit misleading for modern people), or slightly more helpfully as “meditative absorption.” But the basic idea here is dwelling in a state that is grounded and centered, balanced and equanimous yet alive and joyful, profoundly restful and easeful yet simultaneously acutely vigilant and sharply perceptive — a state which, as it deepens, results in the softening of the artificial distinctions of “this and that” and “me and you,” and so on, and thus leads us toward a clearer perception of non-dual reality. And naturally this practice enhances “Wise View” and all the other aspects of the Eightfold Path.
*Note on the translations used here: Beginning with the earliest translations of Buddhist texts into European languages, the names of these eight points are often translated into English with the word “right” preceding each of the eight points (e.g. “Right Speech”). This is a rather limited and potentially problematic translation of the Sanskrit word samyak. Whereas in modern English “right” conveys mostly a sense of correctness (which can be misconstrued as moralistic), the original “samyak” conveys a rich field of meaning that includes “true” — both in the sense of “correct” and “not false” (by virtue of being based on insight) and also in the sense that we use the word “true” in English to describe a wheel that is aligned so that it spins well, without wobbling, and thus “perfect,” and also “complete.” Because it is difficult to find a single English word that clearly conveys the fullness of meaning in all eight instances, we use three different translations: one that suits the context of the cultivation of insight (“wise”), another that suits the context of ethical practices (“beneficial”), and a third that suits the context of mental discipline (“steadfast”). In all three cases, bear in mind that the central meaning is not to suggest an absolute morality but rather to help us keep our wheels turning true, balanced, elegantly and in harmony.
The Nature of Phenomena and Our Perceptions of Them
Buddha taught a “middle-way” view of the reality of phenomena: that all phenomena do not exist in the ways that we ordinary beings perceive them, and yet neither do they completely lack any kind of existence or function whatsoever. More specifically, phenomena (including what we think of as ourselves) do not exist as separate individual entities, nor as permanent or unchanging things, but rather all phenomena arise, transform, and pass in dependence on other phenomena according to causes and conditions. (Thus, philosophically speaking, this is a “middle” way in the sense of being neither inclined toward the extreme of positive absolutes such as philosophical materialism nor inclined toward the opposite extreme of negative absolutes such as philosophical nihilism.)
Buddha also taught that human perceptions of phenomena are shaped by the causes and conditions at play in our own biology and conditioning, so to see reality clearly we must first free ourselves from the limitations of our conditioned perceptions. This can be accomplished by training the mind through meditation and other contemplative practices.
TAKING REFUGE (SEEKING WISDOM AND RELIABLE DIRECTION)
A Buddhist aspires to seek profound wisdom, trustworthy guidance, grounded inspiration, and reliable support from three sources, known in Sanskrit as the Triratna (triple gem): Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. These “three jewels” are sometimes translated as “the teacher, the teachings, and those who have been taught,” but the meanings of the Sanskrit terms are even richer and more profound than these simple words might suggest.
- Buddha refers to the historical Buddha Shakyamuni (a human who, through long practice, eventually attained profound insight, wisdom, and skill as a teacher); to any fully enlightened being; to the ideal of the perfectly enlightened teacher and the ideal of enlightenment itself; to the theoretical or actual embodiment of Dharma and Sangha (see below); and ultimately to the “Buddha nature” that is present within every sentient being as an intrinsic, unconditioned, fundamental aspect of awareness itself.
- Dharma refers to the teachings on the nature of reality, the nature of awareness, and the myriad practices by which one can attain the enlightened state; and, by extension, to the entire body of canonical texts, commentaries, oral traditions, and other teachings within the Buddhist tradition; and also to the instruction and guidance given by authentic, qualified teachers living today.
- Sangha refers broadly to the community of Buddhist practitioners; and sometimes more narrowly to those practitioners who have taken certain vows or ordinations (e.g. monastics or especially committed laypeople) or who have cultivated certain qualities or realizations (especially those whose experiential realization of Dharma has ripened well enough to enable them to transmit it to others without significant fault or error); and it can also refer to a wider community or to the entirety of sentient life.
The term “taking refuge” connotes the intention to “come in from the storm” of our conditioned experience of life, which has qualities of suffering or unsatisfactoriness (dukha) arising from not-knowing (avidya), by gradually turning one’s mind away from the mundane preoccupations of this conditioned existence and focusing one’s awareness more and more on learning and practicing the Dharma.
STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT
The teaching of the “Four Dharmas of Gampopa” provides a concise overview of the stages of development of the practitioner on the path:
The mind turns toward the Dharma
The Dharma becomes the Path
The Path dispels confusion
Confusion is seen through as primordial awareness
MODERN APPLICATIONS OF ANCIENT WISDOM
The Buddhist tradition has never been a static one; it observes the changes in the world and responds to help practitioners apply the timeless wisdom of the Dharma in ever-changing contexts.
In our time and place, we give special attention to applying the wisdom of the Dharma to questions such as these:
- How can the principles of ahimsa (non-harming) and mahakaruna (compassion for all without discrimination) be applied wisely and effectively in our times, and what might that look like with regard to specific issues of the present day?
- What is humanity’s place in nature? What does it mean to live in harmony with nature? What does the Dharma have to teach us about living sustainably in our times?
- How might concepts such as “Right Livelihood” and the “Five Precepts” be applied in our place and time?
- How might one pursue the path of the Bodhisattva (a practitioner deeply committed to relieving the suffering of others, and ultimately to fully awakening in order to be able to support others to awaken) in the particular circumstances of our times?
- How can the timeless wisdom of the Dharma be translated into what H.H. the Dalai Lama refers to as “secular ethics” for the purposes of carrying on a respectful conversion with our fellow humans beyond the Buddhist world, with a view to cultivating a more harmonious human society that values compassion, loving-kindness, wisdom, and “Universal Responsibility” (each person choosing to be responsible for the greater good and live our lives accordingly)?
What are the big questions on your mind and in your heart? We’re here to explore them with you through the lens of the Dharma in the real-world context of our lives.