Buddhism: From The Top, Down

Interest in Buddhism usually begins with either the philosophy or psychology of Buddhism. Or maybe the esoteric nature of Buddhism, Buddhist meditation, or Buddhist wisdom. But the morality aspects of Buddhism are typically overlooked and frankly considered dull and boring. Keep in mind, however, that if you do not practice the virtues of Buddhism, your quest for the deeper aspects, such as enlightenment, will be similar to entering a tennis tournament without a racquet!

When I first entered a Zen monastery almost thirty years ago, I was very egotistical. I thought that because I was so smart, I could become enlightened in a few weeks - maybe a month or two at the outset. Hah! I must admit after six months of strenuous effort, something did happen, but it was only the first step of a long and interesting journey. After that first experience at Shasta Abbey, however, I must admit that I couldn't see myself ever doing anything not involved with meditation.

So I started at the top, with the pursuit of enlightenment, and over the years had to work my way back down to complete the steps that I skipped. Therefore, this article is about where one should begin and how one should practice so that he or she does not have to backtrack!

The Buddha once said that listening is similar to a vessel. If a vessel has a lid on it, nothing can enter. This would be likened to someone who listens to the Buddha speaking, but has his or her mind already made up.

And if a vessel has a hole in it, this would be likened to someone who hears but cannot retain a word, in which case the teaching is useless.

And if a vessel has some spoiled milk at the bottom, then any new milk that is introduced will be soon spoiled and useless. This is likened to someone who listens to the Buddha for the purposes of using the information to gain knowledge, which they can then use for their own recognition, instead of using the knowledge to train their minds and become enlightened for the good of all humanity.

In some religions, faith is paramount, or perhaps study, meditation and prayer. In Buddhism, however, faith is preliminary, and study and meditation but a method. The goal in Buddhism is transcendental wisdom.

Buddhism is broken down into three main components that must be balanced: Morality, mental development, and wisdom.

Morality, the first component, is separated into Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood.

Right speech involves restraint from lying, slandering, backbiting, and gossiping.

Right action involves not killing, lying, stealing, inappropriate sex, and intoxicants.

Right livelihood involves abstaining from slaughter, slave trade, arms, poisons and intoxicants.

The morality of this first component of Buddhism is the foundation where we must begin.

Mental development, the second component of Buddhism, is broken down into Right Effort, Right mindfulness, and Right Concentration.

Right Effort involves enthusiasm, confidence and not being too tight or too loose. Also, Right Effort involves preventing unwholesome thoughts from arising, rejecting unwholesome thoughts once arisen, cultivating wholesome thoughts, and maintaining wholesome thoughts.

Right Mindfulness involves moment to moment awareness and also investigating the Four Foundations of Mindfulness which are; body, feelings, consciousness, and mental objects such as thoughts and memories.

Wisdom, the third component, is broken down into Right Thought, and Right Understanding.

Right Thought involves cultivating renunciation of frivolous things, of love and compassion, of avoiding either attachment or aversion, and of observing the suffering involved with the cycles of birth and death.

Right Understanding is at two levels. The first level is happiness and prosperity that involves not only this lifetime but the next. The second level involves freedom or nibbana, which is the ultimate aim of Buddhism. Right Understanding at the second level is not intellectual, but insightful. It involves seeing into the nature of things, or becoming enlightened and experiencing Nibbana. Right Understanding involves the Three Characteristics of Existence: Anatta, Aniccca, and Dukkha (no-self, impermanence, and suffering). Right understanding begins with study and observation, then examination of what one has studied, and finally meditation in order to understand directly instead of only intellectually.

Finally, Right Understanding involves the Four Noble Truths:

First Truth: That this is the Noble Truth of Suffering; birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering; union with what is displeasing is suffering; separation from what is pleasing is suffering; not to get what one wants is suffering; in brief, the five aggregates subject to clinging are suffering.

Second Truth: That this is the noble truth of the origin of suffering: it is this craving which leads to renewed existence, accompanied by delight and lust, seeking delight here and there, that is, craving for sensual pleasures, craving for existence, craving for extermination.

Third Truth: That this is the noble truth of the cessation of suffering: it is the remainderless fading away and cessation of that same craving, the giving up and that relinquishing of it, freedom from it, nonreliance on it.

Fourth Truth: That this is the noble truth of the way leading to the cessation of suffering: it is the Noble Eightfold Path; that is, right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right concentration.

Enlightenment is one of the last things mentioned in the Fourth of the Four Noble Truths (The Eightfold Path) under "Right Understanding," the very last aspect of the Eightfold Path. If we try to attain Right Understanding without integrating the remainder of the eightfold path simultaneously, however, our practice becomes unbalanced, and instead of enlightenment, we will attain something but not what the Buddha had in mind and it will not be freedom at all, only continued bondage.

Therefore, my advice, if you truly want to attain enlightenment in this lifetime, is to embrace all of the above. Not only will your life and outlook improve, but you might just see things that few have ever seen, and be as shocked as I was thirty years ago in a Zen monastery.