Core Teachings of Buddhism

Starting the journey of Buddhism practice is the single most rewarding and life changing decision I have ever made. From the second I opened my eyes and mind to the truth of the universe, my whole outlook and mindset was changed forever. I no longer feel trapped or lost - I feel infinite and free. This is all due to the teachings of Siddhārtha Gautama, otherwise known as the Buddha (meaning awakened one)

I began my awakening before I had ever even heard of Buddhism - I had always felt different and like something in my world wasn't right. Discovering the truth in these teachings answered all of my questions. Although I understand that for others, this isn't the case. Some stumble on Buddhism when searching for help, and they begin their own awakening, just as the Buddha himself did, he self-awakened. I can imagine this to be a considerable amount harder, because having to research these teachings can be difficult and seem overly complicated, but it shouldn't be like this - It should be exciting and inspiring. So I wanted to do a post to simplify all of this and introduce you guys to the core basics of Buddhism - in a clear and easy way.

Kalama Sutta

The Kalama Sutta teaching is all about having faith in your own judgement and wisdom and not blindly following a teaching, simply because it's what you have been told. The Buddha himself told this to many confused villagers, due to the amount of different Guru's who would pass through the towns, imparting different kinds of wisdom, taught in many different ways. They explained to him that they were unsure of which actually had the "supreme knowledge" - His advice was this:

"Neither believe nor reject anything simply because you have heard it....Even if I tell you something, do not believe it"

Naturally, they were confused by this and weren't sure of what to do - But he explained that the point of this teaching is to only ever believe something if you have seen for yourself that it's true. Examine and experiment with the teaching - If you find it leads to happiness for yourself and others.. Then accept and live by this teaching.

Awakening

To become awakened is to fully engage with our lives and become present in our bodies. Instead of rushing activities in order to reach a goal, we should enjoy the process of every act equally as much as the outcome. As well as being able to appreciate and experience the world around us at all times. Get to know yourself and understand your head and heart, self awareness is the key to insight and wisdom. In doing this, we learn to cherish each precious second and don't miss a passing moment of our lives. We develop a deeper connection with ourselves and our surroundings. This will teach you to be at peace with yourself and ultimately put an end to your suffering.

Full Awakening of Nirvana

The idea of being fully awakened, is the idea that you will reach the point of enlightenment where you no longer have to consciously remember to be in the present moment or remind yourself to become aware of surroundings, but instead - You are fully aware at all times and are able to be at one with yourself and the world as simply as breathing. You no longer go through stages of feeling awake, but you now feel constantly awakened and present and your mind is ultimately free.

The Four Noble Truths

These four truths explain that suffering exists, why it exists and how it can come to and end, and the path we must travel to make this happen. We as humans tend to cling to things that hurt us, we dwell on the negative.. or just the idea that something negative may happen, the solution is so simple - And that is to just let go, but we find it extremely hard to do this. This teaching is the very foundation of Buddhism. Here is a very brief explanation of each of The Four Noble Truths:

1. There is suffering in life.

When we experience these negative emotions, we are experiencing the first noble truth.Humans tend to suffer anytime their life does not meet their expectations, this includes emotions of pain, dissapointment, shame, anger and sadness - Over things like, missing the bus, loosing your phone and breaking a glass e.t.c. - We will also suffer over the experience of change, we cling to a temporary experience and become stressed when this passes - but this is the uncertainty of life that needs to be accepted.

2. Suffering always has causes.

The origin of suffering is craving, and getting stuck on that craving. You get so attached to the thought of yourself being/having your said craving that you can not let it go and so you are stuck in your suffering. If you were to simply let go of this attachment to your 'want' - Then you would be free from this. Humans mostly experience what the Buddha calls "sense pleasures" e.g. cars, phones, clothes and money: Things that can only be experienced through our five senses: see, hear, smell, taste, touch. You create an unrealistic expectation in your head about how much possessing this 'thing' will change you or change your life. To the point where actually having it could never live up to this expectation. Leading to more suffering. - So in the second noble truth we learn that WE are the only cause of our suffering, and WE are also the only ones who can end it.

3. Ending suffering is possible by ending the causes.

The third noble truth is the act of giving up that very craving, forming a complete nonattachment to it. This truth teaches us that we don't need anything outside of ourselves to be happy and attachment will not lead to happiness in this ever changing environment. Knowing that every moment will eventually pass and change, and to accept this, will ultimately lead to nirvana, like I talked about previously. Experience happiness from the smallest and realest actions of life, as opposed to the thought of objects or the thought of a person, as these things are both temporary and can not lead to satisfaction.

4. The Noble Eightfold Path will end our suffering

The Noble Eightfold Path focuses on particular types of behaviours or attitudes that are considered the right way to act - However when the Buddha uses the the terms 'right' and 'wrong' this does not mean we should judge ourselves for being imperfect. It simply means acts that lead to freedom from suffering, or acts that lead to more suffering. The noble eightfold path.. 1. Right View 2. Right Intention 3. Right Speech 4. Right Action 5. Right Livelihood 6. Right Effort 7. Right Mindfulness 8. Right Concentration - Using these 8 actions as a filter for your thoughts, will lead to a clearer and more balanced mind.

Equanimity

Equanimity is the practice of balancing your mind and developing your even-mindedness. Being able to correctly judge and respond to a situation, without attaching overly positive or overly negative thoughts to this. But at the same time, not disconnecting or becoming emotionless to difficult situations. Accepting change is the heart of equanimity. A good way to look in to this is to focus on situations in your life that appear either strongly positive or negative, and listen to your train of thought. Do you find yourself wishing this experience would never end? Do you worry these feelings will last forever? We waste so much energy trying to keep our lives pleasant and happy, but this is simply ignoring the first noble truth, which is to accept that at some point in life, we will all suffer, but the beautiful part is that this will always be temporary. We need to stop judging ourselves for being imperfect and accept, flow and feel at ease with the basic fact that we go through many changes in life and this is okay.

Mindfulness: Big Sky Practice

The big sky practice is a certain type of mindfulness, and is for me, definitely the most helpful and the one I use in my daily life. You can experiment with this by imagining your mind as a vast clear sky, things like sounds, breath, sensations and thoughts, are simply temporary clouds passing over your sky. The sky doesn't become upset when a rain cloud passes, nor does it get particulary happy when a rainbow appears. This practice is to teach your own mind to respond like this, be aware of everything that passes and everything that's happening in each moment, without holding this cloud in your sky. Let in pass by, as they all inevitably will.

The Five Hindrances

The five hindrances are the 5 main obstacles we will commonly encounter when trying to meditate. The Buddha began to teach about this when he experienced these hindrances himself. They are:

1.Wanting 2. Aversion/hating 3. Sleepiness/laziness

4. 5. Restlessness/worryDoubt

For example when trying to meditate, if we become tired, we will find it hard to focus and our practice feels ruined - we have tripped on a hindrance along our spiritual path. These hindrances can make us feel defeated and often almost make us feel like giving up. But the good thing is, all of them are possible to overcome. They may never fully dissapear but our attitude toward them can be changed. The first step is to notice when you are experiencing a hindrance and be able to identify when one arises, try labelling it and this may cause it to dissapear all together. Even if the result is not this quick, instead of becoming defeated - simply see it as another cloud passing over, it's not a problem it's just something that is happening at this time.

So within this post I have described 6 different core practices and teachings of Buddhism - There are many more that I haven't shared here, but I just wanted to briefly explain certain aspects in the hope that anyone who may want to begin their journey, has a basic understanding and has been able to put a few to practice. Although living by these practices will not make you Buddhist - They are open to anyone who wants to try them, even if you just find one that helps you, everyone is welcome to adapt these aspects in to their lives, without having to label themselves.

If you feel you have connected to any of these teachings in particular, and would like to know more, then you can easily read up about that particular teaching and get to know it better and I am also available to answer any questions and give advice to the best of my abilities - or you can simply delve in to your mind and explore all possibilities, everyone has these core understandings within themselves, and it's up to you to uncover them. I hope you were able to gain a further understanding of this magical way of life, and I hope you will choose to take your journey further!

(A big thank you to Diana Winston for helping me to continue along my spiritual path and inspiring many changes in my life)

Namaste, Brooke x

#advice