Dalai Lama

During this last entry in my series on Buddhism, I’ll discuss three final concepts within Buddhist philosophy.

Anatta: The Concept of No Self
While few of us would admit to personality variances of the same degree as the fabled Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, many of us do manifest different personalities at different times and with different people.  Although to some extent this is due to the unique demands of varying situations, according to the Buddhists, the real cause is our lack of a core self.

This is the concept of Anatta, and whereas many Buddhist concepts stem from Hinduism, this one comes straight from the man himself. Siddhartha Gautama saw each of us as a collection of reactions that are in a constant state of flux due to prior, current and evolving conditions.*

In other words, he believed that each person has the following:

-A physical body that responds to food and other sensory input, as well as to the natural aging process.

-Feelings, thoughts, and perspectives that change according to current situations and that were, moreover, initially formed by our reactions to previous situations. For example, when you were younger, a cat may have scratched you, so thereafter you developed an aversion to cats. But now, as a very cute kitten crawls onto your lap, you decide cats are not so bad after all. You buy one, but it runs into the street and a car runs over it. You feel devastated and decide to never even consider another cat. But then a neighbor’s cat catches a mouse that caused a mess in your garage. You reconsider. (Etc.)

So, we’re not born with a personality or ego; rather, we evolve due to the circumstances to which we’re exposed; including cultural, familial, and private, haphazard events. And this brings us to a fourth pivotal concept within Buddhist philosophy.

Dependent Origination
This is another original revelation of the Buddha. In it, he says that nothing exists on its own but always evolves from earlier circumstances.

I no longer remember where I attained the following explanation, but it states it succinctly: A piece of paper doesn’t come into existence spontaneously. It comes from wood pulp and water. The wood pulp, in turn, derives from trees that grew from the seeds of earlier trees, which themselves grew from earlier trees. In addition, when one burns paper, it becomes smoke and ash, so it doesn’t disappear, but transforms. So, the essential components of that piece of paper were always here, and will always be here.

In the same way, we didn’t spontaneously come into existence at birth, but are the result of our parents, of their meeting and the events that drew them together, of their parents’ meeting, etc.  In Buddhist philosophy, therefore, everything is always a consequence of something that came before.

The crucial lesson is that if we see everything as dependent on everything else, then we also see that everything we do, as well as everything we think, affects the future. In Thich Nhat Hanh’s words, “the world is woven of interconnected threads.”

Samsara: Rebirth
The fifth and final concept within Buddhist philosophy that I’m going to introduce in this extended blog post on Buddhism is that of samsara, or rebirth. Before we go any further, however, I need to emphasize that the understanding of rebirth differs. Whereas Hindus see a soul reincarnating until it eventually perfects itself and unites with the One, Buddhists see it differently.

Often cited is their analogy of a billiard ball hitting another billiard ball. While nothing internal or physical transfers, the speed and direction of the second ball derives from the first. Samsara, then, follows the law of dependent origination just described. It occurs due to previous circumstances.

A fundamental aim of Buddhism is to break free of samsara by attaining Nirvana–which doesn’t mean paradise, but a state of mind. After attaining it, one is no longer is tied to the emotions, thought patterns, and desires that bind one to the physical realm.

What exactly does this state of mind feel like?  Well, the Buddha refused to discuss it, saying it was beyond words—similar to statements made by those who say they’ve attained enlightenment or unity with God. Does this mean these states don’t exist? No, what we can’t put into words can still exist. It’s just inexpressible.

I’ll end this post by summarizing my understanding of the Buddha’s main teachings:

-Suffering is caused by attachment to ideas, to people, to certain states of being, to our concept of ourselves, to our desires for the future, etc. Once we realize the impermanence of everything, we can work on detaching ourselves from these desires.

-Our ultimate peace depends on training ourselves in this detachment. This occurs through observing our thoughts and then changing our perspectives. No god, mentor or person can do it for us.

-While on this path, it’s essential that we treat others with compassion, realizing that our sense of ego or individuality is erroneous; we’re all one.

“When watching after yourself, you watch after others; when watching over others, you watch after yourself.”

The Buddha,  Sumyutta Sutra

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*For those who protest, citing our unique genetic codes, in Buddhist thought, these are due to our action and thought patterns from prior lifetimes, which usher us into our current state of being.