No-Nonsense Buddhism for Beginners: Clear Answers to Burning Questions About Core Buddhist Teachings

by Noah Rasheta

Liberation is the moment you don’t react to being cut off in traffic—because you don’t know what actually happened, so there’s nothing to react to. Liberation is experiencing reality as it is.

Buddhism teaches that there’s reality as it is, and then there’s reality as we humans perceive or understand it. Our perception of reality is influenced by how our minds are conditioned; in other words, our ideas, cultural beliefs, concepts, and opinions all directly affect how we see reality.

in order to overcome an ego-centered

The Buddha taught that we are essentially prisoners of our own minds, bound by our beliefs, perceptions, and ideas. We see an inaccurate version of reality—a version, not coincidentally, that causes us unnecessary suffering. We tend to go through life thinking that external circumstances are to blame for our suffering and our lack of contentment. The Buddha’s teachings help us alter that perspective and learn that the unnecessary suffering we experience has more to do with how we see things than with what we see.

The Buddha taught that there are three universal characteristics of life, also known as the three marks of existence: dukkha (suffering), anicca (impermanence), and anattā (nonself). These three concepts form the core of what could be considered the truth in Buddhism.

The Buddhist teaching of nonself says that there is no permanent or fixed you—there’s only a complex web of inseparable, impermanent causes and effects.

The nature of reality is that difficulties will arise, and we’ll experience suffering. We can begin to embrace that fact by recognizing that suffering in general is not personal. It’s simply part of the experience of existence. And we will experience suffering, no matter how hard we try to avoid it. Whether we search for a magic formula to remove it, chase after money to buy it off, or seek fame to drown it out; no matter if we pray, meditate, or perform rituals to shield ourselves from it; suffering, in some form, will find us. It is the central problem of human existence.

Experiencing suffering isn’t the real problem, however. The problem arises in how we react to that suffering. The Buddha taught that “when touched with a feeling of pain, the ordinary uninstructed person sorrows, grieves, and laments, beats his breast, becomes distraught. So he feels two pains, physical and mental. Just as if they were to shoot a man with an arrow and, right afterward, were to shoot him with another one, so that he would feel the pains of two arrows” (Saṃyutta Nikāya 36.6). Reactivity becomes a vicious cycle. The more we dwell on our sense of suffering, the more we reinforce the very cause of it: wanting life to be other than it is. The more intense the suffering, the more we want to be rid of it.

Right, or wise, understanding starts by simply recognizing that what we’re seeing might not actually be what it appears to be.

The wisdom of understanding is not about acquiring more knowledge. In fact, it’s the opposite: It’s about trying to unlearn the concepts and ideas that prevent us from seeing reality as it is.

If we want to reduce suffering, we need to be aware of the intentions we have regarding the things we say and do. When our intentions stem from anger or hatred, they’re more likely to cause harm than if they stem from happiness or gratitude.

When we behave reactively, it is very difficult to be mindful of the intent behind our words and actions. It takes practice to become aware of our intentions. You can start this practice by asking yourself, “Why?” as you react to things in life. When I’m feeling anger, for example, I like to ask myself, “Why am I experiencing this emotion?”

Right action or conduct means doing what is proper and necessary for your situation.

Should a person do good, let him do it again and again. Let him find pleasure therein, for blissful is the accumulation of good.

Right effort is about dedicating the time and work required to become more mindful and aware of the nature of reality. Without that effort, there can be no awakening or enlightenment.

Our sense of self is created by our emotional responses to what we’re perceiving in each moment. The moment we see, hear, smell, taste, feel, or think something, the sensation of a “self” that senses emerges. In other words, perception happens and immediately gives rise to the awareness of the perception. The “I” that is aware of the perception taking place gives rise to the sense of self.

Whatever is not yours, abandon it. What is it that is not yours? Material form, feeling, perception, formations, consciousness. These are not yours. When you have abandoned them, that will lead to your welfare and happiness for a long time. THE BUDDHA, MAJJHIMA NIKĀYA

The end goal of the precepts is to practice a lifestyle that harmonizes our actions with reality as it is.

ABSTAIN FROM TAKING LIFE.

ABSTAIN FROM TAKING WHAT IS NOT GIVEN.

It includes evaluating your own motivations and understanding how your actions will affect others.

We can also feel a sense of joy in knowing that others trust us and our word. There is peace and joy in living a life of no remorse.

Opening ourselves up to others and allowing them to support us while we simultaneously support them is a critical step to overcoming an ego-centered life.

I was hiking up a trail that overlooks a river, and I paused there to relax and meditate. After my meditation, I looked at the river and watched the water continually flowing downstream. I thought about how there is really no permanent aspect of that river. The water is always new; the banks are continually changing and evolving as the sediment and rocks wash away and erode; the path of the river changes at different times of the year depending on how much water is flowing down. The river itself is always new, always changing.

What part of me is permanent? My cells are continually regenerating and splitting. My older memories are fading, while new memories are always being added. My thoughts, ideas, and opinions seem to be continually evolving over time. I realized that, like the river, I myself seem like a permanent thing, yet there is nothing permanent to be found when I look for it. Meditation can bring about a profound shift in perspective when we learn to look deeply at something. Something as simple as looking at a river can help us find the universal laws of interdependence and impermanence within and without us.