Buddhism

I read about the sad death of a TV presenter of “Love Island” Caroline Flack. 

I’m not familiar with the programme or her but when I read the story it mentioned she was a “strictly come dancing” winner in 2014, which is a programme I do watch from time to time and I remembered her in the final dance off of that series.

She was only 40 years of age and had everything to live for so I was saddened like many for her taking her own life!

It’s as if she lost control of her mind and went into a state of deep depression. No one knows how and why people get into such downward spirals and end their precious lives. 

I was introduced to Buddhism many years ago when I was a salesman. The lady I was dealing with said she was a Buddhist and gave me a small orange book.

The small book was the teaching of the Buddha “The Wheel of the Dharma” it represents the 8 spokes of a cart wheel always revolving. These spokes represent the eight fold path or the eight noble truths.

The book was written by a Japanese Buddhist society and what made it interesting for me was the book was funded by a Japanese entrepreneur of a Japanese engineering instrument company Mitutoyo. 

Who was the Buddha?

The Buddha was born in the Shakya country, to an aristocratic family. He renounced lay life and after several years of mendicancy, meditation and asceticism, he is reported to have had a spiritual awakening. 

He is thus known by the title Buddha which means “Awakened One”.[10] The Buddha then traveled throughout the Ganges plain teaching and building a religious community. 

Personally I’ve never thought that Buddhism is a religion as such but a way of understanding the inner self.

For me Buddhism is a mental discipline as to a physical discipline. It’s a way of looking at the world around you and putting it in some sort of mental perspective.

It’s controlling the chimp syndrome inside of us. Or should I say our primeval drives.

These I feel are to do with the EGO. The ego can be very dangerous if we allow it to get out of control. The discipline of living a ethical lifestyle was preached by the Buddha or the awaken one.

Buddishm has basic precepts that enable us to keep on a correct path throughout our lives. By laying down principles in how we live and conduct ourselves.

To become awaken isn’t easy as we all know any discipline has to be constantly maintained to become a daily part of our lives.

When stressful things happen around you which you may have created through careless speech or personal actions buddhism helps keep you in check making you more aware of your daily actions.

For me then Buddhism is a road map in how we should live our daily lives.

Basis of this spiritual journey are the Four Noble Truths;

The eight wheels of the Dharma or the eight fold path; beautifully explained by Alan Watts.

We as humans create are own mental anguish and suffering through the workings of our inner minds. This is driven by the ego which we must tame. 

Meditation is also an important element of Buddhism. Meditation is simply a way of quieting our minds. To stop the incessant chatter of our continuous daily thoughts. Meditation allows the mind to rest like the still waters of a pond. 

Meditation is the discipline of the mind. Allowing the mind to rest similar to sleep in resting our bodies.

When we become awake we develop an inner mental strength to stop our inner suffering. However like any discipline it must be practiced and regularly maintained.

Here short talk by a famous Buddhist;

Richard on meditation;

For me in conclusion Buddhism is a way to live a more happier contented life no matter what life may throw at us.

Using a sailing metaphor when you set your course to some distant far off shore,  you  have to check the course, adjust the sails. Maybe because of adverse winds you have to even change the destination. 

What I’m saying is we set ourselves up for suffering through our expectations, those expectations may not align with others expectations.  When that happens we all suffer. Awaken ones live their lives with certain level of healthy detachment and so the vagaries of life don’t effect their daily emotional well-being and happiness.