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Buddhism Basics
Buddhism is a major Asian religion that began in India in the 6th century C.E., spread to
China, and then to the rest of the world. It is centered around the teachings of a man
named Siddhartha Gautama who came to be known as "the Buddha" after he achieved
enlightenment into true reality when he was about 35 years old.
Siddhartha Gautama, or the historical Buddha, was born a Hindu and grew up in Hindu
culture. Therefore, Buddhist philosophy contains some basic Hindu ideas, much like
Christianity contains some Jewish ideas. Hinduism is its "parent religion."
Buddhism, like any other major world religion, contains different groups within it. The three
major groups are: Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.
Theravada means "doctrine of the elders" and is one of the earliest forms of Buddhist
religion. It is dominant in Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand and other parts of southeast Asia. It
focuses on the pursuit of nirvana, or extinguishing of unenlightened self and its desires.
Mahayana means "great vehicle" which is a term that arose, to an extent, in opposition to
Theravada. Mahayana refers to itself as the "great vehicle" and to Theravada as the "lesser"
or "smaller" vehicle, implying that it is a superior path in some respects. Mahayana allows
for more involvement of regular lay people in Buddhist practice than does Theravada (which
tends to focus on monks and nuns). It also prioritizes the role of the bodhisattva, a person
who achieves enlightenment and takes a vow to teach others until all are enlightened.
Vajrayana means "thunderbolt" or "diamond" vehicle and is a form of Buddhism prominent
in Tibet and in other areas which feature tantric and shamanistic practices. This form also
spread to Mongolia and India.
Other forms of the religion include Zen and Pure Land. Zen begins in China and spreads to
Japan and elsewhere. It focuses on specific meditative approaches to the path of
enlightenment. Pure Land is prominent in Japan and focuses on the reverence of Buddha
Amida, or the Buddha of "boundless light." Pure Land adherents envision being reborn into
the "pure land" of this Buddha, which is loosely similar to Christian notions of heaven.
Buddhist philosophy revolves around the central teaching of the Buddha, which is found in
the Four Noble Truths. These truths contain basic ideas about the nature of life and our
experience as human beings within it. Specifically, the Four Noble Truths offer an
explanation for the suffering people experience in life and how to minimize it.
Buddhism is a philosophy as much as it is a religion. Like most religions, it is a set of beliefs
about reality, and an approach to daily life rooted in those beliefs. However, it does not
involve the worship of a deity or even of the Buddha himself. In its core, it is an "a-theistic"
philosophy - meaning "no god."
The central practice of Buddhism, aside from the general ethical prescriptions, is meditation.
It is a religion of the mind and, as such, its focus is on enlightening the mind through a
range of practices including study and meditation. Ultimately, suffering in life can be
minimized or eliminated altogether by strengthening and enlightening the mind.
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How Siddhartha Gautama Became the
"Buddha"
Siddhartha Gautama lived in northern India in the 6th century C.E. He was born into a
Hindu family of the ruling caste. Ancient Buddhist texts record slightly different stories
about his life and how he became a "Buddha" or "enlightened one." Here is the most
common version.
Siddhartha was about 5 days old when his father called a group of priests together for a
feast. He asked them about the infant's future. They prophesied that the infant would either
become a great king or a great sage. The father preferred his son to become a great king,
so he structured his son's life such that he never had to face any of the hardship or
struggles of life.
Why?
Because in the Hindu tradition of the time (which you can read about here), those who
became holy men or sages followed a path of renunciation. At a certain point in their lives,
they would renounce what was called "householder" life - a life of marriage, family, work,
etc. - and go live in the forest where they spent the rest of their lives in study, meditation
and other spiritual practices.
Siddhartha's father did not want his son to become one of these renouncers, so he made
sure his son's life was as perfect as possible, offering everything wonderful and nothing
negative or upsetting. The father made sure his son was shielded from anything that would
make him want to leave the kingdom.
One day, as Siddhartha was touring a park area of the kingdom, he saw four things that
changed his life. First, he saw a sick person. He had never seen a sick person before and
was shocked at the sight. Next, he saw an old person, someone stooped over and suffering
the effects of old age. Again, he was shocked for he'd never seen this suffering before.
Then, he saw a corpse! He'd certainly never seen a dead person before, nor did he even
really understand the reality of death. His father had kept him sheltered from all these
things, particularly death.
Finally, he saw a sage or holy man walking up the path. The sage passed by the sick
person, the old person and the corpse - and as he did so, his face and demeanor was filled
with compassion, peacefulness and joy.
Siddhartha at that moment recognized for the first time the profound suffering that even
the best of lives involves. He resolved to be like the sage, who in the midst of sickness, old
age and death could still live a life of compassion, peacefulness and joy.
So, he returned to the palace and made plans to renounce the kingdom and his life, and to
wander into the forest to seek enlightenment.
Once in the forest, Siddhartha Gautama undertook the strict ascetic practices of the Hindu
forest tradition, such as extreme fasting from food and water. At one point, the stories say,
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he ate only 1 grain of rice and 1 drop of water a day, and became so thin that he could
place his hand on his stomach and close his fingers around his backbone!
He became emaciated and weak, so much so that he couldn't meditate or do the other
spiritual practices of the tradition. So, he began eating again until he regained strength and
then embarked again upon the meditative path in order to achieve enlightenment.
After a great struggle within himself and the "demons" of ignorance, he finally broke
through the illusions of his own mind and experienced true Reality. He achieved
enlightenment and became a "buddha" - an enlightened one.
The Four Noble Truths & The Eightfold
Path
The heart of Buddhist teaching is found in the Four Noble Truths. These truths are what
Siddhartha Gautama became enlightened about when he became the "buddha" or
"enlightened one." These truths are shared by all the different groups, schools of thought
and divisions within Buddhism.
The Four Noble Truths are:
1. the truth of suffering - life involves suffering or dissatisfaction. Even the most
privileged lives involve suffering or dissatisfaction of some sort.
2. the truth of desire - suffering is caused by desire, specifically unenlightened desire
3. the truth of the cessation of desire - when unenlightened desire is ceased or
eliminated from life, suffering ceases as well
4. the truth of the 8-fold path - desire is enlightened through right speech, right action,
right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration, right understanding and
right resolve
The Four Noble Truths support the common characterization of the Buddha as a doctor or
healer. He assesses the life's condition, makes a diagnosis, and provides a prescription for
the cure. Life involves suffering, even for those who lead privileged lives. Bad things
happen, people get sick, loved ones die, things don't go as planned, and so on.
On closer inspection, the suffering we experience because of these things comes not so
much from the things themselves, but from how we think about them and how we "desire"
regarding them. Generally, we want them to be different from how they are, or to provide
something they cannot provide. We want people to live forever - they won't. We want
relationships to stay the same forever - they won't. We want our bodies to stay the way
they were when we were at our best - they won't. We want everyone and everything we
love to stay the same and live forever - they won't. Our ignorant, unenlightened desire
drags us into these false cravings that can never be satisfied, so we suffer.
The prescription, according to the Buddha, is to cease this ignorant craving - to enlighten
our desires. And the way to do this is to embark upon the eightfold path.
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The eightfold path comprises the essence of the Buddhist spiritual path. It includes proper
skills and behaviors, proper mental states and conditions, and proper aspirations and
intentions. In short, it is the complete ethical, meditative and spiritual life of Buddhism.
The fact that the Four Noble Truths do not involve worshipping a deity or even revering the
Buddha himself make them attractive to people from other religious traditions, as well as to
people who are more secular or philosophical in their outlook. These truths and practices
can be grafted onto those from other traditions fairly easily. Thus, we have people who call
themselves "Zen Christians" or "JewBoos" and who practice a blend of Buddhism with
Christianity or Judaism.
Impermanence, Interdependence &
Emptiness
The ideas of impermanence, interdependence and emptiness are central to Buddhist
teaching - and to the whole Buddhist worldview actually.
What these ideas boil down to really is that there is no permanent essence to anything. No
part of anything lasts forever or is eternal. Everything (and everyone) that exists does so
because of the interrelatedness of various parts - not because it has a permanent essence
or "soul" around which all the parts are organized.
This is jarring to some people, especially those who are attached to the idea of an immortal
soul, which is at the heart of Christianity, Islam and some other religions. Buddhism affirms
no such soul. It affirms exactly the opposite - that there is nothing permanent about us or
about anything else. Moreover, attachment to the idea of a permanent soul or essence to
anything is at the heart of the ignorant desire that causes so much suffering in our lives.
The famous chariot example illustrates these ideas. Buddha points to a chariot and asks
"where is the essence of the chariot?" Is it in the wheels? The seat? The axle? The cart? No
- none of these contain any "essence" of the chariot. And if each of these is broken down
into their smaller parts, there is no essence within them either. The chariot, as a whole, is
simply a particular arrangement of parts, each of which themselves are also a particular
arrangement of smaller parts. The chariot is a thing that exists interdependently.
This is true of all things and all people. All things exist interdependently - not as permanent
essences. Thus, all things are ultimately "empty" - which is the Buddhist teaching of
emptiness.
Because things are empty, they are impermanent. We forget this, says the Buddha, and act
as if things are permanent. We desire them to be permanent and when they turn out not to
be, we suffer. We suffer especially when we desire permanent happiness from impermanent
things or people. It is not possible for impermanent things or people to provide permanent
happiness because they themselves are not permanent.
So, much of the "right" mental states and meditative practices in Buddhism are designed to
help us get our minds around these notions of impermanence, emptiness and
interdependence. Only when we do that can we minimize or cease the suffering in life.
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