Sunday Sermon: Buddhism

I find Buddhism to be rather interesting, and I’ve done a fair amount of study of it. I think there is a lot we can learn from its teachings.

The Buddha sat under a tree and meditated, and finally determined four noble truths: That life is suffering, that suffering is caused by craving and attachment, that that cause can be broken, and the eight-fold path to cessation of suffering.

This is not a pessimistic philosophy, but a realistic one. You may say, “but some things are enjoyable.” That’s completely true. But when such things inevitably end, they often leave behind a sense of longing for them or regret (think hangovers).

You may also say that natural events (storms, disease, etc) cause suffering. That’s fairly true too. An argument could be made, however, that the actual unpleasantness experienced by a human stems from their attachment to anything lost in such an event. The actual Buddhist explanation involves cosmology and reincarnation, and I don’t really want to go there.

The essence of the Buddhist path to nirvana, or cessation of suffering, is freeing oneself from all attachments. This is not to detach yourself from the world, the people around you, or your relationships, but rather to accept them as they are. You can still have a loving and happy relationship, but do not fear any potential end to that relationship. Accept it as it is and enjoy it. And if it does end, say, in a breakup, then accept that as it is and move on.

There is also a strong element of understanding and ethics. Indeed, the eight-fold path consists primarily of understanding your own mind and the world around you, and being a good person based on that accurate understanding. In this way, you free yourself from pretense and guilt.

I do not claim that this is necessarily easy, or that I am by any means perfect at it. But I think all of us could use some lessons on accepting reality as it is, without the veil of our own preconceptions. Buddhist teachings have really helped me in some hard times before.

I encourage everyone to look more into it; I can’t go too much in depth here.  Here are a couple links for more information:
http://buddhanet.net
Buddhism on Wikipedia