Author: Derek Beres / Source: Big Think
- Buddhism has been applied differently across the planet as it enters new cultures.
- The underlying philosophical foundation is applicable to diverse situations, whether religious or secular.
- But it is a practice, not a belief, and must be treated as a discipline for retraining consciousness.
As with most articles, I posted my recent piece on busyness being a modern sickness on social media. I’ve generally learned to not pay attention to comments, though on personal pages I occasionally check in as thoughtful dialogues occur, as in this reply:
I think this is good stuff Derek, but bear in mind with the economy we are in, with low income, high debt ratio, many people do have to work more, have second jobs etcetera, just to have basic needs met. They aren’t trying to have more money to invest, or save, or to take on vacations, they are just trying to pay monthly bills. Our economy not only promotes business, in many cases, it’s demands it for survival.
All pertinent points. Her reply made me think about the conditions under which Buddhism were created in India, under a restrictive caste system in which social mobility was impossible; a state-sanctioned support system for the religious—Buddha’s sangha became particularly well-funded—though lavishness, even in the Buddha’s camps, was nowhere in sight. It was customary to support spiritual beggars, but that came at its own costs. Forget women seekers, at least until the Buddha’s time, when he controversially accepted women into his community.
Spiritual practices have never come easy. Many disciplines emerged as responses to challenging external circumstances; they were not dreamed up when everything was good. This thought remained in mind as I flipped through volumes in my library seeking quotes on the nature of suffering in Buddhism. In a binary world, there is pain and then freedom, but that’s not what Buddhism teaches. Liberation is not a static state; rather, it’s a hard-won discipline that must be reapplied daily.
Which the sentiments below reflect. The notion of a better historical time is notoriously misleading; it harkens back to the American “golden age” that never really existed. Context is important—some just have it better than others—yet we all suffer in some capacity. The practice isn’t what we do or do not have, but what we do with what is presented to us, as well as how we craft the reality that is possible.
One
Nirvana, “blown out,” is the term for liberation or release from the endless cycles of rebirth. It is applied differently dependent upon one’s feelings on the metaphysics of reincarnation. Stephen Batchelor is most well-known as a proponent of secular Buddhism.
The experience of nirvana marks a turning point in an individual’s life, not a final and immutable goal. After the experience one knows that one is free not to act on the impulses that naturally arise in reaction to a given situation. Whether one chooses to act on impulses is another matter. — Stephen Batchelor, After Buddhism: Rethinking the Dharma for a Secular Age
Two
The koan is a sort of riddle used in Zen Buddhism to create doubt in the student’s mind. It is often nonsensical on the surface,…
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