Buddhism in a Nutshell

If you’re new to Buddhism, or curious about what it is, it’s tempting to compare with other world religions. However, it differs in some key ways.

One of my favorite books in my collection is an old translation of The Way to Buddhahood by the late Ven. Yin-Shun (“een-shoon”), a prominent Chinese monk who was an influential figure in Taiwan. His book is dense,¹ and geared for Chinese audiences, but the translation is good, and Yin-Shun’s reputation as a scholar and respected monk is well-earned.

The opening pages of the book read as follows:

To study Buddhism means to learn from the Buddha. One takes the Buddha as one’s ideal and one’s mentor and learns from him incessantly. When one reaches the same level as the Buddha, then one has become a buddha.

The Buddha, founder of Buddhism, is a man we call “Shakyamuni”. Sometimes books call him by his birth name, Siddhartha Gautama, but Buddhists call him Shakyamuni or Shakyamuni Buddha.

The key to understand is that the Buddha is not a god. And, if we follow the Buddha’s teachings and apply them correctly, we too will rise to the same level as a buddha ourselves.

This is not a quick, “weekend-warrior” effort though.

….For an ordinary person with little good fortune and no wisdom, reaching this supreme and unsurpassed state of buddhahood through practice and study is difficult. But by practicing and studying the necessary methods and by following the right way to buddhahood, one can reach the goal of buddhahood. Only in this way, and without skipping any steps, can one advance to this distant and profound goal….

The goal is profound and difficult, but not impossible. One has to be realistic about the goal, and be willing to accept that it’s a long-term goal. Yet, if one does this, and stays the course, one will assuredly reach Buddha-hood. Yin-shun’s comment about “not skipping steps” is to counter promises by some teacher or cults that by “chanting this magic spell” or “praying to that” one just quickly jumps to Buddhahood. It is a gradual process, regardless of how one approaches it.

The good news is that within Buddhism there is a way array of practices, methods and traditions to help you along the way.

Because beings have different abilities, the Buddha Dharma has different ways: the way of blessedness and virtue, the way of wisdom, the difficult way, the easy way, the mundane way, the supramundane way, the way of the sravaka, the way of the bodhisattva, and so on. But ultimately, there is only one way. All of these ways are nothing but methods to become a buddha “in order to open up and make manifest the Buddhas knowledge and insight to sentient beings, so that they can also apprehend and attain the same.”

The specific ways that Ven. Yin-Shun cites are explained throughout the book, but needless to say, Buddhism is like the Colosseum in Rome, with many gates, all leading inward towards the middle. One only needs to step through one of them, and keep at it in a long-term sustainable way.

This is essentially what Buddhism is all about.

P.S. Happy spring Ohigan season!

¹ I wouldn’t recommend the book as a first-pass introduction to Buddhism, but it covers a lot of subjects that are omitted in other books in a single volume.