Psychology & Buddhism.pdf

On the Path of the Buddha 19
The Buddha died after eating a meal of poison mushrooms in the forest. He
instructed his followers to burn his body, and asked that his relics be placed in a
Stupa, or burial mound, at a place where four roads meet. He then said, “And
whoever shall put flowers or scents on it, or whitewash, or shall express devotion
or feel confidence in his heart here, that will be long for his
welfare and happiness” (Harvey, 1990, p. 27). And that was the end.
The Core Teachings of the Buddha
So the ultimate Truth of the Buddha is that the answers to life’s most pressing
and vexing questions lie entirely within us. These Truths, however, will not
become clear to us so long as we lead lives that are disruptive and full of the contamination
of the “three consuming fires” of greed, hate, and delusion. We must,
therefore, adopt habitual practices to center our attention and cultivate our consciousness.
We must come to understand our lives, ourselves, as ever changing
and infinite yet universal and part of the totality of the universe. At the heart of the
teaching lies the idea that everything matters, everything is connected, and that we
are vulnerable to suffering because suffering is part of being a living thing.
Dukkha, or suffering, is the principle focus of the core of the Buddha’s
teaching. Indeed, almost everyone who has had any passing acquaintance with
Buddhism knows that among the Four Noble Truths identified by the Buddha, the
first and most profound truth is that “All life is suffering.” For Buddhists, however,
this dukkha, this suffering, is a sort of universal sickness, not unlike in its
nature the Christian concept of original sin. To be human, to have awareness, and
to participate fully in life one must encounter the inescapable facts of sickness,
death, and decay. Because we are human we are vulnerable to sorrow, pain, grief,
and despair, to separation from what we love, what we want, and what we need.
Life is never precisely as we would have it, and thus life is always to some degree
unsatisfactory. The problem is that we become attached to our desires, and when
they cannot be fully met, we feel discouraged, abandoned, and resentful. Every
happiness eventually passes into regret for its unsustainability, and we become
greedy, fearful that we haven’t had our fair share, that life has cheated us.
This doctrine is not just a rephrasing of the wisdom of the ascetic forest
dwellers, however. The Buddha had experienced the extremes of deprivation, and
knew that extreme hardship was not the route to enlightenment or self-discovery.
It is not the experience of pleasure that Buddhism sees at the heart of the human
dilemma. It is attachment – dependency – on the things that bring those pleasures
that must be overcome.
Giving up attachments does not mean giving up enjoyments of life’s pleasures. It
means rather, never being dependent on the pleasures. It means being ready to
forgo the pleasures without frustration. If a splendid meal is available, enjoy it; if
not, be content with a humble meal. You’ve gotten tickets to this special concert?