So,
Number one,
The Buddhist story is about an individual,
It's not about a structure,
An institution,
A set of ideas,
It's about an individual,
And it's about the individual
changing the individual.
At the very center of Buddhism is self-transformation,
And in this sense,
The Buddha is very modern.
It's about growing your own inner light until that light can fill up the entire universe.
One of my favorite phrases from Buddhism is,
You can't get there with any light other than
your own.
So,
I love this focus.
The Buddha completely goes against expectations,
And it made so many people happy that this
one person went against expectations,
So that's one.
Two is that the Buddha is about freedom,
Both from outer structures,
But even more so,
Freedom
from the mind.
The Buddha gives us access to our own freedom,
And he teaches a path of freedom.
The Buddha said that just like the ocean has only one flavor,
Salt,
His teachings have
only one flavor,
Liberation.
Freedom is the only prerequisite to happiness,
And Buddhism gives you a path of liberation
from your inner critic,
From the ego,
From the mind,
From your own limitations.
Three,
The idea that we're not here to judge,
We're here to pay attention.
You're here to release judgment,
And the universe will help you do that.
If you're judging someone,
The universe will sometimes even conspire,
So you end up in
the same situation,
So you understand them,
So you stop judging them,
So be careful with
that.
Four,
The Buddha is all about ending suffering,
And Buddhism is not about suffering,
It's
about the opposite of suffering.
Buddhism is about happiness and joy.
How can you have happiness and joy every single day,
Connecting to this reality with joy?
Finding happiness here today is what Buddhists call nirvana,
So it's a path that leads to
joy.
Five,
The Buddha is about non-dogmatism.
There's no right answer,
Or the impermanence of any one answer.
There's this phrase in Buddhism that wisdom starts with two,
The truth starts with two.
The truth is there in dialogue between two people.
The truth is not objective,
Because everything keeps changing constantly.
Anything that's true right now may not be true later.
Any true answer is about a fit for a certain context in a particular moment.
As my professor of Buddhism Charles Hallisey likes to say,
Whatever you believe is what
will get you in trouble.
And according to the Buddha,
All that we can do is sense the moment,
And that's helpful.
Solid,
Unchanging beliefs are not.
And for this reason,
His teachings can be approached without being religious,
Or without
any religion.
The teachings are,
At their core,
Secular.
It's more about tune into the moment,
Listen to the answer,
The answer keeps changing.
Six,
Buddhism is about taking full,
Full responsibility for your own life.
Because everything that happened to you,
You created it with your own karma.
So stop complaining about it.
It's not the fault of your parents,
Or your grandparents,
Or your ancestors,
Or your partner.
Everything that is happening to you right now,
And how you feel,
Is a result of a past
thought,
Your past words,
Your past deeds that created your karma.
So in Buddhism,
There are no saviors.
You can only save yourself through changing the way you think.
And also in Buddhism,
No one can fix all of this.
There's no like magical Buddha that you can pray to who will show up and make all your
problems go away.
He will show you what to do to get out of a certain cycle so that you change your words,
You change your thoughts,
You change your actions,
You change your intentions,
And then
everything else changes.
What I like about Buddhism is it's on you.
It's completely on you,
And there's a joy to that.
There's like a do-it-yourself quality.
Buddhism asks us the most challenging thing,
Which is to take 100% responsibility for your
own life.
And with that,
There's no space for victim mentality.
And I like the idea of personal responsibility.
I think many religions relinquish that piece and say,
Follow me,
And then you'll be fine.
The Buddha says,
I'll show you the path,
But it's up to you to follow it.
Seven,
The Buddha is all about non-harm.
Non-harm to men,
To women,
To all creatures,
To every animal.
This idea of non-harm was completely revolutionary at the time.
At that time,
Women didn't have status.
Animals were often sacrificed.
They had no status.
And then the Buddha came in and said,
Non-harm toward every being.
And this idea is,
I think,
Even more shocking.
That non-harm is more important than doing good.
It is more important to not cause harm.
I think in the Judeo-Christian mentality,
We just try to do as much good as possible
all the time for everyone,
And that can have a very controlling element.
But try not causing harm for a day.
Try not causing harm for two hours.
Try not ruining other people's moods for two hours.
And you'll see that's the real challenge.
Like donating to a non-profit or becoming a hero in someone's eyes,
That can feed the
ego.
But non-harm is always good.
Eight,
The Buddha is all about the middle way,
The middle path.
It's staying clear of opposites,
Staying clear of perspectives that are fanatical.
That the truth is always in the middle somewhere.
There's a moderation to it,
And I think that moderation is very healthy.
If you look at the biggest tragedies that have happened in human history,
It was always
about a very extreme perspective,
Or intolerance towards other perspectives.
I like in Buddhism that it's all about balancing opposites.
Being a spacious container for the many opposites inside you first,
Because you're a representation,
You're a microcosm of the macrocosm,
You're a representation of the whole entire world
inside you.
So being really kind to the opposites in you,
And being spacious enough for all the opposites,
All the diversity,
All the beauty,
Everything in the universe.
And saying,
Universe,
I accept you,
Because everything that exists,
We need that for our
growth.
If it's happening,
It means it's necessary for our growth.
Nine,
Yeah,
Nine.
The Buddha is about finding your own unique path.
The Buddha represents a person who did not follow a path charted for him.
He followed a path that he wanted to follow.
He was supposed to be a king.
He was born as a prince of India,
And instead he decided to be a spiritual teacher.
So the Buddha's main message is,
Follow the path that your heart tells you,
That under
your skin you want to follow,
And don't worry about going against expectations.
We are so lucky that the Buddha went against expectations,
Because we wouldn't have these
teachings.
We wouldn't have this path.
Ten is that there is a path.
What I like about Buddhism,
And what I didn't get as much in Christianity and Judaism and
Hinduism and other traditions I respect greatly,
But they're not my main go-to.
They're not my main point of reference.
Buddhism is my point of reference,
Because Buddhism has a growth mindset and tells you
that there's a path to get there.
So the growth mindset first.
There's always a new ceiling above you of more awareness and more wisdom.
So we think of the Buddha going out there to meditate,
Reaching enlightenment and being
done.
But for the Buddha to reach enlightenment at that moment,
He had many other enlightenments
in the past.
He had many moments of awareness in past lives.
So the growth mindset is that with every enlightenment,
You get a new ceiling of your awareness,
And
you're not allowed to say,
I'm wise now,
I understand everything,
Because there's always
a new ceiling waiting.
There's another level of enlightenment waiting.
I love that sense of constant growth.
And that way the ego doesn't take over,
Because you're never done.
You can always cultivate more compassion.
You can always connect to the present moment more.
You can always cultivate more awareness.
And I think that's a really beautiful way to live.
And it's also kind of very modern growth mindset of the individual.
