BASICS OF BUDDHISM
An Introduction
WHAT IS BUDDHISM?
BUDDHISM describes the teachings of the historical Buddha that have been handed down and transmitted throughout the Asian continent and around the world during these past 2,500 years.
Buddhism also means the path to becoming awakened. The source of our suffering and unhappiness in Buddhism is our ego self. We have no one to blame but ourselves whether we live in happiness or misery. Seeing and recognizing the ego self as the cause of our suffering is the beginning of the journey beyond the ego self, to the world of oneness and awakening.
WHAT MAKES YOU A BUDDHIST?
A BUDDHIST is a traveler on the path to "become" Buddha, an awakened person, and transcend samsara, our world of suffering and ignorance. Buddhism teaches us that until we become awakened, we are like a person lost in the forest, wandering about in delusion. When we pause to search for meaning in our life, or when we find that our life lacks direction, then we are beginning to see that we are lost in delusion.
Realizing that we are lost is the first step to finding real direction in our life.
THE CORE OF THE BUDDHA'S TEACHINGS
Resolving life's problems to live a truly happy life
Buddhism challenges us to reflect on our life and look at how we are pursue happiness, and how we deal with our problems in life. The Buddhist approach is not to run away or escape from our problems, but to embrace the totality of our life experiences.
By facing and accepting the challenges of life, we learn how to see life from beyond our self-centered perspective. This change in perspective frees us from many self-created problems, allowing us to live a truly happy and meaningful life.
THE THREE MARKS OF BUDDHISM
NON-SELF
When the Buddha awakened to enlightenment under the bodhi tree, he saw beyond his ego self, which melted in oneness with all of life, with all beings, with the entire world around him.
IMPERMANENCE
The Buddha taught that all things are constantly changing. This is a simple truth to understand intellectually, but much harder to understand emotionally or spiritually. Impermanence means that we have to let our children grow up and go off to college. Impermanence means we have to accept the loss of a loved one. Impermanence also means that our state of suffering won’t last forever. When we find ourselves in darkness, there are brighter days ahead.
NIRVANA
The Buddha’s awakening experience opened his heart and mind to a state of true peace and tranquility, referred to as nirvana. The Mahayana Buddhist tradition sees ultimate oneness between nirvana and this world of samsara. Samsara is nirvana and nirvana is samsara. Nirvana is not a geographic state somewhere “out there,” but is the world around us, if we have the awakened eyes to see it, or the heart and mind to sense it.
THE THREE TREASURES
Fundamental to all schools of Buddhism is to take refuge in the Three Treasures.
Buddha: our teacher
Dharma: the Buddha’s teachings
Sangha: the community of Buddhists
