In summary, what does the beginner need to know about Buddhism?
by Khenpo Tashi (given on several occasions; compiled and edited for this article)
The Buddha taught four metaphors on how to treat Buddhism. For the beginner, it is helpful to understand Buddhism through these four metaphors. To see:
- ourselves as a very sick patient
- the Buddha as the doctor
- the Buddhadharma, his teachings, as the medicine
- practicing his teachings as taking the medicine to end our sickness
This article explains these four metaphors in detail.
These four metaphors are the main pillars of Buddhism. The first metaphor is to see our ‘self-centeredness’ as our sickness. How deep our self-centeredness is, that is also how deep our sickness is.
Buddhism is deep and vast. This is because our self-centeredness is deep and complicated, and the self-centeredness of all other beings are deep and complicated too. (READ: Pride in Buddhism)
The Universe is deep and vast. The beings in this universe change. Buddhas, then, teach according to the needs and dispositions of the self-centered beings of their time. The ‘Buddhism’ of Buddha Shakyamuni is:
Essence of Buddhism for the Beginner
“Do not engage in any harmful actions;
Perform only those that are good;
Subdue your own mind
— This is the teaching of the Buddha”
All the past, present and future Buddhas have taught, teach and will teach based on this advice.
#1: Sick Patient Faces Discomfort
Will the sick patient like the medicine? No. If she likes the medicine, then, she could easily take the medicine and cure herself from the beginning. But as we see, that is not the case. The patient loves the sickness! We, the patients, are just grasping harder and harder at the sickness.
The medicine, the Dharma, should oppose the sickness, the self-centeredness. The beginner must understand this – The Dharma is against one’s self-grasping or self-centeredness.
We have endless disturbing emotions and obscurations inside us. We have endless problems and tragedies around us that are still putting us down. Those are the endless displays of our sickness of self-grasping. The Buddha’s many teachings try to purify these internal and external problems. They also teach how to get the qualities that bring long-term happiness and peace.
Actually, we love our sickness so much. For beginners, concepts like merit and Karma, we doubt these a lot. But emotions like guilt, lust and sadness, we believe in these very much! So, the medicine is hard to understand, but the defilements, we quickly embrace. (READ: The Source of Problems)
Check if that is true or not.
#2: The Doctor: Teacher and Student
Can the sick patient examine, diagnose and prescribe the right medicine for her serious illness? No. The patient needs a doctor. For beginners studying Buddhism, this is a crucial point to mention.
Formally, it is called ‘lineage’ or ‘tradition’. Lineage is the unbroken connection between master and student studying and practicing Buddhism.
The Seven Patriarchs
After the Buddha passed away around 480 BCE, his chief monk, the Arhat (Sanskrit: noble, realized one) Mahakasyapa, served as the first holder of his teachings. During this time, a council of 500 Arhats gathered. They chose the monk Upali to recite the Vinaya, Ananda recited the Sutra, and Mahakasyapa the Abhidharma.
After Mahakasyapa, Ananda became the second holder. It passed on to five more patriarchs before Arya Nagarjuna became the foremost holder of the Buddha’s teachings. From him, an unbroken succession of masters passed Buddhism to Tibet in the 8th Century until now.
In summary, in the history of Buddhism (and even in the hundreds of past lives of Buddha Shakyamuni he mentioned in many Sutras), learning from the teacher is crucial. It is doubtful that we will gain any benefit from studying and practicing from books and videos alone. It is necessary to learn from a qualified teacher (who was also trained and taught by a previous teacher).
#3: The Medicine: Different Buddhist Teachings
Buddhism is actually for all sentient beings, not just for humans or for Buddhists.
Tibetan Buddhism is one of the many Buddhist traditions. Buddha Shakyamuni taught 84,000 methods to liberate sentient beings from Samsara. Tibetan Buddhism preserves the greatest number of the Buddha’s teachings amongst the different Buddhist traditions.
For instance, he taught the Hinayana teachings, the Mahayana teachings and the Vajrayana teachings. These are the Three Sets of Teachings for individuals of lower, middle and higher abilities, respectively. In other Buddhist Traditions like the Thai or Chinese Zen, they teach the Hinayana or the Mahayana. In the Nyingma School of Tibetan Buddhism, the Three Sets of Teachings appear as the “Nine Vehicles”.
So, all the three sets of teachings of the Buddha – the Hinayana, Mahayana and Vajrayana – are all found within Tibetan Buddhism.
The challenge for the beginner of Buddhism is to learn and practice these teachings gradually, from a qualified teacher.
#4: Taking the Medicine: Buddhist Rituals and Ceremonies
Since Tibetan Buddhism upholds the Buddha’s three sets of teachings, the temple reflects the vastness of these three sets of teachings. These are the teachings that one is supposed to practice, upon the guidance and explanation of the teacher.
Why Is There A Need to Practice?
The moment one begins to learn Buddhism, one’s thoughts, speech and actions are very immersed or influenced by Samsaric tendencies.
To practice is to become familiar, or closer, with Buddha, or Buddha’s nature. In other words, practice is to purify one’s numerous negative Karma and earn merit and wisdom.
The most important is to investigate and follow the teacher’s instructions. Practicing the teacher’s instruction turns a Samsaric mind into a non-Samsaric mind. However, just by self-practicing through books or videos, we will not achieve the same result.
Source of the Practices, Rituals and Ceremonies
Most of the rituals and prayers that are publicly seen in our temple are Buddhism based on the Buddha’s Sutras. They are a ‘reflection’ or ‘essence’ of the Sutras. A few of the rituals and instruments that are seen publicly in the temple are based on Buddhist Tantra.
Leaving aside the Tantras for now, as beginners, we are not even familiar with the Buddha’s vast Sutra teachings. Reading one or two stories from the internet or from unverified sources will not do. There are almost a thousand Sutras preserved in the Tibetan tradition.
Can we claim which Sutra teaching is “Buddhist” and which one is “non-Buddhist”? That is not possible. The audiences and situations where the Sutras were taught are very wide. If we only read one or two Sutras, accept these two as the only Buddha’s teachings, and judge all other Sutras as non-Buddhist, that is acting with a narrow mind.
Through practicing the rituals and ceremonies, one is humbly learning and following what the Buddha taught. It is much more worthwhile to study more and more Sutras. One must also study the meanings of these prayers and rituals under a qualified teacher.
That is the way to understand that Tibetan Buddhism preserves all the different kinds of teachings and advice of the Buddha. And through tradition, one has the good fortune to still practice them.
Conclusion
Due to incomplete information from hearsays, the beginner ordinarily assumes many things about Buddhism. To any beginner, Buddhism may look complicated. Is this the Buddhism that one is really looking for? Please check and investigate.
First, the sick patient. Why is the patient sick? Because normally, the patient loves the sickness – the strong emotions and negative Karma. So, the sufferings coming from the sickness continues for the patient.
Second, the doctor. The Buddha and the qualified teacher act as the doctor because they teach something that the student has not yet learned. Also, the student normally cannot prescribe the teaching suitable to oneself. Buddhism is learned from the unbroken succession between master and student.
Third, the medicine. The teachings coming from the Sutras are numerous and different. They are categorized according to a progression by Buddha Shakyamuni (when he taught the final teachings at Vaishali, India). The Buddhist teachings are vast.
Fourth, taking the medicine or practicing the teachings. It is for the learner to have humility, patience and willingness to start from the beginning, and to practice under the guidance of a qualified teacher.
That is ideally how Buddhism must be practiced to truly benefit oneself.