The How and Why
In the study of Buddhism, the Buddha teaches a three-step approach.
(Listening, Reflecting, Meditating)
(1) Listening to the Dharma or reading about it.
(2) Reflecting on what has been listened to or read.
(3) Meditating on what has been learned and reflected upon.
Building upon a continuous and ever improving understanding.
In the practice of Buddhism, the Buddha follows the Noble eight-fold path divided into three sections.
(Insightful Wisdom, Virtues Action, Mindful Concentration)
(1) Insightful Wisdom, a direct result of our listening to and reading about the Dharma.
Knowledge that leads to wisdom, and ultimately to insight.
(2) Virtues Action, a result of our reflecting on what has been listened to and read.
Assuring skillful actions of our body, of our speech and that of the mind.
(3) Mindful Concentration, a result of our meditation practice, and continued effort on our part.
Leading to improved levels of presence and awareness in our daily lives.
In his teachings of the Dharma, the Buddha places one-part emphases on what is taught and three parts
emphasizing encouragement. The Dharma once learned is straight-forward and logical; what it is not, is easy to follow, to put into practice, to practice correctly. Dharma is a skill that must be continually practiced; it is skillful living that does not happen without diligent effort on our part.
The Buddha showed the way for all to follow and made it clear that each must make the journey on their own, that no one not even the Buddha can do that for us. He also made it clear that the Dharma is what he left behind as his successor. Only that which we can verify with direct experience should be accepted as the truth, even if it comes from higher authority, including the Buddha himself. The Dharma is a treasure that must be discovered, a discovery that must be practiced.
The teachers of the Dharma are like coaches. I use the example of a professional swimming coach. Few swimming
coaches were world champion swimmers, but that does not mean that they are excluded from being good coaches, even the best. We may assume the only legitimate teachers of the Dharma are monks, because of their attire and life style. Attire and or life style do not guarantee a good coach or teacher, nor does it assure a level of enlightenment, or an innate ability to teach. Teaching and coaching are skills that each must learn, and be developed.
Our journey into the Dharma, if taken, is an individual one, that no one can take for or with us. Coaches guide and
give encouragement. The rest is on us. Even if the Buddha was doing the coaching his coaching would only get us
as far as our own effort and dedication will take us.
Study and practice of the Dharma cover both the relative and ultimate. If our goal is success and happiness in this
life. Insightful Wisdom, Virtues Action, and Mindful Concentration when learned and followed will lead us there. If our goal goes beyond happiness and success in this life, the path will lead us there as well; from the relative to the ultimate, from an obsession with me and or others, to the end of self, from the conditioned world we live in to where all conditioning stops, from our circling in samsara to the stillness found in nirvana. This is the goal - a total understanding of the truth, and an end to suffering.