Driving through Seoul traffic, I found myself reflecting on what it means to be a Buddhist. I have a problem identifying myself as a Buddhist for various reasons, which I won’t go into here, because I want to focus on some of the fruits gathered via reflection.
The word “Dharma” has various shades of meaning. The Truth and the Laware two shades of meaning. One may not be so much a Buddhist as a follower of the Dharma. If the Dharma is the Truth or the Law (of the way things are) then one does not really belong to a particular religion, in this case, Buddhism. One is simply a follower of the way things are. Of course, this begs the question of who determines the “way things are”.
This brings me to the second contemplation, and that is Buddha, for the most part, didn’t teach anything too controversial, at least not in my opinion. His conclusions square completely with science and the truths we’ve uncovered through the humanities (sociology, psychology, etc.). Many of us have discovered that all things are transient and always changing. We know that things aren’t really thingsat all but rather interdependent processes coming together and disintegrating according to various natural laws. And it doesn’t take a genius to realize that putting all your happiness-eggs into the basket of transient, disintegrating “things” will inevitably lead to suffering and unhappiness. Furthermore, psychologically it’s clear that the more we cling and desire, the less peace we have. You can investigate for yourself the next time a desire arises for anything. How does it feel to desire? What sensations appear? Desire is experienced as a proverbial thorn in the side. When you don’t want anything, you’re happy and at ease. This is fairly clear after spending some time observing the process of desire arising, desire being fulfilled, and the absence of desire at all.
The moral precepts, which are the foundation of the Buddha’s teaching, are hardly controversial, and as such, qualify as being the Law. According to the Law, when you break the precepts or law you suffer, and so it goes that breaking the five precepts almost always leads to suffering. On the flipside of things, cultivating the opposite of the precepts, namely: generosity, kind speech, preserving lives, ingesting healthy substances, and treating the sexual impulse with respect brings one a lot of happiness and peace.
Karma is one of the Buddha’s key teachings as well. Karma, from the perspective of this life, is blatantly obvious. It’s obvious that where you stand now is the direct result of all the choices you’ve made in your life. How you react to your current situation will determine your future status. This is karma. As far as past and future lives are concerned, this teaching is not obvious and one needs to use reasoning and faith to come to a conclusion about whether or not the Buddha was correct in his teaching about rebirth.
So, in wrapping up this essay, I feel that you don’t have to be religious to be a Buddhist. Even being a Buddhist is a statement fraught with assumptions: the assumption that Buddhism is best classified as a religion, the assumption that there is one, fairly static thing called “Buddhism”, etc. What if you conceive of being one who’s in accord with the way things are? How does it feel to try on that conception? I like it. The Buddha is like a scientist who discovered the way things work and how to navigate through the flow of life without being burned. He showed how to maximize true enjoyment (sukha) and the pitfalls of living an undisciplined and hedonistic lifestyle. On a higher level, he sublimely pointed out the way we create subtle suffering with our ignorance of the three marks of existence and the psychological discomfort of associating any phenomena as “me” or “mine”.
I am one who follows the dharma, the way things are — I like that. It rings more true with me than declaring myself a follower of one of the world’s major religions.
That makes a lot of sense.
So would you say that the Buddha awakened to realize the true nature of how things really are and then created a list of guidelines that suggest how one should live in the world. Life happens to flow pretty well when we align ourselves to these natural laws because that’s how things actually are in the Absolute.
So Buddhism could be considered more a suggestion on how to be in the world?
I haven’t studied the teachings much at all, but how much of Buddhism talks about the personal pathway to awakening itself?
Hi Ariel,
Thanks for all the great comments!
To answer your questions above, for the Buddha nibbana was the total extinquishing of all desire or craving. It meant not just insight, ala Byron Katie. I think Katie and the other nondual crowd would be considered “stream-enterers” in the Buddhist system. That is, they achieved the insight of no-self, but there’s still work to be done, namely, the undoing of more subtle forms of clinging.
Buddha taught a way to get out of samsara. He saw nothing worthwhile here. He referred to samsara as “this heap and mass of suffering.”
I should also note that I’m talking about the flavor of Buddhism known as Theravada. You’ll get a much different flavor in Zen or Tibetan styles of Buddhism.
Hi from Barcelona,
Nice and challenging views not on the essence on buddhism but on the function and inner structure of it..?
I’ll reflect about it and try to talk about it with some people.
I love your buddhist view of buddhism.
x.
I enjoyed your discussion. I’ve looked at a couple of your posts and the comments and this seems like a good crowd, so I think I’ll hang out here some and keep reading.
I particularly like your characterization of the Buddha as something of a scientist. I see him as someone who tried various approaches, found one that worked for him and then said, basically, “If you try this, too, it might work for you as well.” I think he was convinced his path would work for people, but he didn’t say, “Do it because I said so.” He said, “Try it and see.” I like that.
I know people differ on whether Buddhism is a religion or not. I’m not sure I care one way or the other, but it functions as a religion in my life, so that’s how I tend to think of it.
Anyway, I’m enjoying your thoughtful discussions here very much!