Unlike other religions, all that is needed to become a Buddhist is to declare to yourself that you “take refuge” in the three gems of Buddhism: the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. In some cultures, there are ceremonies that make this declaration an event, but it is not necessary. Nevertheless, before you take on that commitment, you should probably learn what it means to be a Buddhist first.
WHAT IS BUDDHISM?
That question could fill pages and pages. To summarize: 2,500 years ago, the nobleman Siddhartha Gotoma gave up his riches and family to understand the world. He lived the opulent life of a prince and the austere life of an ascetic. Finally took his own inner journey and discovered his own enlightenment (or awakening).
He had learned how to see the world as it really is, how to recognize the conditioning that creates our unsatisfactory reaction to our understanding of reality, and how to free ourselves from that conditioning to be totally present in the moment and find true happiness.
In most translations this unsatisfactory nature is called “suffering” (or dukka), and this is what the Buddha (Siddhartha’s name after enlightenment) taught: the understanding of suffering and the cessation of suffering.
A lot of Buddhism gets lost in translation, which makes understanding Buddhism difficult for most people. If they do not understand what Buddhism means by suffering, they may believe that Buddhism is about pain and ending pain. However, as we see, that is not what the intent of the words mean at all.
In order for the people of India to understand the Buddha’s teachings (or Dharma), he had to present understanding of the world in a format that they would understand. Doctors in ancient India would present their findings to patients in a four-fold structure: disease, diagnosis, cure and treatment. The Buddha offered his dharma in the similar format, which Buddhists now understand as the Four Noble Truths.
- That all forms of being, human and otherwise, are afflicted with suffering. (the disease)
- That the cause of this suffering is craving and clinging (the diagnosis)
- The cure for suffering is to liberate yourself from craving and clinging (the cure)
- The Eight Fold Path is how to liberate from craving and clinging (the treatment)
To translate, our entire existence is conditioned to believe that happiness comes from doing things, and attaining objects, gaining experiences, avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. The Buddha realized that there is a difference between pleasure and happiness. He realized that there are certain fundamental truths that we avoid to make our lives seem more happy, but in the end don’t really make us happy. Only through understanding and acceptance of the true nature of things can a person find real happiness.
SO HOW DOES THIS CHANGE ANYTHING IN MY LIFE?
The first truth we avoid is that everything is impermanent. Everything that has come into existence will fade away. Everything that lives must die. While we may intellectually understand this, we act as if every moment will live forever. How many of us really accept that we are all going to get sick, get old, and die? Maybe someday, but not today, right??
This is an example of our avoidance of reality. We see ourselves as separate beings, and singular identities. We know that we need food to eat, water to drink, the sun to keep warm and air to breath. In our everyday lives, we consider these things resources: separate objects that we use to live.
The reality is that we consume these resources, and so we are part of their environment. Just as we consume, they consume from our bodies. We are just one giant organism interdependent on each other to survive. There really aren’t any individual beings because nothing can exist on its own.
We also think that our minds are separate, and that our identities are our own. But our thoughts are rationalizations of fantasy and craving. How many times have you believed something to be true and then found out you were wrong? How often have you wanted something or felt something only to have that feeling fade? Our identity as something solid and real is only a fabrication.
So what are we? What we can logically be sure of is that we are aware of our surroundings. Our awareness feels experiences with its senses (including our sense of thought). It is from this awareness and lack of understanding of what to do with these experiences that we create thoughts and rationalizations.
While that all seems very confusing to some, all that is important in everyday practice is that our lives are conditioned for us. We react to our own perceptions, our cultural perceptions, our family perceptions, our friends’ perceptions, our sensory perceptions. This conditioning is so powerful that we often react to the world and aren’t even aware of why or how we are effected by habit.
From every moment we fly off the handle when the car in front of us drives too slow, to our aching heart when we see the love of our life, we live within the boundaries of our habits. Every time you can’t explain an emotion, or a thought, we are reacting to classical Pavlovian training embedded deep in our psyche.
Now image if we could be aware of our conditioning? When we got angry we could immediately identify if this frustration was our intention or if we were clinging to some construct that we could discard and liberate from our life. Our trip home would be much more fruitful.
What if we could understand why we love or lust after someone of the opposite sex? How many bad relationships could we avoid if we were really awake to see why we do what we do?
Buddhism does have a lot of psychological therapy aspects to the practice. It does take an inner journey to understand ourselves.
SO WHAT IS THIS TAKING REFUGE?
In most Asian cultures, they do not have a historical word for religion. A religion has a doctrine system of beliefs. When Buddhists translate the pali word gacchami to mean “taking refuge” it is an inexact translation.
Buddhism isn’t an “-ism” at all. It does not have a set dogmatic doctrine. Instead it is a path to understanding. This is one reason we use words like “the Middle Path.” Buddhism is a practice of inner exploration and understanding. The word gacchami more accurately translates to “to go” or “to walk.” So when you take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha, you are actually saying that you wish to take a journey of discovering relying on the example of the Buddha, the guidance from the teachings of the Dharma and the support of the community (the Sangha).
SO WE AREN’T WORSHIPING THE BUDDHA?
In a short answer, “no.” The Buddha statues and icons are representative of the Buddha concept. Buddhists respect him as the one who truly understood and was truly enlightened. He showed the rest of us the way to an awakened state and how to be truly engaged with the world. In this sense, we revere the Buddha, but we do not worship him.
To that end, we focus our reverence and respect to his teachings and his Buddhahood by paying homage to his statues and images. We also pay respect to the Bhikku monks for their keeping of the dharma and their spiritual path.
SO WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH THE MONKS?
The monks have ordained to live a pious life, study and keep the teachings of Buddhism and work towards their spiritual enlightenment. They live by a lot of rules (or precepts): over 200 of them!
Some of these rules exist to help the monks focus their practice towards enlightenment. Many of the rules exist for a more practical reason. Living a monastic life involves a lot of trust by the community. The Buddhist monks must ensure that they live up to the community relationship they have established. If a monk were to even have the perception of lusting after a woman, asking for favorable treatment, or profiting by their position in the community, it could spell disaster for the entire monastic order.
To ensure that this trust is never broken, many rules have been created to ensure that a monk not only lives a life conducive to his Buddhist practice but maintains the community trust.
ARE THERE PRECEPTS FOR LAY PEOPLE?
There are two levels of precepts for non-monastics. Every Buddhist should adhere to at least the basic five precepts of Buddhism:
I will refrain from destroying living creatures (intentionally and there is some latitude for eating food to survive).
I will refrain from taking what is not given.
I will refrain from sexual misconduct
I will refrain from incorrect speech (this is lying and harmful words)
I will refrain from intoxicating drink or drugs leading to carelessness.
Some Buddhists adhere to eight precepts all the time or on certain days of the year.
I will refrain from eating after noon (this practice discourages eating for pleasure or boredom)
I will refrain from entertainments (entertainments avoid the meditative practice)
I will refrain from lying on high beds (this practice encourages not indulging in luxury and status)
Some of these precepts may seem a bit unimportant, but they are there to help keep a Buddhist focused on living an ethical life and focusing on the Buddhist practice of the Eight Fold Path.
YOU MENTION THE EIGHT FOLD PATH IN THE BEGINNING. WHAT IS THAT?
The Eight Fold Path is the meat and potatoes of Buddhist practice. It is broke into three segments: Wisdom, Ethical Conduct and Mental Development. It is a road map on how to live and practice Buddhism.
Again, there are translation issues that occasionally confuse or “turn off” non-Buddhists. For example, we use phrases like “right view” when the word “right” may also be translated as “appropriate” or “wise.” In any translation, the Eight Fold Path is a tool how to live a productive life.
The Eight Fold Path is
- Right View
- Right Intention
- Right Speech
- Right Action
- Right Livelihood
- Right Effort
- Right Mindfulness
- Right Concentration
I am sure that you want to know all about what each one of the eight paths mean, but it is a really long explanation. Luckily, if you are reading this, you probably have the Internet, so you can find that answer on a thousand other sites until I can give a good entry for it myself.
SO WHY LIVE THIS BUDDHIST LIFE?
Well beyond the psychological good of self introspection and understanding, it is a practice of ethical living. The advantage of ethical living is living a life without remorse or fear.
But more importantly, Buddhists develop what is called metta, or “loving kindness.” It is a feeling of wellness and good will towards everything. This good will permeates the actions of Buddhists and helps develop a more harmonious life for themselves and everyone around them.
So practicing Buddhists, have less stress, living more psychologically healthy lives, live more harmonious lives, live life to its fullest, and engage themselves fully with the world in a proactive way.
Even if a Buddhist never attains enlightenment like the Buddha, they can more fully enjoy the life they live.
