Learn about Buddhism: a beginner's guide

Although Buddhism has been practiced in the West since the early XNUMXth century, it is still foreign to most Westerners. And it is still often misrepresented in popular culture, in books and magazines, on the Web and often also in academia. This can make learning difficult; there is a lot of bad information out there that drown the good.

Also, if you go to a Buddhist temple or a dharma center, you may be taught a version of Buddhism that applies only to that school. Buddhism is an extremely diverse tradition; probably more than Christianity. While all Buddhism shares a basic teaching core, it is possible that much of what could be taught by one teacher may be directly contradicted by another.

And then there is the Scripture. Most of the world's major religions have a basic canon of scripture - a Bible, if you will - that everyone in that tradition accepts as authoritative. This is not true of Buddhism. There are three main scriptural canons, one for Theravada Buddhism, one for Mahayana Buddhism and one for Tibetan Buddhism. And the many sects within these three traditions often have their own ideas of which scriptures are worth studying and which are not. A sutra revered in a school is often ignored or completely rejected by others.

If your goal is to learn the basics of Buddhism, where do you start?

Buddhism is not a belief system
The first obstacle to overcome is understanding that Buddhism is not a belief system. When the Buddha achieved enlightenment, what he achieved was so far from ordinary human experience there was no way to explain it. Instead, he devised a path of practice to help people achieve enlightenment for themselves.

The doctrines of Buddhism, therefore, are not meant to be simply believed. There is a Zen that says, "The hand that points to the moon is not the moon." Doctrines are more like hypotheses to be tested or indications for truth. What is called Buddhism is the process by which the truths of doctrines can be realized for themselves.

The process sometimes called practice is important. Westerners often debate whether Buddhism is a philosophy or a religion. Since it is not focused on worshiping a God, it does not fit the standard western definition of "religion". That means it has to be a philosophy, right? But in truth it does not even fit the standard definition of "philosophy".

In a scripture called Kalama Sutta, the Buddha taught us not to blindly accept the authority of the scriptures or teachers. Westerners often like to mention that part. However, in the same paragraph, he also said not to judge the truth of things based on logical deductions, reason, probability, "common sense" or if a doctrine fits what we already believe. What's left?

What remains is the process or the path.

The trap of beliefs
Very briefly, the Buddha taught that we live in a mist of illusions. We and the world around us are not what we think they are. Because of our confusion, we fall into unhappiness and sometimes into destructiveness. But the only way to be free from those illusions is to perceive personally and intimately that they are illusions. Simply believing in the doctrines of illusions does not do the job.

For this reason, many of the doctrines and practices may initially make no sense. They are not logical; they do not conform to what we already think. But if they simply conformed to what we already think, how could they help us get out of the confused thought box? Doctrines should challenge your current understanding; that's what they are for.

Since the Buddha did not want his followers to be satisfied by forming beliefs about his teaching, he sometimes refused to answer direct questions, such as "Do I have an I?" or "how did it all start?" Sometimes he said that the question was irrelevant for lighting. But it also warned people not to get stuck in opinions and opinions. He didn't want people to turn his answers into a belief system.

The four noble truths and other doctrines
Ultimately, the best way to learn Buddhism is to choose a particular Buddhism school and immerse yourself in it. But if you want to learn on your own for a little earlier, here's what I suggest:

The four noble truths are the basic foundation upon which the Buddha built his teaching. If you are trying to understand the doctrinal structure of Buddhism, this is the starting point. The first three truths outline the basic structure of the Buddha's argument about the cause - and cure - of dukkha, a word often translated as "suffering", although it really means something closer to "stressful" or "unable to satisfy." "

The fourth noble truth is the profile of Buddhist practice or the Eightfold Path. In short, the first three truths are the "what" and the "why" and the fourth is the "how". More than anything else, Buddhism is the practice of the Eightfold Path. You are encouraged to follow the links to the Truth and the Path articles and all the support links contained therein.