Buddhism: Changing The Mind

Buddhism is a path for changing the mind, for going from ignorance to knowledge, from self-interest to humanity and sympathy. The mind is the source of all happiness and it is also the source of the experience of suffering. Buddhism offers methods to free the mind from delusion and harmful mental states such as hatred, obsession, jealousy, and pride. The Buddhist teachings are very huge and include both philosophical views and spiritual practice aimed at scattering a mistaken view of reality and displacing the very causes of suffering.

Buddhism, like many of the groups that developed in northeastern India at the time, was created by the presence of a charismatic teacher, by the teachings this leader spread, and by a community of believers that

In ancient India, the title Buddha meant to an enlightened being who has awakened from the sleep of ignorance and achieved freedom from suffering. According to the various traditions of Buddhism, Buddha’s have existed in the past and will exist in the future. Some Buddhists believe that there is only one Buddha for each historical age, others that all beings will become Buddha’s because they possess the Buddha nature. The historical figure referred to as the Buddha was born on the northern edge of the Ganges River basin, an area of the ancient civilization of North India, in what is today southern Nepal. He is said to have lived for 80 years. His family name was Gautama and his given name was Siddhartha “he who achieves his

The aim of Buddhist practice is to be free of the vision of ego and thus free oneself from the ties of this ordinary world. One who is successful in doing so is said to have overcome the round of rebirths and to have achieved enlightenment.

The living process is again related to a fire. Its cure is the death of the fire of illusion, passions, and cravings. The Buddha, the Enlightened One, is one who is no longer kindled or inflamed. Many poetic terms are used to describe the state of the enlightened human being—the harbor of protection, the cool cave, the place of bliss, the farther shore. The term that has become famous in the West is nirvana, translated as passing away or dying out—that is, the dying out in the heart of the fierce fires of lust, anger, and delusion. Buddhists search for salvation, not just nonbeing. Although nirvana is often presented negatively as “release from suffering,” it is more accurate to describe it in a more positive fashion: as an ultimate goal to be sought and