Buddhism has alternately been called a religion, a philosophy, an ideology and a way of life. As with all the other great spiritual traditions that have withstood the test of time, Buddhism offers many different paths for people with different kinds of sensibilities, needs and capacities.

The Spread of Buddhism into Different Cultures began in Northern India six hundred years before the Christian era. Over a period of about a thousand years, Buddhism spread north into Tibet, south into Sri Lanka, Southeast into Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, east into Burma, China, Korea and Japan. As Buddhism spread it adapted to these “host” cultures, and in each case was shaped and influenced in flavour and style by pre-existing rituals and cosmologies. Thus, we speak of Tibetan Buddhism or Japanese Buddhism or Korean Buddhism. And within each cultural sphere, many different paths, lineages and sects emerged.

There are immutable core teachings expounded by the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni that create a collective wellspring for all forms of Buddhism. Specifically, these are the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path. Yet these basic teachings have themselves been subject to interpretation and again have various flavours within different Buddhist cultures.

There has never been, nor is there now, a central authority in Buddhism. There is no equivalent to the Holy Father of the Roman Church or to anything that resembles papal law. With no supreme arbitrator, the diversification of Buddhism has flourished. This also means that there is no one Buddhism. There are many Buddhisms. So when we try to answer the question, “What is Buddhism?” we can only try our best to present the most inclusive and pan-Buddhist answers. And yet, it will serve you well to remember that the vast array of traditions, combined with the absence of a singular authority, means that in general, thinking in terms of “right and wrong” answers and “good and bad” answers is not a very useful approach.

This diversity of view and understanding may offer a refreshing alternative to doctrinal rigidity. It can also yield some very sloppy and indulgent versions of what “Buddhism means to me.” But to maintain respect for differences, keep in mind some of the historic distinctions that exist within all religions and within all cultures. Some people approach spiritual belief systems in order to comfort themselves and to soften the inevitable harsh blows of life?illness, loss, death, and grief. For many people, the communal activity of ritual?congregations or sanghas?itself offers a powerful experience of transcending the claustrophobic boundaries of the individual self in order to participate in a larger, more generous, bountiful experience.

This can also be easily accomplished through collective singing or chanting, which is such a common feature of religions around the world. There is the way lay people engage in religion versus the lifestyle and commitments made by monastics. There are mystics and maverick masters, enlightened householders, dutiful abbots and those whose spiritual aspirations demand to know what this life is all about.

Today in the West, through Western converts to Buddhism and Asian immigrant communities, we have an unprecedented opportunity to experience every kind of Buddhism, and furthermore, to bring to our understanding an educated, historical perspective of the whole sweep of Buddhist activity. For an introduction to Buddhism, we offer the most generalized, commonly accepted, main vehicles of the Buddha’s teachings, which have come to be known as Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana.

All three, however, share a common foundation encapsulated in the Buddha’s first teaching, the Four Noble Truths, which he delivered at the Deer park in Sarnath. The first Truth starts with the point that suffering is an undeniable part of this world of birth and death. Because of this emphasis on suffering, Buddhism has wrongly been confused with nihilism and pessimism. But the Buddha focused on suffering in the same way that doctor focuses on disease: only by addressing the problem can a solution be found. This solution lies in the remaining three Noble Truths: that suffering has a cause, which is craving based on ignorance; that suffering can be ended by eliminating its cause; and that the cause can be eliminated through developing the path of virtue, concentration, and discernment.

The discernment developed in meditation is central to the path, in that it sees through the illusory notion of self-identity that grows out of craving and ignorance, thus leading to repeated suffering and stress. Buddhism points out that any experience we might identify as our “self” is impermanent, continually in flux, coming into existence and passing away, conditioned from one moment to the next by interrelated, empty phenomena. If we do not abandon our sense of self-identity, we are bound to suffer pain and alienation, as our “self” inevitably falls subject to circumstances outside our control.

To gain freedom from this predicament, we must first develop a healthy sense of self-based on being harmless and compassionate, both to ourselves and to others. Then, through meditation, we enter the present moment by dropping our memories of the past and fantasies about the future. Observing the present, we see that our “self” is simply an internal dialogue of incessant chatter. As this chatter grows still, a point is reached in which “self,” “other,” and “present” are transcended. That is where liberation is found.

Tag: What is Buddhism?