Introduction
A book on Buddhism might more accurately be titled Buddhisms, plural. Buddhism is, in effect, many religions or, to some, not a religion at all but a philosophy and a way of life. All of these Buddhisms, however, stem from the same founder—Siddhartha Gautama, who came to be known as the Buddha, the Awakened One—and the same fundamental principles he taught 2,600 years ago.
One reason Buddhism has proved so adaptable is that the Buddha purposely installed no structure, no hierarchy, no leader to take over after his death. He left his teachings and the Vinaya—rules for the monks—and told his followers to work out their own salvation and disseminate the teachings as they saw fit.
What has happened over the centuries since might have surprised the Buddha. Some sources say he expected interest in his teachings to peter out after a few hundred years. Instead, the teachings took off and began their spread from India’s Ganges Valley across Asia and around the world. Wherever Buddhism landed, like water it took the shape of the container into which it was poured. In some places, it gradually absorbed elements of the local religion in classic syncretic fashion. In others, it landed whole cloth, as a new philosophy, and then was massaged by the locals into something more perfectly suited to their culture, temperament, and spiritual needs.
Like many Westerners, you may have been introduced to Buddhism through meditation. Mindfulness meditation is the new yoga, another ancient practice that has gone mainstream. As mindfulness reaches every corner of the culture, it is being celebrated as the key to reducing stress, optimizing performance, and building self-esteem. But Buddhism is all that and so much more. Perhaps you picked up Buddhism: An Introduction to the Buddha’s Life, Teachings, and Practices to learn something about the origin of these techniques and the man who inspired them. Or perhaps you are wrestling with a painful loss or disappointment, and you’re wondering if or how the Buddha’s teachings might improve or even transform your life.
Before his great awakening, the Buddha was someone pretty much like many of us. He grew up in comfortable circumstances, not really focused on the deeper questions about life. Then, when he hit his early twenties, he began to have doubts about himself and what he saw happening around him. Even when life seemed to be going his way, he wasn’t satisfied. Why, he wondered, is there so much suffering in the world? Why doesn’t happiness last?
The Buddha wasn’t the first to question the meaning of life or to wonder why it brings disappointment and pain. Nor was he the first to search for an answer. But he was determined to find a way out of suffering into true happiness—and when he found it, he spent the rest of his life teaching the way to others.
Today, nearly five hundred million people in the world consider themselves Buddhist. Not surprisingly, 95 percent of them live in Asia, where Buddhism is part of the spiritual tradition into which they were born. Here in the West, only about 1.1 percent of North Americans and 0.2 percent of Europeans identify as Buddhist. And only a fraction of those are “convert” Buddhists—people raised in some other spiritual tradition who have gravitated to Buddhadharma, the teachings of the Buddha.
For many people drawn to Buddhism, the attraction is what it’s not. Unlike Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism, Buddhism posits no God or supreme power, no everlasting soul, and there is no received wisdom, no priest class, no authority to supplicate or defer to, and for the most part, nothing to take on faith. The Buddha was an ordinary human being who liberated himself. He awakened to the truth of life and his own nature through a series of practices that any of us can try.
In the 2,600 years since the Buddha crisscrossed northern India, carrying the message that there is an end to suffering, different schools have developed within Buddhism, each with its own interpretation of his teachings and its own practices. But whatever form Buddhism takes, it retains the same fundamental view. “I teach one thing and one thing only,” the Buddha said. “There is suffering and an end to suffering.” We are not prisoners of our dissatisfaction, our disappointments, our desires, our losses, our obsession with self, he said. The method he laid out in the Noble Eightfold Path to enlightenment provides a practical way to transform our thinking from self-defeating to liberating.
What the Buddha taught is not theory or cant or wishful thinking. He gave us a model and a method to awaken and then said, “Now it’s up to you. Go for it!”
I knew none of this when I first encountered Buddhism many years ago. At the time all I wanted was to feel better—to be less anxious, more centered, happier about life. A friend suggested meditation and recommended Shobo-ji, a Zen center on the next block from my apartment. I had walked by the building countless times without ever noticing it. But there’s an expression: When the pupil is ready, the teacher appears. So one Thursday evening, I took my friend’s advice and attended the center’s introduction to zazen, Zen meditation. Entering the zendo, the meditation hall, was like walking into another world—an oasis of calm in the midst of New York City. The minute I sat on the round black zafu, the meditation cushion, a whole new dimension of experience opened up, one that would change the direction of my life.
In the years since, I’ve studied with teachers in all three of the major branches of Buddhism—Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana—and in Bön, Tibet’s oldest spiritual tradition, which shares many elements with Vajrayana. My gratitude to the teachers and appreciation for the teachings and practices have only deepened over time, as I’ve experienced the transformative effect of the Buddha’s legacy in my own life. My wish is that you too will find benefit in the wisdom and compassion of the Buddhist path.
How to Use This Book
Buddhism introduces you to the man we call the Buddha and to his teachings, as they have resonated through the ages and across the world. You will discover the fundamentals of what he taught and learn about core Buddhist practices you can try for yourself. The Buddha never claimed that any one method was suitable for all. He was renowned for “skillful means”—for knowing just the right teaching or practice to nudge each individual closer to enlightenment. But even then he encouraged questioning. “Don’t just take my word that what I teach is the truth or that these methods are valid,” he would say. “Try them for yourself and adopt only what you find to be true, only what works for you.”
If the Buddha were here today, he would no doubt suggest that you keep that advice in mind as you read the following pages.
Copyright © 2019 by Joan Duncan Oliver
