Buddism Essay Research Paper I AM AWAKEIn (стр. 2 из 3)

His second statement, is that satasfaction of desire is transitory, knowing it won’t last forever diminishes the satasfaction. When we’re presented with a blow pop, we don’t always think, “well this blow pop is great, but i’m going to be so bummed when it’s gone”, but He wants us to know that that’s how it is. Even the bliss experienced during the peak of a romantic relationship has it’s paranoid moments, when you fear that they might leave you, and that if they did the world would cease to exist and you would perish in a pool of your own blasted misery. The simple fear of a desire ceasing to be satasfied can be nerve wracking. “That pig is paying child support now, but I just know it’s too good be true. He and that stripper are going to hop a plane to Amsterdam, and he’ll be gone, I tell you, gone!” My point is made.

His third statement is that satasfaction of desire is addictive, more you have the more you want. How true. How many times have you sat in front of one of those blasted (illegal) video slot machines, and doubled the ten bucks you just put in?…..If you were smart you’d cash out, but this thing is addictive, you can’t stop, you want more more more! (you lose your 400 credits, and then lose twenty more bucks trying to make your ten back) Those poor souls on Who Wants to be a Millionaire….how many times have you seen the guy win $250,000, and blow the $500,000 question because he decided to make a guess?? He walks away with like $60,000 UNSATASFIED. How does that happen?? I rejoice in small change i find on the floor.

His fourth statement is satasfaction of desire is insecure, because the more you have, the more you have to lose. You’re dating Britney Spears. ( forgive me, I hate her too) You’re enthralled, enraptured, infatuated. You soon devote you’re entire waking hours to beating the crap out of anybody who looks at her the wrong way, and devoting your sleeping hours to dreaming about different ways to beat the crap out of anybody who looks at her the wrong way. You can’t even enjoy her pleasant company anymore, because your mind is working over time trying to protect your claim. Eventually she learns of your dispicable antics, and she puts a restraining order on you. This is how your pursuit of britney spears (happiness) has been self defeating.

His fifth statement is status. Success sometimes requires losers, success is high risk. Often in life in order to attain private fulfillment it’s necessary to view others as rivals, for either having something you want, or standing in the way of attaining it. It’s unfortunate that there must be this element of yin and yang where success is concerned. Wherever there are winners, there must also be losers. As a for instance: The Art department is involved in awarding a free trip to Italy to 8 students. You know your professor has selected work from certain students for the committee to view, and you happen to know that your work was in the lot, and so was the work of a girl whose art you don’t like and whose attitude you can’t stand. You think you’ve got a pretty good chance, but cringe when thinking of spending 12 days with this girl. When you get your letter in the mail, you do the happy dance. When you read the names of the other 7 students picked, you do the happy dance again, because she’s not among them. How unfortunate. (hehehe) Yet another fine example of how the pursuit of happiness is self defeating. Ok, so pretend you’re the other girl.

His sixth statement, is satasfaction of desires is superficial, because it doesn’t change you on the inside. Taking all of these things into account, the satasfaction of any given desire isn’t going to change the person you are. (unfortunatly, we’ll find out later that there is no ’self’ to change) Winning $60,000 isn’t going to make you a better person (unless you share it with me), and having your lover leave you for an (ugly) stripper isn’t going to make you any less than what you are. You’re still a beautiful person on the inside, or evil rotten bad. The series of losses and gains one experiences during a lifetime isn’t going to change who you are on the inside. Any attempt to change that person is going to have to begin inward. Other pursuits of happiness will prove self defeating.

This is the Second Noble Truth which states that misery originates within us from the craving for pleasure and for being or non-being. Buddha identifies this is as Tanha, which translates as desire, mores specifically, the desire for private fulfillment. One must realize that we suffer because we become tangled in a web of our own attachments. When we take pleasure from something, it is in our nature to grow attached to it. The more we indulge in a particular pleasure, the more the attachment grows and even the possibility of separation from the pleasure results in suffering and misery. Tanha causes dukkha because a selfish desire arises from ignorance of Anatta.

Every time we long for something that we do not possess we suffer. Probably the most significant craving is for that of a self. It is what underlies all suffering. One of the most puzzling aspects of the Buddha’s teachings is the idea of no self. If there’s no self, who gets angry, who falls in love, who makes effort, who has memories or gets reborn? What does it mean to say there is no self? Sometimes people are afraid of this idea, imagining themselves suddenly disappearing in a cloud of smoke, like a magician’s trick.

We can understand no-self in several ways. Buddha calls it the doctrine of Anatta.

The Buddha described what we call “self” as a collection of elements of mind and body that function interdependently, creating the appearance of woman or man. We then identify with that image or appearance, taking it to be “I” or “mine,” imagining it to have some inherent self-existence. For example, we get up in the morning, look in the mirror, recognize the reflection, and think, “Yes, that’s me again.” We then add all kinds of concepts to this sense of self: I’m a woman or man, I’m a certain age, I’m a happy or unhappy person-the list goes on and on.

When we examine our experience, though, we see that there is not some core being to whom experience refers; rather it is simply “empty phenomena rolling on.” Experience is “empty” in the sense that there is no one behind the arising and changing phenomena to whom they happen. A rainbow is a good example of this. We go outside after a rainstorm and feel that moment of delight if a rainbow appears in the sky. Mostly, we simply enjoy the sight without investigating the real nature of what’ s happening. But when we look more deeply, it becomes clear that there is no “thing” called “rainbow” apart from the particular conditions of air and moisture and light.

Each one of us is like that rainbow-an appearance, a magical display, arising out of the various elements of mind and body. So when anger arises, or sorrow or love or joy, it is just anger angering, sorrow sorrowing, love loving, joy joying. Different feelings arise and pass, each simply expressing its own nature. The problem arises when we identify with these feelings, or thoughts, or sensations as being self or as belonging to “me”: “I’m angry, I’m sad.” By collapsing into the identification with these experiences, we contract energetically into a prison of self and separation. The Buddha wants us to conclude that the self is an illusion. No substantial self is discovered in ordinary or mystical experience.

Another important element in the understanding of Anatta, is the disunity of the ’self’ over time. I will first present you with a scenario. A wave in the ocean is at no two points in time made up of the same molecules of water, the same fish. Your bodily, your social, and your moral self are in a constant state of morphing. Your body when your 5 is made up of cells, and by the time your 15 every one of those cells will be gone. Your social behavior when you’re 5 is acceptable, because you’re 5. If you were 15 and behaved as you did when you were 5, it wouldn’t fly. Your morals have evolved since you were 5, I imagine. When your 5 you’ll play with that boy down the street that smells bad and eats dog food to impress you, even though he’s mean to your hampster. When your 15, your morals, just like that boy’s social self will have undergone drastic changes. A boy whose mean to your hampster just might not be worth your time when you’re 15. Each of these components have been argued to be the ’self’. Your social self is your true self, your bodily self is your true self, your moral self is your true self. None of these three components are the same at two given points. None of them are stationary over time. Each thing that might be your true self changes.

It is said that reincarnation happens every minute. It’s certainly something to ponder. If this were true, it would give you what looks like a long line of ‘momentary selves’. These momentary selves would be liked by what is called psychological karma. The past is nonexistant, it’s only real to us because we can reconstruct it. The future is only real to us because we can imagine what it might be like. The Buddha wants us to see that the only thing that exists is the here and now. Reincarnation happens every minute, maybe even every second. Your momentary self at this moment is exists, and all other momentary selves don’t. Buddha wants us to see that the only things that make the past and the future alive is memory and anticipation. The idea of the self could be a sequence of stills, like snapshots lined up for a lifetime. Buddha says when examined, you will realize that they don’t make a movie, they simply exist of themselves. Meditative experience will slow the “movie” down, and you will recognize these stills for what they are, each frame can be decomposed.

No one piece of a dog is the dog. The tail isn’t a dog, it’s wet nose isn’t a dog, just the same as no piece of ‘the self’ is ‘the self’. Another nice example is the example of the tornado; a whirling turmoil of things, being picked up and discarded, much like the self. This is evidence of the disunity of the self at a time. Self deception wouldn’t be possible if this weren’t true. My alarm clock is 25 minutes fast, and if it weren’t I would never make it to class. How is it possible to ‘trick’ myself day after day? I know my clock is fast. Why does it work? It seems foolish that I should jump out of bed at the sight of 9:40 as though I’m going to be late. I wanted to start this paper much sooner than I did, why did I experience weakness of will? Damn the disunity! Where was the part of me that wanted to have a good start on this paper while the other part was at my boyfriends house watching movies and kicking back?

Buddhist psychology identifies the self as having 5 parts or skandas. The first of these being form. This part sees the physical world in terms of patches of color, and sequences of sound. This part of the self is experienced externally, where each sense is fused into it’s primary function in each ’still’. The second Skanda is feelings. These are the sensations that change the body schema, and register feelings on basic catagories like pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral. The third skanda is Recognition. This skanda deals primarily with the concepts of ’self’ and object desire, like, ‘i want an apple’, and such. The fourth is disposition, which deals with habits, (smoking) emotions, (anger) motives, and intentions. The fifth and final, is the self consciousness. This skanda takes the center, so to speak, as the narritive part of the self, the part that writes the story. It fills in the blanks, connects the 5 skandas, and strings together the ’stills’.

The 5 skandas of the self are said to be no more than ‘heaped’ together, so as to drive home the Buddha’s point of the self’s impermanence. This is called Anicca. He believes that if this point is driven home, we won’t be so inclined to hold on to the notion of permanance. Anicca is, in a sense, the notion of transiency.

Only once we have recognized suffering and understand the cause can we begin to stop it. When we are selfless we are free. The challange is to remain selfless and free. This is difficult because it is the law of life that we see others as an ‘extention of ourselves’, and not our rivals. Often in life in order to attain private fulfillment it’s necessary to view others as rivals, for either having something you want, or standing in the way of attaining it. We don’t usually see people as extentions of ourselves, it seems to be our nature to uphold a very strong sense of self. we “lock ourselves inside our skin encapsulated egos and seek fulfillment through their enlargement.” Buddha wants us to see that it’s the ego that strangles us and holds us back,

“tis the self by which we suffer.”

The Buddha based his teachings on a frank assessment of our plight as humans: there is unsatisfactoriness and suffering in the world. No one can argue this fact. If the Buddha’s teachings were to stop here, we might indeed regard them as pessimistic and life as utterly hopeless. But, like a doctor who prescribes a remedy for an illness, the Buddha offers hope (the third Noble Truth) and a cure (the fourth Noble Truth).

The Third Noble Truth follow logically. If the cause of life’s ‘dislocation’ is selfish

craving, the cure lies in overcoming tanha. This is accomplished only by eliminating the cause itself. If we could be released by the constraints of our narrow self interest , we would be free from our torment. By denying the notion of self and attachment, we deny the ego and therefore suffering itself. It is not enough merely to know that misery pervades all of our existence. The third noble truth is essentially the cessation of dukkha: an end can be found through the relinquishment and abandonment of the cravings. The full realization of the third Noble Truth paves the way for the direct penetration of Nirvana, the transcendent freedom that stands as the final goal of all the Buddha’s teachings, the pure consciousness event.

Since Nirvana is the word used to describe life’s goal, we would be better off to know it’s meaning. Etymologically, it means “to blow out” or to “estinguish”. We should identify what exactly it is that they mean to estinguish, so as to clear up any negative connotations. Buddhism means to estinguish the boundries of the finite self. It is boundless life itself. It is the realization of selflessness, and the cessation of all selfish desire. Only when selflessness is achieved can one relinquish and abandon the desire for private fulfillment, and untangle one’s self from the web of attatchments. Absense of the idea of the self permits awareness of the transience of all things. Once the walls of the ego have been shattered, it permits the understanding of the dukkha of others.

The cessation of craving for personal fulfillment and happiness is a three step process. The first step is to merely recognize your ‘egomania’. Acknowledge the walls of the ego, without this first step, you have no means to continue. The second step, is the Middle Way. The sincere spiritual seeker is to follow a path of balance, rather than extremism. Moderation will prevent overstimulation. Find a means between the extremes, and this is the path to enlightenment. There must also be some method of purification which will allow us to overcome desire and thus suffering. This method is known as the Eightfold Path, which is the third anf final step, and is contained within the Fourth Noble Truth.

The last of the Noble Truths contains a prescription for the relief of our unhappiness and for our eventual release once and for all from the painful and wearisome cycle of birth and death (samsara) to which through our own ignorance of the Four Noble Truths we have been bound. The Eightfold Path sets forth guidelines to help us not to stray from the middle way. The right mode of seeing things includes the Four Noble Truths themselves which give this doctrine a circular and infinite aspect. By following them, we recognize suffering and how to eliminate it from our lives. The Noble Eight fold Path offers a comprehensive practical guide to the development of those wholesome qualities and skills in the human heart that must be cultivated in order to bring the practitioner to the final goal, the supreme freedom and happiness of Nirvana.

Step one is “Right Knowledge”. It is knowledge of what life is all about; knowledge of the Four Noble Truths is basic to any further growth as a Buddhist. It includes the true understanding of ourselves, of our real motives, of our hopes and fears, envies and hatreds. It is this knowledge that the first step of the path calls for and provides. Know the Four Noble Truths and the path that they lead, and calm your mind.

Step two is “Right Aspiration”. This is those thoughts that are free from lust, form ill-will, and from cruelty. It means a clear devotion to being on the Path toward Enlightenment. One must be sure that they understand what enlightenment is, and be sure that it’s what one truly wants. Seek liberation single-mindedly.