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Buddhism 101 (Part 1 and Part 2)
DaltheJigsaw
Mountain View Veteran
This class has been called “An introduction to Buddhism”, but it could more correctly be called, “An introduction to Theravada Buddhism from the perspective of a practitioner”.
There are many different kinds of Buddhism, and the Buddhist teachings that we focus on here at the Insight Meditation Centre are primarily the Buddha’s teachings that come directly from the most ancient texts that have been recorded: from the Pali Canon. ‘Pali’ here is the name of the language that the texts were written in.
So the Buddhism I’m going to be talking about is the Buddhism that’s grounded in those teachings. The later versions of Buddhism used those teachings and often added on to them with other texts. We’re going to focus on the oldest texts of the Buddhist tradition.
And, “from the perspective of a practitioner” because I am a practitioner more than I am a scholar and the perspective that I hold on these teachings is in terms of what has been useful in my own experience to helping me live a more peaceful and a more happy life. So I’ll be talking about the teachings of the Buddha from the perspective of the texts but also from the perspective of very practical usage of those teachings.
I thought I’d talk a little bit to start with about the Buddha’s own journey. Where did the Buddha start? What was the problem he was trying to solve when he embarked on his own exploration?
The Buddha began his life pretty much in luxury. He was in the warrior caste, his father was a king, and he grew up as a prince in a palace – in fact, in several palaces. In the texts, he describes his palaces; he says he had three different palaces that he lived in for each of the three different seasons. He had lovely descriptions of how wonderful these palaces were and the kind of food that was served and the flowers that were grown there. Basically he lived a life of luxury. But he had an inkling, or a sense, as most of us do, that this was not all that there was to life. I’ll read some quotes from his reflections. So this is reflecting on his life in the palaces.
“While I had such power and good fortune, yet I thought, ‘When an ordinary person who is subject to ageing sees another who is aged, he is shocked, humiliated and disgusted. For he forgets that he himself is no exception. But I too am subject to ageing, not safe from ageing, and so it cannot befit me to be shocked, humiliated and disgusted on seeing another who is aged.’ When I considered this, the vanity of youth entirely left me. I thought, ‘When an ordinary person who is subject to sickness, not safe from sickness, sees another who is sick, she is shocked, humiliated and disgusted, for she forgets that she herself is no exception. But I too am subject to sickness, not safe from sickness, so it cannot befit me to be shocked, humiliated and disgusted on seeing another who is sick.’ When I considered this, the vanity of health entirely left me. I thought, ‘When an ordinary person, who is subject to death, sees another who is dead, he is shocked, humiliated and disgusted, for he forgets that he is no exception. But I too am subject to death, not safe from death, so it cannot befit me to be shocked, humiliated and disgusted on seeing another who is dead.’ When I considered this, the vanity of life entirely left me.”
ageing, sickness and death are sometimes called the three heavenly messengers. They are the messengers that woke up the Buddha-to-be to suffering in this life. Now there’s a classic story that is often taught as a fact of the Buddha’s life, and that is that there were four heavenly messengers. In this story, he left the palace one day and saw a sick person, and was shocked and didn’t know what it was, and asked his driver what this was, and the driver said “It’s a sick person.” And the driver instructed him that everyone would get sick. And this went on – the next time he went out he saw someone who was old, the next time he went out he saw someone who was dead. And then the fourth time he went out he saw a monk who was radiant and serene, and he wondered about the monk.
This story, while it’s often told as a story of the Buddha’s life is not actually told in the Pali Canon as something that happened to him. The Buddha tells the story as something that happened to a previous Buddha. So that’s where the story comes from. You may at some point hear the story of the four heavenly messengers, and it is often told as being part of the Buddha’s life, but I cannot find evidence for that in the texts.
So for the Buddha, meeting these three signs, these three messengers of suffering, woke him up, and he began to wonder, why is there suffering? And is it possible to be free from suffering? There’s another quote:
“Before my enlightenment, while I was still an unenlightened Buddha-to-be, being myself subject to birth, ageing, ailment and death, sorrow and defilement, I sought after what was also subject to those things. Then I thought, ‘Why, being myself subject to birth, ageing, ailment, death, sorrow and defilement, do I seek after what is also subject to those things? Suppose being myself subject to these things, seeing danger in them, I sought after the unborn, unageing, unailing, deathless, sorrowless, undefiled supreme surcease of bondage, Nibbana?’”.
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/transcribed-talks/buddhism-101-part-1/
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/transcribed-talks/buddhism-101-part-2/
There are many different kinds of Buddhism, and the Buddhist teachings that we focus on here at the Insight Meditation Centre are primarily the Buddha’s teachings that come directly from the most ancient texts that have been recorded: from the Pali Canon. ‘Pali’ here is the name of the language that the texts were written in.
So the Buddhism I’m going to be talking about is the Buddhism that’s grounded in those teachings. The later versions of Buddhism used those teachings and often added on to them with other texts. We’re going to focus on the oldest texts of the Buddhist tradition.
And, “from the perspective of a practitioner” because I am a practitioner more than I am a scholar and the perspective that I hold on these teachings is in terms of what has been useful in my own experience to helping me live a more peaceful and a more happy life. So I’ll be talking about the teachings of the Buddha from the perspective of the texts but also from the perspective of very practical usage of those teachings.
I thought I’d talk a little bit to start with about the Buddha’s own journey. Where did the Buddha start? What was the problem he was trying to solve when he embarked on his own exploration?
The Buddha began his life pretty much in luxury. He was in the warrior caste, his father was a king, and he grew up as a prince in a palace – in fact, in several palaces. In the texts, he describes his palaces; he says he had three different palaces that he lived in for each of the three different seasons. He had lovely descriptions of how wonderful these palaces were and the kind of food that was served and the flowers that were grown there. Basically he lived a life of luxury. But he had an inkling, or a sense, as most of us do, that this was not all that there was to life. I’ll read some quotes from his reflections. So this is reflecting on his life in the palaces.
“While I had such power and good fortune, yet I thought, ‘When an ordinary person who is subject to ageing sees another who is aged, he is shocked, humiliated and disgusted. For he forgets that he himself is no exception. But I too am subject to ageing, not safe from ageing, and so it cannot befit me to be shocked, humiliated and disgusted on seeing another who is aged.’ When I considered this, the vanity of youth entirely left me. I thought, ‘When an ordinary person who is subject to sickness, not safe from sickness, sees another who is sick, she is shocked, humiliated and disgusted, for she forgets that she herself is no exception. But I too am subject to sickness, not safe from sickness, so it cannot befit me to be shocked, humiliated and disgusted on seeing another who is sick.’ When I considered this, the vanity of health entirely left me. I thought, ‘When an ordinary person, who is subject to death, sees another who is dead, he is shocked, humiliated and disgusted, for he forgets that he is no exception. But I too am subject to death, not safe from death, so it cannot befit me to be shocked, humiliated and disgusted on seeing another who is dead.’ When I considered this, the vanity of life entirely left me.”
ageing, sickness and death are sometimes called the three heavenly messengers. They are the messengers that woke up the Buddha-to-be to suffering in this life. Now there’s a classic story that is often taught as a fact of the Buddha’s life, and that is that there were four heavenly messengers. In this story, he left the palace one day and saw a sick person, and was shocked and didn’t know what it was, and asked his driver what this was, and the driver said “It’s a sick person.” And the driver instructed him that everyone would get sick. And this went on – the next time he went out he saw someone who was old, the next time he went out he saw someone who was dead. And then the fourth time he went out he saw a monk who was radiant and serene, and he wondered about the monk.
This story, while it’s often told as a story of the Buddha’s life is not actually told in the Pali Canon as something that happened to him. The Buddha tells the story as something that happened to a previous Buddha. So that’s where the story comes from. You may at some point hear the story of the four heavenly messengers, and it is often told as being part of the Buddha’s life, but I cannot find evidence for that in the texts.
So for the Buddha, meeting these three signs, these three messengers of suffering, woke him up, and he began to wonder, why is there suffering? And is it possible to be free from suffering? There’s another quote:
“Before my enlightenment, while I was still an unenlightened Buddha-to-be, being myself subject to birth, ageing, ailment and death, sorrow and defilement, I sought after what was also subject to those things. Then I thought, ‘Why, being myself subject to birth, ageing, ailment, death, sorrow and defilement, do I seek after what is also subject to those things? Suppose being myself subject to these things, seeing danger in them, I sought after the unborn, unageing, unailing, deathless, sorrowless, undefiled supreme surcease of bondage, Nibbana?’”.
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/transcribed-talks/buddhism-101-part-1/
http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/books-articles/articles/transcribed-talks/buddhism-101-part-2/
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