Buddhist Belief Blog

One of the things it took me a long time to learn as I studied Buddhist Belief, was the realization that if I was going to accept Buddhism as my way of life, I needed to make it an integral part of my daily life — not only in how I lived on a day-to-day basis — but also in terms of meditation time.

The practice is so essential. If we don’t appreciate the importance of implementing the teachings of Buddhist Belief into our life, we may begin to fall back on some symbolical idea of what it all means. What am I trying to say here? For example, if we think of Christianity, we may have a mental symbol of Jesus on a cross, a church or a cathedral. When we think about Buddhism, we may get a mental image of a serene Buddha statue sitting in a temple somewhere.

So, what sort of feelings should a Buddhist have? Buddhists should have feelings of unselfish concern for the welfare of others. Buddhists should have the understanding of their own reality.

As those of you who have been reading this blog from those very first posts, you’re aware that the basic teachings of Buddha are grounded in the understanding of the Four Noble Truths. These are the truths of suffering, its origin, the possibility of cessation of suffering, and the path leading to the cessation of suffering.

These truths are grounded in what it means to be a human being. As humans, we aspire to seek happiness and avoid suffering. Buddha taught us how our happiness and our suffering come about as a result of causes and the effect of those causes. Some humans believe our causes come about for no apparent reason. This belief is rejected in Buddhist teachings. Some humans believe our causes are created by some transcendent being. Buddhist teaching rejects this as well.

When we look at the teachings of the Four Noble Truths, we see an important point. It is our own consciousness — our own mind — where we find our experiences of suffering and happiness.

When Buddhists talk about the nature of suffering, we need to realize there are different levels of suffering. For example, there’s the one we’re all too familiar with — the suffering of illness, old age and other painful experiences like breaking one’s arm. There is also the suffering of pleasurable experiences. (Yeah, I can hear you all saying, “What? Pleasure is suffering?”) Well, yes. Pleasurable sensations do have the seed of dissatisfaction within them. They’re usually quite temporary, for one thing. They also have the tendency to lead us to addictions — or at the very least, craving or clinging.

There is another level of suffering, and that is our human nature to carry around negativity. We have negative emotions, negative thoughts and negative actions.

Whatever level of suffering you look at here, you will notice how they’re all grounded in our state of mind. When we talk about the truth of the origin of suffering, we are talking about an undisciplined and untamed state of mind. Ultimately, the origin of suffering, the cause of suffering, and suffering itself can be understood only in terms of a state of mind.

Buddhist teachings describe the cessation of suffering as the highest state of happiness. This should not be understood in terms of pleasurable sensation; we are not talking about happiness at the level of feeling or sensation. Rather, we are referring to the highest level of happiness, which is determined by total freedom from suffering and delusion. Again, this is a quality of mind, a state of mind. Therefore, we have to understand the nature of mind.

And when we talk about the truth of the path that leads to the cessation of suffering, we are also talking about various levels of mind, various levels of realizations. So in order to understand the Four Noble Truths, one has to understand the primary role that mind, or consciousness, plays in determining our experience of suffering and pain.

Metta ….May all beings be well and happy. May all beings live in safety. May all beings be healthy and strong. May all beings live with ease.

Namaste — Be in Peace.

Ron Rink
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Just click the links that are sort of Grey in color to take you to where you can learn more about each book and how you can purchase a copy for your own library.

Anam Thubten — No Self – No Problem

No Self – No Problem
shows how to realize the ultimate meaning of life in each moment by dissolving all notions of ego-identity. It asks that spiritual seekers wake up to their true nature, which is already enlightened. Based on Buddhist wisdom traditions, this easy-to-read book discusses in simple, but profound and inspiring language, how we can live a life full of love, satisfaction, and happiness. No Self – No Problem

Sharon Salzberg — The Kindness Handbook

“It takes boldness, even audacity, to step out of our habitual patterns and experiment with a quality like kindness–to work with it and see just how it might shift and open up our lives. This book is an invitation to do just that. — From The Kindness Handbook