- Buddha
Stephen Batchelor reminds us that “Buddha was not a mystic.” The truths that he taught are something anyone can measure against their ordinary experience.
Buddha said simply, “I teach suffering and the end of suffering.”
Asked whether he was a god, a man or something else, he replied, “I am awake.”
The man we now call Buddha was a prince who lived about 2500 years ago. He grew up in wealth and privilege and found satisfaction in none of it. He left his home at the age of 29 and lived as a wandering holy man. He found that life was also unsatisfactory. Eventually he sat down beneath a tree for a final confrontation with himself and his circumstances.
Sitting beneath that tree, he became the Buddha, the Enlightened One, as he awakened to the truth, the simple truth that sits all around us and that we deliberately blind ourselves to avoid seeing. The truth is, simply, that we never will get what we want and that our unsatisfied craving for it causes our suffering. This central teaching is reflected in The Four Noble Truths that are common to every tradition of Buddhism. Our choice is to either live ignorantly and continue to suffer or to live skillfully and eventually reach the end of our suffering.
Buddha showed us the way. The body of teaching he left behind is called the Dharma. The community of followers who have preserved his teachings through the centuries is called the Sangha. Buddhists are those who go to the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha as their help and refuge.
There are many different Buddhist traditions. There are libraries full of scripture and monasteries full of devout and learned monks. There are centuries of rich practice and tradition to study and explore. But any truly precious idea can be expressed in a few words. This is how Buddha himself summed up his teaching:
“Not to do evil;
To do what is good.
To cleanse one’s own mind;
This is the teaching of the Buddhas.”
(Dhammapada v. 183)
Batchelor, Stephen Buddhism Without Beliefs: A Contemporary Guide to Awakening 1997: Riverhead Books. 128 pages.
This may as well be a manifesto for many members of our group. Batchelor’s formal training as a monk along with his thoughtful and committed Buddhist practice have inspired us. He is the director of studies at Sharpham College for Buddhist Studies and Contemporary Enquiry in Devon, England.
Goldberg, Natalie The Great Failure: A Bartender, A Monk, and My Unlikely Path to Truth 2004: Harper, 208 pages.
Natalie Goldberg is an author who wrote about an experience similar in some ways to the SFZC experience, by the way - it’s a book that is about her emotional experience in coming to terms with the fact that her former Roshi “transgressed” his vows and responsibilities. It was very hard for her to come to terms with the fact this man was, in fact, human, and very capable of “making mistakes.” There is a great fall and disillusionment if we put someone so far up on a pedestal and believe they can do no wrong, which, upon reflection, Goldberg realizes she did. It’s also a good read!
Merton, Thomas Zen and the Birds of Appetite 1968: New Directions. 140 pages.
Pirsig, Robert M. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values 1974: Harper Perennial, 464 pages.
Di Santo, Ron, and Tom Steele Guidebook to Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 1990: Perennial Currents, 408 pages.
Suzuki, Shunryu Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind 1973: Weatherhill, 132 pages.
What is Buddhism About?
Buddhism doesn’t begin with a creator God who made the world, nor is it very concerned with what happens to us after we’re dead. Buddhism begins in fact with the basic truth that all human beings suffer. To the Buddha, every other matter was of secondary importance, and he suggested we consider the case of a man who has been shot by an arrow. The poor man lying there with the arrow plunged deep into his flesh isn’t going to begin asking who made the arrow, what kind of feathers it has, how long it is and questions like that. For him the most important thing is to get the arrow out.
Basically the question is: How can you achieve release from suffering? The Buddha found that there are certain steps that can be taken. Buddhism therefore offers its followers things that they can do rather than things for them to believe.
One thing Buddhists try to do is to lead good lives by not causing suffering to others. They also actively try to do good, be kind and helpful, and if possible, put others first. They study the teachings of the Buddha and test them out in their ordinary lives. Finally, many Buddhists meditate.
Meditation
You must have seen pictures of the Buddha sitting with his legs crossed, his back and head very straight and his eyes half-closed. He looks very calm. When people are meditating, they are not frantically caught up in all the pictures and thoughts that are milling about in their heads. Rather, they are peacefully allowing these to settle down. They do not, however, allow their minds to go blank. In fact, they stay very alert and watch everything that comes into their minds.
By doing this day after day for a very long time, a person is first able to achieve great calmness and clarity. He or she then begins to see into the true nature of the world: To see things as they are rather than as they appear. they see, in fact, that everything is unsatisfactory and tainted with suffering and that everything is impermanent and subject to change. Finally they see that nothing, including human beings, has any sort of underlying soul or essence. They realize, in short, that everything passes away and that nothing has any sort of permanent self.
Proceeding in this way, it is possible for anyone with enough persistence and determination to gain for themselves the same enlightenment that the Buddha discovered beneath the Bo tree at Budh Gaya. Then they too can find peace and become free, no longer touched by the pains and sorrows of human existence.
Links to Buddhist sites around the World Wide WebAccess to Insight: Readings in Theravada BuddhismThis site includes both resources for the beginning study of Buddhism as well as extensive portions of the Pali canon. The CD-ROM A Handful of Leavesis out of print, but they offer a link where you can download the entire site instead.An Introduction to BuddhismGeorge Boeree’s simple and thoughtful presentation of Buddhist fundamentals. The site also includes some delightful extras, such as an explanation of Buddhist cosmology.Buddhadharma: The Practioner’s QuarterlyAn excellent magazine, although it tends to present much more about Tibetan Buddhism than other branches. Owned by Shambala Sun, the publishers, this is understandable.
BuddhaNet — Australia’s Buddhist Information NetworkThis has links to an extensive library of text files on many different Buddhist traditions.The Journal of Buddhist EthicsA scholarly journal devoted to the study of Buddhist ethics.The Kanzeon Zen SanghaA worldwide Zen community led by Roshi Dennis Genpo Merzel. Based in, of all places, Salt Lake City, Utah.Plum Village SanghaThe worldwide Buddhist community founded and directed by Thich Nhat Hanh. This site has links to groups affiliated with the Community of Mindful Living all over the world.Salt Lake Buddhist TempleThe Home Page of the Salt Lake Buddhist Temple, the largest and oldest Buddhist group in Utah. The only reason this link is here is that Ivan is a member. 
Stephen Batchelor’s Home PageHome page of noted Buddhist scholar and teacher Stephen Batchelor, author of Buddhism Without BeliefTricycle MagazineAn Independent Buddhist Quarterly.Vipassana MeditationA Theravada Buddhist tradition rather different and simpler than the Mahayana Tibetan and Zen traditions.The Buddhist ChannelBilled as “The Channel that Buddhists can Call Their Own,” it used to be “The Buddhist News Network,” which sent out newsletters picking up Buddhist-related news stories, delivering them to your emailbox. Now you have to go to it, and is almost always worth it.What Do You Think, My Friend?Tan Chade Meng’s extraordinary Web site detailing his personal and practical approach to Buddhism in the real world.Dragon’s Gate TempleRyunyo King’s Pure Land temple in Battle Ground, Washington.Buddhism for Dum-DumsExactly what it claims to be; Ryunyo’s page introducing the basic concepts of Buddhism.
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