Wesak Day - Part 02 - What Buddhism Should Be, But Has Become

The Noble Eightfold Path is:

1. The Wisdom To Have The Right View.
2. The Wisdom To Have The Right Intention.
3. The Ethical Conduct of Right Speech.
4. The Ethical Conduct of Right Action.
5. The Ethical Conduct of Right Livelihood.
6. The Mental Development To Have The Right Effort.
7. The Mental Development To Have The Right Mindfulness.
8. The Mental Development To Have The Right Concentration.
   

(Click on the link above to learn more about The Noble Eightfold Path).

The only conclusion is that True Buddhism is VERY HARD TO PRACTICE. It involves totally changing your way of life and sacrificing everything. The monks in those isolated monasteries are the only ones closest to practicing Buddhism.


What Buddhism has become is a set of Rites and Rituals, which are "followed" instead of doing those very difficult steps to self-enlightenment. Let me be the first one to say that I cannot practice this in my daily life. At least I can understand the cost I am paying for following this "modern" life.


The sets of rituals and the temples (those places to practice the rituals) are what makes it seem that Buddhism is a Religion. The "practitioners" have replaced the hard work, mental effort, and sacrifices with symbolic gestures of burning joss-sticks and prayers. Another example is where the "Buddhist" goes vegetarian on the 1st Day and the 15th Day of the Lunar Month. In addition, various deities seemed to have been added on.


All this is only my opinion, I am just saying that there seem to be a vast difference between what Buddha taught and what people practice today.

A Temple (Puh Toh Tze) I visited this morning.

Another one I visited this morning.

Giant Joss-sticks.

A White Elephant.

A White Lion.

The Peak Nam Tong Temple with its pagoda. There are other pagodas in Kota Kinabalu and Tuaran, for those interested.



About Buddhism

The greatest achievement is selflessness.
The greatest worth is self-mastery.
The greatest quality is seeking to serve others.
The greatest precept is continual awareness.
The greatest medicine is the emptiness of everything.
The greatest action is not conforming with the world's ways.
The greatest magic is transmuting the passions.
The greatest generosity is non-attachment.
The greatest goodness is a peaceful mind.
The greatest patience is humility.
The greatest effort is not be concerned with results.
The greatest meditation is a mind that lets go.
The greatest wisdom is seeing through appearances.

Atisha (11th century Tibetan Buddhist master)

Wesak Day - Part 01 - The Buddha and Buddhism

Wesak Day (or Vesak Day) today celebrates not just the birth of Siddhārtha Gautama, but also his enlightenment, nirvana and passing. The term Buddha means The Enlightened One; so those later people who attained enlightenment are also Buddhas.

Wesak Day falls on the 15th Day of the Fourth Lunar Month (for countries in South East Asia and China).

Siddhārtha Gautama was believed to have lived in 563 BCE to 483 BCE (its impossible to be definitive). His teachings and sayings were passed down orally and were only written up some 400 years after his death. His was a nice story of a prince, in a small state said to be in present day Nepal, who was foretold at birth that he would either be a Great King, or a Great Holy Man if he was allowed to see the world. His father kept him within the palace walls until he escaped when he was 29 years old. The suffering he saw in the "real world" prompted his spiritual quest. He achieved enlightenment at age 35 under a Bhodi Tree, and spent the rest of his life preaching this Path of Enlightenment

In the present day, there are numerous varieties of Buddhism of the generally accepted two schools of Buddhism. The older school is called Theravada(India and South East Asia) and the other Mahayana (East Asia - Zen, Tibetan, Nichiren ...).

Its impossible in this short write-up to go much deeper into Buddhism Philosophy, but I like to believe that The Buddha taught The Four Noble Truths. The Fourth Truth states that liberation can be attained from following The Noble Eightfold Path.

The Four Noble Truths are:

• The Noble Truth that is Suffering.

• Life as we know it ultimately leads to suffering in one way or another.

(Note that english words have very narrow meanings and so cannot convey the full scope of the concept . "Suffering" is more than physical pain or mental anguish. It has the wide scope of disquietude - a condition of being disturbed; which encompasses unsatisfactoriness, anxiety, stress, frustration, discomfort, ... The concept of Suffering is not pessimistic, but realistic)

• The Noble Truth that is The Arising of Suffering.
• Suffering is caused by Craving (Desire).

(Usually explained as clinging onto beliefs and wanting things thought to bring happiness or the desire to remove the beliefs and things thought to cause unhappiness.)

• The Noble Truth that is The End of Suffering.
• Suffering ends when Craving (Desire) ends.

(Simple, isn't it?)

• The Noble Truth that is The Way Leading To The End of Suffering.

• Liberation is by following the Noble Eightfold Path.

(What's the Noble Eightfold Path? Well, let's leave that to another day - another post)

Buddhism is NOT a religion.

The Buddha does not have any SPIRITUAL POWER over you.

He is NOT A God.