Some Buddhism beliefs practices that can help us live wisely

Some points about Buddhism beliefs practices are mentioned in this article.

The basic beliefs of Buddhism

The basic Buddhist beliefs are regarding the suffering inherent in the human condition. This suffering is caused by ignorant and perverted views of our own nature and our relationship with the universe. These views are that.

1. We seek to find permanence in that which is inherently transient and impermanent

2. We seek ease, comfort and happiness in what is essentially unsatisfactory

3. We grasp at the self in that which has no permanent unchanging self.

4. We seek delight in what is essentially repulsive and disgusting

So these are the Buddhism beliefs practices.

So much for the basic beliefs of Buddhism. How for the second part of Buddhism beliefs practices which are the practices.

The practices contain the five precepts and the Noble Eightfold path.

The Five precepts contain injunctions on abstaining from killing, stealing sexual misconduct lying and the use of intoxicants like alcohol.

The Noble Eightfold path is a vast subject and I cannot adequately explain it in a brief article. Please refer these two pages on The Noble Eight Fold Path and The Noble Eight Fold Path - II

These then are the basic Buddhism beliefs practices.

The practices of Buddhism

1) Mindfulness on death: this is a powerful and traditional meditation and contemplation practice. It has been enclosed by modern masters such as George Gurdieff and Osho Rajneesh.

But it is strong medicine. You may find that if you turn your attention to the prospect of your own demise then you might get a panic attack or two (or more than two). You must be prepared for that but it you face up to the fear you will be much the better of or it.

There are two things that we can say about death. One is that it is absolutely certain that we will die. The other is that we do not know when we will die.

In countries dominated by western culture we worship youth and success and try to brush death under the carpet. Buddhism practices tell us to do the exact opposite.

For more on this subject and some mindfulness exercises that you can adopt and practice in your life please refer No Death No fear by Thich Nhat Hanh and The Tibetan Book on Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche. Both books are available at Amazon

To close this section

Here are some memorable death quotes

“Of all footprints
That of the elephant is supreme,
Of all mindfulness meditations
That on Death is supreme.”

One more of the powerful quotes about death

“In horror of death I took to the mountains,Again and again I meditated on the uncertainty of the hour of death, capturing the fortress of the deathless unending nature of mind. Now all fear of death is over and done.”

It is said by the Tibetans that the most fearful dragon guards our greatest treasure. The fear of death is the dragon and the peace that passeth understanding is our treasure. The Tibetans say that we thus get in touch with the sky like nature of mind, with the inner Buddha mind, with our own true selves.

So here you have on this page some death quotes that teach us not only how to die but also how to live. These quotes about death can - if put into practice - transform our inner lives for the better quickly and effectively. This is how powerful they are.

And finally a memorable and inspiring quotation by the French philosopher Montaigne:

Another of the powerful quotes on death - this time by the French philosopher Montaigne

Men come and they go and they trot and they dance and never a word about death. All well and good. Yet when death does come – to them their wives, their children, their friends – catching them unawares and unprepared, then what storms of passion overwhelm them, what cries, what fury what despair !…….

To begin depriving death of its greatest advantage over us, let us adopt a way clean contrary to that common one. Let us deprive death of its strangeness, let us frequent it, let us get used to it, let us have nothing more often in mind than death …… we do not know where death awaits, us so let us wait for it everywhere. To practice death is to practice freedom. A man who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave."

More Buddhism practices

When I was practicing Vipassana, the first technique they taught was mindfulness on breath.

Now I am practicing a meditation technique thought by Sogyal Rinpoche based on the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. And guess what the first technique involved focusing on breath.

Vipassana is based on the Theravada tradition and instructs us to achieve a thoughtless state with no thoughts arising and with the attention focused exclusively on the breath. This I found impossible to achieve.

The Tibetan technique accepts that thoughts will arise in the mind. It is the nature of the mind that thoughts should arise. It tells us to be aware with part of the attention on the breath, part of the attention on the thoughts which arise and partly focus on maintaining a state of spaciousness which contains all that is happening in the field of our attention. At the same time the Tibetan technique focusses on lengthening the gap between two consecutive thoughts. This is a much more realistic technique and more to my liking than Vipassana

So these are some basc Buddhism beliefs practices.

For more information on the Finding Peace meditation program conduction by Sogyal Rinpoche’s foundation please visit The Rigpa Foundation

So these are some Buddhism beliefs practices and my experiences with them

I hope you enjoyed this article. For a complete list of all articles please visit this page on Buddhism