Buddhism - Introduction

At the core of Buddhism is compassion.

Sakyamuni Buddha (Sidhartha Gautama) brought the dharma (Buddhist teaching) to us over 2,600 years ago. He encouraged us to test the teachings for ourselves. Do they have logic? Do they help us to make sense of the world around us? Would an acceptance of them make us more relaxed, joyful, and a better person? Would the concepts lead to greater peace, happiness and compassion, or the opposite? Applying the teachings in our everyday lives is what matters. Are we more compassionate, understanding, caring, and thoughtful than we were before?

There are three main groups of Buddhist teaching: Theravada (as practiced predominantly in SE Asia); Mahayana (as practiced mainly in Vietnam, China, Taiwan, Japan, etc.); and the Vajrayana (which is a separate part of Mahayana, practiced mainly in Tibet; Nepal; Bhutan; Mongolia).

The Buddha-Dharma is so wonderfully and gloriously vast and boundlessly deep, and there are said to be 84,000 paths to liberation. Some of the foundations of Buddhist dharma (the teachings) are The Four Noble Truths; The Noble Eightfold Path; Twelve Links of Dependent Origination; and Karma.

Some Basic Concepts

The Four Noble Truths

All life involves suffering.
Suffering comes from craving.
Eliminate craving and we eliminate suffering.
There is a path to help us eliminate craving – the Noble Eightfold Path.

The Noble Eightfold Path

Right View (or Understanding).
Right Thought (sometimes called Right Intention or Resolve).
Right Speech.
Right Conduct (or Action).
Right Livelihood.
Right Effort.
Right Mindfulness.
Right Concentration.

Dependent Origination

Ignorance is the condition for volitional actions.
Volitional actions are the condition for consciousness.
Consciousness is the condition for name and form.
Name and form is the condition for the sixth sense faculties.
The Sixth Sense faculties are the condition for sensory contact.
Sensory contact is the condition for sense perception.
Sense perception (feeling) is the condition for craving.
Craving is the condition for grasping.
Grasping (clinging) is the condition for becoming.
Becoming is the condition for birth.
Birth is the condition for old age and death.
Old age and death.

Karma

Karma (Sanskrit) or kamma (Pali), in very simple terms may be summarised as volitional cause and effect. Something comes into effect because of a cause, good or bad. It includes past and present deeds, in this and previous lives, not only physical actions (what we do), but also what we think and say – body, speech and mind. We are responsible for ourselves, and what we are now is a result of what we did in the past. What we will be in the future will be a result of what we do now. Buddhists do not believe in some external power, God, or however one might wish to define such a force, but rather that we, and we alone, have our futures in our own hands.