Nonverbal communication and culture. Identity, stereotypes and prejudices, страница 33

Modern Buddhism directs itself to purification of life and consciousness, not to worship of a godlike figure. Its followers are taught to realize truth through meditation and correct living. Buddhism is at once a faith, a philosophy, and a way of life attempting to help the individual come to the end of suffering by discovering the true nature of reality—its impermanence, its inherent unsatisfactoriness, and its "emptiness."

From the Buddhist perspective, peace, enlightenment, and Nirvana do not come from God. Unhappiness, pain, and suffering are the result of believing in an illusory self or ego. The craving of this ego locks people into seeing and desiring one thing after another for their entire lives. For the Buddhist, one must identify, and at times destroy, those aspects of one's ego that contribute to suffering and obstruct happiness. This individual responsibility is often difficult for Westerners to understand, for many Western religions stress community and direction from the clergy. Buddhism, to the contrary, challenges each individual to do his or her own religious seeking: Direct personal experience is the final test of truth.

Four Noble Truths.Much of the Buddha's message can be found in the Four Noble Truths, which include the Noble Eightfold Path. The Four Noble Truths represent Buddha's answers to the most important questions about life. Together they stand as the axioms of his system, the postulates from which the rest of his teachings logically derive.

The First Noble Truth is that life is dukka, usually translated as "suffering." As the Buddha said in his early writings: Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, worry, misery, pain, distress and despair are suffering; not attaining what one desires is suffering. Contrary to Western interpretation, the Buddha's philosophy is not pessimistic: He was, in fact, concerned, with the cessation of suffering, so he strove to help others by teaching them to identify the causes of their suffering.

The Second Noble Truth concerns the origin of suffering. The Buddha taught that much of the suffering is caused by desire and craving.

The Third Noble Truth follows logically from the Second. If the cause of life's dislocation is selfish craving, its cure lies in the overcoming of tanha [desire], such craving. If we could be released from the narrow limits of self-interest into the vast expanse of universal life, we would be relieved of our torment.

The Fourth Noble Truth indicates that the way to remove suffering is by means of the Noble Eightfold Path, which forms the basic teaching of Buddha.

The Eightfold Path.The tenets of the Eightfold Path are listed below:

1. Right view is understanding and accepting the reality and origins of suffering, and the ways leading to the cessation of suffering. Often referred to as "right knowledge," this first principle obviously implies an awareness of the Four Noble Truths.

2. Right thought is being free from ill will, cruelty, and untruthfulness toward the self and others. Buddha believed that we needed to be truthful even about our imperfections.

3. Right speech is abstaining from lying, tale bearing, and harsh language. Buddha stressed that we should "use communication in the service of truth and harmony."

4. Right behavior, some have said, is Buddha's version of the Ten Commandments, for his fourth principle called for abstaining from the taking of life, from stealing, from sexual misconduct, from lying, and from drinking intoxicants.

5.  Right livelihood is not harming any living thing and being free from luxury at the expense of others.

6.  Right effort is avoiding and overcoming evil, and promoting and maintaining good.

7.  Right mindfulness is the contemplation of the transitory nature of the body, of one's own and others' feelings, of the mind, and of phenomena. This principle calls attention to the crucial Buddhist thought that liberation is said to be through a mind that is aware of the moment.