Post from Tim:
The Buddhist temple of Wat U-Mong is only a couple of kilometers outside of Chiang Mai - an easy distance on my one-gear mountain bike. I arrived with enough time to enjoy the 600-year-old temple's Buddhist library, quiet forest trails, and tall bell shaped chedi. At 3 PM, I walked down to the Chinese pagoda overlooking the picturesque lake for today's event, an informal discussion on Buddhism led by an English monk (hosted every Sunday).
He looked similar to the other Thai monks in his orange robe and sandals, but the sun glinted off his white shaved head more intensely than from his darker skinned brothers. He sat down in the lotus position and started the conversation with a few minutes of contemplative silence.
He then fielded questions that participants had about Buddhism, and continued by discussing in detail the themes that emerged in his answers. For the next two hours, 20 people participated in a conversation that was interrupted only by the splash of huge catfish from the nearby lake.
To know Southeast Asia you must learn a little about Buddhism. So what is it?
Buddha was born a wealthy prince in India 2500 years ago. Though he lacked for nothing, he felt a deep compassion for mankind's universal suffering and renounced his life of luxury to find a remedy. After many years of asceticism and meditation, he realized the teachings of Buddhism, became enlightened, and communicated the Dhamma (teachings of Buddhism) to the world.
Buddha taught that everything on earth is impermanent. In the end, flowers wilt, computers become obsolete, cars break down, bodies grow old, and spouses die. Yet we grasp on to these objects like they will last forever and suffer when they do not. Yet impermanence is their nature - they are just doing what we knew they would.
Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths:
Suffering
Suffering extends from every problem we face in life, from major catastrophes to minor inconveniences. Like a doctor curing a disease, Buddha asks us in the First Noble Truth to look deeply into our suffering - to ask where it hurts and discover which disease needs to be cured.
The Arising of Suffering
To determine the correct medication needed to cure your disease, the doctor must understand the cause of your illness. This you must do with the Second Noble Truth. You must determine how suffering arose in you.
Buddha teaches that universal suffering is caused by the craving of sense pleasures and attachment to desire. His prescription is to recognize desire for what is and let go of it.
The Cessation of Suffering
Your suffering ends with the cessation and complete extinction of your craving. Following the doctor's advice cures the patient.
The Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering
To stay away from suffering, Buddha prescribes the Noble Eightfold Path
Web Links
Want to know more? Buddhanet.net has a wealth of information about Buddhism, from basic teachings to good resources. Also, I'd recommend just about any book by Thich Nhat Hahn.
He looked similar to the other Thai monks in his orange robe and sandals, but the sun glinted off his white shaved head more intensely than from his darker skinned brothers. He sat down in the lotus position and started the conversation with a few minutes of contemplative silence.
He then fielded questions that participants had about Buddhism, and continued by discussing in detail the themes that emerged in his answers. For the next two hours, 20 people participated in a conversation that was interrupted only by the splash of huge catfish from the nearby lake.
To know Southeast Asia you must learn a little about Buddhism. So what is it?
Buddha was born a wealthy prince in India 2500 years ago. Though he lacked for nothing, he felt a deep compassion for mankind's universal suffering and renounced his life of luxury to find a remedy. After many years of asceticism and meditation, he realized the teachings of Buddhism, became enlightened, and communicated the Dhamma (teachings of Buddhism) to the world.
Buddha taught that everything on earth is impermanent. In the end, flowers wilt, computers become obsolete, cars break down, bodies grow old, and spouses die. Yet we grasp on to these objects like they will last forever and suffer when they do not. Yet impermanence is their nature - they are just doing what we knew they would.
Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths:
- Suffering (or Unsatisfactoriness)
- The arising of suffering
- The cessation of suffering
- The path leading to the cessation of suffering
Suffering
Suffering extends from every problem we face in life, from major catastrophes to minor inconveniences. Like a doctor curing a disease, Buddha asks us in the First Noble Truth to look deeply into our suffering - to ask where it hurts and discover which disease needs to be cured.
The Arising of Suffering
To determine the correct medication needed to cure your disease, the doctor must understand the cause of your illness. This you must do with the Second Noble Truth. You must determine how suffering arose in you.
Buddha teaches that universal suffering is caused by the craving of sense pleasures and attachment to desire. His prescription is to recognize desire for what is and let go of it.
The Cessation of Suffering
Your suffering ends with the cessation and complete extinction of your craving. Following the doctor's advice cures the patient.
The Path Leading to the Cessation of Suffering
To stay away from suffering, Buddha prescribes the Noble Eightfold Path
- Right Understanding: (Sometimes translated as Right View) Cultivating a deep understanding of the Four Noble Truths.
- Right Thought: (Sometimes translated as Right Intention) The product of right understanding. Fostering loving kindness, compassion, and the wholesome thoughts that lead to the liberation from suffering.
- Right Speech: Cultivating deep listening, speaking truthfully, not speaking with a forked tongue, not speaking cruelly, and not exaggerating.
- Right Action: Abstinence from killing, stealing, and sexual misconduct.
- Right Livelihood: Not earning a living by dealing in arms, slaughtering animals, killing humans, selling intoxicating substances (alcohol and drugs), selling poisons, making prophesies, or telling fortunes.
- Right Effort: Putting your energy towards ending suffering by nourishing the wholesome and rejecting the unwholesome.
- Right Mindfulness: Watching your thoughts and actions and directing them appropriately.
- Right Concentration: Developing concentration and control of the mind by being present to the moment.
Web Links
Want to know more? Buddhanet.net has a wealth of information about Buddhism, from basic teachings to good resources. Also, I'd recommend just about any book by Thich Nhat Hahn.