“To practice Buddhism is to wage a struggle between the negative and positive forces in your mind. The meditator seeks to undermine the negative, and develop and increase the positive.
There are no physical markers by which to measure progress in the struggle between the positive and negative forces in consciousness. Changes begin when you first identify and recognize your delusions, such as anger and jealousy. One then needs to know the antidotes to delusion, and that knowledge is gained by listening to the teachings. There is no simple way to remove delusions. They cannot be extracted surgically. They have to be recognized, and then, through the practice of the teachings, they can be gradually reduced and then completely eliminated.
The teachings offer the means to free oneself from delusion- a path that eventually leads to freedom from all suffering and to the bliss of enlightenment. The more one comes to understand the Dharma, or Buddhist teachings, the weaker will be the grip of pride, hatred, greed, and other negative emotions that cause so much suffering. Applying this understanding to daily life over a period of months and years will gradually transform the mind because, despite the fact that it seems otherwise, the mind is subject to change… In rough terms, any elevated action of body, speech or mind is regarded as dharma because through such an action, one is protected or held back from all sorts of disasters.”
“Suffering is not something that always comes from the outside. It does not only involve problems like famine and drought. If this were the case, we could protect ourselves from suffering, for example , by storing food. But sufferings such as sickness, aging, and death are problems related to the very nature of our existence, and we cannot overcome them by changing external conditions. What is more, we have within us this untamed mind, susceptible to all kinds of problems. It is afflicted with negative thoughts like doubt and anger. As long as our minds are beset by this host of negative thoughts, even if we have soft comfortable clothes and delicious food to eat, they will not solve our problems.”
“He [Buddha] decided that living the life of a prince in a palace was not the way to eliminate suffering. If anything, it was a hindrance.”
“It is evident from historical accounts that Buddha Shakyamuni underwent six years of hard practice. This shows the mind cannot be transformed merely by sleeping and relaxing and enjoying all of life’s comforts. It shows that only through working hard and undergoing hardship over a long period of time will we be able to attain enlightenment.”
“If we read the stories of the great spiritual teachers of the past, we find that they have attained spiritual realization through a great deal of meditation, solitude, and practice. They did not take any shortcuts.
The root of all suffering is ignorance, which here means the misconception of self. All the myriad sufferings we encounter arise because of this misconception, this wrong understanding.”
“The principle motive impelling the Buddha to achieve all his great qualities of body, speech, and mind was compassion. The essence of our practice, too, should be the wish to help others. Such an altruistic wish is naturally present within our hearts in the acknowledgment that others are just like us in wishing to be happy and avoiding suffering. It is like a seed, which can protect and help to grow through practice. All the teachings of the Buddha essentially try to develop this kind of heart and altruistic mind.
The Buddha’s path is founded on compassion, the wish that others be free from suffering. This leads us to the understanding that the welfare of others is ultimately more important than our own, for without others, we would have no spiritual practice, no opportunity for enlightenment. I do not claim to have great knowledge or high realization, but remembering the kindness of my teachers, who gave these instructions to me, and with the concern for the welfare of all beings, I offer these teachings to you.”
-Dalai Lama, Excerpts from In My Own Words, 2008
What Is Buddhism?
Buddhism is a path of practice and spiritual development leading to insight into the true nature of life. Buddhist practices such as meditation are means of changing oneself in order to develop the qualities of awareness, kindness, and wisdom. The experience developed within the Buddhist tradition over thousands of years has created an incomparable resource for all those who wish to follow a path — a path which ultimately culminates in Enlightenment or Buddhahood.
Because Buddhism does not include the idea of worshiping a creator god, some people do not see it as a religion in the normal, Western sense. The basic tenets of Buddhist teaching are straightforward and practical: nothing is fixed or permanent; actions have consequences; change is possible. Thus Buddhism addresses itself to all people irrespective of race, nationality, or gender. It teaches practical methods (such as meditation) which enable people to realise and utilise its teachings in order to transform their experience, to be fully responsible for their lives and to develop the qualities of Wisdom and Compassion.
There are around 350 million Buddhists and a growing number of them are Westerners. They follow many different forms of Buddhism, but all traditions are characterized by non-violence, lack of dogma, tolerance of differences, and, usually, by the practice of meditation.