Buddhism is a humanistic philosophy with deep psychological insights. Some practitioners worship gods, others do not. The Buddha himself is not worshiped as a god, but he is venerated as a completed, spiritual teacher.
Buddhism's principal concept is that human consciousness can be transformed from attachment to ego, suffering, and objects of desire to the unattached bliss of Nirvana. The path of this transformation was demonstrated by the Buddha, an enlightened man who showed the way out of the wheel of life, death, and rebirth-the material world seemingly ruled by attachment and ignorance. Buddhism's fundamental practice is meditation, and its fundamental social expression is the Samgha, the order of priests.
One of the keys to understanding Buddhism is the concept of anatman, "no self." To understand anatman, we must begin with Buddha's Four Noble Truths: All life is suffering; suffering is caused by desire; there can be an end to desire; and to end desire, follow the Eightfold Path.
In the process of seeking for the meaning of life, Buddha came to realize that:
All Life Is Suffering
By this Buddha did not mean that life is a miserable experience. Rather, he was pointing out that even the most joyous moment contains the thought that the moment cannot last. Every life will come to an end. Everything is in the process of dying. At the moment of birth the journey begins toward death. The reality of death should be acknowledged, not denied or feared to the point of debilitation.
The Buddha would never discourage jogging, joining an exercise club, or pursuing a healthy diet. But he would insist these activities should be performed to enhance life, rather than to create the illusion that death can be postponed. The healthiest person alive will someday die. Hence, all life is suffering.
But the knowledge of death is not necessarily tragic. Death is a part of life. So what causes suffering? Is it simply the knowledge that good times don't last forever? No.
Suffering Is Caused by Desire
We want what we cannot have. We desire something because we believe it will bring happiness or release from sorrow. We attempt to hold on to joyous moments, trying to make them last forever. We gather things around us to protect us from suffering, so life becomes a matter of accumulating and desiring more of those things-a bigger house, a more suitable mate, better clothes, a more comfortable car, a higher-paying job that will provide more money to buy more things.
Buddha believed people consist of five skandhas, or bundles. Rather than consisting of a "soul" stuck in a body, people are made up of various parts, blending together to produce a whole. The five skandhas are:
Form (outward appearance)
Feelings (inward emotions)
Perceptions (how we visualize what we feel)
Impulses (Karmic dispositions-the forces that propel life forward toward a goal)
Background consciousness (that from which we spring and to which we return)
To see how these things work together, consider, as an example, an inner conversation before buying a new car:
That's a nice car. (The form of the car pleases us.)
I want that car! (We experience an inward emotion of desire.)
I can just see myself driving down the street. Imagine the stares of approval I'd get. (We visualize how we would feel.)
I deserve that car. It was meant for me! (We believe Karma, or fate, brought us to this place and time.)
I've always wanted a car like that! (We come to believe our purchase is somehow eternally predestined.)
Note the progress from skandha to skandha. Form stimulates feelings, which form perceptions, provoke impulses, and inform consciousness.
The problem, according to Buddha, is that most people get stuck on the word "I." "I" want, "I" feel, "I" visualize. But who is this "I"? "I" is obviously the villain of the piece, because it is this "I" who is setting in progress the chain of desires that lead to suffering. By saying "I," we demonstrate that we feel as though we are somehow an individual separate from the rest of the world. If "I" am "me," and "you" are "you," then we are obviously separate from each other. And if "I" desire something, then the "I" that desires must be an entity separate from the desire itself.
Buddha would say we are misreading the data. The "I" who sees and perceives is simply a phenomenon. It is an illusion. It does not really exist. It is a word expressing the way we perceive what is, in fact, the bundle of parts that make up our whole.
We are now approaching the point where we can begin to understand anatman. We have seen that suffering is caused by desire. Buddha came to realize that "desire" was the weak point. This is where Buddhism becomes positive.
There Can Be an End to Desire
Suffering is like fire. It needs fuel. Remove the fuel and the fire goes out. Desire is the fuel that feeds suffering. If the perceived "I" can stop desiring, suffering can be stopped. It's as simple (and as difficult) as that.
Follow the Eightfold Path
But how do we stop desiring? How do we control such a basic human tendency? The path is difficult. Buddha's Fourth Noble Truth describes it as the Eightfold Path:
Right Understanding (seeing through illusions such as the idea that wealth will bring happiness)
Right Thought or Motives (doing for others rather than for oneself)
Right Speech (even to ourselves-positive words are better than negative ones)
Right Action (doing nothing that would have to be kept hidden)
Right Livelihood (work must be consistent with beliefs)
Right Effort (constant awareness of the Eightfold Path)
Right Mindfulness (doing everything purposefully)
Right Meditation (final attainment of the trance state of anatman, "no self"; we understand that we are one with everything and connected to it all, without being aware that we are aware-we simply "are")
When we come to the point wherein the "I," the ego, has retreated, taking its proper place as simply a phenomenon, we are freed from the desires upon which the "I" has insisted. Once we are freed from desire, suffering cannot exist, because suffering is caused by desire.
Acceptance replaces desire, and there is a vast difference between the two. Acceptance has to do with embracing the duality of life as it is in the moment, not desiring to modify it, change it, or judge it. This is the Middle Way between the pairs of opposites, joy and sorrow. Instead of clinging to the joy and attempting to hold onto it by any and all methods, we accept joy when it comes just as we accept sorrow when it comes. And by seeking acceptance, we discover the Middle Way between joy and sorrow to the place of peace that embraces both. This is enlightenment.
(See also Buddha)
Sources: Ellwood, Robert S., and Barbara A. McGraw. Many Peoples, Many Faiths. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999. Hagen, Steve. Buddhism Plain and Simple. Boston: Charles E. Tuttle Co., 1997. Peterson, Michael et al. Reason and Religious Belief: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.
