Buddhist beliefs and practices Jose Luis Villarreal, Ernesto Bonilla, Luis Rios, and John Paul Simons

Introduction The center of all Buddhist beliefs is the Four Noble Truths, from Siddhartha Gautama's earliest sermons. If a person is ignorant of the Four Noble Truths, it will remain on the endless cycle of Samsara. Understanding the Four Noble Truths leads to the Noble Eightfold Path, which reminds the person to avoid extremes and to take everything in moderation no matter what. These beliefs and practices are at the heart of Buddhism. The monks or nuns are the members of the sangha.

Core Beliefs One fundamental belief is often referred as reincarnation, the concept that people are reborn after dying. Buddhism differentiates between the concepts of rebirth and reincarnation. In rebirth the person not necessarily returns to earth, it compares it to a leaf growing on a tree, when the withering leaf falls off, a new leaf will eventually replace it. After many cycles, if a person releases their attachments to desire and the self, they can attain Nirvana.

Four noble truths Life is filled with suffering The cause of suffering is desire To cease suffering, one must cease desiring The path to the end of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path

Life is filled with suffering Both physical and mental Mental suffering comes from traumas in life Birth is the first trauma Types of trauma Physical Mental Emotional Illness Injury Age Fear of death

Life is filled with suffering Samsara – endless cycle of suffering death and rebirth Karma – cause of samsara Reasons for suffering Impermanence Incompleteness Imperfection Discontent All life is impermanent

Life is filled with suffering Anatma “no soul” or “not self” Permanent, unchanging, independent self doesn’t exist People act as if this permanent soul is real Ignorance of anatma causes suffering Contrary to Hinduism Hindus believed that the soul was God (atman) Gautama taught that if the soul was God, then there was no real soul

The cause of suffering is desire We crave because we believe in the reality of the individual self We get frustrated or disappointed when our cravings aren’t satisfied Even if the craving is satisfied, the happiness is impermanent- we always want more This is the fundamental cause of ALL suffering

To cease suffering, one must cease desiring One must end samsara and achieve Nirvana to end suffering The only REAL things in Buddhism- everything is suffering, impermanent, and incomplete The only permanent is the end of suffering

How does suffering cease??? When we free ourselves of the bondage of desires and cravings When we stop believing that our individual self is real Freedom from this belief leads to the onset of happiness Nirvana The end or extinction of the suffering from samsara

Path to the end of suffering is the noble eightfold path The Middle Way Between indulgence and self denial Moral Standard of Buddhism

Comparison of samsara with Hinduism Both believe in samsara but differently The end of samsara for Hindus is moksha, for Buddhists it is Nirvana No immortality in Buddhism because there is no self Nirvana- “extinguish” desires, cravings, and passions Nirvana ends dilusion

The Noble Eightfold Path They are the central practices of Buddhism All Buddhist must follow these rules Once all rules are perfected by a person, he or she will be awakened or enlightened and achieve the ultimate inner peace and happiness Or Nirvana

Right Understanding Requires the person to see who they really are To understand the cause of suffering To understand how to end suffering And to understand how to endure suffering Or this step is a summation of the Four Noble Truths

Right Thought Requires the mind be purified in order to achieve Enlightenment To be in the right thought does not mean to get rid of wrong thought It requires to replace the wrong thought with a good thought This is very similar to the what Christians teach with the beatitude of single-heartedness

Right Speech All words that have hatred must not be said Any form of a lie must not take place No slandering or making false statements cannot happen No gossiping shall happen either The best thing for a person to do is to be truthful as much as possible To speak kindly of others

Right Conduct This requires people not to cheat Not to steal Not to murder And not to engage in any sexual misconduct

Right Livelihood Requires people not to enjoy the actions of harming others or living things For example, harming animals such as slaughtering Or harming a person with a weapon Or selling any drugs and alcohol Best thing to do is to live a good life without any trouble

Right Effort This path deals with the persons state of mind Requires a person to get rid of bad or delusional thoughts It is better to prepare good thoughts

Right Mindfulness The person must always be aware of their thoughts Not only thoughts, but feelings and actions as well To be on the right mind is to know oneself

Right Concentration This is the final path in a form of meditation The person must concentrate on one object only They must ignore all other objects except for the one he or she is concentrating on This allows a person to see things as they really are and enable them to gain enlightenment

The Noble Eightfold Path It is categorized in three main practices -morality -meditation -wisdom Moral actions lead to meditation Meditation then brings wisdom to the mind And wisdom allows the person to make good actions Following this cycle can lead to Enlightenment as well

Community Sangha – Buddhist community of monks or nuns Only those in a monastic lifestyle could truly practice the teachings of Buddha Sangha in modern terms includes laity Sangha is one of the three jewels with Buddha and Dharma “I take refuge in the Buddha I take refuge in the Dharma I take refuge in the Sangha” (Clemmons 256)

Community Monastic and lay lifestyles are dependent on each other Monks provide spiritual nourishment and laity provide physical nourishment Arhat- “worthy one” – describes someone who reached Nirvana for Theravada Buddhists In Mahayana- bodhisattva is one who delays Nirvana

Japanese sects Zen Shin Mahayana Earn their own livelihood rather than beg Shin Doesn’t require celibacy for monks