First of a series of three essays giving an introduction to Buddhism for
    non-Buddhists. The three essays will cover Buddhist ethics, meditation, and    philosophy in the traditional apologetic form.
--Bernie Simon


   Some people believe that science has made religion obsolete. I believe 
this is a mistaken notion, and I will show why with an analogy. Suppose 
you were shipwrecked and all alone on a lifeboat in the middle of the 
ocean. You would be confronted with two questions. The first would be what 
is the best way to row the boat. The second would be in what direction 
should the boat be rowed. Similarly, in life we are confronted with two 
types of questions. The first is what is the easiest and best way to 
accomplish what I have set out to do. The second is what is worth doing 
and what should be avoided in my life. The first type of question can be 
called practical and the second type of question can be called ethical. 
Science can provide answers to questions of the first type, but never to 
questions of the second type. Thus to the extent that religion limits 
itself to providing answers to ethical questions and developing the means 
to find these answers, it can never be contradicted or superseded by 
science.
   People who have proposed an objective basis for distinguishing between 
what should be sought and what should be avoided generally have chosen one 
of two standards, happiness or duty. Buddhism proposes a third standard, 
wisdom. If happiness is chosen as a standard for evaluating conduct, each 
act in a person's life is evaluated to see whether it will in the long run 
provide more hapiness than other competing acts. This need not be done in 
a simple minded way, it could be quite sophisticated. If duty is chosen as 
a standard for evaluating personal conduct, one conforms one's behaviour 
to some external code of conduct, even if it means pain or even death.
   Buddhism claims that one should be guided by wisdom in determining 
one's conduct. This means that one acts correctly in a situation if one 
does not base the decision on a mistaken view of the situation. Buddhism 
classifies mistaken views into two types, emotional mistakes and mistaken
ideas about reality. An example of the first type of mistake is the 
following. Two men set to work repairing an intricate piece of machinery. 
The first gets frustrated and quits while the second works calmly until 
the job is completed. The first man has brought something extra to the 
work, his anger and impatience. He attributes a false quality to his work: 
he thinks it is out to defeat him. An example of the second kind of 
mistake is the following. A man works at a job for many years without 
considering the possibility that one day he may be laid off and so never 
prepares for it. Then one day he is laid off and because of his lack of 
preparation suffers unecessarily.
    If one were to consider the two other standards of conduct, happiness
and duty, from the standard of wisdom, one would make the following 
observations. First one's happiness can be founded on a false view of the 
way things are. Either one attributes false values to things through greed 
and aversion, or one fails to see that what seems permanent is impermanent 
and beneficial is actually harmful. Second a sense of duty enforced to 
some moral code can only be correct if it springs from an understanding of 
the way things are. No code can be so detailed that it can deal with the 
myriad situations that arise every day justly. Without the guidance of 
wisdom morality leads to a ridiculous formalism devoid of heart.
    A short description of the Buddhist practice of meditation along with a
    justification of its usefulness. This text should not be considered as
    instructions on how to meditate, such instruction should only be given
    personally. Second of a series of three essays on Buddhism covering ethics,    meditation, and wisdom.
--Bernie Simon

  Since Buddhism teaches that our behavior should be guided by wisdom, the 
natural question is, how do we find wisdom? There are two possible 
answers, either we rely on what sombody else has discovered, or develop 
wisdom for ourselves. Buddhism teaches that we can provisionally rely on 
the opinion of others, but ultimately we must find wisdom for ourselves. 
For if wisdom were entirely beyond our reach, how could we place trust in 
any opinion?
  The method that Buddhism teache to obtain wisdom is meditation, or more 
specificaly, mindfulness. By mindfulness is meant the clear and single 
minded attention to what happens to us and in us at each successive moment 
of perception. This attention is directed to one of four objects, called 
the four foundations of mindfulness. These are breath, posture, feelings, 
and mental events. Mindfulness of breath consists of paying attention to 
the breath as it passes the tip of the nostrils. One sits crosslegged in a 
quiet and secluded spot with a firm intention to watch the breath in this
manner. When the mind wanders, one notices that one's attention has 
slackened and returns to watching the breath. Mindfulness of posture 
refers to the sensations associated with standing, sitting, lying, or 
walking. Generally one alternates mindfulness of breath with mindfulness
of walking when one's legs become cramped. Or one attends to mindfulness 
of lying before falling asleep. Mindfulness of feeling refers to 
classifying one's feelings as pleasant, unpleasant, or neutral without 
getting caught up in them. Mindfulness of mental events refers to watching 
the rise and fall of thoughts as one sits in meditation. It is quite 
difficult and not a practice for beginners as many thoughts are quite 
subtle.
  So how can such a passive procedure lead to any good result? There are 
several reasons. First, mindfulness brings out into the open what was 
previously hidden. Most people are quite unaware of their own thoughts, as
in a conversation I overheard. A son said to his mother, 'I know you 
better than you know yorself.' The mother replied, 'Yes, but that works 
both ways.' Second, mindfulness is nonjudgemental. Quite a lot is held 
back in our minds because it is bad or evil. A quite common occurence with 
beginning meditators is that desires we never knew we had come bubbling up 
from the unconscious. These aren't temptations from the devil, we 
ordinarily keep a tight lid on ourselves and are unaware of what we are 
really like. Third, mindfulness slows down the mind. One becomes aware of 
a peace and tranquility that are too often lost sight of in the demands of 
modern life. Last, mindfulness bestows a directness of vision by allowing 
us to look at habitual thoughts from a new angle, that is from the 
standpoint of meditation.



    
    The last installment in a series of three essays on Buddhism. This essay
    covers the realization of wisdom as the goal of Buddhist practice.
--Bernie Simon
    
   The goal of Buddhism is to see thing the way they really are, and the 
means to this insight is the practice of meditation. It should be 
emphasized that this insight is not into a reality above or beyond the 
everyday world, but an insight into the true nature of the everyday world 
itself. As a result the teachings of the Buddha are testable by reason. If 
the Buddha had made statements about the nature of God, his likes and 
dislikes, his pronouncements would have to be taken as revelations. For 
who could disprove them? But since they instead concern the nature of the 
world, they can be examined and proved true. This allows one to practice 
with confidence. 
   When one practices meditation, one observes that all one's thoughts 
arise from nowhere, remain only for a moment and then disappear. There are 
no especially holy or exalted thoughts that and no evil thoughts that go 
against this pattern. All thoughts are like clouds that arise and then 
disapear back into the blue sky. Thus one gains some insight into the 
impermanence of thought. Whatever excites or disgusts me will fall away of 
its own accord, thoughts only gain their appearance of permanence through 
being continually recreated through the power of emotional attachment. But 
once this pattern is seen through, the need to indulge ourselves in this 
way grows less and less. Thus one gains insight into impermanence.
   When thought are seen as impermanent, one ceases to believe that the 
mind is a self, for what does not remain the same even for a moment cannot 
serve as the basis for self. Thus one gains insight into the teaching of 
selflessness. When the mind is seen not to be a self, one no longer clings 
to its states, and the constant play of emotional upheval is seen as a 
bondage and source of suffering. Thus one gains insight into the truth of 
suffering.
   An appreciation of the truth of suffering gives rise to a sense of 
renunciation and estrangement from the pattern of emotional clinging. When 
perfected, this gives rise to enlightened awareness. This is known as 
deliverence by means of the wishless. Enlightened awareness show the full 
truth of the teaching of selflessness. This is known as deliverance by 
means of emptiness. When one understands the truth of emptiness, the 
impermanent and contingent nature of all reality is clearly seen. This is 
known as deliverance by means of the signless, because the 'signs' that 
things present are differntiated from their momentary components and seen 
to be of little importance.    A short biography of the Buddha's life based on the popular biographies
    that were written down several centuries after the Buddha's death. The
    material is intended for comparison with the legends of founders of other
    religions and cannot be considered as a trustworthy historical account.
--Bernie Simon
    
      The major biographies of the Buddha are the Mahavastu (still 
untranslated), the Buddhacarita (published in Buddhist Mahayana Texts by 
Dover Publishing) and the Lalitavistara (published by Dharma Publishing). 
As Warder says, 'All these biographies agree in their main outlines and
essential episodes, but differ completely in their actual texts. Whatever 
borrowing there was took place after the formation of the original 
Buddhist scriptures, in which no such biography occurs. The legend of the 
Buddha belongs not to the schools but to the popular Buddhism of the 
ordinary laity in which the doctrinal splits count for practically nothing.'
  The legend begins with the Buddha dwelling in the Tusita Heaven, where
he determined the proper place, time, and parents for his birth as the 
Buddha. His father was Suddhadana, king of Magadha and his mother was 
queen Maya. At his conception Maya dreamt that a white elephant with six 
tusks entered her body. Buddha was born as Maya leaned on a branch of a 
tree, not from her womb, but from her right side, without pain. Buddha 
took seven steps in each of the four directions proclaiming 'above all 
gods and men I am the most honored one.'He was washed by water poured 
forth by the Nagas (dragons).
Seven days after Buddha's birth, his mother died. He was raised by his aunt.
  The brahmin Asita, upom examining the marks on the Buddha's body told 
the king that he would either become a great ruler or if he left home, an 
enlightened teacher. Since the Buddha was the king's only son, he was
determined that Buddha would not leave home and surrounded him with every 
luxury. He was married at 19 to Yasodhara, who bore him a son, Rahula. One 
day, when he was 29, he saw an old man, a sick man and a corpse along the 
side of the road as he was travelling in his chariot. Agitated with the 
thought that this is the common fate of all persons, he wondered what he
should do to escape it. Then he saw a wandering ascetic and he decided he 
would leave his family and become an ascetic.
  Buddha first studied under two teachers of yoga, Arada Kalama and Udraka
Ramaputra, but was unsatisfied with their teaching and withdrew. He then 
practiced extreme self mortification alone along the banks of the Ganges. 
His reputatation for extreme self denial grew to such an extent that he 
attracted five followers. One day he fell into a faint while lifting 
himself out of the river. Upon recovering, he realized that continued 
fasting would only end in death, so he abandoned it, losing his disciples. 
He sat under a fig tree in meditation. A woman who had prayed to a tree 
spirit for a son, came to leave a bowl of food under the tree as an 
offering. Seeing the Buddha, she offered the food to him instead. Thus 
strengthened he was able to enter into deep meditation. Mara, upon seeing 
this, rushed to the scene, first tempting Buddha with his beautiful 
daughters and then threatening him with his army of followers. Buddha 
remained unmoved by both and that night gained full enlightenment.
  After gaining enlightenment Buddha remained under the tree in meditation 
for seven weeks. He debated whether he should try to teach others what he 
had realized. Brahma, realizing Buddha's hesitation appeared before him 
and persuaded him to teach. Since both his teachers had died, he went to 
teach his five former disciples at Deer Park. They became his disciples
again after hearing his sermon, and within a week all had gained 
enlightenment. He spent the next fourty five years teaching his doctrine 
and establishing the order of monks. He also established an order of nuns, 
after some hesitation,after his nephew and favorite disciple Ananda, 
persuaded him. 
  When he became old, another nephew, Devadatta, asked the Buddha to 
retire and make him leader of the order of monks. Buddha said that after 
his death the order would need no leader. Devadatta resolved to kill the 
Buddha and enlisted the aid of Arjasatru, prince of Kosala. The prince 
deposed his father Bimbasara, who was a supporter of Buddha, and locked 
him in a prison to starve. Devadatta then tried to kill the Buddha, and 
when he failed split the order of monks by proposing a stricter monastic 
code. All the monks were eventually reconciled to the Buddha, as was the 
prince. Devadatta died on the way to seeing the Buddha to ask for his 
forgiveness. At the age of eighty, in the year 486 b.c., Buddha passed 
away after ascertaining that there was no doubt among his disciples about 
his teaching.    This short essay is one Buddhist's thoughts on the concept of God as
    expressed in Buddhism. 
--Bernie Simon

     Christianity is a God centered religion. It sees God as the focus of
meaning in human life and history as the unfolding of God's plan. It comes
as a suprise to most Christians that there are relgions, such as Buddhism,
that are not God centered and have comparitively little to say about Him.
The purpose of this essay is to clarify Buddhist ideas about God and make
them seem reasonable to the non-Buddhist, even if not persuading him. In
this essay instead of talking about "God" I will use the term "the
absolute" to avoid confusion. The word "God" carries too many asociations
that are difficult to lay aside when discussing the subject from a fresh
(Buddhist) perspective. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines the absolute
as "the ultimate source of reality regarded as one and yet the source of
variety; as complete, or perfect, and yet as not divorced from the finite,
imperfect world."
     First, Buddhists believe that the absolute is not someting you believe
in, or worship, but instead something you experience. The experience of the
absolute is called enlightenment. Because of this emphasis on experience,
the terminology of Buddhism is often elusive. More attention is given to
how to attain the experience of the absolute than to a specific description
of its character. Indeed Buddhism teaches that no verbal description of the
absolute is possible. That is, Buddhism insists that the absolute is
ineffable.
     While no positive description of the absolute is possible, Buddhism
does teach that the absolute can be defined negatively by refuting false
ideas of the absolute. Buddhist philosophy is therefore resolutely
critical, showing the contradictions inherent in the concepts of their
opponents. But while Buddhist philosophy is a critical philosophy, it is
also a rational philosophy in that it believes that no contradiction can
exist in the absolute. This is in contrast to those forms of mysticism that
teach the nature of the absolute is contradictory and paradoxical.
     Finally, Buddhism teaches that the absolute is the true nature of the
relative. On the question of the transcendence or immanence of the
absolute, Buddhism come down on the side of immanence. Only because we
misperceive the true nature of the world do we think of it as relative,
when we truly understand the world then we see it as the absolute. But this
process of perceiving the relative as the absolute is not one of addition,
but one of subtraction. That is, one does not gain a new sixth sense from
the practice of meditation enabling one to see everyting as godlike
(whatever that might be). Instead one strips away the false concepts about
reality which makes the absolute appear as the relative. When one sees the
absolute things seem more "ordinary" than before. Thus the enlightened
person is not unworldly and impractical, but more grounded in reality and
better able to deal with the humdrum details of life than anyone else.