Buddhism is not a religion
May 27,
2015 Thangjam Sanjoo Singh
E-PAO
Buddhism is
not a religion, (even though it is considered as a minority
religion in India) because it does not worship to Gautama or any
other Awakened One (Buddha). Buddhism is an Ethical Way that seeks
the purification of mind, ideas and society. The
Buddha-Dharma-Sangha is an Integrative and Reconciler Spirituality,
being a revolutionary movement made up of an articulation of
Metapsychology, Metaphi-losophy and Metapolitics.
To completely understand Buddhist Spirituality one must study all
of its main Schools, by understanding the Perennial Way that
underlies all of them.
The Monk and the Layman are spiritually equal. There are only
differences between the three spiritual degrees: Apprentices,
Teachers and Masters.
The Free Being (Arhat) and the Enlightened Being (Bodhisattva) are
synonymous, being merely different terms for the same mental state.
Freedom is not only personal enlightenment but also the pursuit of
the Liberation of the fellow beings. The synthesis of the Arhat and
the Bodhisattva is the basis of the unity between the Hinayana and
the Mahayana.
Thousands of Awakened Ones (Buddhas) have been existed and they
will continue to exist. But the main Holy Trinity of Buddha is made
by the meeting of the Analytic-Existential-Libertarian Discourse,
which is the Spirituality of Maitriyana where one may distinguish
three types of Self-Awakening (Samyaksambuddhahood): more wisely
(prajñadhika-buddha), with more effort (viryadhika-buddha) and with
more faith (sraddhadhika-buddha).
There are two types of mystic initiation by which every human being
can become an Awakened One (Buddha): the vehicle of the Awakened
Apprentice (Sravakabuddha-yana) and the vehicle of the
Self-Awakened One (Samyaksambuddhayana). The first possibility is
the traditional Way of Lineage, which is the study and transmission
with a spiritual master (Arhat or Bodhisattvas); the second
possibility is the Self-Enlighten (Sammasambodhi), which was the
Way of Gautama and other great spiritual masters founders of
Schools.
To completely understand Buddhist Spirituality one must study all
Spiritualties of the World, and how Buddhism has influenced them.
Buddhism has historically maintained a dialogue with movements like
Vedanta, Yoga, Shamanism, Taoism, Confucianism, Greek Philosophy,
Christianity, Judaism and Islam. The result of this dialogue has
been the creation of various other Schools such as Madhyamika,
Yogacara, Vajrayana, Chan (Zen), Pure Land, Nichiren, Pyrrhonism,
Therapeutae (Essene) and Sufism.
The highest expression of Spirituality in the West happened with
the appearance of three main developments: Psychoanalysis,
Existentialism and Socialism. The reunion of Buddhism with these
disciplines is the revolutionary basis of Maitriyana as the vehicle
(yana) of Universal Spirituality.
Buddhism must maintain a profound relationship with Western
science, especially with Relativism and the quantum theory. This
will not only enrich the pursuit of Truth, but also it will help to
flourish and strengthen the meditative science.
Technological development is not Real Evolution. The True Evolution
of Humanity can only proceed through the Spiritual Evolution of
consciousness, transforming the mind and society through pacifism,
social justice, wisdom and ecology. These are the four pillars of
the cure for the ills of the world which are war, poverty,
ignorance and pollution. Only Spirituality can save the World,
guiding the peoples towards the Awakening and Liberation.
In Buddhism, there is no savior. There's no one who's going to do
it for us, no place can we hide out for safety. We have to face
reality squarely, and we have to do it alone. Even when Buddhists
take refuge in the Buddha, what they're really taking refuge in is
the truth that there's no refuge. Not seeking protection is the
only real protection.
So that's the bad news — we have to do it alone. The good news is,
we can do it. As human beings, we have the resources we need:
intelligence, strength, loving hearts, and proven, effective
methods. Because of that, we can rouse our confidence and renounce
our depression and resentment.
But while no one can do that for us, help and guidance is
available. There are teachers — women and men who are further along
the path — who offer us instruction and inspiration. They prove to
us it can be done. Our fellow practitioners support our path, while
never allowing us to use them as crutches. The Buddhist teachings
offer us wisdom that goes back 2,600 years to the Buddha himself.
We can go right to the source, because the lineage that started
with Gautama Buddha is unbroken to this day.
Buddhism exists to address one problem: suffering. The Buddha
called the truth of suffering "noble," because recognizing our
suffering is the starting place and inspiration of the spiritual
path.
His second noble truth was the cause of suffering. In the West,
Buddhists call this "ego." It's a small word that encompasses
pretty much everything that's wrong with the world. Because
according to the Buddha, all suffering, large and small, starts
with our false belief in a solid, separate, and continuous "I,"
whose survival we devote our lives to.
It feels like we're hopelessly caught in this bad dream of "me and
them" we've created, but we can wake up from it. This is the third
noble truth, the cessation of suffering. We do this by recognizing
our ignorance, the falseness of our belief in this "I." Finally,
the Buddha told us that there is a concrete way we can get there,
which basically consists of discipline, effort, meditation, and
wisdom. This is the fourth noble truth, the truth of the
path.
4. The way to do that is by working with your mind.
So, according to the Buddha, the problem is suffering, the cause is
ignorance, the remedy is waking up, and the path is living
mindfully, meditating, and cultivating our wisdom. There's really
only one place all that happens: in our minds. The mind is the
source of both our suffering and our joy. Meditation — taming the
mind — is what gets us from one to the other. Meditation is
Buddhism's basic remedy for the human condition, and its special
genius.
The Buddhist path of meditation begins with practices to calm our
wild mind. Once the mind is focused enough to look undistractedly
into reality, we develop insight into the nature of our experience,
which is marked by impermanence, suffering, nonego, and emptiness.
We naturally develop compassion for ourselves and all beings who
suffer, and our insight allows us to help them skillfully. Finally,
we experience ourselves and our world for what they have been since
beginning less time, are right now, and always will be — nothing
but enlightenment itself, great perfection in every way.