93 - Buddhism in 10 Steps (Audiobook Special Edition)

Learn Buddhism with Alan Peto - Alan Peto

This special edition audiobook episode of 'Learn Buddhism' by Alan Peto introduces listeners to 'Buddhism in 10 Steps,' a concise and accessible

Key takeaways

• Buddhism is not just a religion but a comprehensive way of life applicable to every moment of existence.
• The core teaching of the Buddha can be summarized as: avoid evil, do good, and purify the mind.

Main topics

• Introduction to Buddhism for beginners
• The Four Noble Truths and the Noble Eightfold Path

Notable quotes

"Buddhism is everything. Everything in the sense that it cannot be relegated to a convenient conceptual box."

Conclusion

The episode concludes by encouraging new practitioners to approach Buddhism with an open mind, set

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Welcome to another episode of Learn Buddhism. I'm Alan Pito. In this episode, you're going to be getting a special treat, which is going to be the audiobook version of Buddhism in 10 Steps, which is also available as a free ebook. It will be introducing you to a variety of different Buddhist concepts and teachings and practices to start you off in Buddhism. Now, on to the audiobook. Buddhism in 10 Steps written by Alan Pito and Buddhist monk Sanativihari Bhikkhu. Welcome. Buddhism is a major worldwide religion with over half a billion followers, which continues to gain the interest of people around the world. Because those who are exploring or new to Buddhism can be inundated with too many resources, books, videos, and viewpoints, we felt a practical and easy-to-understand introduction to Buddhism would be beneficial to start you out correctly in your journey as a Buddhist layperson. As someone new to Buddhism, we have centered this book around that fact, rather than explaining Buddhism at a scholarly or monastic level. Inside this purposely short book, we will introduce you to several fundamental Buddhist teachings, concepts, and practices to give you a solid foundation. We encourage you to explore and find a Buddhist temple near you or online, where you can follow the guidance of Buddhist monastics and engage with the Buddhist community. If you do not have one near you, many are now providing online services and classes you can attend. Welcome to the wonderful world of Buddhism, and we wish you much merit in your practice. Alan Pito and Sanatvihari Bhikkhu Buddhism is Everything by Venerable Sanatvihari Bhikkhu What is Buddhism? Is it a religion, philosophy, or a way of life? Like many of you, I also have similar questions about what is Buddhism? So I started off by reading many books on Buddhism, asking my Buddhist friends, and going to visit Buddhist centers. On my journey to find out what Buddhism is, I was amazed to learn how the many different Buddhist traditions define Buddhism and how Buddhist practice can be varied with each individual. Then it occurred to me, Buddhism is everything. Everything in the sense that it cannot be relegated to a convenient conceptual box. Buddhism is a system, method, teaching, and practice that pervades every single dimension of life. The teachings of the Buddha are now limited to sitting on a meditation cushion, in a monastery, on retreat, holidays, weddings, and funerals. The teachings of the Buddha are for every moment of life, from when we first wake up until the moment we fall asleep. And even in sleep, Buddhism has something to offer us. So what does Buddhism have to offer us? Well, the Buddha said, It is the end of all suffering and the supreme happiness of nirvana. These might seem like quite lofty and idealistic goals. However, the same teachings that can help us achieve these somewhat fantastic goals also provide benefits in the here and now. Whether you are interested in Buddhism because you are in search of transcendence or want to be a bit less of a jerk, the teachings of the Buddha can help in the mundane and the super mundane. You can find relief from suffering due to a late Amazon shipment to the extreme of losing a loved one. The solution to overcoming both are found in the same Buddhist practices. I know that coming into Buddhism can seem overwhelming with the vast number of sutras, meditations, rituals, and customs. However, you can focus your mind and practice on what the Buddha said when he was asked for a concise version of the teachings. The Buddha said, to avoid doing bad. to do good, and to develop the mind. This is a teaching of all the Buddhas. Buddhism is Freedom by Alan Pito Speaker 1 (4:13) Freedom. The Buddha made it abundantly clear that what he taught was a matter of life and death, and that he could free us from the consequences of our own unskillful and unwholesome actions. This Sassian message and mission of the Buddha often gets lost in our distracted society, which demands ideas that they agree with, things that make us feel better, and things that entertain us. In Buddhist teachings, our mind is likened to a bull, ox, or monkey that is constantly going off in different directions based on the things it wants. You are unfortunately chained to this bull of a mind and dragged around endlessly, which is an unsatisfactory experience, to say the least. This mind that controls you is not the true nature of you, and it wants to stay in charge, of course. The more you learn about Buddhism, and the Buddhist teachings, one of two things will occur. You will have the desire to follow the teachings and become a Buddhist, or you will become distracted, disillusioned, bored, and move on to binge watch a TV show. The Buddha knows we will often fall into the latter category, the distracted person being dragged around by their bullish mind. Even though he realized that all sentient beings, such as humans, can become enlightened just as he had, they are also clouded with delusion and ignorance of the truth that prevents enlightenment. That message of freedom, liberation from the chains of suffering, rings loud and true in the minds of the half billion Buddhists around the world. It is coupled with the Buddha's warning to us that this human life is incredibly rare and precious because it is the best realm where we can understand his teachings and make progress to become enlightened. This message of liberation and urgency becomes more important to me every year I practice Buddhism. I have the choice of either resigning myself to be a compliant prisoner of my untamed mind, or I can work towards getting out of this self-imposed prison and rediscover my true nature, nirvana. Buddhism The religion is a well-owned sword that cuts through the delusion and ignorance of our untamed mind so we can become awakened to the truth, become an enlightened being, and realize our natural, peaceful state of nirvana, which is free of suffering and dissatisfaction. As you begin your journey in Buddhism, I encourage you to set your luggage of perceptions, assumptions, and beliefs on the side of the road so you can fully immerse yourself in everything the religion has to offer. You will be exposed to words you do not initially understand, cultures and cultural norms you may feel out of place in, rituals that seem unusual, and complex teachings that make your head hurt. If you can look past your initial perceptions of these, you will often find an amazingly supportive community. deep insight, and a gradual taming of your mind to end greed, anger, and delusion. I look forward to joining you on this incredible journey and in this amazing religion. Speaker 1 (7:27) Step one, what is Buddhism? Buddhism provides the liberating path towards freedom, nirvana in Pali or nirvana in Sanskrit, from unsatisfactoriness in life, dukkha, which is a result of unwholesome karma, which gives rise to continued rebirth in the cycle of birth and death, samsara. The Buddha's teachings explain the true nature of our existence and world, which is marked with unsatisfactoriness. Because we are delusional to the truth, dhamma in Pali or dharma in Sanskrit, we believe this unsatisfactoriness is our true mental existence and are unaware of its illusionary foundation. The Buddha said it is a conditioned experience which we can end. The Buddha explained that unsatisfactoriness is rooted in the three poisons, which are ignorance of the Dharma, the resulting greed, clinging and craving to sensual pleasures, and anger and hatred when we are separated from pleasurable feelings, things, and perceptions. Speaker 1 (8:33) The three poisons give rise to unwholesome intentional volitional actions, kama in Pali or karma in Sanskrit, of the mind, body, and speech. Karma is any intentional action that happens at every moment. However, it is not some otherworldly judging force, but is rather the natural law of cause and effect, where the results of actions can come to fruition immediately in this lifetime or in future existences. Karma is what continues after death, connects all prior and future existences, and gives rise to new existences. This is known as karma with outflows. Outflows are known as fetters, which is another description for light chains, since karma traps one in samsara. By becoming awakened to the truth, the Dharma, one can see the true nature of things, which is the conditioned, impermanent, ever-changing, and interconnected nature of our world. This is the world that we previously viewed and interact with incorrectly due to our own illusions and perceptions when unenlightened. When one becomes awakened to this truth, they have eliminated the delusion. and ignorance of the three poisons and are able to cut off the resulting unwholesome karmic actions of greed and anger which continuously forces rebirth of new existences in the cycle of rebirth samsra which is unsatisfactory Speaker 1 (10:08) One's true existence is free of the three poisons, dukkha, and the cycle of rebirth, and is known as nirvana. In this enlightened state, one is unshackled, meaning fetters removed, known as karma without outflows, from their unskillful and unwholesome actions, karma, that were leading to rebirth, which is unsatisfactory. They can exist in the world, in their true natural state, free of wrong perceptions, unskillful actions, and continued rebecoming in the cycle of rebirth. The goal of all Buddhists is to become enlightened to the truth so they can free themselves from the cycle of rebirth and the unsatisfactory nature of it and realize their true, natural, peaceful state of nirvana. Speaker 1 (10:57) Step 2. Who was the Buddha? The historical Buddha was born 2600 years ago at Siddhartha Gautama in the area where the modern-day country of Nepal is located, which is near modern-day India. Siddhartha was born into a life of luxury and privilege, but was prevented from seeing real life by his father for fear he would become an ascetic or a holy person. This was because it was predicted that Siddhartha would be either a great ruler or a holy person. His father naturally wanted him to follow after him as a leader. He eventually left this life of luxury to become a holy person and learn many techniques from other teachers. However, None of these techniques led to the truth that he was seeking. It was not until he nearly died after starving himself to attain higher levels of attainment that he resolved to follow the middle way of not going to extremes. He then resolved to meditate until he achieved awakening and realized enlightenment. He meditated for 49 days until he became enlightened and was then known as the Buddha, which is the title of an enlightened teacher. He is the latest of many Buddhas who have existed in the past and is called Shakyamuni Buddha or Gautama Buddha. Shakya was his clan's name and Shakyamuni is Sanskrit for Sage of the Shakya. Shakyamuni Buddha is known as a Buddha of our era. Each era has a single Buddha whose teachings, the Dharma, we know and follow to become enlightened. The Buddha taught for roughly 45 years in a country known as India, establishing many monastic communities, followers, and giving teaching to numerous people. His foundational teachings are the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, which is the fourth noble truth, leading to the freedom of nirvana, and dependent origination. It's important to know that the title of Buddha is not restricted to Shakyamuni. There will be more Buddhas in the future when his teachings are lost to this world. The next Buddha of our era is known as Maitreya. There are solitary Buddhas, which are enlightened beings that have awakened to the truth on their own, in an era without a Buddha, but do not enlighten others. In Mahayana Buddhism, all beings strive towards eventually becoming a Buddha, even if that takes eons. There are countless Buddhas in other worlds and dimensions. For example, most Mahayanas follow the path to enlightenment through Amitama Buddha and his Western Pure Land. Pure Lands, also known as Buddha Fields, are perfect environments where one can become more easily enlightened under a living Buddha. For example, when Shakyamuni was on this earth, The famous location in India known as Vulture's Peak was considered his pure land. Step 3. What did the Buddha teach? The Buddha's teachings and mission are centered around one central theme, the ending of unsatisfactoriness in our life, Dukkha. His teachings peel away our delusion and ignorance to reveal the truth of Dukkha, which helps us become enlightened and realize our natural state of nirvana by breaking down the belief in a permanent, unchanging, and independent self, which he says does not exist. The Buddha identified three marks of existence that permeate our reality. Impermanence. No conditioned phenomena is permanent and all are dependent on causes and conditions to exist or cease. We call these two teachings impermanence and dependent origination. This is a core principle in Buddhism because when we fundamentally understand that everything is impermanent, it liberates us from the false belief in a permanent self. Speaker 1 (14:55) suffering, called dukkha in the Buddhist scriptures. Our reality and existence are unsatisfactory even if we don't always perceive it that way. This suffering is caused by our belief that we are permanent and are not dependent on other things, which causes us to have attachments and cling to things. This in turn causes us to create actions, karma, that keep us trapped in a cycle of rebirth, samsara. There are three types of suffering. 1. Suffering of suffering, due to the physical and emotional discomfort and pain we all experience as humans. 2. Suffering of change, due to our inability to accept the truth of impermanence and change, clinging to pleasurable experiences and sadness when they pass. 3. Suffering of existence, due to the overall unsatisfactory nature of the arising of the five aggregates within samsara. The illusion of self. Nothing is independent of other things to exist, and our belief that our body and mind make us permanent and independent is false, known as non-self or not-self. We are just a temporary grouping of things, known as the five aggregates in this existence. The only thing that continues after we die is our actions, karma. Based on the three marks of existence, the Buddha revealed the true nature of our existence. We are trapped like prisoners in the world of samsara, which is the term we use to describe the endless cycle of birth and death, which we call rebirth. Samsara is dukkha, which is rooted in the three poisons, or three fires, of our ignorance, delusions, greed, desires, and anger, hatred. We fuel the three fires through our sense organs of the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, skin, and intellect, manas, and how they react to sense objects of a visible object, sound, odor, taste, touch, and mental object, which are both material and immaterial. Speaker 1 (17:05) Samsara is our mundane existence and daily life, which is full of impermanent and imperfect situations, dukkha, created by our own intentional actions, karma. Samsara is best described as a process of existence that we flow through endlessly, through countless births and deaths, both in every moment and after death. Nirvana Speaker 1 (17:40) Step 4. What are the Four Noble Truths? The Buddha's very first sermon was the Four Noble Truths called Turning the Wheel of the Dharma in Motion. This sermon succinctly explains what Buddhism is and why we practice it. 1. The Truth of Dukkha. The Symptom. You are sick with Dukkha. 2. The Cause of Dukkha. The Diagnosis. Dukkha is caused by repeated birth. due to clinging to the false belief in a permanent, unchanging, and independent self, the resulting mental cravings of sensual pleasures for existence and for non-existence, and the resulting karmic actions which traps one in this endless cycle of rebirth. 3. The Truth of the End of Dukkha The Prognosis There is a cure for dukkha, which helps you achieve your true, natural, peaceful state known as nirvana. 4. The truth of the path that frees of dukkha. Following