FREE ESSAY ON UNDERSTANDING BUDDHIST WISDOM

UNDERSTANDING BUDDHIST WISDOM

Understanding Buddhist Wisdom
Throughout history people have wondered about the universe in which we live in and looked
for a purpose of our existence. Many Western philosophers believed that an individual is
a separate entity from every other individual and nature. In the Buddhist belief however,
there is no separation between you and any other person or animal. The goal of living and
dying is to eventually see the world as it actually is instead of the illusion that we
see with our senses. This state of enlightenment is known as Nirvana. To reach Nirvana it
is necessary to give up attachments to the things of this world, see the
interconnectedness of everything, and clear your mind so that you can see things the way
they actually are. 
In the Western world we are very attached to our possessions, to the people that we care
about, and especially to ourselves. Most Westerners would be glad to sacrifice something
to help another person or even an animal in need if we could. But most people would not
sacrifice something very important to us and very few would give up their lives in the
spirit of compassion. On the other hand, because the Buddhist belief is that we are all
connected to each other by helping another you help yourself and by hurting 
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another you hurt yourself. In the story of "The Bodhisattva and the Hungry Tigress" the
Buddha tells of a prince who sacrifices his life so that a starving tigress that has just
given birth may live. To be able sacrifice shows that you truly understand that there is
more than just this life:
Yes self-sacrifice is so difficult! It is difficult for people like us, who mare so fond
of our lives and bodies, and who have so little intelligence. It is not at all difficult,
however, for others, who are truly men, intent on benefiting their fellow-creatures, and
who long to sacrifice themselves (Buddhist Scriptures, p. 57). 
The prince was able to give up his life for the tigress because he was aware of that his
own life was just a temporary state. His body and his life are not permanent but only a
small part of a chain of births and deaths. It is almost impossible for us to imagine
having no attachment to our lives or our bodies because in the Western belief that is our
self and we are born and grow up with very strong self-preservation instincts. Buddhists
on the other hand, believe that we need to "recognize the true nature of the living
world, and do not be anxious; for separation cannot possibly be avoided (Buddhist
Scriptures, p. 59). This attachment to our present lives and bodies will help us to ease
our suffering and see the world as it truly is. 
Another of the beliefs in Buddhism is the system of births and deaths called Samsara. A
person is born and reborn until that person reaches enlightenment. Death is not an ending
but just a new beginning. Time has no importance and is just an illusion like the world
is. All people and things are connected to each other as well as all of the people that
those people have been and will be in other lives "in a thousand relationships to each
other, loving, hating, and destroying each other and becoming newly born" 
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(Hesse, p. 133). In Hesse's Siddartha, Govidna experiences this "unity in diversity". The
Buddhist image of reality is everything simultaneously together without divisions such as
time and space. These divisions such as time, space, past lives, and everything else
around us are simply illusions according to Buddhist beliefs. If everything is just an
illusion then why should we love nature and our fellow creatures? The Buddha responded to
this by saying "If they are illusion, then I also am illusion, and so they are always the
same nature as myself. It is that which makes them so lovable and venerable" (Hesse p.
132). This is what the prince had in mind when he fed himself to the tigress. Losing our
attachment to the things of this world and our connection with everything else in the
universe go hand in hand towards seeing things the way they truly are and becoming
enlightened. 
Even after we lose we attachment to this world and we become aware of our interconnected
role in the universe we cannot become enlightened unless we have clarity of mind. To
become enlightened is to be aware of your true nature, but that is impossible to do by
thinking about it since "our true nature is beyond our conscious experience" (Suzuki, p.
180). Zen Buddhists practice zazen, or sitting meditation, to achieve a calm mind: "it is
when you sit in zazen that you will have the most pure, genuine experience of the empty
state of mind. Actually, emptiness of mind is not even a state of mind, but the original
essence of mind" (Suzuki, p. 181). Since this world is a world of illusions then by
thinking about the things of this world we are thinking delusions. But when you realize
that these clouded thoughts are just delusions, they will drift away and you will be 
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left with a pure and calm mind. This is the enlightened mind. So by realizing that you
are in a world of illusions and that you are thinking in delusions is when you become
enlightened. You have to accept the delusion because if you try to expel it, "it will
become busier and busier trying to cope with it" (Suzuki, p. 182). By clearing your mind
you can expect every moment to be a moment of enlightenment experience. 
All of these readings deal with different aspects of Buddhist belief, but they also have
certain things in connection with each other. The goal of Buddhism is not to lead a good
life, although that should come along as well, but to see things as they actually are and
to reach enlightenment. To see things as they really are means understanding that
everything is interconnected with everything else regardless of space or time,
understanding that this world is a world of illusions and so should have no attachments
to the things of this world, and finally realizing that the enlightened part of us lies
in the "true self" of the clear mind. 
Bibliography
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Works Cited
Buddhist Scriptures. "The Bodhisattva and the Hungry Tigress and Parinirvana." Roots of
World Wisdom: A Multicultural Reader. 2nd Edition. Ed. Helen Buss Mitchell. Belmont:
Wadsworth Publishing 1999.
Hesse, Hermann. "Siddhartha." Roots of World Wisdom: A Multicultural Reader. 2nd Edition.
Ed. Helen Buss Mitchell. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing 1999.
Suzuki, Shunryu. "Beyond Consciousness." Roots of World Wisdom: A Multicultural Reader.
2nd Edition. Ed. Helen Buss Mitchell. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing 1999.