Buddhism - Arbor Barrow

Life, and living is not easy. Life is dukkha suffering. We all suffer from the slow degrading of our minds and bodies with age. We all catch bugs and get sick for days on end unable to hold a single ounce of food down. We all experience moments of depression and sadness. Our lives can never be set in stone to become permanent. Happiness fades as does sadness. Everything in our lives is transitory. This is the first of Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths: Life is suffering. The human condition is set firmly in a state of push a pull where we are constantly seeking for what we crave and working towards attaining them.

We are selfish creatures. We want, want, want and until we get what we want are we truly happy? And even then there will still be greener grass on the other side and eventually we will want that too. We live our lives on building up whole storage units full of things. This is the second Noble Truth: craving leads to suffering. The desire for things and the resulting attachment to them leads us to suffer because we can never be fully fulfilled. It’s much like a cup with a hole in the side and the cup refuses to fill once it gets past the hold.

The type of wholeness we are seeking is not in the water, but in emptying it. In the Tibetan Buddhist Heart Sutra it states: “Form is Emptiness, Emptiness is form.” We can be free from suffering if we can rid ourselves of craving, of needing our cups filled to the brim. This is the third Noble Truth: the end of suffering is possible. If we can reach Nirvana, the place where the self is BLOWN OUT, therein lies solution suffering and craving.

In order to reach a state of Nirvana, the place, the mindset, the feeling of freedom from self, we require the fourth Noble Truth: The path to Nirvana is in the Eight-Fold Path. In this path you shall gain the tools required to reach Nirvana. Wisdom of the self, wisdom of actions and wisdom of the mind.

• The Four Noble Truths are the first step in the Eight-Fold Path: Right View. The Eight-Fold Path is a method to utilize in life to gradually brush away the things and ideas that cause us suffering.
• Right Intention deals with the intention of thoughts, actions, and desire. Take away your aggression and hatefulness and replace it with compassion and good will.
• Right Speech deals with the use of speech. Speak only when you need to, speak truthfully and carefully, because these things can make or break a friend or an enemy.
• Right Action deals with how you act towards people. Don’t take what’s not yours, don’t deal in sexual misconduct, don’t hurt others. Act kindly and respectfully towards others.
• Right Livelihood deals with how a person should earn their money. Not through the selling of living beings (including animals), weaponry, butchery (of animals) or anything that contradicts Right Speech and Right Action.
• Right Effort deals with removing undesirable traits and working towards maintaining desirable traits. Take away your anger, take away your aggression and if it comes back when you are not mindful of it then push it back and reattain compassion and thoughtfulness.
• Right Mindfulness deals with thinking things through carefully. Spend lots of time considering the mind and the body and you will see things clearly.
• Right Concentration deals with focusing the mind on desirable traits, thoughts, actions, speech, intention and livelihood. Focus singlemindedly on this and maintain the methods of the Eight-Fold Path.

I really enjoyed going over Buddhism. Other than the reincarnation, which I’m in a very agnostic position about that sort of thing, I feel very close to the teachings and methods of Buddhism. I agree with the idea that we cause ourselves suffering by craving things and ideas, and I feel that the Eight-Fold Path is an elegant tool for reaching a state of mind that isn’t burdened by hurtful ideas and useless things. I see a lot of my own personal spiritual journey in Buddhism, as well. I’m still learning how to be a fully compassionate and altruistic person. And get my mind to a state of equilibrium with the world around me.

I don’t so much agree with the not eating animals bit, because I like me a good steak now and then (Horrible!). But for the most part all of the methods of the Eight-Fold Path, and the realizations of the Four Noble Truths I would gladly apply to my life, and do in some small ways.