Keys to Buddhism

While Buddhism is a household word, its true definition and intent are greatly misunderstood in America. The word has become clouded by the mixing of other Eastern philosophies and religions and by Asian culture. This posting will list the key points of Buddhism in an attempt to clarify its major points.

1. Buddha. This sanskrit word means enlightened person. It is not a god or otherworldly being. The original Buddha was Shakymuni Buddha who lived in India around 500 b.c. His teachings were intended to lead his followers to acheiving the exact enlightenment that he had attained. Buddhas see that all human beings have this same potential for enlightenment. In fact, when one sees that all living beings, including themselves, are Buddhas, they have attained enlightenment. Delusion is when one does not see others as Buddhas.

2. Buddhism is not a Theistic religion. Buddhism is not concerned with any kind of metaphysical power that is greater than the human being. It does not teach that we should worship or make offerings to any kind of supperior force for the bestowal of good fortune or for the answering of prayers.

This is not to say that Buddhism is not a mystical religion. Buddism expands and connects the concepts of Time and Space far beyond the boundries that we are used to believing in.

3. No Beginning and No End. There are no Creation myths in Buddhism. Life is a continuous flow, at every level of existance.

4. The 4 Sufferings. Birth, Old Age, Sickness and Death. The Buddha dedicated his life to solving the mystery of the 4 sufferings and how we can lead happy, fullfilling lives.

5. Cause and Effect. Everything that we experience is based on the workings of Cause and Effect. While we may not be able to match up every effect in our lives with an exact cause, nothing happens without a reason. Because we can not see all the inner workings of Cause and Effect, we call it the Mystic Law of Cause and Effect.

6. Karma. The accumulation of all the causes and effects that a person has made is called Karma. It can be thought of like a account that you have been making deposits and withdrawals into for your entire life. Sometimes you have deposited good causes and sometimes bad causes. This is what determines the condition of your life at the present time. By looking at the present, you can determine the type of causes that you have made in the past.

All Karma is mutable. That means that you have the power to change whatever the circumstances exist in your life at this moment. All you need is the correct key to create the greatest cause. The correct key is our Buddhist practice.

7. Heaven and Hell. Buddism does not believe in a separate realm called Heaven or Hell. These are not places that one goes to after death as a reward or punishment for living a good or bad life. Instead, Buddhism defines Heaven and Hell as states of life. Heaven is the temporary joy that is felt when released from some suffering or receiving some satisfaction. Hell is the feeling that life is absolute misery and that there is no way that anything can change.

8. The Lotus Sutra. The Lotus Sutra is the highest of all of Shakyamuni's teachings. After attaining enlightement at the age of 30, he started to teach his enlightenment to his followers but quickly realized that they were not yet ready to understand it. He took a step back and started teaching in a way that the people could understand. In other words, he taught to their capacity. It is said that his teachings could have filled 80,000 volumes or sutras.

After 42 years of teachings to the people's capacity, he realized that his own lifetime of teaching was nearing an end. He changed his teaching style and, instead of teaching to the people's capacity, he preached the truth of his own enlightenment. This truth is contained within the Lotus Sutra. Shakyamuni spent the last 8 years of his life teaching it.

The full title of the Lotus Sutra is The Sutra of the Mystic Law of the Lotus.

9. Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. This is the title, in Japanese, of the Lotus Sutra. It is also the mantra that Nichiren's Lions chant to awaken their Buddha nature and to attain enlightenment.