10 Questions Buddhists Get

I get questions asking what Buddhism is all about fairly regularly. Here are some of the more common ones.

1. What is the goal of Buddhism?

Many of the worlds religions have goals. Christians and Muslims seek eternal life. Confucians aspire to harmony and order. Hindus seek union with the divine. Buddhism takes as it’s goal liberation.

Liberation from what? Shortly before he died, the Buddha was purported to have said, “I have taught one thing and one thing only, dukkha and the cessation of dukkha.”

Dukkha, roughly translated, can mean suffering, anxiety, stress, or discontentment. The Buddha pointed out that a lot of the time we are suffering. Then he told us the source of suffering and how to reduce it. He gave us the tools to reduce our own misery. This is what liberation is — freedom from suffering.

2. Do Buddhist reject the world?

Buddhism came into being on the Indian subcontinent. One of the fundamental tenets of Indian philosophy is recognizing the fallacy that we might achieve sustained happiness from things that don’t last. Renouncing transitory pleasures lies at the heart of many of India’s traditions. The Buddha took a slightly broader view of the problem. He acknowledged that we can not find lasting contentment in the fleeting pleasures of the world. But he also pointed out that rejecting the world isn't the solution either.

The Buddha’s way, sometimes referred to as the middle way, avoids both extremes. He suggests that the root of our suffering is in how we respond to the world. If we expect lasting contentment from fleeting pleasure, we’ll be instantly disappointed. If we renounce the world, we reject the only source of contentment available to us. What lies in the middle? Acceptance of the world, as it is and recognizing that everything in life is fleeting and, therefore precious.

3. Do Buddhist believe that life is only suffering?

While the Buddha spoke prolifically about suffering, his goal was reducing it. He was clear that it is an uncommon person who truly finds contentment. People flock to consumption or abstinence. But ironically when those strategies only produce temporary satisfaction, instead of adjusting our approach, we redouble our efforts. We up our consumption or further emaciate ourselves. But gluttony and deprivation do not lead to contentment. These tendencies to be blind to our folly are subtle and pervasive, in part because we are pleasure seeking animals armed with conscience and intellect.

So no doubt, acknowledging our propensity to suffer is an important first step. But there is much more to Buddhism than just suffering.

4. What is enlightenment?

This one is tricky, elusive, and startlingly simple all at the same time. The word Buddha comes from the Pali word Bodhi which means awake. So enlightenment could be considered being awake. At it’s essence it is the gift of sentience. The Chinese use the term ming or luminosity — giving us the light in enlightenment. Being seems to be awareness. This awareness is something that we share with everyone past, present, and future. But it’s a quality that is often lost on us. Preoccupied with the addictions and obsessions of our daily routines, we forget the miracle of being that lies at our very core. The practice of Buddhism is less about seeking something new, and more about rediscovering what we truly are.

5. Do Buddhist believe in God?

Buddhism is described as non-theistic. As I mentioned earlier, it starts and ends with suffering and its cessation. There is no appeal to a God for liberation. But that is not to say that Buddhism eschews worship and a concept of the divine. Everything in life is fleeting and, therefore precious. Sacredness permeates everything that we witness and thus everything is worthy of worship.

6. Where do Buddhists believe morality comes from, if not God?

Morality is learned. Long before any holy book was written, our sense of right and wrong has been instilled in us through experience and by culture. The golden rule is advice hard earned by the human race as we’ve evolved as sentient creatures capable of reason, communication, and empathy. Buddhist see morality as a natural consequence of our humanity.

Morality blossoms as we develop wisdom and compassion. The wisdom to see the causes of our suffering and the suffering of others. Compassion for others as we recognize we all suffer in some degree. So while Buddhist often remain silent on the question of God. They are very in tune with a natural morality that is familiar and real.

7. Do Buddhists Pray?

Yes, but being a non-theistic religion, Buddhist prayer has a different quality. I can speak from my experience as a Pure Land practitioner. We chant the name of the Buddha, a particular Buddha called Amitabha — the Buddha of Endless Light and Endless Life. The recitation is accompanied by a sincere hope to be reborn into Amitabha’s Pure Land. Once there, the chanter is assured liberation. Buddhists also perform offerings to Buddha’s, Bodhisattvas, Dakas, Dakinis, Gods and Goddesses.

But it’s also worth noting that the subject of worship are not Gods in the tradition of Yahweh or Allah. To most Buddhists they are more a reflection of the sacred nature of our world.

8. Is Buddhism a Religion or a Philosophy?

I think the answer is yes.

Is it a philosophy? Philosophy, strictly speaking, is the love and study of ideas. Philosophers tend to be occupied with looking deeply at the fundamental questions of life like: what is existence; what is real: what is knowledge; what is morality: and so on. Buddhism has things to say about all these questions. The Buddha was fairly clear that knowledge relates to things that are within our sensory experience. Questions beyond the reach of experience are speculation. For example what happens after we die, or is there a God, cannot be answered through experience. Questions of this type may not merit answers, as they are arbitrary, unverifiable, and most importantly lead to more suffering.

The Buddha also offered an exploration of morality in the form of the eight-fold path, and touched on the nature of being in the second noble truth. So in many respects, there may be justification for calling Buddhism a philosophy.

Is it a religion? Buddhism is generally acknowledged as a religion. But let’s briefly examine the assertion. The origin of the term religion is from the Latin Religare or Religio to bind fast or the bond between humans and the gods. Because Buddhism is described as non-theistic, there may be contention about classifying it as a religion. But as I mentioned above, there is certainly an appreciation of what is sacred. Taking the latter as a workable definition, I’d say we can confirm that Buddhism is a religion.

9. Why do Buddhists meditate?

Meditation is about a sensory experience with “reality.” So much of our daily lives is carried out in our heads in the form of ideas, routines, and assumptions. Meditation is an opportunity to ground ourselves in what’s real and to challenge our assumptions about the world. Only by looking deeply at what’s really happening in the here and now, can we really know anything. While not all Buddhists meditate (in fact only a minority do), the Buddha’s prescription for life includes seeking right view, right concentration, and right mindfulness. Meditation is an effective method for filling this prescription.

10. Does meditation mean stopping your thoughts?

There is only one way I could imagine where you might stop your thoughts, and you’re not going to like it.

Unless we are dead (and I don’t even know for sure what happens then), we will always be living in a sea of thoughts. The approach is similar to the middle way. First discipline your mind to wander less by developing your powers of concentration. Second, develop a healthy relationship with your mind so that when thoughts arise, they do not control us. If we let our thoughts control our life’s agenda, it becomes something like the tail wagging the dog. This is fertile ground for suffering.

Moving towards a mature relationship with our thoughts through discipline of the mind and right view leads us to a healthy balance. Meditation is about stopping suffering, not our thoughts.

Originally published at www.andrewfurst.net on June 19, 2015.