Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

A discussion on all aspects of Theravāda Buddhism
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Radix
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by Radix »

SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:46 am Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.
Please try to describe in your own words a non-Buddhist will have a glimpse of the teaching.
All your problems are your fault.
Western Buddhism is the perfect ideological supplement to rabid consumerist capitalism.
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by cappuccino »

Radix wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:51 pm All your problems are your fault.
All your progress is your fault
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DNS
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by DNS »

Radix wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:51 pm
SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:46 am Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.
Please try to describe in your own words a non-Buddhist will have a glimpse of the teaching.
All your problems are your fault.
:D

That could be the summary for all religions.

Catholic: All your problems are your fault because you're bad.
Protestant: All your problems are your fault because you're a sinner and refuse to repent.
Islam: All your problems are your fault because you have not submitted to Allah.
Judaism: All your problems are your fault because you haven't accepted that you were chosen to suffer to test your faith.
Buddhism: All your problems are your fault because you are ignorant and keep coming back until you realize that.
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by cappuccino »

DNS wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 8:12 pm Buddhism: All your problems are your fault because you are ignorant
No one wants to be ignorant


The worst cases are least aware of their ignorance
SarathW
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by SarathW »

DNS wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 8:12 pm
Radix wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:51 pm
SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:46 am Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.
Please try to describe in your own words a non-Buddhist will have a glimpse of the teaching.
All your problems are your fault.
:D

That could be the summary for all religions.

Catholic: All your problems are your fault because you're bad.
Protestant: All your problems are your fault because you're a sinner and refuse to repent.
Islam: All your problems are your fault because you have not submitted to Allah.
Judaism: All your problems are your fault because you were chosen to suffer to test your faith.
Buddhism: All your problems are your fault because you are ignorant and keep coming back until you realize that.
I think Assaji (learned from Buddha) put this differently.
“Ye dhammā hetuppabhavā,
Tesaṃ hētuṃ tathāgato āha;
Tesañca yo nirōdhō,
Evaṃvādī mahāsamaṇō”

From just hearing this verse uttered by Ven. Assaji, Upatissa (later Ven. Sariputta) became a Sōtapanna. That is the fundamental concept of Buddha Dhamma and is explained in detail in the Paṭicca Samuppāda.
The correct translation is the following. “Whatever dhammā (which are kamma bīja) that give rise to the rebirth process, causes for those to arise have been declared by the Buddha; he has also explained how those causes can be stopped from arising (and thus end the rebirth process).”
https://puredhamma.net/living-dhamma/tr ... a-dhammam/
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
SarathW
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by SarathW »

Ceisiwr wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:23 pm
SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:46 am Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.
Please try to describe in your own words a non-Buddhist will have a glimpse of the teaching.
A teaching about all the suffering and unsatisfactoriness of life and the escape.
Agree. These are generally the four Noble truths.
- The truth of suffering
- The truth of the arising of suffering
- The truth of the cessation of suffering
- The truth of the Path which leads to the cessation of suffering.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
SarathW
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by SarathW »

Bundokji wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 2:30 pm Through negation of what is not, the positive exists.
Buddha rejected the extremes.
- existence-nonexistence
- Positive-negative
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by Bundokji »

SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:08 pm Buddha rejected the extremes.
- existence-nonexistence
- Positive-negative
And yet, he used the "middle" as a polarity to the extremes, via negativa:
"'Everything exists': That is one extreme. 'Everything doesn't exist': That is a second extreme. Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle
So the negation of the extremes leads to the positive (the middle)
"Is consciousness permanent or impermanent?" — "Impermanent, venerable sir." — "Now is what is impermanent pleasant or painful?" — "Painful, venerable sir." — "Now is what is impermanent, what is painful since subject to change, fit to be regarded thus: 'This is mine, this is I, this is my self'"? — "No, venerable sir."
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
SarathW
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by SarathW »

Bundokji wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:17 pm
SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:08 pm Buddha rejected the extremes.
- existence-nonexistence
- Positive-negative
And yet, he used the "middle" as a polarity to the extremes, via negativa:
"'Everything exists': That is one extreme. 'Everything doesn't exist': That is a second extreme. Avoiding these two extremes, the Tathagata teaches the Dhamma via the middle
So the negation of the extremes leads to the positive (the middle)
"Is consciousness permanent or impermanent?" — "Impermanent, venerable sir." — "Now is what is impermanent pleasant or painful?" — "Painful, venerable sir." — "Now is what is impermanent, what is painful since subject to change, fit to be regarded thus: 'This is mine, this is I, this is my self'"? — "No, venerable sir."
To me, the middle is like zero.
Not a positive or negative number.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by Bundokji »

SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:20 pm To me, the middle is like zero.
Not a positive or negative number.
I have never seen the zero, except through its utility for references. For example, the scale is fabricated to give the impression that "zero" is a real thing, but its utility is through the signs that move in parallel when the scale is used.
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
SarathW
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by SarathW »

Bundokji wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:24 pm
SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:20 pm To me, the middle is like zero.
Not a positive or negative number.
I have never seen the zero, except through its utility for references. For example, the scale is fabricated to give the impression that "zero" is a real thing, but its utility is through the signs that move in parallel when the scale is used.
Perhaps the zero is not a thing such as Nibbana.
In Buddhism, this is similar to Sunnata.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Bundokji
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by Bundokji »

SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:41 pm
Bundokji wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:24 pm
SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 10:20 pm To me, the middle is like zero.
Not a positive or negative number.
I have never seen the zero, except through its utility for references. For example, the scale is fabricated to give the impression that "zero" is a real thing, but its utility is through the signs that move in parallel when the scale is used.
Perhaps the zero is not a thing such as Nibbana.
In Buddhism, this is similar to Sunnata.
The zero is an assumption, akin to the act of naming, which is fabricated to represent a starting point (birth) to the signs to be in motion. Historically, the first sutta describes setting the wheel of dhamma in motion by teaching the middle. So, the zero is imagined to be a still center, hence a preferable reference point. When the two sides of the scale are in motion, in a way they negate each other, back to zero.

As far as i know, i read somewhere that the Buddha or Arahants are depicted in statues as holding a scale in their hand. I do not remember where exactly.
And the Blessed One addressed the bhikkhus, saying: "Behold now, bhikkhus, I exhort you: All compounded things are subject to vanish. Strive with earnestness!"

This was the last word of the Tathagata.
santa100
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by santa100 »

SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:59 am But will the person who does not know Buddhism will understand it?
This should be pretty down-to-earth:
AN 8.53 wrote:"As for the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment, not to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence, not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome': You may categorically hold, 'This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction.'"
SarathW
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by SarathW »

santa100 wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 1:15 am
SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 11:59 am But will the person who does not know Buddhism will understand it?
This should be pretty down-to-earth:
AN 8.53 wrote:"As for the qualities of which you may know, 'These qualities lead to dispassion, not to passion; to being unfettered, not to being fettered; to shedding, not to accumulating; to modesty, not to self-aggrandizement; to contentment, not to discontent; to seclusion, not to entanglement; to aroused persistence, not to laziness; to being unburdensome, not to being burdensome': You may categorically hold, 'This is the Dhamma, this is the Vinaya, this is the Teacher's instruction.'"
:twothumbsup:
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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Radix
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Re: Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.

Post by Radix »

DNS wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 8:12 pm
Radix wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 7:51 pm
SarathW wrote: Sun Jun 04, 2023 9:46 am Summarise the whole teachings of Buddha in a few sentences.
Please try to describe in your own words a non-Buddhist will have a glimpse of the teaching.
All your problems are your fault.
:D

That could be the summary for all religions.

Catholic: All your problems are your fault because you're bad.
Protestant: All your problems are your fault because you're a sinner and refuse to repent.
Islam: All your problems are your fault because you have not submitted to Allah.
Judaism: All your problems are your fault because you haven't accepted that you were chosen to suffer to test your faith.
Buddhism: All your problems are your fault because you are ignorant and keep coming back until you realize that.
The OP's request is to use "your own words", so that a non-Buddhist can understand, so your because-clauses don't fit the request (as they are religion-specific).

Describing or explaining religious doctrine "in one's own words", omitting any religion-specific terminology can readily reveal the speaker's ideological/political bent. With many Western Buddhists, this is neoliberalism, note their characteristic focus on blaming the person and the admonition to "take responsibility".

As if telling a person that it's all their own fault and that they are solely responsible for themselves would be some kind of evolutionary achievement.
Western Buddhism is the perfect ideological supplement to rabid consumerist capitalism.
Glenn Wallis
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