The Buddhist Eightfold Path can end Suffering

At the weekend a young person, new to Buddhism, asked why Buddhists considered life was meant to be suffering. This was after hearing our Rinpoche talk of the Four Noble Truths.

This is a common question in the western world and stems from the distinctions Buddhism makes between the conventional reality, within which we live, and the ultimate reality of Emptiness (Which I am still promising to talk about later).

The confusion comes from the first two of the four Noble Truths as stated by Shakyamuni Buddha.

• Life means suffering
  
• Suffering has causes (Attachment and Aversion)
  

As the Four Noble Truths tend to be one of the first concepts that a newcomer will hear, it catapults the person straight into fundamental Buddhist philosophy with very little preparation.

To the unprepared western mind, the immediate implication is that to be a Buddhist, you will need to suffer and that is an inevitability of life – not a very attractive proposition!

To calm that runaway mind, I would like to make this suggestion:

What is being said is that, whether we know it or not, we are all experiencing suffering.

The first level is that of physical suffering from injury and illness, treatable by the medical profession.

The second level of suffering is in the Mind. In Buddhist philosophy that is treatable by becoming aware of how our rampaging Mind creates suffering. Through understanding we can dispel the ignorance that exists. This is when the promise of the next two Noble Truths cuts in:

• Cessation of suffering is attainable
  
• There is a Noble Eightfold Path to achieve the cessation of suffering
  

So for the newcomer the acceptance to embrace is that there is a way to overcome the suffering we experience. That way is through developing a clear understanding of how our Mind creates that suffering, why it does so and how to stop what is currently a never ending cycle, lifetime after lifetime. The path to that understanding is the Noble Eightfold Path.

Part of the development of that understanding is consideration of what is happiness, the opposite of suffering and our ultimate goal. It may come as a surprise, but the happiness we tend to recognise in our day to day lives is really a potential cause of suffering. How can that be? Just think how quickly happiness fades and even at times when we are experiencing happiness, we are fearful of seeing it dissipate – that is, we are suffering in the impermanency.

So in the Buddhist philosophy, happiness has a different meaning. It can be considered to be contentment with what we have, pleasurable or not.

I hope this encourages you to explore the deeper meaning of the Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path. I would recommend you go to the teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and other revered teachers of the four main traditions of Mahayana Buddhism. Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Zen Master, is also a good source of teachings for westerners, even though he is not of the Mahayana tradition. I found his "Heart of the Buddha's Teaching" particularly easy to read in my early days. While there are a multitude of entries on the web, they do not necessarily have the authenticity of the teachings as handed down through the recognised lineages. That is why I endeavour not to "teach", but rather to explore what is confusing and give guidance on where to go.

Thus ends this post. May whatever virtue or merit that derives from this posting be for the benefit of all sentient beings.
Yours until next time, Vajramate.

What are Buddhist Teachings and Practices?

For the purposes of this Blog, the source of all teachings is Shakyamuni Buddha's 84,000 discourses, as relayed by Mahayana Buddhism.

In order for the teaching to have meaning and value, the practitioner needs to have faith in, or at least be open to, the possibilities that:

1. Reincarnation is a fact and there will be other lifetimes after this one; and

2. The teacher has the requisite training and lineage to be skilled in the authentic transmission of the teachings.

For newcomers to Buddhism, the teachings can be confusing and may appear contradictory. This comes from the fact that each of the Buddha's teachings was for a specific audience, ranging in comprehension from ignorant (having had very little or no education) to those on the path (from beginners to those who have been on the path for lifetimes) to the near-enlightened.

Individuals in the first two stages receive teachings in the conventional sense, being understood through their worldy experience. The pure view of those approaching enlightenment is largely incomprehensible and incapable of description and is known as the uncommon, ultimate or reality view. When teachings are given from this point of view they should be experienced on the basis that one day we may get close to experience the ultimate view, otherwise known as shunyata or emptiness.

Most teachers, from His Holiness the Dalai Lama downwards, also give public talks. These are not teachings in the context of this Blog - although there is magnificent learning to be had!

A formal teaching has three elements. The following description is based on the Sakya tradition's teaching of tantric or Vajrayana Buddhism. The process may vary from tradition to tradition, but the underlying teachings of the Buddha are the same in all traditions.

The Empowerment: Firstly, there is the ritual of connecting through the teacher to the entire lineage of the teacher's teachers and their teachers before them. This is called the empowerment and is in many ways a mystical process. It should be given by an authentic teacher, usually a recognised reincarnation of a lineage of teachers. This empowerment enables the practitioner to receive the subsequent teachings. The practitioner does not necessarily have to have taken Refuge (a later topic) to receive an empowerment, depending on the nature or subject of the empowerment.
The Sadhana (Spiritual practice): Secondly, the teacher will, at the same or a later time, give the teaching on how to practice the teaching. The practice is usually described in a sadhana, which is given out during the teaching.

The sadhana is in three parts. The initial part is the acknowledgement of the source of the practice and a commitment to undertake the practice for the benefit of all sentient beings.
It usually also includes a process of purification in preparation for the main part of the practice.

The main part of the practice is the visualisation of the entity upon which the practice is based, usually a buddha, bodhisattva or other deity form. Associated with this is a mantra. The visualisation of oneself as the entity and recitation of the mantra is the meditation. In Vajrayana practice, these multiple activities help stop the mind from wandering, as it can be brought back to the visualisation or mantra whenever it strays. More on the theory behind this later. On completion of the main part, the visualisation is dissolved and the meditation completed in a state of emptiness. This may last for seconds or minutes.

In the third and final part the practitioner dedicates any virtue and merit derived from the practice to the benefit of all sentient beings.

The practice is then usually completed by the recitation of long life prayers for the teachers and by the recitation of various prayers.

Having had the teaching on the sadhana, the third element of the overall teaching is for the practitioner to diligently undertake the practice, preferably on a daily basis. The teacher asks no more than that of the student. Subsequent learning occurs through discussions with the teacher as questions arise. It has been my experience that I learn most by taking every opportunity to receive a fresh empowerment from the next teacher who is in town. This is part of the buddhist philosophy of learning by constant repetition.

The full benefit of the teachings are realised by going on a 2 or 3 day, or a week long, retreat where the teaching is reinforced by formal practice sessions three times a day, lead by the teacher. The next step from there is a 4 to 6 week solitary, guided retreat, doing three long practice sessions a day. My photo in the initial posting was taken after 38 days locked in a room in a monastery in what was Eastern Tibet. The fire puja was the cleansing ceremony after the retreat.

Thus ends this post. May whatever virtue or merit that derives from this posting be for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Yours until next time, Vajramate.