Basic Buddhism without the BS. The 4 Noble Truths

Not that there’s really any BS I’ve yet to find in the Buddha’s own teachings, but you know how it is. Humans get ahold of a perfectly good religion for a couple thousand years and screw it up. On this blog you’ll also find links to other sites that will give you Buddhism in unfettered, clean and pure ways (or as much as is possible). So onward. Where does Buddhism start? Let’s skip the history lesson for now and get to the most basic and fundamental teachings of the Buddha. Then we’ll dive into where he came from and how he came to know all of this stuff.

The Four Noble Truths

1. Life is suffering. Suffering can also be translated as dissatisfaction . We’re not talking suffering as in people nailed to stakes set in the ground with fires burning at their feet. The Buddha wasn’t really as morose as all that. Though I guess many people would see being in that position as suffering.

2. Craving (or attachment to things, ideas, etc)
is the root of all suffering. Ever wanted something really bad and couldn’t have it, or couldn’t stand even a minute to wait to get it? Ever missed someone so bad it made you sick? Ever been attached to an aversion so much that you couldn’t stand to be in the presence of something or someone?

3. There is a way out of suffering. Enter the Buddha. Could be a cool movie, but I don’t think Bruce Lee would have been the best match to cast the leading role. Hope for all of existence.

4. The cessation of craving (or attachment to things, ideas, etc) is the path out of suffering. We’ll also get into the Noble Eightfold Path later which is a detailed system for developing the traits and attitudes necessary to forget about suffering, and much of existence as we know (or think we know) it.

That’s pretty much it. Does it make any sense yet? It sure does to me. I had this same idea a little while before I ever looked into Buddhism let alone became a practitioner/adherent. Basically we’re saying here; life sure can suck sometimes. Bt does it really? What sucks about it? I mean at the deepest levels of reality. What sucks? Is it life that sucks, or is it our perceptions of life or certain aspects of it? Is it that attachment to people, places, material things, emotions that sucks? Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

When we speak of attachment, what are we really saying? Attachment can be said to mean a deep, grasping sort of clinging to ideas, things, behaviors, notions, emotions, and on and on and on. When we’re so caught up and attached to an idea or other object, we can rarely see the truth of it or our own relationship to it. If we are brought up believing that Chocolate is great, then we go somewhere that chocolate is illegal, we may think that place sucks, is stupid, unworthy of our time and presence. We will hate being there, wasting our time. What’s wrong with these people that they think chocolate is stupid? Don’t they know better? If we were more flexible in our views and realized that our own likes and dislikes are merely opinions, then would we still ruin our own good time in the chocolate desolate place? Unlikely.

There is a way out of this mess of opinions and attachments, clinging and the resultant suffering. In Buddhism it is called the Noble Eightfold Path. The Buddha wasn’t superfluous with words. If he called it “Noble”, it was for good reason. The term “Noble” is used because the actions contained within are noble endeavors that lead to near-immediate and tangible benefits. Pursuit of this path is for everyone, not impossible or only for the chosen few, but available and accessible to all who are determined to follow them. One who does follow well will truly be of virtuous and noble behavior and countenance.  Basically it is a set of instructions on how to find truth, peace and happiness in the maddening world that we live in, no matter where you are or the circumstances that surround you. We’ll get into the actual Noble Eightfold Path elsewhere.

In Christianity, there are the Ten Commandments. Good stuff. Thou shalt not steal, covet thy neighbor’s wife, kill, etc. Awesome. I couldn’t agree more. But how? How do we accomplish these things. This is where the Middle Path gets right to the point and tells you there’s a way out of suffering and this is it. Do X, Y and Z and you’ll be happy, peaceful and maybe even become fully enlightened. Who knows? And it’s true and can be seen the first day one endeavors to undertake the experiment of practice.

In a nutshell; we’ve stated the problem with life, how it comes about, that it can be treated and eradicated, and the way to do so is……  Interested to learn more?

Stay tuned for more, as I like to call it, “Bare Knuckle Buddhism”.

More to come soon.

Updates have been slow in coming, but never fear; more is almost here! Is that good grammar? Hmm. Well just thought I’d let you all know that more is on the way. Today is November 5th in the western hemisphere.  Now you know it’s recent and all. ; ) Come on back and feel free to comment and what you’d like to see or with any questions.

May all beings be well and at ease.

Jerrod

Occupy Reality

I’m starting a new movement called Occupy Reality. It’s got a clear message. Be a decent person and begin whatever change you think needs to occur by looking at and changing yourself first. As for me, I gotta learn not to get angry about stuff. What about you?

We humans tend to like to pull others down and inflate our own egos. We don’t always put ourselves up, sometimes we tear ourselves down too. If you can be really honest with yourself why it is you like or don’t like something, it will be much easier than you may have imagined to begin to change yourself. And change is infectious, just like a smile or misery. Be the change you want to see in the world, because one person CAN change the world just by changing themselves.

Talk Your Way to Happiness

A video from the BSWA (Buddhist Society of Western Australia). Ajahn Brahmavamso, affectionately known as Ajahn Brahm, gives a talk in which he gives some attention to the Noble Eightfold Path. Ajahn Brahm in known the world over, is highly regarded as a preeminent teacher of Buddhism and is quite charismatic and fun to boot. Enjoy.

You can find a lot more of this excellent teacher’s talks at

http://www.dhammaloka.org

Hello world!

Hello, and welcome to samsara.

If you’ve ever had that itch in your head, that you just can’t get rid of; that basic unsatisfactoriness with life, but never knowing quite where it comes from; this is the place where we hope to find the answers to these things. In fact, the answers are already here for us. It just takes a matter of some undoing of all the brainwashing we’ve been through and replacing old, unskillful patterns of thought  and behavior with new, more productive ones.

In Buddhism, or the Middle Way as it is often called, this set of conditions, conditioning, ignorance and the consequent unsatisfactoriness and suffering that nearly everybody knows is called samsara. Samsara is often spoken about as if it were a place, i.e. the world we live in. Samsara is also defined as a state of existence outside of its opposite, nibbana or nirvana. In truth, neither samsara nor nibbana are places or states of being in reality. They are conceptual, existing only in the mind. You will notice many places in this writing that the word samsara is not capitalized as it not a proper noun because it does not exist. This can be so easy to realize and also so indescribably difficult to know.

It is the taking away of perceptions and conditioning that we deal with here. We will endeavor together to release the cycle of ignorance, a more appropriate definition of samsara, and dwell in the peace that is in all of us by finding real-world practical techniques and skills to bring it about.

“So if this does not exist, then what is all this pain, suffering and confusion in the world?”  We will find out together, bit by bit.

The Wheel of Samsara/Cycle of Aimless Wandering