Basic beliefs that make up 5 facts Buddhism

5 facts Buddhism are explained below in this article.

These are also the basic Buddhism beliefs. They make up the Buddhist doctrine of salvation. This doctrine of salvation along with the Buddhist beliefs in the 3 Jewels of Buddha, Dharma and Sangha form the accepted Buddhist beliefs common to all traditions at Buddhism.

Basic Buddhism facts are:

More information can be found on this page on Buddhism impermanence The story is also told of the two rings. In a division of a family estate amongst two brothers two rings were discovered. One ring was expensive, made of gold and diamonds, the other was a cheap silver ring costing only a few rupees.

The elder brother took the gold ring. He suffered many ups and downs in life and could not handle them. He went through a nervous breakdown and had to be hospitalized as he could not deal with the stress in his life.

The younger brother took the silver ring and discovered engraved on it the words “This too will pass.” He also went through ups and downs in his life like his brother and like all of us. But since he had adopted as his motto the saying “This too will pass” he was able to see them in perspective and not get carried away or take these ups and downs too seriously. He went on to live a long and happy life.

This is a parable stressing the importance of the Buddhist belief of impermanence and make up one of the 5 facts Buddhism.

So stress on impermanence of all Dharmas is one of the most basic Buddhism facts.

For more on the subject I would encourage you to refer to chapter 2 of Sogyal Rinpoche’s book The Tibetan Book on Living and Dying You can also take up Vipassana meditation which also stresses impermanence.

So this is a basic belief which makes up 5 facts Buddhism.

More facts on Buddhism = Suffering

According to the Buddhist doctrine birth is suffering, sickness, old age and death are all suffering. And who was can argue with that.

Suffering also arises out of frustrated desire and our habit of grasping. If we don’t get what we want we naturally suffer. If we lose something we have then also we suffer.

Desire even when satisfied may lead to suffering as we may lose the object that satisfies that desire. All is transient including our possessions.

And it is the nature of mind to never be satisfied and to keep seeking new possessions or achievements. We are just never satisfied. This makes up one of the 5 facts Buddhism.

This basic Buddhist belief teaches us to not take Samsara or our ordinary life or the world we live in too seriously as nothing we can do in this would will ever result in our gaining lasting or abiding happiness. This again is one of the facts on Buddhism.

So this is another point in 5 facts Buddhism.

3) This suffering is caused by wrong views: The Buddhist beliefs state that our suffering is caused by wrong view about ourselves and about the world (Samsara).

We believe that we are a self or a person separate from the rest of existence. This ego has been analyzed away by Buddhist metaphysics. Buddhism holds that there is no unchanging self to be bound anywhere within our ego.

For more on this subject and a meditation or contemplation exercise that you can practice please refer The Heart of Understanding by Thich Nhat Hanh. This book is 60 or 70 pages of pure poetry.

The other wrong views caused by ignorance is craving.

So this is another of the basic Buddhist beliefs which make up 5 facts Buddhism.

There is also the matter of perverted views that we have regarding our lives and the world. This will be explained later.

Another of the basic facts about Buddhism - No Self

These efforts are doomed to failure from the start

However many riches we may possess we can never avoid death which will separate us from all our possessions.

The quest for comfort is also futile as it is the nature of our mind that the feeling of happiness when our desire is satisfied is only temporary. Then again we are caught up with some other desire and try to satisfy it.

Thus we spend our lives in the vain and futile quest for possessions, experiences, relationships and more and we are never satisfied. We are forever projecting outward.

All this is the result of our concept of a self, separate from the rest of existence and the grasping after I and mine.

Buddhism stresses repeatedly the concept that we do not have a self separate from the rest of existence. It may not be intuitively obvious but this concept is verified by Quantum Physics which states that the Universe is an organic whole. So this is one of the very basic facts about Buddhism.

So this is another point which makes up 5 facts Buddhism.

Buddhism and facts: The Four Perverted Views

i) We seek permanence and lasting happiness in what is essentially transient and passing.

This applies to our possessions, our relationships, fame and status in the world and everything that we are constantly grasping for.

ii) We seek ease in what is essentially inseparable from suffering.

Samsara or the world is inseparable from suffering because of the nature of desire (as explained earlier). It is also because all is transient and we cannot avoid being separated from what we desire. Death if nothing else will separate us from all we have.

ii) We seek selfhood in what is not linked to the self. The grasping after self, after I and mine also results in suffering.

iv) We seek delight in what is essentially repulsive and disgusting. Renunciation is preached by most world religions and Buddhism is no exception.

So there are the 5 facts Buddhism

For more on how this philosophy is verified by common sense please visit this page on Buddhism and facts

For a complete list of articles please visit this page on Buddhism

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