When I discuss the tenants of Buddhism with people unfamiliar with it, they are often quick to assess it as a selfish and pessimistic religion.  It’s easy to see why they think this way, as the first noble truth of the Buddhist path is that all things lead to suffering, and another core teaching is that you must first seek to purify your own mental state before helping others.  While these truths my be difficult for many Westerners to accept, they are none the less true.

The teaching that all things lead to suffering doesn’t mean that everyone is essentially bad and will suffer for it.  It simply means that we will all experience physical and emotional pain and, eventually, we will all die.  It’s important to understand this because many of us spend a great deal of time fighting aging and pain, which does nothing to change the end result.  Every relationship, no matter how wonderful it is, will end.  All of your friends are going to die.  These need not be saddening truths, they are simply reality.  Sadness is a perception.  What makes one person cry could easily cause another to laugh uncontrollably.  In my short time studying these topics I have been able to come to terms with some of these truths and that understanding of the true nature of things has helped me to better handle life’s challenges.  People who worship a God often turn to their creator when they want something or receive something, but very rarely at other times.  This lack of a consistent relationship indicates that it is primarily a marriage of assumed necessity, rather than one which really benefits either party.  What makes asking for a God to help you and different from trying to help yourself?  Whether you believe that God has done something for you or not, you wanted it, and the intention to have things be better in your life is the important part of the equation.

In Buddhism it is believed that you must first release yourself from bondage before you can help anyone else.  The problem here is that it can take an entire lifetime, or ten seconds, to release yourself from the prison you’ve created.  All of us are put into this prison voluntarily as we age.  We are taught that we are unique individuals who are part of a society and we are each assigned a role to play.  Some of us are told we’re talented artists or scientific geniuses, while others are told that they have no talent and therefore shouldn’t hope to be anything special – that’s a role, too.  We are given the title of brother or sister and instruction is given on that role as well.  Many Westerners believe that not only do they have a role to play here on Earth, but that they will continue to play it eternally in heaven or hell, which is why it’s all the more important to know who you really are.  When you stop believing in these things, other people will simply classify you as strange or problematic.  After a time you being to see these symbols and labels for the identification tools that they are, and your perception of reality completely changes.  Your existence seems connected to others, and you feel more like you should be kind to others rather than just ignoring them and getting to your next destination that much more quickly.  This is the reason that it’s important to work on removing your illusions about self and reality before attempting to teach others your learned truths.  It’s not selfish if there is no such thing as a self, and it’s not wrong to fully understand that which you wish to impart on to others.

Written by Scott

Just me.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


(required)