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

by Noah Rasheta

habitual reactivity

It's more about reactivity than perception

starting to feel okay with not always understanding the situation we’re in.

Uncertainty Management Theory... Is the human condition managing uncertainty?

reality.

Why isn't that reality?

mistaken perceptions

Who decides what is the right or wrong perception? What is a "correct" perception? I thought we were supposed to not react to our perception? There is a reality separate from human perception. The right perception is just what is? Facts without interpretation? But even facts are reported in a biased matter. Is mistaken perception when we interpret facts? Is the buddhist goal to be an observer? Observers perceive. It's impossible not to perceive.

live ethically

How can you live ethically without perceiving injustice?

wise critic

But aren't we supposed to be separate from perception? Or is it that were supposed to gain knowledge,knowing we won't know everything, to try to gain an accurate perception aka reality? But again, isn't enlightenment letting go of perception?

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.

Is this gaslighting lol?

In the Buddhist parable of the poisoned arrow, a monk is so troubled that the Buddha hasn’t addressed these types of existential questions that he threatens to abandon his monastic vows unless he can get satisfactory answers. The Buddha responds by comparing him to a man wounded with a poisoned arrow who, absurdly, won’t accept treatment until he knows who shot him, what clan the archer was from, what the archer looked like, what materials the arrow was made of, and so on. “The man would die,” the Buddha concludes, “and those things would still remain unknown to him” (Majjhima Nikāya 63).

The Buddha taught that the wise thing to do is not to spend time and energy focusing on irrelevant details but to remove the arrow.

Are they irrelevant? Or a lower priority?

To be enlightened is to be liberated from our habitual reactivity, freed from our perceptions and ideas in order to see reality as it is without wanting it to be different.

Why wouldn't we want to work towards a better reality?

There we can find the source of all the good things we say, think, and do, and likewise discover that we ourselves—our own minds—are the source of any evil. This understanding gives us a greater sense of responsibility over our own thoughts, words, and actions.

greed, hatred, and ignorance

So, for example, when we perceive things to be permanent and independent from other things, this blinds us from seeing things as they truly are: impermanent and interdependent.

I like this. Isn't this a perception?

following our desires without taking time to understand

So... Perceive our desires lol?

to practice a different way of perceiving

Interesting. So we're not eliminating perception?

impulses.

Is there one standard reality or individual reality?

stories

But didn't you just create a story?

Buddhism teaches that there are truths that are true whether we believe them or not, and then there are truths that are true simply because we believe they are true. For example, when the temperature outside drops below 32 degrees Fahrenheit and there is sufficient moisture in the air, it will snow instead of rain. This is true whether we believe it or not. On the other hand, it is true that gold is more valuable than silver only because we collectively believe it to be so. If there were no humans on the planet, gold and silver would have no inherent value. It’s a conceptual truth.

Each man is certain that his experience of the elephant is the accurate one, failing to understand that the other descriptions are also accurate—and that all the descriptions are inaccurate as well, in that they each take into account only one part of the elephant.

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 third type of suffering is called “the all-pervasive suffering,” and it’s the type Buddhism is most concerned with. Unlike the first two types, all-pervasive suffering is self-inflicted, and it generally arises out of an ignorant or delusional understanding of reality. It tends to have very little to do with our actual circumstances and a lot to do with how we perceive and interpret those circumstances.

suffering is self-inflicted,

The third mark of existence, along with suffering and impermanence, is anattā, which translates to “nonself” or “no-self.” This teaching doesn’t imply that you don’t exist; rather, it means that you’re not what you think you are because there is no inherent essence in anything. In other words, things are because of, and in relation to, other things, but things do not exist by themselves as permanent or separate entities. Everything is interdependent.

Everything has causes and conditions; nothing stands alone.

So, I'm an effect of history

Are you more you when you’re hungry or when you’ve recently eaten a meal?

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.

If you were to disassemble it into all its parts and spread them out in the parking lot, you couldn’t point to which one of those parts was the car.

Our tendency is to think that we must be either attached strongly to an idea or detached from that idea entirely. Buddhism proposes a different option: We can be non-attached to our ideas. Without dropping our labels and concepts completely, we loosen the death grip we have on them. When someone attacks a belief or opinion we hold, we can see that they’re attacking the idea, not us directly. When we’re nonattached to our ideas, they no longer own us—we own them.

it doesn’t mean anything. It is neither positive nor negative. All things simply are as they are.

But in reality, there’s no need to fear death, because while it may be the end of the song, it’s not the end of music.

An understanding of impermanence and interdependence can ease the fear of death by reminding us that birth wasn’t the start and death won’t be the end. Every beginning has an end, and every end gives birth to a new beginning. There really is no beginning or end; there is only change.

decompose and become part of nature,

As his condition deteriorated, I asked him, “What does it feel like to know you’re dying?” He just grinned at me and said, “You tell me! You’re dying, too.” He was right. We were both dying; we all are.

with everyone I talk to today?” Then flip the question: “What if I knew that the person I’m talking to had only one more day to live? Would that change how I’m interacting with that person?”

Ardently do today what must be done. Who knows? Tomorrow, death comes. THE BUDDHA, THE BHADDEKARATTA SUTTA

The central teaching of karma is that we can pause and break the cycle of reactivity. In that mindful pause, we have the freedom to choose a more skillful action to contribute to the never-ending web of causes and effects going on all around us.

The Four Noble Truths are: the truth of suffering (dukkha), the truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya), the truth of the end of suffering (nirodha), and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering (magga).

E - Embrace the instance of suffering. L - Let go of the reactive pattern. S - See the stopping of the reactivity. A - Act skillfully.

What we learn from the Buddha about embracing suffering is that life is going to be easier for us when we truly accept that suffering is a part of life for everyone; there’s no way around it.

was aware that this could happen. I’m not alone.

Acceptance in the Buddhist sense is about not resisting or fighting against reality. For example, if you’re feeling a certain emotion—let’s say, loneliness—you have to accept what it is you’re feeling before you can do something about it. If you shy away from acknowledging that you’re lonely and instead ignore the uncomfortable feeling, anything you do to alleviate that discomfort will be unsuccessful, because you’re aiming at the wrong target.

Ceasing reactivity doesn’t mean we need to let go of the discomfort that makes us feel like punching the wall. (That’s not really possible, in any case.) Letting go of reactivity is about avoiding the second arrow. It’s more an act of liberation than a sacrifice we have to make.

The third noble truth, nirodha, helps us understand that in the cessation of suffering, it’s not suffering that ceases, but rather our craving not to suffer.

The eight parts of the path can be grouped into three essential categories of Buddhist practice: wisdom (paññā), ethical conduct (sīla), and mental discipline (samādhi).

WISDOM 1. Right understanding (sammā ditthi) 2. Right intent (sammā sankappa) ETHICAL CONDUCT 3. Right speech (sammā vācā) 4. Right action (sammā kammanta) 5. Right livelihood (sammā ājīva) MENTAL DISCIPLINE 6. Right effort (sammā vāyāma) 7. Right mindfulness (sammā sati) 8. Right concentration (sammā samādhi)

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

It’s about trying to unlearn the concepts and ideas that prevent us from seeing reality as it is.

When we behave reactively, it is very difficult to be mindful of the intent behind our words and actions.

Right speech means communicating with others in a way that doesn’t cause harm. (And,

The problem with a set moral code is that morals change and evolve over time and are different in different cultures. Adhering to the moral code of another place and time may not be the wisest form of action for our place and time.