TOUCHING THE HEART OF THE DHARMA

THE CORE TEACHINGS OF BUDDHISM

Raj Mansukhani

INTRODUCTION
Many people associate Buddhism with all sorts of things: with
incense, with bald monks, with temples, with the figure of the Buddha
sitting with a benign smile on his face, with chanting, and with
vegetarianism. I know this to be the case because these are the words
and images I get whenever I ask students to free-associate on the word
Buddhism. One student even associated Buddhism with liquor because
he had just gone the night to a place called The Buddha Bar! What all
this shows is that the average person on the street has all sorts of
preconceptions about Buddhism. Even those who have read a little
about Buddhism have all sorts of misconceptions about it, thinking that
Buddhism is pessimistic (for emphasizing suffering), or that Buddhism is a
religion that regards the Buddha as a God. What I want to do in this paper is to go beyond the
rituals and external trappings of Buddhism in order to touch the deeper core of the teachings.
This will help us understand Buddhism in way that would be beneficial and rewarding.

THE WORD BUDDHISM
Perhaps the best way to approach the core of Buddhism is to ask, first of all, what the
word Buddhism means. Buddhism comes from the word Buddha, whose root, budh simply
means awake. The Buddha, therefore, is simply one who is awake. In Angutttara Nikaya, one of
the major collections of Buddhist texts, we are told that a Brahmin (a Hindu priest) once
encountered the Buddha and asked him a series of questions (Bancroft 2001):
The Brahmin Dona saw the Buddha sitting under a tree and was impressed by his
peaceful air of alertness and his good looks. He asked the Buddha:
Are you a god?
No, Brahmin, I am not god.
Then an angel?
No, indeed, Brahmin.
A spirit, then?
No, I am not a spirit.
Then what are you?
I am awake.
When the Buddha said that he was awake, what he implied was that he was once, like
most of us, asleep. To be sleep is to be ignorant of our true nature. It means that there is so
much about ourselves and the world that we dont understand. If we could only open our eyes
and be awake, then we, too, can be Buddhas, This, in fact, is one of the central teachings of
Buddhism: that each of us is a potential Buddha, that each of us has the seed of enlightenment.
All we need to do is to work at it. All we need to do is to nature the seed of enlightenment.

THE LIFE STORY OF BUDDHA
Now lets go back to the Buddha. How did he awaken? What path did he take? In order
to understand this, we need to take closer look into his life story? The Buddha was born around
560 B.C in what is now Southern Nepal. He was Indian, and was born a prince. His name was
Siddhartha.
Right after he was born, an astrologer came for the kingdom and predicted that
Siddhartha would either become a great king or a great spiritual leader. When Siddharthas
father, King Shuddhodana, heard this, he thought: I dont want my son to be a spiritual leader; I
want him to be a king. So that king made sure that Siddhartha would be not be exposed to the
difficulties of life. (It is lifes difficulties, you see, which motivates us to take the spiritual path.) So
the king surrounded Prince Siddhartha will all the possible pleasure one could possibly imagine,
and he was not exposed to any difficulties or suffering whatsoever. One day, as Siddhartha left
the palace wall with his charioteer (named Chandaka), he saw a bent, wrinkled old man. This
was something he had ever seen before. Siddhartha ask Chandaka: Who is the man, and why
does he look like that? Chandaka then explained that he was an old man.
He is that way because of the effect time has on everyone who is born. What that
man has are the afflictions of old age that await all of us. The skin dries and
wrinkle, the hair loses its color and falls out, the veins and arteries stiffen, the
flash loses its suppleness and shapelessly sags. We are beset with pains. Our
eyes skin over and get red. The rest of our sense grows feeble. In fact, as time
goes on, our whole body winds up with little strength left in it, hardly enough to
move along, as you see with that old fellow there. (Kohn 1994:8)
Chadakas words upset the prince. He had never thought that everyone would grow up
old. On another trip outside the palace walls, Siddhartha saw a man suffering from some kind of
disease.He was emaciated and pale. Parts of his body were swollen and other parts were
covered with Sore..When Chandaka explained to Siddhartha what disease was the prince
returned to the Palace deeply troubled (Kohn 1994: 8). On a third occasion, Siddhartha
encountered a funeral Procession and saw a dead body inside a box followed by crying
relatives. He was horrified. When He asked Chandaka what is was, Chandaka explained that
the man in the box was someone who had just died. Chandaka said: My prince, do you not
know? This man lying on the litter is dead. His life has come to an end. His senses and feelings
and consciousness have departed forever. He has become just like a log or a bundle of hay
(Kohn 1994: 8). On a fourth occasion, Siddhartha encountered a wandering monk who seemed
very happy, serene, and contented. When he asked Chandaka who is this person was,
Chandaka said:
This is a holy man who has renounced worldly life and entered upon a life of
Homelessness. Such homeless mendicants devote themselves to spiritual
pursuits such as meditation or practicing austerities. They have no possessions
but wander from place to place, begging their daily food (Kohn 1994: 11).
These events were what led Siddhartha to a deep realization: that everything is ravaged by
time; that we dont live forever and that life-at is very root-is filled with suffering. These facts
motivated Siddhartha to look for a cure for suffering. Thinking that the wandering monk he had
seen had found the cure (since he seemed happy and contented). Siddhartha decided to leave
home at the age of 29. He cut off his hair, gave hi possession away, and became a wandering
ascetic. He performed all sorts of austerities and penances to discipline his mind. He meditated
for hours on end, fasted for weeks, and lived for a time on a single grain of rice each day. These
severe practices almost cost him his life. One day, Siddhartha realized that the he had gone too
far. The correct path, he though, was the middle way, a life characterized neither by extreme
sacrifice nor by extreme pursuit of pleasure. So he decided to stop his extreme regimen and
begin to eat some food. When Siddhartha regained his energy, he decided to sit under a tree
and meditate. He vowed to continue sitting in meditation until found the solution to the problem
of suffering and then one day, during a full moon, Siddhartha attained enlightenment. During his
enlightenment, he was finally able to discover the cure that was seeking. At first, he thought that
he could not teach what he had discovered, since what he had discovered seemed so profound.
But after careful deliberation, he decided to teach what he had learned. He got up from under
the tree, walked a few miles, and met a few friends who had deserted him. It is to these friends
that he gave his first sermon, the sermon on the Four Noble Truths.

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
The Four Noble Truths are the foundational teachings of Buddhism. These teachings
say that (1) human existence is characterized by suffering, (2) that there is a cause for suffering,
(3) that there is a way out of suffering through the elimination of its cause, and (4) that there is a
path leading to the cessation of suffering. In most Buddhist text, it is said that the cause of
suffering is trishna (literally meaning thirst, but translated into English as desire). We suffer
because we have too many wants and needs. We own a cell phone but soon grow dissatisfied
with it as soon as a new model comes along; we own a car but soon get dissatisfied with it
because we desire a better, faster, or more luxurious model; we have a perfectly good
relationship with someone but then look for someone else because we want something new and
more exciting. All these desire inevitably lead to suffering because we cannot possibly fulfill
them all. In the end, we get utterly frustrated.
Actually, if we think about it hard enough, there are many cause of suffering, since there
are many types of suffering. The suffering that results from a viral infection that makes you sick,
for instance, is not due to desire but to the presence of a virus that has infected you. Some
other form of suffering that do not have desire as their root cause would be a headache, a
toothache, a broken limb, a wound, and various other physical pains. These forms of suffering,
which are all physical, are to be distinguished from other form of suffering which are mental.
Examples of mental suffering would be depression, worry, jealousy, regret, anxiety, and so
forth. (Take note that the Buddhist use of the mind or mental includes the emotions.)
Between the two general form of suffering, the physical and the mental, the one which is most
important, and which Buddhism tries to address, is the mental. Why? Because it is the more
serious type of suffering. When you are sick with a fever, you can make yourself feel better by
changing your attitude about your sickness. However, if you are suffering from some sort of
mental anguish, it doesnt quite help if you work on the body. In fact, people do not commit
suicide because of a toothache, but there are those who would commit suicide because of
heartache.

THE ROLE OF THE MIND
What we need to understand at this point and I think you would agree with me when i
say this is that the mine plays a very big role in human suffering. We need to understand this
very clearly if we want a glimpse of the heart of the Buddhist teachings. To give you a graphic
illustration of the role the mind plays in suffering, here is a short folktale about a Jewish man
who goes his rabbi for advice about something that distresses him (yolen1986).The poor Jew
had come to the end of his rope. So he went to his rabbi for advice. Holy rabbi he cried.
Things are in a bad way, and are getting worse all the time! We are poor so poor that my wife,
my six children, my in laws, and I have to live in a one room hut. We get in each other way all
the time. Our nerves are frayed and, because we have plenty of troubles, we quarrel. Believe
me my home is a hell and Id sooner die than continue living this way.
The Rabbi pondered the matter gravely. My son, he said, promise to do as I tell you
and your condition will improve. I promise, Rabbi. answered the trouble man. Ill do anything
you say. Tell me what animals do you own? I have a cow, a goat, and some chicken. Very
well! Go home now and take all these animals into your house to live with you. The poor man
was dumbfounded, but since he had promised the rabbi, he went home and brought all the
animals into his house. The following day the poor man returned to the rabbi and cried, Rabbi,
what a misfortune have you brought upon me! I did as you told me and brought the animals into
the house. And now what I got? Things are worse than ever! My life is a perfect hell --- the
house is turned into a barn! Save me, Rabbi help me!
My son, replied the Rabbi serenely, go home and take the chickens out of your house.
God will help you! The poor man went home and took the chickens out of his house. But it
was not long before he again came running to the rabbi. Holy Rabbi! he wailed. Help me save
me! The goat is smashing everything in the houseshes turning my life into a nightmare. Go
home, said the Rabbi gently. And take the goat out of the house. God will help you! The poor
man returned to his house and removed the goat. But it wasnt long before he again came
running to the rabbi, lamenting loudly, What a misfortune youve brought upon my head, Rabbi!
The cow has turned my house into a stable! How can you expect a human being to live side by
side with an animal? Youre righta hundred times right! agreed the Rabbi. Go straight
home and take the cow out of your house! And the poor unfortunate hastened home and took
the cow out of his house. Not a moment had passed before he came running again to the rabbi.
Rabbi! cried the poor man, his face beaming. Youve made life sweet again for me. With all
animals out, the house is so quiet, and so clean! What a pleasure!
The story above illustrates how important ones attitude or state of mind is with regards
to the experience of happiness and suffering. If we think about it close enough, we should also
come to the conclusion that our state of mind also affects other peoples happiness or suffering.
Here is an example to illustrate this point. Suppose you have just received word that the
knapsack which you lost in school was finally found with everything intact. Feeling relieved, you
decide to walk leisurely to school, humming one of your favorite tunes. You pick up the papers
along the way and look at the winning number for the recent lotto draw and realize that you
have won a cool 200 million pesos. You reach for your cell phone to call your best friend about
the good news only to discover that you have a message waiting for you. You read it and find
out that its an invitation to go out on a date from the person youve had a secret crush in school.
Now, as youre feeling really high, someone accidentally steps on your toe and spills some coke
on your pants. How would you react? You probably wouldnt be bothered by this, would you?
Youd probably just brush it off as a freak accident, and you probably wouldnt get angry with the
person who spilled coke on your pants. Now imagine that you have just found out that you failed
two major subjects. Your lover has just dumped you for your best friend. You just lost your
knapsack with important paper inside. To top it all, your computer just crashed, so you cant
retrieve the files where you saved your term papers, and the deadline is at 5 p.m. today. As you
walk to school, someone steps on your toe and spills coke on your pants. How would you react
this time? You would probably say something really nasty about the persons mother wouldnt
you? You might even punch that personand all because of the state of mind you were in while
the incident happened.
If you really think about it, you might conclude that happy persons do not need to be told
to be good because they will be naturally forgiving, kind, and helpful. It is easier to be kind,
forgiving and helpful if youre happy, and more difficult to be kind, helpful, and forgiving if youre
miserable. For this reason, Buddhists emphasize the need to develop states of mind which
contribute to the feeling of happiness. A happy person needs no commandments.

THE BUDDHIST SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF SUFFERING: TRAINING THE MIND
The solution to the problem is simple: in order to live a better life, in order to be happier,
in order to minimize suffering, what we need to do is to discipline the mind, to transform the
mind. This is very important in Buddhism. This is what I want to stress in this paper: that in order
to touch the core of the Buddhist teachings, we must understand that Buddhism is really about
training the mind. So for now on, I hope that when you hear the word Buddhism, you associate it
not with temples or saffron robes or incense. I hope that you associate it with mental training.
But what is mental training, and how is this approached by the Buddhist? The answer is simple.
First, we must examine the mind and its contents. The Buddhist tells us that if we look closely at
the human mind, we will discover that it is like a vast field with many seeds. Given the right
conditions, some seeds will grow and bear fruit. These seeds are thoughts and emotions we are
each capable of. If we nurture the seeds of tranquility and compassion, then these are the
seeds which will grow. We all know that we have seeds of anger, for example, because when
someone triggers us, the anger comes out. We also have, apart from anger, the seeds of
hatred, fear, revenge, spite, jealousy, greed, and a host of others which make us suffer.
However, we also have seeds of kindness, caring, forgiveness, joy, serenity, and many others
which contribute to our sense of well-being and happiness. Imagine, therefore, that in front of
you are two large boxes. Inside one box, put in the seeds which you think are harmful. Inside
the other, put in all the seeds which you find to be beneficial. After you have done this, make a
decision to nurture those seeds which are beneficial and stop nurturing those seeds which are
harmful.
It is important, while you are classifying the seeds, to use your reasoning to convince
yourself that a certain seeds are, indeed, harmful, and that certain seeds are, indeed beneficial.
For example, you can begin to look deeply into the nature of anger and think about its effect on
other people. Imagine someone who is angry. Imagine the things this person would do under
the influence of intense anger. Isnt it the case that this person may do things that he or she
would later regret? Think also of what a person looks like when gripped by this powerful
emotion. What would happen to this angry person if you were to show him his own face in the
mirror? Would he like what he sees, or would he regard his facial contortions as somehow ugly?
Think, also about the harmful effects of anger on your health: that constricts your blood vessels,
that it increases your blood pressure, and that it lowers your resistance to certain diseases.
When you think about all these, ask yourself if anger is a state of mind which you would like to
nurture and cultivate. If you answer is a sincere no, then put it in a box with other harmful
seeds and decide to nurture other seeds instead.

THE ANTIDOTE
The question that may naturally come to mind at this point is this: how is one to cultivate
the positive beneficial seeds? And how is one to get rid of those seeds which cause suffering?
In order to understand the Buddhist approach to this task, we must familiarize ourselves with a
mental law that the Buddhist invoke: that if you have two thoughts going in opposite directions,
you cannot experience them at the same time (See Dalai Lama 1999). This means that you
cannot be angry and laugh (or feel compassion) at the same time, that you cannot experience
hatred and kindness towards the same person at the same time. Given this fact, the best way to
deal with a negative or unproductive state of mind (such as anger) would be to cultivate its
opposite. In order to fix anger, it is the best to develop its opposite, which is compassion or
loving-kindness. This approach is a little different from the approach taken by modern
psychology. Many psychologists tell us that the best way to deal with anger is to express it.
They say that when you feel anger, you should hit your pillow or kick a punching bag to release
the energy. Then the anger will dissipate. The Buddhists say, on the other hand, that every time
you express anger, you are actually practicing it. You are turning it into a habit. The next time
someone insults you or accuses you of something you didnt do, you will get angry more quickly
this time. This is because anger has become second nature.
The Buddhist approach is different. As mentioned earlier, the best way to deal with a
negative, unproductive state of mind is by cultivating its opposite. This means that for every
negative or destructive emotion, there is an antidote. The antidote to greed is generosity, the
antidote to pride is humility, and the antidote to hatred and anger is compassion. In some
Buddhist texts, it is said that there are $4,000 types of destructive emotions, and there are
$4,000 antidotes as well. I dont know if this is true. Perhaps what the text want to say is that we
have many destructive, negative seeds but that we ought not to be discouraged by this because
we have many antidotes to them as well.

MEDITATION ON LOVINGKINDNESS
Let us now look into one particular negative emotion and see how we can counteract it
through its antidote. For this particular exercise, let us work with anger. I have chosen anger
because it is something we succumb to very often, and we know how destructive it can be. Now
the opposite of anger is patience or kindness or compassion (these are actually interrelated). In
Buddhist literature, the antidote most often used for fixing anger is metta, or lovingkindness (see
Salzberg 2002). Lovingkindness is that warm, benevolent feeling you have for a close friend,
that kind of feeling where you feel a natural fondness for the other without expecting anything in
return. Lets see how we can cultivate this state of mind.
I would like you now, just for a moment, to imagine a good friend in front of you,
someone who likes you and treats you with lovingkindness. If you cant think of such a person,
imagine some fictional character who has the capacity to treat you with lovingkindness. If you
happen to be religious, you can think of Jesus or any other spiritual figure. If you have a hard
time imagining a person n front of you, the just imagine a presence, or imagine that there is
some light in front of you which gives off benevolent energy. As soon as you begin to imagine
this person in front of you, visualize that this person is sending you strong feelings of loving
kindness. You might want to imagine some sort of energy or light coming from this persons
heat which begins to completely envelop your whole body. Feel the loving kindness and just
experience how good this makes you feel. Accept these feelings. Try to understand that you
deserve to be treated this way. If you want, you can intensify these feelings and stay with them
for a little while longer. Now begin to imagine someone else in front of you, someone whom you
are particularly fond of, such as a friend or a family member, someone whom you would like to
share this feeling of loving kindness with. Imagine this person sitting between you and the
person originally sending you the feeling of loving kindness. Now imagine that you are so filled
with loving kindness, that you can share it with this other person you are fond of. Give yourself
some time to experience the sensation of sending out your own feeling of loving kindness. You
might even imagine that the more you send out feelings of loving kindness, the stronger you
experience of loving kindness becomes. Allow a few moments for this to happen. Now try to
imagine that there is someone else in front of you, but towards the left, shifting beside the
person whom you are sending loving kindness to. Let this person ne natural person, someone
who you dont particularly like, but whom you dont particularly dislike either, like an elevator boy
whom you often see or a guard at school or a salesclerk in a department store. Imagine sending
feelings of loving kindness to this person as well. You might even visualize the loving kindness
as a form of light energy which is getting larger and which envelops the space around you,
reaching out to that person you are find of, and reaching out as well to this neutral person.
Imagine that you are all surrounded by this feeling. And then, when you are prepared, imagine
someone you dislike in front of you, sitting somewhere on the right side. See if you can also
send feelings of loving kindness to this person. At this point, you might discover that this is not
as difficult as you would have imagined. Allow the feelings of the loving kindness to be directed
towards this person whom you dislike and notice how this feels. When you have done this, just
let the feelings of loving kindness intensify. Imagine it as some sort of energy or light spreading
around you and covering all the people you have imagined. Now, when you are ready, imagine
that all the possible living beings in the universe are surrounding you. Visualize yourself sharing
the feelings of loving kindness with all of them. Notice how the loving kindness gets stronger the
more you give it.
You can do the exercise above with your eyes open or your eyes closed. No matter how
you do it, you will begin to notice (particularly if you do it often enough), that it is easier for you
to generate kindness, compassion, and care for the people around you. If, while youre walking
towards school, someone steps on your toe and spills coke on your pants, your immediate
impulse will not be to hit or curse the person. This is because the anger which was once in you
as a seed is slowly beginning to be overshadowed by the seeds of compassion.

CONCLUSION
To conclude, I would just like to mention again that the most important feature of
Buddhism is not the Buddha or the lighting of incense or the wearing of certain kinds of clothes.
The most important feature is the training of the mind. This means that one must take the time
to cultivate positive states of mind, because these are what ultimately lead to the end of
suffering, both for oneself and for others.

NOTES:
1. Dharma, in this context, simply means the teachings of the Buddha.
2. The two books I would recommend for anyone who wants to know more about the
life story of the Buddha are: The awakened one: A life of the Buddha (Kohn 1994)
and Old path, white clouds: Walking in the footsteps of the Buddha (Hanh 1991)
3. Although we do not have the space to discuss this fully, it is important to know that
Buddhists have identified three major causes of suffering: desire, ignorance, and
anger, for a clear exposition on the various causes of suffering, see Thich Nhat
Hahns The heart of the Buddhas teachings.

REFERENCES:

Bancroft, Anne. 2001. The pocket Buddha reader. Boston: Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Bercholz, Samuel and Sherab Chodzin Kohn, eds. 1994. Entering the stream: An introduction to
the Buddha and his teachings. London: Random House.
The Dalai Lama. 1995. Awakening the mind, lightening the heart: Core teachings of Tibetan
Buddhism. Harper San Francisco
The Dalai Lama. 1999. Eight verses for training the mind (Audio Cassettes). Snow Lion
Publications.
Hanh, Thich Nhat. 1991. Old path , white clouds: Walking in the footsteps of the Buddha.
Parallax Press
_____. 1991. The heart of the Buddhas teaching. New York: Broadway Books
Kohn, Sherab Chodzin. 1994. The life of the Buddha. In Entering the stream: An introduction to
the Buddha and his teachings. London: Random House.
Salzberg, Sharon. 2002. Loving kindness: The revolutionary art of happiness. Boston:
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
Smith, Jean. 1991. Radiar mind: Essentia Buddhist teachings and texts. Riverhead Books.
Yolen, Jane, ed. 1986. Great fokltales from around the world. New York: Pantheon Books.