Buddhist Belief – What Did You Say?
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.”~~~ Buddha
One of the aspects of the Eightfold Path of Buddhist Belief is the path of right, or faultless speech. In today’s article I’d like to start with that aspect and see where it leads us. As we delve into this, try to keep the above quote from Buddha in mind.
Several years ago, while I was still living in Vermont, USA, I attended a 3-day silent, intensive Buddhist retreat. At first, being completely silent was sort of weird. We’re so used to talking all the time. After I grew accustomed to being silent I made some interesting discoveries. The most profound discovery was the realization that you really don’t have to talk as much as you think you do. Of course a retreat situation is different than our normal, everyday work and home life. Yet, it was interesting to see how much my “mind-chatter” kept me occupied. It was also exciting to notice how much easier it was to just “be with” things — like “being with” a flower — or “being with” the sounds of nature all around us. Usually we miss this part of life because of all the noise we continuously keep around us. Rather than enjoy the wonderful peace of silence, we tend to look for someone to talk to or we turn on the radio or the TV to drown out the sounds of silence. Why don’t we like silence? Why does silence make us uncomfortable? Hmmm, interesting questions! Any thoughts out there?
I read in one of my many books about a person who went to one of these retreats and afterwards made a vow to cease talking about other people in a negative or gossipy way when returning to normal life. This person discovered there was very little to talk about once talking about other people was eliminated. Not talking about anybody else removed almost all topics of conversation. I haven’t tried to do this in my own life, but it would be interesting to discover just how much of our “talking time” is spent talking in a negative, or gossipy way about other people.
Could it be there are more fulfilling, enlightening pursuits, other than talking about other people, to give our energy to? Fascinating thought!
As I point out in all of these articles, we are all human beings and we get to make our own choices. There are no “have-to’s” here. These principles of enlightened living are nothing more than tools to a more peaceful, satisfying way of life. Remember, the three trainings of sila, samadhi, and prajna, will completely unfold into the Eightfold Path of right or faultless view, thought, speech, action, effort, vocation, meditation and mindfulness. All of which are a matter of choice.
I wish there were more teachings on how to look at these paths with western ways in mind. There are some, and we’ll talk about them later in this blog. There is plenty about the eight paths in the traditional writings. However, when studying them in a more modern sense, there are questions raised. For example, when I look at right or faultless livelihood, it could be interpreted to mean nothing more than successfully “bringing home the bacon”. However, I suspect it has more to do with finding our true vocation — our true inner purpose in life. All of these paths are designed to develop character and integrity and to give us an enlightened perspective about how to live our lives.
Because our lives are absorbed with delusions, prejudices, selfishness and ego thinking, it’s difficult to understand what Buddha is teaching. For example, we often interpret “faultless speech” to mean no more than “Thou shalt not lie”. But does it go further? What about criticizing others? Do we spend our inner and outer “talk” putting others down? What about gossip and slander? When we talk this way do we ever ask ourselves why we have to spend so much energy trying to put ourselves “up” while putting others “down”? Why are we so critical of others?
The place where criticism really shows itself is in our home where we both give and receive criticism. There are so many questions in our western minds when it comes to the Eightfold Path. One of the things Buddhist Belief has tried to teach is if we don’t identify with someone’s criticism of us, we won’t feel attacked. Have you tried to do that? There is no way you will be able to force someone else to see things exactly the same way you do. If you try, you just end up feeling more frustrated. Buddha once said, “When I was enlightened, everybody was”. Sounds a lot like saying, “In the eyes of God, everyone is God, but in the eyes of man, everyone is screwed up”. This gets sort of tough, don’t you think? Which side of the mirror do you want to hold?
Those who choose to follow the teachings of Buddha believe when we awaken it will all make sense — even to those of us in western cultures. I’m one who firmly believes the answers are in the basic teachings of Buddhism: give up what is harmful — adopt what is wholesome and helpful — and purify the heart and mind. And, don’t forget karma! Be positive — you get back positive. Be negative — you get back negative. It has everything to do with how we relate to the people and things around us.
One last bit before we wrap this article — Buddha was never a missionary. Buddhist teachers throughout the ages have followed the same path — teach only when asked — only go where invited — don’t proselytize — don’t force-feed these teachings — don’t work to convert others — don’t defend your beliefs.
This blog follows the same philosophy — you can stop reading this anytime you choose. In writing these articles, I’m not trying to convince you to become a Buddhist. The only purpose is to pass along these teachings as I understand them and to do so in as friendly and compassionate a way as I can. What you choose to accept is always your choice. I write these as a form of self-teaching and reinforcement of what I believe to be true. What you choose to do with them is entirely up to you.
In the next article, which I hope to write in the next few days, we’ll continue with more thoughts about the Eightfold Path – the Fourth Noble Truth of Buddhist Belief.
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One of the principal poets of the Japanese haiku tradition, Kobayashi Yataro, used as his haiku name, Issa, said to mean ‘cup-of-tea’. He imbued his work with Buddhist themes, yet presented his sharp perceptive wisdom and an unconstrained, joyful celebration of the ordinary, in lines full of humor laced with compassion.
One of his haiku that I go back to in times of confusion or in need of reassurance about our shared humanity is: “Where there are humans – You’ll find flies, And Buddhas”.
These days, in our country, it’s so much easier to see the swarms of flies in the hate and pain we inflict on one another; yet the knowledge of the Buddha-nature potential in each one of us has to sustain us.
A contemporary teacher of Buddhism, Sylvia Boorstein, has said: “… I think as a species, we are innately friendly.” Our natural bent, our natural inclination when we’re not threatened or frightened is to befriend and to console and to appreciate other people. She defines happiness as “ … feeling oneself in warm relationship in that way, in friendliness, in compassion, in appreciation, with other people, with one’s self, with people that we know, with people that we don’t know, with people that we hear about in different parts of the world in different situations and we feel that our heart goes out to them.”
Happenings of the last few years place before us the worst of human nature, and also the very best. But we read, view and hear more of the former than the latter. We need to share more stories of those who wouldn’t give in to misused power, those who offered compassion to others in the midst of personal horror, those who placed their humanity before their religious differences. We are hungry for these reports because at times when it’s so easy to forget, they remind us of what it means to be fully human.
Maybe we are making a mistake in striving to become good, become compassionate, become fair, just to become anything. Because all we need to do is to remember that the gift of humanity we are born with, our true human nature is that innately, we are good, we are compassionate, we are fair and just.
Only when we get past the forgetting of this and the numbing fear that allows hate-mongers to influence us, can we be what deep down we truly are from the start.
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For those who wanted me to repeat the links for the books I’ve mentioned in the last few articles, here they are again:
Eckhart Tolle’s amazing best seller, “A New Earth”
Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor’s wonderful book, “My Stroke of Insight” — “Nirvana is just a breath away!”
An this one by Sharon Salzberg and is entitled: “A Heart as Wide as the World: Living with Mindfulness, Wisdom and Compassion“.
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Always remember this wonderful quote from Buddha ….
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”~~~ Buddha
Shanti everyone, … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”~~~ Buddha
Have a peaceful day!! —
Ron Rink
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com
Tags: Buddhist Belief, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth, Nirvana, inner peace, peace, attachment, detachment, Fourth Noble Truth, Eightfold Path, karma
Tags: attachment, Buddha, Buddhism, Buddhist, Buddhist Belief, detachment, Eightfold Path, First Noble Truth, Four Noble Truths, Fourth Noble Truth, inner peace, karma, Nirvana, Peace, Second Noble Truth, Third Noble Truth