Teachings of Buddha
B
uddhism sees life as a process of constant
change, and its practices aim to take advantage of
this fact. It means that one can change for the bet-
ter. The decisive factor in changing oneself is the
mind, and Buddhism has developed many meth-
ods for working on the mind.
The Four Noble Truth
There is Dukkha
Nothing is lost in the Universe :
The first universal truth of Buddha found was
nothing is lost in this universe. Old solar systems
disintegrate into cosmic rays. We are the child
of our parents and we will be the parents of our
children.
If we destroy something around us, we destroy
ourselves. If we lie to another, we lie to ourselves.
Learning and understanding these truths, Lord
Buddha and his disciples never killed any animal.
Everything changes :
The second universal truth is everything changes
and keeps on changing continuously . Dinosaurs,
mammoth used to rule this planet but now we hu-
mans rule the planet. Life is like a river, it keeps
on flowing, ever-changing.
The first truth is that there is dukkha. We
often translate dukkha into English as suf-
fering, but a more appropriate word may be
stress, dissatisfaction, or dis-ease. The Bud-
dha points here that part of life is experienc-
ing discomfort.
There is a Cause of Dukkha
The second truth is that there is a
cause to our stress. Traditionally, these
causes are ignorance and craving.
There is Cessation of Dukkha
The third truth points out that the cessa-
tion of dukkha is possible. Specifically,
it is through non-clinging and wisdom
that we can end the cycle of suffering.
This is a practice in non-clinging, or let-
ting go
The Path to Cessation of
Dukkha
The fourth truth is the path to ending
suffering, or the Noble Eightfold Path.
This is a bit like a prescription. The
Buddha offered the Eightfold Path as
the steps we take toward ending
suffering.