Cultural Awareness

Buddhism

Buddhism, starting from its basic teaching "arising through causation (Pratityasamutpada)", believes that all things are naturally formed from causes and condition (Hetupratyaya), man is also the combination from Five Classifications (Pancaskandha), under given conditions and the result of ignorance (Avidya). Buddhism specially emphasizes the inner basis of "free from world ", and stresses that human nature, which is naturally pure and enlightened, but dirty and befuddled because of being hoodwinked by desire. Only when man could see mind and enlighten nature by practicing Buddhism, then he is free from world and become Buddha.

The Four Noble Truths

In his first sermon, often referred to as 'Turning the Wheel of Dharma', the Buddha offered his analysis of the human condition and a solution to its problems. This is captured concisely in the Four Noble Truths.

1. Dukka: All realms of existence are places of suffering and dissatisfaction.
2. Tanha: The cause of this suffering he identified as craving or tanha.
3. Nibbana or Nirvana. This is a state in which all suffering and craving was non-existent, a state therefore of perfect bliss.
4. Noble Eightfold Path: This is the method by which Nibbana could be actualized.

Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, Right Concentration.

Karma and Rebirth: kusala versus akusala

The Buddha taught that Man is responsible for our own happiness and/or suffering. What is experience is dependent on one’s previous actions. Good moral actions lead to happy states and bad actions lead to future suffering. No-one, according to the Buddha, can escape responsibility for what they do. This is the process of kamma or karma which literally means 'action'. The Buddha referred to actions as either wholesome (kusala) or unwholesome (akusala). For an action to be morally wholesome or morally unwholesome there has to be intention. To accidentally hurt someone is not morally wrong.

The fruits of our actions ripen in the future. In Buddhism this could mean this life, or the next. Linked to the Buddha's teaching on karma, therefore, is the notion of rebirth and realms of existence other than the human realm. Traditionally, six realms are referred to:

1. The Hell worlds
2. The animal world
3. The realm of the hungry ghosts
4. The human realm
5. The realm of the jealous gods
6. The heavens

Depending on one's actions, a person is reborn in one of these realms. The best realm to be born into is the human realm is this affords the best opportunity for gaining enlightenment.

Importantly, the Buddha taught that it is not an individual soul that moves from one body to a new one, but that there is much more of a fluid process in which consciousness continues from one life to the next determined by previous deeds.

The Moral Code

The Buddha taught that it is important to live a good moral life if an individual is to gain enlightenment. The basic moral guidelines are captured in the five precepts. These are:

1. To abstain from harming living beings
2. To abstain from taking what is not given
3. To abstain from sexual misconduct
4. To abstain from false speech
5. To abstain from intoxicating drugs or drink

Buddhists aim to be compassionate for the welfare of all sentient beings, taking care not to harm any creature big or small. Stealing is morally unwholesome, as are being unfaithful, promiscuous or having sex with minors. The Buddha stressed the importance of being honest and truthful and warned against the dangers of intoxicants that cloud the mind. Monks and nuns take further precepts, including a vow of celibacy. Buddhism, however, is not just about living a good moral life. It is also about working with the mind to see things as they really are, which is to attain enlightenment.

Human Suffering

1. Life means Suffering.
To live means to suffer, because the human nature is not perfect and neither is the world we live in. During our lifetime, we inevitably have to endure physical suffering such as pain, sickness, injury, tiredness, old age, and eventually death; and we have to endure psychological suffering like sadness, fear, frustration, disappointment, and depression. Although there are different degrees of suffering and there are also positive experiences in life that we perceive as the opposite of suffering, such as ease, comfort and happiness, life in its totality is imperfect and incomplete, because our world is subject to impermanence. This means we are never able to keep permanently what we strive for, and just as happy moments pass by, we ourselves and our loved ones will pass away one day, too.

2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
The origin of suffering is attachment to transient things and the ignorance thereof. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround us, but also ideas, and -in a greater sense- all objects of our perception. Ignorance is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things. The reasons for suffering are desire, passion, ardor, pursue of wealth and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Objects of attachment also include the idea of a "self" which is a delusion, because there is no abiding self. What we call "self" is just an imagined entity, and we are merely a part of the ceaseless becoming of the universe.

3. The Cessation of Suffering is Attainable.
The cessation of suffering can be attained through nirodha, the unmaking of sensual craving and conceptual attachment. The third noble truth expresses the idea that suffering can be ended by attaining dispassion. Nirodha extinguishes all forms of clinging and attachment. This means that suffering can be overcome through human activity, simply by removing the cause of suffering. Attaining and perfecting dispassion is a process of many levels that ultimately results in the state of Nirvana. Nirvana means freedom from all worries, troubles, complexes, fabrications and ideas. Nirvana is not comprehensible for those who have not attained it.

4. The Path to the Cessation of Suffering: The Middle Path and Rebirth
There is a path to the end of suffering - a gradual path of self-improvement, which is described more detailed in the Eightfold Path. It is the middle way between the two extremes of excessive self-indulgence (hedonism) and excessive self-mortification (asceticism); and it leads to the end of the cycle of rebirth. The latter quality discerns it from other paths which are merely "wandering on the wheel of becoming", because these do not have a final object. The path to the end of suffering can extend over many lifetimes, throughout which every individual rebirth is subject to karmic conditioning. Craving, ignorance, delusions, and its effects will disappear gradually, as progress is made on the path.

The Importance of Death
From its inception, Buddhism has stressed the importance of death, since awareness of death is what prompted the Buddha to perceive the ultimate futility of worldly concerns and pleasures. Realizing that death is inevitable for a person who is caught up in worldly pleasures and attitudes, he resolved to renounce the world and devote himself to finding a solution to this most basic of existential dilemmas. After years of diligent and difficult practice he became enlightened, and through this he transcended death. His life provides his followers with a model to emulate, and even today Buddhist teachers strongly advise their students to meditate on death and impermanence, since they are powerful counteragents to short-sighted concern with the present life and one's own transitory happiness. Buddhist teachers also point out that according to tradition Buddha began his teaching career discussing death and impermanence in his first sermon on the four noble truths, and he also ended his career with teachings on death and impermanence, which indicates how important they are in Buddhist teaching and practice.

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