What is Buddhism about?
In his enlightenment the Buddha overcame all suffering, realized the absolute truth in life and reached a state of ultimate bliss. ‘Buddha’ means ‘the aware one’, he realized complete awareness. He further saw that everyone has the capacity to attain the same state, but because people have deluded thoughts and attachments, they are not in touch with their own awareness, or their own Buddha nature, as it is also called.
Buddhism is about experiencing one’s true self and gaining wisdom, rediscovering absolute awareness and cultivating compassion. Along the way, it is important to recognize your own negative habits and patterns of thinking. Finding and transforming greed, anger and ignorance, which in Buddhism are called “The Three Poisons”, leads to contentment, serenity and happiness. Being mindful of yourself, others and nature. Always knowing the way is the goal. The Buddhist path is a journey of transformation, a way of cultivating the mind.
Buddha, Dharma and Sangha are called “The Three Jewels”. Buddha is not a god. He is a teacher who helps people on their way through life. He has passed on his personal knowledge in the form of a philosophy of life. His teachings and methods are known as the Dharma. The Sangha is the community of monks and nuns who follow and teach these teachings without being distracted by worldly life. In an expanded sense, all Buddhist practitioners are part of the Sangha. Within the community, the individual, along with others, develops his understanding of the Dharma.
About the Chan tradition, or Who is drinking the tea?
‘Chan’ is the Chinese word for the better known Japanese word ‘Zen’. To explain the Chan tradition, we can consider the following question: “Who is drinking the tea?” The answer is usually: “Me, of course!” But that does not answer the question. To identify oneself as someone who is drinking tea does not mean to recognize one’s true self. Chan Buddhism is always about finding the true self. All existing concepts of yourself and the world are only a hindrance. It is necessary to let go of every single thought, to leave all rational theories and confused emotions behind, to bring oneself into a state in which not a single thought, not a single obstructive feeling arises. Descartes’s famous sentence: “I think, therefore I am” does not fit here. From a Chan perspective you could almost say, “I think, therefore I am not yet.” Of course that does not mean sinking into nothingness! It’s about a state of liberation, of awareness. This can be achieved through meditation. Meditation is therefore an aid, a practice. It is neither the goal nor the only possible way to the true self. Chan should be practiced every moment of life. With practice it is possible to experience every moment of the here and now as the here and now, in full awareness. Even in the smallest situations of everyday life there is the possibility of a higher experience of being. Even drinking tea trains awareness and can be considered as an absolute dedication to the moment.
Q&A
Why do we meditate?
Our mind is active 24 hours a day, from the moment we awake until night, when we sleep and even in our dreams. Thoughts race through our heads without interruption
In Buddhism, the mind is often compared to a wild monkey, who leaps uncontrolledly from one branch to the next. This restlessness amounts to a permanent distraction that prevents us from unfolding the full potential of our mind. Meditation is a tool that helps us focus better, so that we are no longer a slave to our emotions and habits, but the master of our self. Through the practice of meditation, we learn to calm our minds. This leads to physical and mental relaxation, and has far-reaching positive effects on our health. Furthermore, we can concentrate better. We get to know ourselves better, recognize our habits and can become free of them. Depending on our commitment to the practice, and how we integrate it with other aspects of Buddhist teaching, we will be able to recognize our true selves and experience unconditional happiness.
Why is meditation so difficult?
As mentioned above, it’s the mind’s habit to behave like a wild monkey. We are constantly distracted by the six sense impressions .Someone walks past the window and we automatically glance over; the phone makes a sound and we have to check immediately whether we’ve received a message. This has been going on since the moment of our birth. Such a long-standing habit cannot be changed from one day to the next. The important thing is simply to start, and not to get fixed on a specific outcome. It’s like doing sport. If you’ve never jogged before, it’s very tedious at the beginning. You can only manage a short distance, and then you have to walk again. But the most important thing is to do it, even jogging for five minutes is better than nothing. As you practice, it becomes easier to focus your mind, and soon a sense of joy arises. The effort is already the meditation, even if many thoughts appear again and again. Nevertheless, regular meditation already has a positive effect, which in time will become stronger.
Furthermore, the practice of mindfulness in everyday life also helps to deepen the quality of meditation.
What is karma?
Karma is a complex process of cause and effect. Every physical act, every word, and even every single thought has an impact on the personal world that we ourselves create through this process.
At first, this is value-free. Good karma is the potential that is created through actions that bring us a pleasant outcome; bad karma is the potential that brings suffering to us. And of course, there is a lot of karma which is also neutral, but everything is cause and effect and is created by myself.
The result of my thoughts can manifest in seconds, or it can take years, depending on its intensity and the conditions.
Motivation also plays a big role, whether I hurt someone deliberately out of hatred, out of self-interest, or by accident also has an impact on the result. Karma is a universal principle and therefore it does not matter whether I believe in it or understand it or not.
Wenn ich Angst habe, dass ich gleich das teure Glas fallen lasse, fällt es viel wahrscheinlicher wirklich herunter; wenn ich hingegen Vertrauen habe, gelingt mir etwas besser.
The result of my thoughts can manifest in seconds, or it can take years, depending on its intensity and the conditions.
Motivation also plays a big role, whether I hurt someone deliberately out of hatred, out of self-interest, or by accident also has an impact on the result. Karma is a universal principle and therefore it does not matter whether I believe in it or understand it or not.
Karma is a universal principle and therefore it doesn’t matter whether I believe in it or know about it or not
We often act out of habit and are socialized in a certain way. But that does not relieve us of our responsibility. We create a lot of bad karma through our ignorance. If we then experience suffering or unpleasantness, we cannot explain it to ourselves. And so we slide through life.
If you want to have more control over your life, it is important to learn more about the principle of karma, and to actively create positive karma in your life. Everyone is the smith of their own happiness. It is about starting with the causes, not about wanting to change the already manifested result.
Who is a monk or a nun?
On the Buddhist path, there are different stages. The interested practitioner first formally takes refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha in a ceremony, as an expression of determination to practice the path. In this ceremony, one also receives a Dharma name. The next step would be to decide to follow the ethical code recommended by the Buddha; one then receives the Five Silas, also called the Five Precepts or Five Lay Vows, in a ceremony. At this point, one becomes an official lay Buddhist, called Upasaka (male) or Upasika (female).
These Five Silas form the foundation for all subsequent vows. Lay Buddhists also have the option of taking the Bodhisattva Vows, which exist in different versions derived from various sutras. Lay practitioners may also take the Eight Precepts for 24 hours, living for that time like a monk, although still remaining laypersons.
For those who wish to devote their entire time and energy to the Buddhist path and to minimize worldly distractions as much as possible, there is the option of becoming a monk or a nun. This represents a major turning point in one’s life and involves profound changes. Generally, the person joins a monastic community, which, depending on the tradition, has its own specific requirements for ordination. What they all share, however, is the right motivation — the aspiration for enlightenment and the commitment to dedicate one’s life to it.
The person then receives novice ordination from a teacher, which includes ten vows, of which the most important is celibacy. At the same time, the head is shaved, and the new monk or nun receives robes and other monastic clothing, which they will wear in daily life under all circumstances. The monastery instructs the novice, known as a Śrāmaṇera (male) or Śrāmaṇerikā (female), in monastic etiquette and community rules. After a period of training, the novice usually takes full ordination, receiving 250 vows for monks or 348 for nuns, thus becoming a Bhikṣu (Bhikkhu) or Bhikṣuṇī (Bhikkhunī).
In the Mahayana tradition, the ceremony also includes the transmission of the 58 Bodhisattva vows; hence it is called the “Triple Ordination Ceremony.” In Chinese Buddhism, three tattooed dots on the head are given as part of the Bodhisattva ordination.
Vows may be returned at any time, and the person then re-enters lay life.
A monk or nun continues to live according to the vows, even if, after some time, they leave the monastic community to live alone as a Dharma teacher or in retreat. The life of a monk or nun differs fundamentally in many aspects from that of lay Buddhists. A practitioner is either a monk, a nun, or a lay Buddhist; there is no such thing as a “lay monk” or a “lay nun.”
In the West, due to the limited number of monasteries, there are exceptional cases in which some monks and nuns live alone immediately after their ordination.
From the moment of ordination, monks and nuns are no longer responsible only for their own actions; they are official representatives of the Jewel of the Sangha — all ordained members from the past to the future. They serve as official representatives of the Buddhist teachings. For proper interaction, it is important to be clear about whether someone has been officially ordained as a monk or nun.