The Way I See It
What Buddha Sakyamuni taught and how I understand it.
Sakyamuni Buddha before he was called by this name, realised that there is something wrong with his world, something wrong with the reality he lived in. I am not going to retell the Buddha’s life story, I will tell you what I take from his teachings.
Life is pure suffering. Constant dissatisfaction. We are born in pain, live in pain, get old and then we die. Happiness is short-lived.
Whatever we like, we want to keep forever and whatever we dislike we want to push it as far away as possible. That’s how we create a distinction between ourselves and the phenomena surrounding us. There are ways how to stop the madness — stop being a dick to yourself and others. Remember the constant change/ impermanence. Everyone has some pain, be it mental or physical. Practice this until it will become your second nature. When it will become your second nature you will reach so-called Nirvana — enlightenment.
The way I understand “Nirvana”.
It’s, not a place somewhere in the sky, it’s not heaven. It is a full understanding of the impermanence of it all. It’s not a simple logical understanding, it’s more like “breathing” — when you breathe you don’t think about it, it’s just there doing the job.
There is more much more. After giving these teachings, Mr Sakyamuni gave a second faze of teachings — the teaching of the nature of phenomena, I must say that I am still trying to fully understand what he meant by — “emptiness is form and form is emptiness”. I kind of grasp it but it would be unfair for you to hear(or read) the explanation from someone like me. There are much wiser people who would explain it way better.
Buddha gave three groups of teaching — three turns of the wheel. I gave my view on the first two, I leave the third group of teaching alone, for now.
When you are done reading, please check Kenneth Leong, his explanations are way better than mine.
Another person to check:
Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche
Remember: Everything is in constant change, most people don’t grasp it. Ignorance brings pain and dissatisfaction. We have to learn not to be ignorant of the pain of others.
