Buddhism Revisited

We've been taught that the Buddha's first tenant was “life is suffering”. So all this lengthy reasoning and heavy emotional stuff has been built up to support the weighty notion of suffering. I think this is an exaggeration of his intended message. You may feel differently, but I don't experience all that much actual suffering in my life. I would surmise that, were he here today, he would say something more like, “Life is stressful” or “Life is arduous”. Perhaps it's just me, but I think that feels so much more down to earth, accurate and approachable.

He then posited, “Suffering is caused by our attachments and aversions.” and “Cessation of suffering is possible” New translations: “We create our own stress by what we focus on and how we interpret it.” And “We can reduce our stress by changing the ways we look and think.”

It's really basic psychology. Reordering the way we see our selves and adjusting how we relate with the various aspects of our totality and with the world around us. Many think that Buddhism belongs in the same category as religions, but not all. I belong to the latter camp. It's really just about seeing from a non-personalized perspective, accepting what is, and acting in harmony with the greater unfolding.

Actions, attitudes, ambitions, work, lifestyles, and such need to be brought into alignment with the new or desired inner order. This was the purpose of the Buddha's presenting the 8 fold path. To give guidelines in what we need to monitor and manage as we work to maintain balance or stay the middle way.

It may seem like it deals with other worldly affairs, but that's only when one refuses to see the thinking mind in a holistic perspective. The Buddha never spoke of God, claimed to be no one extraordinary, and professed no ultimate universal understanding. That people have deified him and made his story and messages so overly fantastical has only served to make his teachings less accessible.

The Buddha didn't create Buddhism, the disciples left after his passing and their students did. He was very clear in affirming his own common humanity and indicating that it would be an error to deify him. His teaching was that everyone else is just as capable of awakening. The same was true with Jesus a few centuries later. And, just like with Jesus, many have disregarded his teachings and made him an object of worship, anyway.

Does Buddhism fit the same template as the worlds other religions? Well, Buddhists typically refer to themselves as practitioners, not followers, believers, devotes or worshipers. And the tenants aren't based on belief of the intangible, but on honest, systematic investigation. Unlike with the other primary religions of our times, there are no deities *, no imposed moralities, no segregating charter, no threats of cosmic punishment, no claims of being the one and only true way, no obligation to believe, no need to look to an outside authority for truth and no inherent conflicts with others who hold differing beliefs.

At one point I had formulated a concept of god that seemed to mesh with the words I'd heard about it and didn't clash with my own sensibilities and discoveries. But it really wasn't the same god as the majority's notion of a supreme creator and governor of all that is. So, although I do use the term on rare occasion, I no longer try to see eye to eye with those who's beliefs are built on fairy tales and archaic dogma. Similarly, I don't feel obligated to make Buddhism fit nicely into the same category as other religions, just because it's fashionable.

I'd love to be able to bring the Buddha's teachings back down to earth, somehow. Well, I actually do; but, I'd like people to understand that his teachings were as accessible as mine – presumably more so. I see how/why it all got so blown out of proportion, but that's a topic worthy of its own article. (Look for The Problem with Pedestals)

* Buddhism does have “deities”, but this, too, is a poor translation. They aren't other worldly beings with power and influence over our lowly mortal existence. They're teaching tools meant to represent various aspects or qualities of an awakened mind.