Buddhism 101

by Arnie Kozak

  When you practice and the mind achieves concentration and stays with the moment-to-moment phenomenological energies of being alive you have a direct experience of no self (anatta)—who is it who is meditating? You have an experience of awareness without identification with me and mine. This meditation practice can help you to weaken the bonds of attachment that keep you in samsara and to simultaneously promote wisdom—clear seeing into the actual nature of things. Meditation provides a crucible to experience the chain of causality, or what the Buddha called dependent origination in action.

  Right mindfulness has to do with living your life in the moment and being mindful of everything you do. When you eat, eat. When you wash the dishes, wash the dishes. When you read, read. When you are driving the car, pay attention to driving the car (what a concept!).

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  “Mindfulness is the substance of a Buddha. When you enter deeply into the present moment, you, too, become a living Buddha. You see the nature of reality, and this insight liberates you from suffering and confusion.”

  —Thich Nhat Hanh

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  Right mindfulness asks you to retrieve your attention from the future, especially if that future-oriented attention takes the form of worry. Right mindfulness asks you to retrieve your attention from the past, especially if that past-oriented attention takes the form of regret. Once retrieved, bring your attention back to the present moment.

  The Buddha was practicing right mindfulness when he was observing his thoughts, his sensations, his bodily functions, and his mind. The key to mindfulness is not to judge the contents of your mental experience as good or bad, wanted or unwanted, right or wrong. Right mindfulness and right effort go hand in hand. Without right effort there wouldn’t be mindfulness, since mindfulness takes an appropriate degree of effort. Without mindfulness, effort would futile.

  When you are mindful of your thoughts and actions, ethical conduct becomes possible in everyday life. This also connects to wisdom as well. From your direct experience you will start to notice which actions are skillful and lead to happiness and which actions are unskillful and lead to misery. This process is empirical; that is, you can test it out in real time, moment by moment.

  RIGHT CONCENTRATION

  Progress along the Path requires meditation. The mind must be your ally and not your enemy. The Buddha did not invent meditation; such techniques were being practiced in his day and for thousands of years before his time (although the method of mindfulness meditation was the Buddha’s invention). Under the tutelage of his ascetic teachers he attained profound states of samadhi (concentration).

  These trancelike states, while quite profound, always left him back in samsara once he was done meditating. The other risk of this one-pointed intensive meditation is that it could become addictive, promoting subtle craving for more and more sublime experiences. In a sense these trance states provided an escape from reality, not liberation from it. While concentration is an important foundation for training the mind it was not the ultimate solution he was seeking. The Noble Eightfold Path includes, in addition to right concentration, right mindfulness and right effort. Mindfulness was the method that most directly spoke to the impermanence of things and helped the Buddha to realize his awakening.

  Right concentration is an important foundation for right mindfulness. It is by practicing the appropriate forms of concentration that you make mindfulness more available. One technique used in meditation for right concentration is concentration on the breath.

  For example, you can pay attention to your breathing, noticing the sensations of the inhalation and the exhalation. If your attention is pulled away by thoughts, images, or emotions, you can bring your attention back to the sensations of breathing happening now. If your attention is pulled into the future or starts dragging the past along, you can disengage from those fantasies and memories and return attention to this sensation of the breath happening now.

  This type of meditation is called one-pointed meditation, because you are focused on one point and keep coming back to that point. By practicing right concentration you can come to mindfulness of the moment. Right concentration supports right mindfulness. Together with right effort they form the third element of the Noble Eightfold Path, known as samadhi (meditation).

  THE FIVE PRECEPTS

  Guides to Ethical Living

  The Buddha’s teachings are at their core a prescription for ethical conduct in the world. By cultivating wisdom you minimize harm to yourself and the people around you and the planet. By embracing meditation, you find a path to find peace in the midst of everyday chaos and a world riddled with uncertainty. Ethical conduct is a foundation for meditation and wisdom, but this is not morality for the sake of morality or social control. You act in these ways because you know that it leads to greater happiness.

  The moral precepts (sila) overlap to some extent with the Ten Commandments (don’t lie, steal, or kill, etc.), and embody the Golden Rule (do unto others what you would have others do unto you). Translating sila as “morality” might create confusion; the term ethics might be a better choice. The basis for practice and the path to awakening are ethical precepts. They are done not out of some sense of moral purity but out of necessity.

  The Five Precepts are:

  • Do not destroy life.

  • Do not steal.

  • Do not commit sexual misconduct.

  • Do not lie.

  • Do not become intoxicated.

  The fallout from unwholesome actions interferes with the mind’s ability to train itself. In addition to the five silas, the Buddha also cautioned against another five unwholesome actions, making for a list of ten unwholesome actions. This list of ten actions to avoid can be grouped into things not to do with your body (don’t kill, steal, harm with sexuality), speech (don’t lie, don’t be harsh with words, don’t gossip, and don’t engage in frivolous speech), and mind (don’t get lost in desire, don’t get lost in hatred, and don’t get lost in wrong view).

  In many Buddhist traditions, taking vows means to commit yourself to the practice of the five silas (not to kill, steal, lie, commit sexual misconduct, and become intoxicated). American Buddhist teacher Joseph Goldstein likens the ethical precepts to a warning sign on the beach, “Danger, Strong Undertow.” The Buddha is the lifeguard who has put up this warning sign. The precepts are a template for living an awakened life.

  DO NOT DESTROY LIFE

  The First Precept

  It’s hard to kill someone in the morning and meditate with concentration and mindfulness in the afternoon.

  Every living thing seeks its own survival and a version of its own happiness. This precept asks you to consider this in your actions. It’s an invitation to revere life. Don’t do things that cause harm to others. This is the practice of ahimsa (“not harming”). Don’t kill, maim, or assault. Buddhists who believe in rebirth make the point that the being you harm may have been your mother in a previous lifetime. It also makes sense not to harm because the mind state that accompanies harming will be harmful to you as well.

  Buddha-Nature

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  The Buddha taught that all sentient beings possess buddha-nature and are considered fundamentally good. Buddha-nature is the potential to awaken. Buddha believed that everyone has buddha-nature, no matter what they have done or how they look on the outside.

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  In regard to fellow humans the guidelines are fairly clear, but when it comes to the animal kingdom the considerations become more complex. Is it okay to kill a mosquito? What about one that may be carrying malaria? Can you protect yourself from a dangerous animal? What about insects and worms harmed in plowing fields? Remember Siddhartha’s distress at seeing the plowed fields and the harm this caused its insect inhabitants? As with all the precepts, intention is essential. To deliberately harm is different than inadvertently harming, because it is accompanied by a different mind state and would, therefore, have different karmic consequences.


  But it gets complicated. What if you hunt for deer? This is intentional taking of life to be sure, but in certain areas of the United States deer populations are so dense that many deer get killed on the highways, also causing damage to cars and people. So which action causes less harm? What about Native Americans, such as the Inuit, whose lifestyle is supported through reverentially hunting animals and using them for food, warmth, and tools? Are these people prevented from awakening? Surely not, and what you can conclude is that there are no “rules,” and you should not be attached to rules (that’s what really keeps you from awakening).

  It would be impossible to go through life without harming another living thing, however hard you try. This precept invites you to take care with respect to life, letting kindness and compassion take the lead in your actions. It cautions against perpetuating the three fires through your actions, especially hatred, aggression, and violence.

  To accomplish this you may have to be more thoughtful in how you conduct your life and consider how many animal products you encounter daily in your clothing, food, and other things. There may be relative levels of harm to consider such as eating beef raised on a factory farm living in huge herds, eating corn, and taking antibiotics versus one raised on a rolling hillside eating grass.

  More dilemmas can be found in contemporary issues such as assisted suicide, abortion, and the death penalty. Here again, absolute rules cannot be formulated and you must use your self-knowledge and wisdom to discern appropriate action. Arguments can be made on either side of each issue and there is no central Buddhist authority, like the Vatican for Catholics, to issue policy.

  DO NOT STEAL OR COMMIT SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

  The Second and Third Precepts

  The precept concerning stealing does not include just stealing tangible objects, but intangibles as well, such as ideas or time. The precept invites you to develop a sense of generosity toward others and respect for others’ property.

  GENEROSITY

  The things you have can reinforce the illusory sense of a solid self, bringing considerations of “me” and “mine” into the mind. This is clearly the case when things are taken that are not freely given, but also the case when there is a lack of generosity. A lack of generosity reinforces the illusory sense of separation from others. This precept also points to the fire of greed. Greed could motivate you to take what is not yours. But it’s not just stealing that is considered here. It’s having more than your fair share. Westerners are privileged relative to much of the rest of the world, and even here in the West, some are more privileged than others. Many children in the United States don’t get enough to eat, and yet dining at all-you-can-eat buffets is a popular and inexpensive form of entertainment whose sole purpose is to nurture the fire of greed.

  You may have seen a bumper sticker that reads, “Live simply so that others can simply live.” Here again is a reminder to walk the middle path between the extremes of indulgence and deprivation. This is not an invitation to give away all your possessions. Rather, it is an invitation to consider the impact of your actions in the material world and how they affect yourself and others. The Middle Way is compatible with financial security. After all, the Buddha had to ensure the material needs of the sangha and did so by garnering the support of kings and laypersons who provided parks, temples, food, and other material support for those dedicated to the Noble Eightfold Path.

  Money and Resources

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  According to The World Bank, the richest 16 percent of the world’s population consume 80 percent of its resources. The poorest 20 percent consume 1.5 percent. Wealthy industrialized nations spend billions on cosmetics, perfume, entertainment, drugs and alcohol, and military spending. This spending is far greater than what is spent on basic education, water, sanitation, health, and nutrition for those in need around the world.

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  DO NOT COMMIT SEXUAL MISCONDUCT

  Sex is a powerful force for creation, and it is a force for great harm when abused. Spiritual communities are not immune from sexual misconduct, as the scandals within the Catholic Church have shown. Even Buddhist communities have succumbed to sexual improprieties. This precept invites you to consider the power of sexuality and to use it mindfully with respect and responsibility for yourself and others. This precept is certainly a caution to avoid the obvious forms of sexual misconduct, and often refers to adultery just as the Ten Commandments do. However, it is broader in that it reminds you not to do anything that can use the powerful force of sexuality in a way that harms.

  Despite its puritanical origins, the United States is a highly sexualized culture. Sex is everywhere: in advertising, on television, in videos, and in movies. Pornography is a multibillion-dollar industry. Sex addiction is a growing clinical problem. Sex is everywhere and, like Buddha confronting the temptations of Mara, you will be challenged to be mindful in this arena daily. Sex taps directly into the fire of desire. If you seek lasting fulfillment from a transitory phenomenon like sex, you are bound to experience frustration. The Buddha taught that lasting happiness couldn’t be found by pursuing desire in relentless fashion.

  As with all aspects of the Middle Way, this precept is not an admonition toward prudery or even modesty. As with all the precepts it is an invitation to be awake around sexuality, an area that is challenging to be awake in because it is a deeply rooted biological drive compounded by media-based cultural conditionings. This precept is also an invitation to foster selfless loving in your intimate relationships along with harmony, safety, and enjoyment.

  DO NOT LIE OR BECOME INTOXICATED

  The Fourth and Fifth Precepts

  The Buddha likened the tongue to an axe. Words can harm others; words can harm you, even your own words toward yourself. The fourth precept includes the four unwholesome actions of lying, speaking harshly, gossiping, and being frivolous.

  This precept is much like the right speech of the Noble Eightfold Path. Do not lie, slander, be dishonest in any way, speak with insincerity, promote falsehood, misrepresent information, or gossip maliciously. Do not be indifferent to the truth in any situation or with any event that arises. Be truthful in everything you do and bring love and kindness into your environment.

  Five Courses of Speech

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  The Buddha told his followers about the five courses of speech. Speech may be “timely or untimely, true or untrue, gentle or harsh, connected with good or with harm, or spoken with a mind of lovingkindness or with a mind of inner hate.”

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  Words are powerful, and the invitation here is to be mindful and intentional about how you use your words. In addition to not lying, you are encouraged to avoid words (including your own private thoughts) that are harsh, critical, angry, or belligerent. The Buddha also encouraged his followers not to gossip because of the harm it can cause.

  The final consideration for speech is to make your speech meaningful and to avoid engaging in frivolous or useless talk. The ability to speak is such a wonderful capacity, and it is one that can get taken for granted. If you remained silent instead of engaging in gossip and frivolous speech, how quiet would things get? The natural opening from these cautions is being receptive. When your mind is not entangled in lying, criticizing, gossiping, and wasting its time on frivolous talk you can enjoy a space for listening (and hopefully you’ll be hearing the right speech from the person you are talking to!).

  DO NOT BECOME INTOXICATED

  This precept has a range of interpretations. On one end, there is strict prohibition against any intoxicating substance, even a single drink of alcohol. Some teachers include caffeine and tobacco as well. On the other end, the prohibition is against ingesting sufficient substances to induce intoxication and thereby impairment. In other words, it’s hard to meditate with any skill if you are drunk.

  There is a tradition to drink sake to celebrate the New Year in Zen temples in Japan. As with all the precepts, your approach can be empirical—based on your own experienc
e—rather than following rules. You will find that being mindful of what you put into your body will support your progress along the path. The Buddha cautioned, “do everything in moderation, including moderation.” That is, don’t become attached to rules for the sake of having rules. This is just another attachment, another prison to encumber your freedom.

  Media, food, and entertainment may be other forms of “intoxication.” This precept is a caution to be mindful of all forms of consumption and to see if they contribute to suffering or if they provide you with a temporary release, only to cause a subsequent crash back into suffering. This precept brings the fire of greed into focus. Why do you consume? Can you consume mindfully? Do you have to consume so much?

  The ethical precepts provide a foundation for mindful living that promote awakening, compassion, and wisdom. You obey the precepts not to be a “good girl” or a “good boy,” but because you recognize the value in doing so. It is wise to act in these ways, and you’ll know this from your direct experience. Acting without harming just makes sense and promotes your practice. It also makes the world around you a better place.