What is Buddhism?

By Ajahn Brahmavamso
For more than 2,500 years, the religion we know today as Buddhism has been the primary inspiration behind many successful civilisations, a source of great cultural achievements, and a lasting and meaningful guide to the very purpose of life for millions of people. Today, large numbers of men and women from diverse backgrounds throughout the world are following the Teachings of the Buddha.

Buddha’s Enlightenment consisted of the most profound and all-embracing insight into the nature of mind and all phenomena. This Enlightenment was not a revelation from some divine being, but a discovery made by himself based on the deepest levels of meditation and the clearest experience of mind. It meant that he was free from the shackles of craving, ill-will and delusion, that all forms of inner suffering had been eliminated and that he had acquired unshakeable peace.

The Four Noble Truths
The main teaching of the Buddha focuses not on philosophical speculation about a Creator God or the origin of the universe, nor on reaching a heaven world ever after. The teaching instead is centred on the down-to-earth reality of human suffering and the urgent need to find lasting relief from all forms of discontent.
The Buddha gave the simile of a man shot by a poison-tipped arrow who, before he would accept a doctor to treat him, first demanded to know who shot the arrow, his social standing, where he was from, what sort of bow he used, what the arrow was made of… This foolish man would surely die before his questions could be answered.
In the same way, the Buddha said, our most urgent need is to find lasting relief from recurrent discontent which robs us of happiness and leaves us in strife. Philosophical speculations are of secondary importance and are best left until after one has trained the mind in meditation to the stage where one has the ability to examine the matter clearly and see the truth for oneself.
Thus the central teaching of the Buddha, around which all his other teachings revolve, is the Four Noble Truths:
1. All beings, human and otherwise, are afflicted with all sorts of disappointments, sadness, discomfort, anxiety, etc. In short they are subject to suffering.
2. The cause of this suffering is craving, born of the illusion of a ‘soul’.
3. Suffering has a final end in the experience of Enlightenment (Nibbana) which is the complete letting go of the illusion of ‘soul’ and the consequent ending of craving and ill will.
4. This peaceful and blissful Enlightenment is achieved through a gradual training, a path called the Middle Way, or the Eightfold Path.
It would be mistaken to label this teaching as ‘pessimistic’ on the grounds that it begins by focusing on suffering. Rather, Buddhism is ‘realistic’ in that it unflinchingly faces up to the truth of life’s many sufferings, and it is ‘optimistic’ in that it shows a final end to the problem: Nibbana – Enlightenment in this very life!
Those who have achieved this ultimate peace are inspiring examples who demonstrate once and for all that Buddhism is far from pessimistic but is a path to true happiness.

The Middle Way or Eightfold Path
The way to the end of all suffering is called the ‘Middle Way’ because it avoids the two extremes of sensual indulgence and self-mortification. Only when the body is in reasonable comfort but not overindulged, does the mind have the clarity and strength to meditate deeply and discover the truth. This Middle Way consists of the diligent cultivation of virtue, meditation and wisdom, which are explained in more detail as the Eightfold Path:
1. Right Understanding
2. Right Thought
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
(‘Right’ in the sense of being conducive to happiness and Enlightenment.)
Right Speech, Action and Livelihood constitute the training in virtue or morality. For a practising lay Buddhist it consists of maintaining the five Buddhist precepts
Right Effort, Mindfulness and Concentration refer to the practice of meditation, which purifies the mind through the experience of blissful states of inner stillness and empowers the mind to penetrate the meaning of life through profound moments of insight.
Right Understanding and Thought are the manifestations of Buddha-Wisdom which ends all suffering, transforms the personality and produces unshakeable serenity and tireless compassion.
According to the Buddha, without perfecting the practice of virtue it is impossible to perfect meditation, and without perfecting meditation it is impossible to arrive at Enlightenment Wisdom. Thus the Buddhist path is a gradual one, a middle way consisting of virtue, meditation and wisdom, explained in the Eightfold Path and leading to happiness and liberation.

Kamma
Kamma means ‘action’. According to the law of kamma, there are inescapable results of our intentional actions. There are deeds of body, speech and mind that lead to one’s own harm, to others’ harm, or to the harm of both. Such deeds are called bad or unwholesome kamma. They are motivated by craving, ill will or delusion, and because they bring painful results they should not be done.
There are also deeds of body, speech and mind that lead to one’s own well-being, to the well-being of others, or to the well-being of both. Such deeds are called good or wholesome kamma. They are motivated by generosity, compassion or wisdom, and because they bring pleasant results they should be done as often as possible.
Much of what one experiences is the result of one’s own previous kamma. Thus when misfortune occurs, instead of blaming someone else, one can look for faults in one’s own past conduct. If a fault is found, the experience of its consequences will make one more careful in the future. When happiness occurs, instead of taking it for granted, one can look for the past good kamma which caused it. If one can find such a cause, the experience of its pleasant results will encourage more good kamma in the future.

Rebirth
The Buddha clearly remembered many of his past lives. Even today many Buddhist monks and nuns, and others also, remember their past lives. Such a strong memory is a result of deep meditation. For those who remember their past lives rebirth becomes an established fact which puts this life in a meaningful perspective.
Rebirth takes place not only within the human realm. The Buddha pointed out that the realm of human beings is but one among many. There are many separate heavenly realms and grim lower realms too, including the realm of animals and the realm of ghosts.
Not only can we go to any of these realms in our next life, but we may have come from any of these realms into our present life. This explains a common objection against rebirth: “How can there be rebirth when there are 10 times as many people alive today as there were a century ago?” The answer is that people alive today have come from many different realms.
Understanding that we come and go between different realms, gives us more respect and compassion for the beings in these realms. It is unlikely, for example, that one would exploit animals when one has seen the link of rebirth that connects them with us.

No Creator God
The Buddha also pointed out that no God or priest nor any other kind of being has the power to interfere in the working out of someone else’s kamma. Buddhism, therefore, teaches individuals to take full responsibility for themselves. For example, if you want to be wealthy then be generous, trustworthy and diligent, and if you want to live in a heavenly realm then always be kind to others. There is no God to ask favours from, or to put it another way, there is no corruption possible in the workings of the law of kamma.
Do Buddhists believe that a Supreme Being created the universe? Buddhists would first ask which universe you mean. This present universe, from the moment of the ‘big bang’ up to now, is but one among a countless number in Buddhist cosmology. When one universe cycle ends another begins, again and again, according to impersonal law and without discoverable beginning. A Creator God is redundant in this scheme.
No being is a Supreme Saviour, because gods, humans, animals and all other beings are subject to the law of kamma. Even the Buddha had no power to save – he could only point out the truth for the wise to see for themselves. Everyone must take responsibility for their own future well-being, and it is dangerous to give that responsibility to anyone else.

The illusion of a ‘Soul’
The Buddha taught that there is no ‘soul’, no essential and permanent core to a living being. Instead, that which we call a ‘living being’, human or otherwise, can be seen to be but a temporary coming-together of many parts and activities – when complete it is called a ‘living being’, but when the parts have separated and the activities have ceased it is not called a ‘living being’ anymore.
Like a computer assembled of many parts and activities, only when it is complete and performs coherent tasks is it called a ‘computer’, but when the computer is taken apart and the activities cease it is no longer called a ‘computer’. No essential and permanent core can be found which we can truly call the ‘computer’, and just so no essential and permanent core can be found in a living being which we can call the ‘soul’.
Yet rebirth still occurs without a ‘soul’. Consider this simile: on a Buddhist shrine a candle is burnt low and is about to go out. A monk takes a new candle and lights it from the old one. The old candle goes out but the new candle burns bright. What went across from the old candle to the new one? There was a causal link but no ‘thing’ went across! In the same way, there was a causal link between your previous life and your present life, but no ‘soul’ went across.
Indeed, the illusion of a ‘soul’ is said by the Buddha to be the root cause of all human suffering. The illusion of ‘soul’ manifests as the ‘ego’. The natural unstoppable function of the ego is to control. Big egos want to control the world, average egos try to control their immediate surroundings of home, family and workplace, and all egos strive to control what they take to be their own body and mind.
Such control manifests as desire and aversion, and it results in a lack of both inner peace and outer harmony. It is this ego that seeks to acquire possessions, manipulate others and exploit the environment. Its aim is its own happiness but it invariably produces suffering. It craves for satisfaction but experiences discontent.
Such deep-rooted suffering cannot come to an end until one sees, through insight based on deep and powerful meditation, that the idea of ‘me and mine’ is no more than a mirage.