It is said that nothing is certain in this life but Death and Taxes. If I could add a third item to this list, it would be suffering. All beings experience suffering, some more than others, but none may escape it, for it is tied up in our very existence. Having said that, this speech is not meant to depress or discourage but to provide a solution. The problem of human suffering has been grappled with by wise men and philosophers for as long as there has been wise men and philosophers. This speech is about the teachings of a wise man philosopher known to us as the Buddha, which simply means “awakened one”.
Before I start, I would like to make known that I am not a Buddhist. I simply have a great respect for the core teachings of Buddhism and have found them helpful. Nor am I here to proselytize. I am simply presenting information that I hope you will find helpful. None of that which I will present here should offend anyone. While Buddhism is considered a religion, its core teachings are very similar to psychology and neutral regarding belief in a deity.
Who was the Buddha? He began his life as a prince named Siddhartha in India about 2500 years ago. His father did all he could to shield him from any kind of adversity and provided for him a life of opulence and ease. One day while travelling outside the walls of the palace he experienced something that would change him forever. He saw an old person, a sick person, and a corpse. This blew his mind and he asked himself, what was the point of living a life of opulence and indulgence if it only ended in sickness, old age, and death. That night he secretly left the palace never to return, in search of the meaning of life. He adopted a lifestyle completely opposite to that which he had been accustomed, and for several years he imposed severe austerities upon himself such as fasting, sitting motionless for extended periods of time. However, after many years of this, he saw that this path also did not provide answers, and supposed that there must be a middle way between a life of indulgence and a life of austerity. He sat beneath a Bodhi tree and vowed not to move until he had found that way. After many weeks of meditation, he attained what he believed to be a clear understanding of the nature of reality. His teachings became known as the four truths and the eightfold path.
What are the four truths? The first truth is “There is suffering”. This is an acknowledgement that suffering exists, it is part of life and none can escape it. The second truth is “The cause of suffering is craving”. This can be meant in the ordinary sense, such as when a smoker craves tobacco or a person with a sweet tooth craves sugar, but it in a broader sense, means wanting things to be different than the way they are. The third truth is that there is a cessation to suffering and the fourth truth is the eight-fold path leads to the cessation of suffering.
What is the eight-fold path? The eight-fold path is a group of precepts we can adopt which can help us limit the amount of suffering we cause ourselves and others. These are Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration.
Right Understanding means an understanding of suffering and its cause on more than just an intellectual level. For example, nobody here, I hope, is in denial about gravity. We all have dropped something fragile on a hard surface or fallen and hurt ourselves. Suffering, though just as common, can be difficult to accept, even when it is our own, because it is the most natural thing in the world to resist it. However, once we truly own our suffering, then we can do something about it.
Right thought is more than simply positive thinking. It also means not dwelling on negative feelings such as hatred, anger and jealousy.
We have all heard the saying “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me”, but words can have the power to cause great emotional pain. Right speech is the avoidance of harsh language and also unproductive speech such as gossip. The next precept is Right Action. This means avoiding those actions which harm ourselves or others. It also means keeping our word and taking responsibility for our actions when we err.
Right Livelihood means earning your living in such a way that brings no suffering to others. You would want to avoid engaging in criminal enterprises and being dishonest in your business dealings.
Right Effort means investing your energy into the right pursuits. We may know that getting a degree or starting a side business would help us over long run, but if we spend our free time watching television instead, we will get nowhere and risk not living up to our full potential.
Right mindfulness means paying attention and not being careless. Being careless with our speech and actions can cause harm to ourselves and others.
Right concentration means focusing on those things which bring tranquility and peace of mind and letting go of those things that perturb us.
The Buddha believed that this philosophy could put and end to suffering. This might be overly optimistic, but many people, by following these precepts have reduced the amount of suffering in their lives and have used it to cope with life’s vicissitudes. I hope that all of you were able to take away something useful from this presentation. Thank you for listening.