Buddhism is a 2,500 year old religion first taught by Shakyamuni Buddha (563-483 B.C.E.). Although there are many forms and traditions of Buddhism, ALL Buddhists rely on the Three Jewels: the Buddha, who was the teacher; the Dharma, his teachings; and the Sangha, or community of people who follow his teachings.
This introductory section will answer a few main questions about Buddhism:
- 1. Who Was the Buddha?
- 2. What Did the Buddha Teach?
- 3. What Are the Different Schools of Buddhism?
- 4. In a Nutshell: the Three Jewels.
"BUDDHA" is not a name, but a title, and it means "the Awakened One". The Buddha was not always a Buddha, but was once an ordinary human being like us. He was born as Siddhartha Gautama, prince of the Shakya clan of India about 2,500 years ago. King Shudhodhana, Siddhartha's father, raised his son in complete luxury and isolation from all the unpleasant facts of life. The young prince excelled in learning and athletics, married the beautiful princess Yashodhara, and had a son. Life was great.
But in spite of living in luxury and ease, Siddhartha was not completely satisfied. One day, on a journey outside the protected walls of the palace, he encountered for the first time an old person, a sick person, and a dead person. When Siddhartha found out that old age, sickness, and death happen to everyone, he vowed to devote himself to a life of meditation and to find a way to liberate everyone from these sufferings.
So he left the palace in secret, and he fasted and practiced meditation for 6 years. Eventually he realized that punishing the body was not the way to enlightenment, so he relaxed and sat comfortably under a tree and watched his mind. Through meditation, he understood the true nature of his mind, and he was able to eliminate all his self-centered negative emotions. He fully developed the positive potentials of his mind:
Achieving this state is known as Enlightenment. Somebody who is enlightened is called a Buddha ("Awakened One").
The Buddha is not a god, but an example of the potential that lies in each one of us. By practicing meditation and studying the Buddha's teachings, we can attain the same enlightenment he did and become Buddhas ourselves!
- Learn More: For an interesting life of the Buddha, see Sherab Chozin Kohn, The Awakened One: A Life of the Buddha. A more poetic version is Thich Nhat Hanh's wonderful book, Old Path, White Clouds.
After the Buddha attained enlightenment, he taught others for 45 years. The teachings of the Buddha are called the DHARMA. The whole purpose of the Dharma is to remove suffering and lead us to greater happiness.
The first teaching that the Buddha gave was on the FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS. The Buddha, who is sometimes called "The Supreme Physician", begins by diagnosing our suffering and its causes, and then offers us a cure. Whether we take the cure or not is up to us.
The Four Noble Truths are common to all schools of Buddhism. They are:
- 1. The Noble Truth of Suffering
- 2. The Noble Truth of the Cause of Suffering
- 3. The Noble Truth of the End of Suffering
- 4. The Noble Truth of the Path Leading to the End of Suffering
1. Suffering. The Buddha started with the common-sense observation that we don't always get what we want in life, and things that we don't want are always happening. Because of this, we are unhappy and we suffer.
2. The Cause. According to the Buddha, the suffering we experience is not random fate, and it is not a punishment by an angry deity. Instead, the cause of suffering is in ourselves. We suffer because we want things to be different than they are. Our self-centered desires cause us to become very attached to things we want, and to become angry when things don't go the way we wish. Based on attachment and anger, we behave in all kinds of ways that only make things worse for ourselves and others.
3. The End of Suffering. The good news is that there is a way out of suffering. Because our suffering comes from being too attached to our desires, if we can learn to relax our desires and loosen up, we suffer less. When we are free from self-centered desire, we experience a calm, awake state known as our BUDDHA NATURE.
4. The Path. The Buddha didn't just describe the goal -- he also gave us a path to get to it. That path is meditation. Through practicing the different forms of meditation, we can completely dissolve our self-centered negative emotions and experience the state of complete enlightenment. We can become Buddhas ourselves. Along the way to this goal, we become more and more relaxed, loving, compassionate, wise, and happy.
So Is Buddhism a Pessimistic Philosophy? All this talk about suffering makes some people think that Buddhism is pessimistic. If suffering was ALL that Buddhism talked about, they'd be right. But Buddhism really is about ENDING suffering, and so it is actually a very OPTIMISTIC path. Just like a good doctor, the Buddha gives us a diagnosis, suffering, but he also offers us hope of a cure, the end of suffering. You're free to get a second opinion, of course!
- Learn More: Sylvia Boorstein's book, It's Easier Than You Think is a good discussion of the Four Noble Truths and what they mean in daily life. Thich Nhat Hanh discusses the Four Noble Truths in The Heart of the Buddha's Teachings. See also Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, for a lively discussion of the Buddhist world view and spiritual path for Westerners. And Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche has a clear and readable presentation of the life of the Buddha and the Four Noble Truths in Dharma Paths.
What Are the Different Schools of Buddhism?
As the Buddha Dharma spread through different countries, it took on different forms and terminologies, adapting itself to the land and people. Different forms and traditions developed in order to meet the needs of different people. However, the essence of the Buddha's teachings remains the same, preserved by people who have practiced and realized the teachings through direct experience, and so are able to guide others to the same experience. The community of people who follow the Buddha's teachings is called the SANGHA.
All the different schools of Buddhism can be confusing, at first. There are four main traditions of Buddhism that are common in the West:
The terms they use might be different, but these schools are all rooted in the original teachings of the Buddha. They all emphasize study and practice of the Buddha's teachings in order to attain enlightenment. Which school you choose depends a lot on what really interests you and what is available in your area.
A. THERAVADA ("The Way of the Elders") is the school of Buddhism practiced in India and Southeast Asia. Theravada Buddhism emphasizes living a disciplined, ethical life, and the practice of vipassana, or insight meditation. In vipassana, the meditator cultivates mindfulness of all aspects of existence in order to overcome attachment through awareness and spiritual insight.
- Learn More: One good place to find out about Theravada Buddhism, teachers, and retreats is at the Insight Meditation Society. Joseph Goldstein, The Experience of Insight is a good book on Theravada meditation. Another is the teachings of Achaan Cha, A Still Forest Pool (edited by Jack Kornfield). For a discussion of Theravada teachings, see Walpola Rahula, What the Buddha Taught.
B. ZEN BUDDHISM. The word "zen" means "meditation" in Japanese. Although Japanese Zen is the most widely known in the United States, Chinese and Korean forms are also popular. All schools of Zen, as the name implies, emphasize sitting meditation (Jap. zazen) and bringing mindfulness into daily life. While some schools, such as Soto Zen, emphasize a gradual approach to enlightenment through quiet sitting, others, such as Rinzai and Korean Zen, use paradoxical sayings called koans (Jap.) to quickly awaken spiritual insight.
- Learn More: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki is an all-time classic on Zen meditation. It is required reading for any "serious" meditator. Thich Thien-An provides a good overview of Zen in Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice. For a great introduction to the paradoxical world of koan-style Zen practice, see the book by the Korean Zen Master Seung Sahn Sunim, Dropping Ashes on the Buddha. There is a Soto Zen group in Wichita called the Southwind Sangha, associated with the Atlanta Soto Zen Center. A good Korean Zen group in the Kansas area is The Kansas Zen Center, under the guidance of Zen Master Hae Kwang (Stanley Lombardo).
C. Pure Land is a devotional type of Buddhism prevalent in many Southeast Asian countries and ethnic temples in the West. Pure Land Buddhism emphasizes prayer and chanting the mantra of Amitabha, the Buddha of Boundless Light, in order to be reborn in his Pure Land (kind of a Buddhist heaven, where all the conditions are just right for spiritual growth) after death. This style of practice is not quite as common among Westerners, though it is widely practiced in Asian countries. Nichiren Buddhism is a particular type of Japanese Pure Land Buddhism.
Learn More: Thich Thien-An's book Zen Philosophy, Zen Practice has a discussion of Pure Land Buddhism in relation to Zen. Kalu Rinpoche discusses Pure Land in Tibetan Buddhism in The Foundations of Buddhist Practice. The Nichiren Pure Land approach is popularly introduced in The Buddha in Your Mirror by Woody Hochswender and in the writings of Daisaku Ikeda.
D. Tibetan Buddhism. Like other forms of Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism emphasizes attaining enlightenment through recognizing the fundamental nature of the mind and the world. In addition to basic sitting meditation, Tibetan Buddhism uses a wide variety of other methods to rapidly purify negativity, enhance positive qualities, and realize the enlightened nature of our minds. These practices gradually develop the qualities of peace, compassion, wisdom, and enlightenment.
Perhaps most distinctive in Tibetan Buddhism are the ritual practices (or sadhanas), which function like guided meditations. Tibetan Buddhist sadhanas use visualization, mantra and meditation to involve the body, speech, and mind in meditation. By visualizing yourself as a Buddha, you gradually transform your ordinary self-image into the mind of a fully enlightened Buddha. Because these practices are so powerful, they are somewhat restricted, and usually taught under the close guidance of a qualified teacher.
- Learn More: For more information about Tibetan Buddhism, just keep looking through our web page, or feel free to contact our center. There is also a lot of information on our main monastery's web page at www.kagyu.org. For books, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche is a very popular book on Tibetan Buddhism. Some earlier classics on Tibetan Buddhism for Westerners are Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism and The Myth of Freedom by Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and Gesture of Balance by Tarthang Tulku Rinpoche.
In a Nutshell: The Three Jewels
The Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha are called the Three Jewels, because they are precious to all Buddhists. All Buddhists look to the Buddha as the teacher or guide, the Dharma as the path, and the Sangha as the companions along the way. Another way of looking at the Three Jewels is to consider that we are like sick people -- sick with suffering and negative emotions. The Buddha is like the physician, the Dharma is like the medicine, and the Sangha is like the nurses that help us get better. Although right now we are followers of the Buddha's teachings, ultimately our goal is to become Buddhas ourselves, for the benefit of all beings.