Beginning Buddhism

According to many, our mind plays a major role in the quality of our life and how we relate to both oneself and others. Understanding this, we can come to better understand ourselves and, thereby make extraordinary advances in what Aristotle called eudemonia, or the good life. Eudemonia is a sense of well-being, a deeply seated feeling of joy. Not the happy-happy-joy-joy type but, a grounded feeling of contented joy that is both stable and constant. One that is unshakable even in the face of modern life with all its problems and difficulties.

You Are Your Own Friend

All living beings want a happy life and, every living being wants to be free of any form of suffering. Everyone has this innate wish, the wish for greater happiness, and it is not a selfish wish. However we often employ erroneous methods in our endeavor to find happiness or eudemonia. Many people, believing that happiness can be found through physical stimuli or financial security, spend their entire lives chasing after money, power and fame only to be exhausted by their efforts. They may spend countless hours building businesses and careers only to find themselves struggling with feelings of loneliness or even guilt for being away from their families. Does this mean you cannot have a good job or career? Does this mean you cannot enjoy a wealth of resources? Good cars, nice restaurants or the latest pair of shoes? No, it certainly does not. But, if we think that happiness will be gained once we have this or that item, this way of thinking will surely end in tears! It is not money, fame or power that are the causes of problems, rather it is how we relate to them that is the real cause of our problems. We usually struggle to gain them and when we finely do achieve this or that we grasp onto them thinking…my precious…my precious.

This shows that happiness or suffering is generated from within our own mind. Clearly everything is dependent on mind. And this is great news.

Knowing that happiness can be found from within the mind, we have a real chance, right now, right here, to begin softening our mind to include the actual causes of happiness.

1. Compassion.
2. Friendliness.
3. Patience.
4. Wisdom.

All these minds can be cultivated. It is possible through practice to increase compassion for both oneself and others. In the Buddhist tradition compassion starts with being compassionate towards yourself. Do you really think it is possible to have real compassion for others yet, not for yourself? By having compassion for oneself we are able to have faults yet not let these faults become overwhelming and all consuming. If this were to happen these so-called faults become obstacles. We can start to identify with them. I am a terrible person. I have this problem or I have that problem. But these faults can also be our teacher. They can show us what we need to work on. By not identifying and grasping onto our faults we can place some space between them and us. We simply recognize faults as faults and, we endeavor to remove them from our minds.

This is where the tool of meditation comes into play. Meditation is not just something you do in order to lower your blood pressure, or remove stress. It is also a tool used to develop positive minds like compassion, love and wisdom. This is why monks meditate and it is also the object of their meditations. They meditate In order to develop their minds and to remove neurotic states of consciousness. The end result is what in Buddhism is called enlightenment. Enlightenment is merely the experience of infinite love, compassion and wisdom. It is the final experience of a fully developed mind. It is something that you and I can achieve. Once this is achieved you are then in a real position to help others. You don’t stop living. An enlightened person carries on life after life showing others how to achieve this same experience called enlightenment.

You Are Your Own Protector

No one can force you to begin the process of turning inwards. It is something that you must decide to do for yourself. Turning inwards is something that Buddhist monks have done for more than 2500 years. The process of introspection is not about focusing only on yourself at the exclusion of everyone else, nor is it about sitting in a cave blanking out. Rather, turning inwards, is an active investigation into who we really are and how life really works! What western philosophers call doing philosophy. Only you can make the choice to begin doing philosophy.
The Buddha once said:

You are your own protector
Who else will be this protector.
By thoroughly knowing themselves
The wise will attain higher status.

This investigation is not an easy task. It can take time, effort and patience. That is why unfortunately, most people don’t even begin. However it can be an extremely satisfying and incredibly rewarding journey. Not only for yourself but, also for your family, friends and others you meet through life. You don’t need to go off to a mountain cave or wear funny clothes in order to start. Changing your life starts right now, right here!

There is a funny story that will illustrate my point quite well. It is an old Tibetan story about the meaning of practising patience.

There was once an old lama who was the abbot of a monastery in Eastern Tibet. The monastery like many in Tibet sat at the base of a mountain. He lived there with his attendant, a cook and many many students. The lama was a famous scholar and a great yogi (meditation master). People would come from all over Tibet to hear his lectures. One day the cook came to the abbot and said, ‘Lama I have decided to go off to the mountain caves to meditate. I now see that my life is impermanent and, I think it is important that I no longer waste time with mundane things’. The Lama asked the cook what he planned to meditate on, what subject. The cook replied patience, and then said, ‘will you let me go?’ The Lama agreed. So the cook prepared for his journey, all excited that he was finally getting his chance to meditate and practice the dharma. The following day he set off, taking with him just the clothes on his back and some tsampa (Tibetan roasted barley)to eat. It took two hours of trekking to reach the cave but, once he did he felt so good, so happy he almost cried. He told himself, ‘Now I will achieve enlightenment’, or so he thought!

About a week later the lama called for his attendant. He said, ‘Please go up to the mountain and find my cook. Once you have found the cave he is in, sneak in and slap him across his face!’ And so the attendant did as he was asked. He found the cave, snuck up to the cook and, slapped him across the face as hard as he could.

The cook angrily leapt from his meditation shouting, ‘How dare you interrupt my practice you fool!’ The cook chased the attendant down the mountain, all the way back to the monastery. As they reached the monastery and came around the last corner, there was the lama waiting. ‘How is your meditation now?’ he asked.

So, the meaning behind this story is, we have all the necessary circumstances to transform our lives right here and right now. We don’t need to go off to some exotic land of Lamas or some magical shangri-la to find happiness. It is found right within our own minds.

The process of transformation to a being endowed with compassion, empathy, love and wisdom begins with one simple thought…I can do this…I will do this!

The rest will naturally follow. In this way we are our own protectors.

The Buddha said more than two and a half millennia ago, all beings want happiness and wish to avoid suffering. At first glance, this may seem like a simplistic observation however, a closer examination will reveal an extraordinary implication.

Everyone has this innate wish, the wish for greater happiness, it is not a selfish wish, however, we often use erroneous methods in our endeavors to find it. Many people believing that happiness can be found through physical stimuli or financial security, spend their entire lives chasing after money, power and fame only to be exhausted by their efforts. Buddhism asserts that although external conditions, such as, money or a nice car do play a role in a good life, they are not the real causes of happiness. You don’t need to look too far to find people who are materially well off, yet experience unhappiness, which if left unchecked can lead to depression. This does not mean we should not have material things or work towards providing for our families. Owning a nice car, a big house or having a highly paid career is not the issue. The issue is how we relate to these things. The real source of life’s problems and their resolutions can be found within our mind.
What I find most compelling about the Buddha’s statement is he hints at our fundamental capacity to expand and develop our experiences of happiness. Not the kind of happiness that is generated by forcing yourself to laugh or the kind of happiness that is sometimes jokingly described as happy happy joy joy. The happiness that is referred to here, is a genuine feeling of joy that naturally arises due to the cultivation of functional states of mind. It is a feeling of contentment with yourself, your life and the things and events that you encounter. It is not a passive experience. It makes you want to embrace life and the people you encounter through it. So his statement, all beings want happiness and want to avoid suffering, is not merely an observation but rather a supremely optimistic statement.

This statement of the Buddha also hints at our current situation. Like it or not, most people experience unwanted problems. Be they big or small, they are problems nonetheless and they are unwanted! No one wakes up in the morning and thinks, today I hope nothing but problems come my way. In fact the opposite is often the case. We wake up thinking about all the good things that might happen. We plan our day, thinking of the things we need to get done. Yet unexpected problems do arise. We can find ourselves experiencing the tension of a strained relationship, the stress of deadlines, or even the boredom of work. The Buddha points this out as a means of motivating us to begin our journey. Don’t live in denial. Face up to the fact that we do, even if just occasionally, experience these problems but, understand there is something you can do about this situation. You have the power to change your life, no one else can do it for you. In this regard the Buddha once said,

You are your own protector,
who else will be this protector?

This is great news, you can change your life and it is not that difficult. However, it is a journey, and like all good journeys, it starts with making the decision to go. To sum up then, the basic framework of the Buddha’s message is. All of us want happiness, yet what happiness we currently experience is fleeting at best. However, it is possible to experience real and lasting happiness that transcends any experience of happiness or bliss that is generated from physical stimuli, and that the methods which enable this can be found within our own mind.
This is where meditation comes in. Meditation is the tool used in the Enlightenment Project. It is both a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in this endeavor. Meditation introduces you to the world of your mind. A world that for many has remained hidden. Meditation brings the world of your mind to the forefront of life. Making it work for you rather than letting it enslave you. Many people are unaware of the potential of their mind or the role it plays in your life. Many unaware of this go through life acting out in habitual ways, reacting with events habitual tendencies, many of which lead to the problems describe earlier. The removal of dysfunctional states of mind, such as anger, jealousy or pride and the development of functional minds such as the minds of loving-kindness, compassion and wisdom constitutes the Enlightenment Project.

Buddhism is not just a religion; it is a pragmatic description of life that details our very existence and shows us methods for eliminating the dissatisfactory nature of much of our everyday experiences. The Buddha showed us the true nature of conditioned existence. It can be said the teachings of the Buddha are a set of mind training instructions that lead anyone who diligently practices these trainings to lasting happiness. Not just the happiness found through physical stimuli but, a happiness that is far deeper and meaningful than can be found through ordinary activities, money or fame.

The Buddhist Path

The Buddhist path is rich in history and has many different methods used in training the mind. In fact, the Buddhist canon extends to 84,000 different teachings. All of those 84,000 teachings are presented with one goal in mind, to eliminate suffering at its source so that the conditions that give rise to these dissatisfactory experiences will never return again. The Buddha showed us in his enumeration of the Four Noble Truths; that conditioned life bound by karma and delusion is by nature dissatisfactory – true suffering. That the source of this dissatisfactoriness is a basic belief in a non-existent imaginary – true existence – and that by employing certain methods – true paths – one can permanently eliminate the true source of our problems - delusions such as anger, attachment, pride, jealousy and so forth.

The Buddhist path could be summarized as having two main aspects. The removal of dysfunctional states of mind, such as anger, attachment and ignorance and the development of functional minds such as compassion and wisdom – the wisdom knowing the nature of reality.

Why are minds such as anger dysfunctional? Because, although wishing for happiness the mind of anger in fact produces an agitated experience. Often when we get angry we lash out either physically or verbally, thinking this will make things somehow better but, in fact these actions often make things worse. For this reason the mind of anger does not function as we intent and is therefore dysfunctional. In contrast to this the mind of compassion and wisdom are functional because they operate in way that is concordant with our fundamental intentions.

The purpose of prayer in Buddhism

Buddhist Prayer and by extension chanting, as chanting is nothing more than rhythmic vocalization of prayer, are guided meditations used to remind us of the internal knowledge that prayer can render. They are also affirmations, by reciting them with heartfelt devotion the spiritual aspirant is reaffirming their commitment, not to some deity or another person, but to the development of ideal inherent in the prayer. For instance, the purpose of this prayer composed by Shantideva in his famous text Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds

For as long as space endues

and for as long as living beings remain

may I too remain,

to eliminate the suffering of the world

is the generation of compassion and the universal responsibility that is a prerequisite to the development of Bodhichitta. Matireya’s Ornament for Clear Realisations defines Bodhichitta as: Bodhichitta means for the sake of others, wishing to achieve complete, perfect enlightenment.

By reciting this prayer the spiritual aspirant is implicitly endorsing compassion and bodhichitta - the mind of enlightenment - and reaffirming their commitment to the development of these minds. All Buddhist art, literature and music has the same intention. Even the folds in a monks robes have symbolic meaning related to the Buddhist path.

So does this mean there is no benefit in praying to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas? No, there is benefit but, if the Buddha is omniscient and has infinite compassion, they, all Buddhas, are already helping us whether we ask for it or not! By praying to these beings for help and inspiration we are opening ourselves to their influence even more than if we do not pray and, we are also implicitly saying, I think the qualities of the enlightened beings is useful. I would like to have these qualities myself. Therefore I will practice the methods that are the causes of these qualities.

Who was the Buddha?

The Buddha was a real person. He was born into a royal family in what would nowadays be southern Nepal. As it was the custom in those days, the Buddha’s father asked an astrologer to outline the baby boys future. After a quick observation of the baby, the astrologer announced that he would become either a universal monarch or a great spiritual leader.

Hearing this the Buddha’s father shielded his son from sick and dying people. If any of the palace staff got sick they were quickly removed from the young princes sight as the father did not want to arouse any spiritual aspirations in his young son.
As time went by, the young prince become more and more disillusioned with his circumstances, surely there is something more to life than just sport, food and sleep, he thought. So he began to sneak out of the palace at night to visit the townships surrounding the royal palace. This is when he first came across sick, dying and diseased people. Seeing their plight, the young prince was overcome with compassion. Finally he went to his father to tell him he was leaving the palace to find a freedom from the dissatisfactory events that condition our existence. So at the age of 29 he set off on a journey that would culminate in the development and finally the direct experience of infinite compassion and infinite wisdom - this we label as Enlightenment or Buddhahood - he was 35 by this time.

What the Buddha taught

The Buddha taught that all living beings have a natural disposition that seeks greater happiness and wishes to avoid even the slightest suffering. Not only that, he said that we also have the right to be happy. It is not selfish to want happiness. Unfortunately we sometimes employee erroneous methods, thinking that happiness will be found in things and events. More often than not these things and events become a cause of our unhappiness. The new car breaks down, the new hair-do never looks the same after leaving the salon.
Does that mean the Buddha said we shouldn’t have nice cars or get new hair cuts? No it doesn’t. It is how we relate to things and events that is the real problem not the thing themselves.

The greatest potential

Not only do we have this natural wish for more and more happiness, because of the very nature of our mind, we have the capacity to develop infinite compassion and infinite wisdom just like the Buddha did. He called this potential Buddha Nature. Because the basic or fundamental nature of the mind is not permanently clouded by conception it is possible to remove these dysfunctional states of mind.
Therefore every living being regardless of age or gender, all have the potential to become a Buddha. One could say that in essence the teachings of the Buddha show us, either directly or indirectly, how to replace dysfunctional states of mind with functional states of mind.

The process of transformation

The primary source of happiness and unhappiness is in fact our own mind. Therefore consciousness itself is the principal object of investigation for Buddhists. The principal tool used in this investigation is meditation and the Buddha has developed many techniques for refining and stabilizing consciousness. So, just as scientists use telescopes or microscopes to investigate the physical universe. Buddhists use meditation to investigate the inner world of the mind and to develop healthier, balanced and constructive states of mind - the real causes of happiness.
What are these dysfunctional minds? There are said to be six main types of minds that at face value appear to be useful but, at closer inspection are in fact the cause of many of our problems. The six are anger, attachment, ignorance, pride, doubt and holding opinions that take us away from happiness. A Buddha doesn’t suffer from any of these as they have replaced them with compassion and wisdom.

Dispelling misconceptions

Ok, let me ask you a question.

Question: Is non-attachment and detachment the same? Do they mean the same thing? I ask this because out of the six main minds anger, attachment etc, attachment is the most misunderstood.

My answer: I would say they are not the same. Detachment implies a factor of not caring about others. Whereas non-attachment does not imply this, it is simply an experience free from a mind that is clingy. Thus giving your mind space for unconditional friendliness and love - the wish for another to be happy without any feeling of gain or loss.

Spirit of enquiry

One of the things I love about Buddhism is it encourages the spirit of enquiry, much as science does. The Buddha said not to believe what he taught out of mere respect or through faith alone but, to experience the path for ourselves. Does that mean we can just make stuff up? No but, as with science, we are encouraged to experiment and see for ourselves if what he has said was true is true.

Some people, not only in western cultures, think that religion is about giving up free thought. They believe that being religious is about accepting a given set of instructions and bending your own ideas and believes to match the ideas of a given religion. Buddhism is not like this, in fact, it is the very opposite of that. It is youthful enthusiasm and a thirst for knowledge and understanding that will yield the most of any field of study. Buddhism is no different. Conducting experiments using the Buddhist tool of meditation with a sense of discovery and openness is the key to progression along the path.

In a future post I would like to expand on the theme of enquiry as I feel it is something that is not discussed often.

Have you been in the position where although you have tried hard you just can’t seem to get your dharma practice working? You keep telling yourself that you should learn how to meditate or meditate each day for a week but, then life gets in the road!

You are not alone!

Most practitioners have faced this problem at some point. Some make it through, while others simply give up. If you want to be one of those who makes it, you need three key elements - patience, perseverance and consistency.

Patience is key for any endeavor be it spiritual or not. Would you expect someone to become a great musician in months? No of course you wouldn’t. So why get frustrated. Have patience and you will become better and always remind yourself that it will take time and in some cases allot of time. How much time I hear you ask! Well that will depend on the individual and your natural abilities. But most importantly it depends on consistency. Your consistency has a direct bearing on just how long that is.

Consistency is related to perseverance, in that without it, consistency will not arise naturally. Don’t think that just making up your mind to practice meditation each day is enough to set you self on a stable course. The decision to start is great but, if it no more than a spurt of energy or a reaction to an event in your live, then you are doomed to fail. For dharma practice and meditation to stay in gear so to speak, consistency is the most important element of the three.

Think of your practice like a set of scales. If you wanted to shift the balance of a set of scales from one side to the other, and you could only move one small weight per day. It will take longer if you only move a weight once a week or when we you have some free time, correct! Not only that but, what if on every day you didn’t move a weight, a weight was moved back to it’s original side! You will never shift the balance of the scales. So you can see from this that consistency is very important. 20 minutes of meditation a day everyday is better than 2 hours every week on a Sunday. Is 2 hours on a Sunday worthwhile you bet but, without a regular session your mind like a set of scales cannot make great advances along the path.

Perseverance without the ability to keep trying many people give up! They are unable to see the benefits of meditation and after a while think that it would be better if they go and do something…anything!
When you feel you motivation waning, read material on the benefits of meditation, or the biographies of the great yogis. Inspire yourself to give it one more crack!

With consistent practice you will be meditating just like the great masters of the past and present.
But remember meditation without proper study is like trying to cut a piece of steak with your finger.

Here is another post on developing a meditation practice

I have heard people ask this question before. I’ve even seen friends and relatives turn away in fright when the subject of death meditation comes up. But the purpose of meditating on death is not to be morbid, negative or to induce fear. Anytime you think that Buddhism is being negative, I can guarantee you that you have misunderstand something. Buddhism is about replacing dysfunctional states of mind with functional minds. So the question is really what is the purpose of meditating on death.

Generally speaking we are so busy with our lives that finding time to sit down and practice is not an easy task. Even when we really want to meditate, life can get in the road! This is where death meditation come into play as it is a powerful motivating force. Why, because death is final! Once you are dead you aint got no more time to practice…the jig is up!

So just as sports people us different techniques to motivate themselves and their team mates, Buddhist use the finality of death to motivate themselves, and to reinforce a sense of urgency about the real situation.  

So you can see that it is not something to be frightened by but, in fact it can be the rocket fuel that will help you become a great meditate. Of course if you have read this far then you are less likely to issues with death meditation. So lets get into the meaty stuff.

Developing an aspiration for benefiting future lives

Qualm: Why do I need to develop an aspiration to benefit a life that has not even come into being!
Answer: By not doing so you run the risk of becoming too focused on this life and in doing so you can weaken your practice. Sure you need to take care of your family, friends, you need to work to pay the bills. This is not what is meant by too focused.
Being too focused means you become more concerned with how other people see you and so your reputation becomes very important to you. This in turn mans you start to act in a way that you think they will like! You seek the approval of others.

That one example, another might be money. Many people worry unnecessarily about money. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about it, work in order to get more. It means worrying about it is unless! Worry and doubt are very be problems and quite a debilitating mind. A disease of the mind, in that it can rot your mind getting worse and worse over time.

The faults of not meditating on death

By not meditating on death you will not remember the dharma. Of course even if you do remember the dharma you won’t practice as you think something like…ah I’ll do it after dinner or when I retire or over the weekend. Even if you practice the dharma you will not do so purely because you are focused on this life. You might think something like by learning meditating I will become very peaceful and attractive and then everyone will love me.  It’s clear that mediating with a motivation like that is not good in fact from a Mahayana point of view this would not even be regarded as a Buddhist meditation. My teacher says that meditating like this is selfish, meditation is about benefiting both yourself and others.

Without an awareness of your own immortality you will lack persistence with meditation and are much more likely to perform non-virtuous actions as you will mistaken think that there is plenty of time to fix it later. Or you might just not care!

Unfortunately without this awareness you will die with regret. Now I have seen this happen first hand. Someone coming to our center year in year out. Dies of cancer with the thought I could have done more! Oh god I wish I had practiced more!

This is very sad to watch someone struggle like this.

Below is a 9 round death meditation. It is made up of 3 propositions, 9 reasons and 3 decisions.

How to meditate on death

Death is definite

1: Death will definitely come, nothing can stop it.

2: Life span is continuously decreasing

3: Death will come regardless of whether you have made time to practice or not

Decision: It is definite that I will die and so I must practice dharma!

Time of death is uncertain

1: The life span of beings is this world is uncertain

Shantideva, Engaging in the Bodhisattva Deeds

Remaining nether day nor night,
This life is constantly slipping by
And never getting any longer.
Why will death not come to one like me!

2: There are more factors conductive to death than life
    a: External factors
    b: Internal factors
    c: Things that generally support life can become the cause of your demise

3: Our bodies are very fragile

Decision: As I am not sure when I will die, I must practice dharma now!

At the time of death, only the dharma can help

1: Friends cant help - you have to leave by yourself.

2: Your wealth cant help you - you cant take your money with you or buy a first class seat into the next life.

3: Body cannot help you through the death process.

Decision: As nothing but the dharma can benefit me at my time of death. I must practice dharma purely!

1: Always meditate in the same place.
Set up a special place for your meditation. Either a quite room somewhere in your house, or if you are like me and your bedroom and living room are one and the same (I live in a monastery). Setup a special place in your room that is used for meditation/reading dharma only.
I have a place in my room where I have a low coffee, zabuton mat, cushion, and small book shelf.

2: Place a piece of soft fabric underneath the palms of your hands.
This one I got from a Tibetan yogi who spent more than 20 years meditating in the hills of Dharamsala.
Place a piece of soft fabric underneath the palms of your hands (if they are resting in your lap).
For monks and nuns just use your zen (the upper garment worn by monks and nuns of the Tibetan traditions).

3: Stop before you get tired.
If you stop your meditation session before you get bored and/or tired, you will be more likely to free enthusiasm for meditation the next time you start a session. This is actually a very important point! Just pushing ahead through sheer determination will only lead to tension! Which in turn will only lead to the deterioration of the quality of your meditation.

4: Encourage yourself.
Especially if you suffer from low self-esteem this point is particular important.
Encourage yourself when things are going well, if you are happy than you are in a greater position to be of benefit to others.
When you have a bad session, or you just can’t settle your mind, think about impermanence or use some other technique to lift the mind.
Everyone has bad sessions, this can be for health reasons, environmental reasons or it could be that you are just plain tired!�
Try to being encouraging by patting yourself on the back but, without letting pride and ego take over!
This will help develop the joy of meditation, remember it’s supposed to be fun.

5: Be Patient
Have realistic expectations of how your meditation prowess will improve.

If it was easy then we wouldn’t hear stories of yogi’s meditating in caves for 20 plus years.
Becoming a good mediator is very much like learning to become a musician. Would you expect yourself to learn the violin in 2 weeks?
Probably not, so be patient with yourself and continue to encourage yourself. It will happen it’s just a matter of time!

6: Becoming Regular
One of the keys to improving your meditation skill is having a regular meditation session. This includes a set time for sessions.
This holds true regardless of whether you are engaged in placement or insight practice. It is also true for study type meditations.
My teacher Geshe Thubten Loden has told me that meditating on the definition of Bodhichitta has unbelievable power in removing dysfunctional emotional states.

If you are new to meditation, you may find it difficult to meditate regularly. It seems as if you just can’t get it together.
Life get in the way, you are busy at work etc etc! This is in fact part of the process of becoming a meditate and this factor of instability will diminish over time. I have had to work and meditate myself, it’s not easy at first but don’t stop because of that.

7: Know you subject
Although this may seem obvious, it is important that you know deeply your subject matter.
Regardless of whether you are performing analytic or placement meditation the better you know the subject matter at hand the better you will be able to sustain a focused and insightful session.

Do you have a meditation tip?

Buddhism asserts that all beings have the fundamental wish for greater happiness and also a natural aspiration to avoid any suffering, be it great or small. Every living being has the equal right to be happy and to create the causes for their future happiness. In this not a selfish aspiration but, unfortunately many tend to misunderstand the causes of real happiness and by this engage in negative actions.Buddhists don’t assert a single, all-powerful creator of the world and the beings within it.
The basic premise is that the mind is the primary source of all happiness, problems and the natural world – the environment. There is a well know discourse given by the Buddha where he says, All phenomena are preceded by mind.
When you comprehend mind, you comprehend all phenomena. The goal of Buddhism is to remove all dysfunctional states of mind, replace them with functional minds in order to be of benefit to all living beings, which includes oneself!
Therefore consciousness itself is the primary object of investigation for Buddhists and the principal tool used for this investigation is meditation.Buddhism has developed many techniques for stabilizing and refining consciousness. Just as the great scientists of the past such as Kepler and Galileo used the telescope to investigate the physical universe. Buddhists use meditation to investigate the inner world of the mind, the nature of reality, and to develop healthier, constructive and balanced states on mind which in turn enhance the ability of the mind to investigate mind itself.

What is mind?
Some people think that the mind is the brain or some other part or function of the body. Buddhism disagrees with this view. Buddhism says that the mind is not a physical object. It cannot be seen with the eyes, nor can it be photographed or repaired by surgery. The brain is not the mind but simply part of the body. In fact, there is nothing within the body that can be identified as being our mind because our body and mind are different entities.
In Buddhist scriptures, our body is compared to a hotel and our mind to a guest. When we die, our mind leaves our body and goes to the next life, just like a guest leaving a hotel and going somewhere else.Many people believe that when the body disintegrates at death, the continuum of the mind ceases and the mind becomes non-existent, like a candle flame going out. There are even people who may contemplate suicide in the hope that if they die their problems will come to an end. Buddhism asserts these ideas are incorrect. So even though the body disintegrates at death, the continuum of the mind remains unbroken. Instead of ceasing, the mind simply leaves the present body and goes to the next life. Therefore, rather than releasing us from suffering, suicide only brings more problems. If the mind is not the brain, nor any other part of the body, what is it? It is a formless continuum that functions to perceive and understand objects. Because the mind is formless, or non-physical, by nature, it is not obstructed by physical objects. Also it is very important to be able to distinguish dysfunctional states of mind from peaceful states. The states of mind that disturb our inner peace, such as anger, jealousy, and desirous attachment, are called ‘delusions’; and these are the principal causes of all the problems in our lives. We may think that our problems are caused by other people, by poor material conditions, or by society, but in reality it all comes from our own states of mind. The essence of spiritual practice is to reduce and eventually to eradicate altogether these dysfunctional states of mind, and to replace them with the actual causes of happiness such as compassion and wisdom. From a Buddhist point of view this endeavor makes our lives very meaningful. This is the real meaning of our human life.The essential point of understanding the mind is that happiness cannot be found outside the mind. Real happiness can be found only by purifying the mind from its dysfunctional aspects. Therefore, if we want to become free from problems and attain lasting happiness we need to increase our understanding of the mind.Getting back to the original quotation from the Buddha…
All phenomena are preceded by mind.
When you comprehend mind, you comprehend all phenomena.
So, there is nothing that exists independent of mind. This doesn’t mean that everything is just imagined like in a dream. Things do exist, but they don’t exist the way we innately or naturally conceive of them to exist.So if that is the case how do phenomena exist then, you may ask.

All phenomena exist as an aggregation of causes and conditions; parts; and imputation – the process of consciousness naming or labeling things.Example of a cup…In fact the Buddha and many Buddhist saints throughout the history of Buddhism have written 1000’s of books on the different states of mind, nature of reality and what constitutes destructive minds and constructive minds like compassion.

Why is compassion a constructive state of mind – Virtuous Mind?
In Buddhism we have this term called Karma. An often misunderstood and misused term.
Karma is a Sanskrit word that means ‘action’, and refers to the actions of our body, speech, and mind. Every action we perform leaves an imprint, or potentiality, on our very subtle mind, and each imprint eventually gives rise to its own effect. Actions done with compassion will ripen in the future as effects similar in type to the initial action. So from this you can see that the real causes for happiness are in fact these constructive states of mind such as compassion and so forth!
Our mind is like a field, and performing actions is like sowing seeds in that field. Virtuous actions such as generosity, patience and compassion sow seeds of future happiness, and non-virtuous actions such as killing, lying and stealing sow seeds of future problems – future suffering. The seeds we have sown in the past remain dormant until the conditions necessary for their germination come together. In some cases this can be many lifetimes after the original action was performed.The sources of life’s problems are our own dysfunctional states of mind such as anger, attachment, and self-grasping ignorance. Once we have purified our mind of self-grasping and other dysfunctional states of mind, all our actions are naturally pure. As a result of our pure actions or pure karma, everything we experience will be in the nature of pure happiness. This is how to find true happiness – that is from within our mind.When we speak of spirituality the original Sanskrit term that is being translated as spirituality or religion is Dharma and in Tibetan it is cho. The Tibetan term cho has the connotation of transforming and this I think is very inspiring because what is being implied in the very notion of spirituality is the idea that the individual is capable of being transformed at the level of one’s thoughts and emotions – from the factors and conditions that give rise to dysfunctional states to a functional states. So this notion of transformation is built into the very meaning of the word cho or Dharma.

While the Tibetan word for meditation is gom which has the connotation of habituation. So the meaning behind this is to become familiar with constructive states of mind and the nature of reality.In Buddhism the nature of reality is often spoken of in terms of two levels, which we call the Two Truths.
The two truths are conventional truth and ultimate truth or appearances and dependant-arising.Example of a dependant-arising…like the cup or the Prime minister or a Head Master/Principal.The reason why understanding the two truths is so important is because we are lead into and fall victim to conventional appearances. We believe these false appearances to exist the way they appear, and through this all destructive states of mind such as anger, attachment, jealousy and arrogance are generated. These minds distort our view – the way we perceive things and events. Shantideva a 7^th century Buddhist sage said…
Although they wish to be free from problems they run to problems.
And although they long for happiness, through ignorance they crush it like an enemy.What he is saying is that, although we innately want happiness and to avoid even the slightest form of suffering. Through not understanding reality and the true causes of happiness, whatever happiness we experience is fleeting at best.
Now some will say “this is just life! This is the human condition!” Buddhism asserts that the human condition is transformable, changeable and ultimately transcendable. How is this so?
By going beyond mere appearances – conventional truths – to see the reality of phenomena, that is their dependant-arising nature. How does this happen? Well by seeing the dependant nature of things and events we are sucked in by these appearances.So someone could object by raise the question, then so far as the fulfill of this basic aspiration to seek happiness and overcome suffering is concerned, why do we need spirituality?
Why can’t we just through money, friends and physical stimulus solve all our problems and fulfill all our aspirations. This is a serious question that shouldn’t just be put to one side!So the question is. Are friends, fame and money alone adequate for human beings to fulfill their aspirations and overcome their suffering? If happiness came only from external stimulus, then those individuals, who have excellent material facilities as a result of their wealth, would not experience problems. But we can see these people who are materially well provided for can sometimes be extremely unhappy, anxious and restless. This shows that there is a level of experience which is beyond physical sensations of pain and pleasure. So clearly the answer has to be no! Why, because in addition to having a physical body, we also have the mental world – the world of the mind. We all possess consciousness so therefore when we speak of our experiences of happiness and suffering or pain and pleasure we do so both at the level of our physical body and at the level of consciousness – the level of thoughts and emotions. Many of our experiences tend to be at the physical level, dominated mainly be our sensory experiences. For example, as a result of hearing pleasant music, or seeing an attractive form, we have physical sensations relating to those experiences. Also taste by eating some delicious food, we have sensory experiences that respond to these external stimulus. All of these different sensory stimuli are contingent on our physical existence. However all of these perceptions and sensations arise on the basis of subjective consciousness – that is mind.It is the subjective experience of consciousness that allows us to have these kinds of perceptions and sensations in response to external physical stimulus. Also no matter how powerful these sensory experiences are, if you compare them to the experiences of happiness at the level of thoughts and emotions, the experiences at the level of consciousness are far more powerful.Since happiness and unhappiness is not so much due to some external stimuli but, rather as an internal process of our mind. The solution has to come not from external conditions but from internal processes themselves. It is in this domain that the role of Dharma (spirituality) comes into play.

So the point is friends, fame and money alone cannot solve all your problems or fulfill all of your aspirations.There is a need for some form of spirituality in every person’s life, be it Buddhism or not.
By understanding your mind you will greatly enhance your life. Whether you want to be a great sports person, a doctor, lawyer, farmer, homemaker or whatever, by understanding the inner world of your mind you will be more successful than if you don’t understand your mind!Having said that, if someone is suffering from hunger religion is not going to fill their stomach!
There is nothing wrong with having a lot of friends or money or fame! In fact one could bring a lot of happiness and do a lot of good in the world if one had it!

What do you think?