Andy's Quick Start Guide to Buddhism for UUs

Quick Start Guide to Buddhism for UUs

Andy Streich, May 2011

Preface

The first time I stepped into a UU church was in 1997. The UU Church of Palo Alto, California, was a lovely place, much like the UU churches I've visited around the Washington DC area. But I wasn't there for UU stuff, I was attending a day-long meditation retreat let by Gil Fronsdal, a Buddhist teacher who at the time led meditation sessions and gave talks at a Quaker meeting house nearby while finishing up his PhD in religious studies at Stanford. I had been attending those sessions twice a week for a year and continued to do so for the next four years, until I moved to another part of California.

Later that year or maybe the next I went to the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco, just off Starr King Way in the heart of the city (Thomas Starr King was their minister during the Civil War). Again it was not the UU bit that drew me. It was an interfaith gathering involving Catholics, UUs, and Buddhists with Jack Kornfield speaking for the Buddhists. He was one of Gil Fronsdal's teachers and a co-founder of Buddhist meditation retreat centers on both coasts, Spirit Rock north of San Francisco and the Insight Meditation Society in Massachusetts. I had read his books and was there to see Jack.

Somewhat later I was back at UU Palo Alto to listen to Sharon Salzberg and Joseph Goldstein, Kornfields co-founders of those coastal retreat centers.

When I moved to this area I first lived a few blocks from here, and that glancing aquintance with Unitarian Universalism I had had on the west coast along with a deep need to be part of an open spiritual community brought me to Cedar Lane where I've been a member for 2 and a half years. Today I celebrate both traditions. I hope you will see that Buddhism is both compatible with and complementary to our Unitarian Universalist practices and, like me, be inspired to deepen your experience of both.

The Four Nobel Truths

[Most all of the following is taken from The Issue at Hand: Essays on Buddhist Mindfulness Practice by Gil Fronsdal published in 2001, a book freely available to those in the U.S. who request it from the Insight Meditation Center of Redwood City, California. It is also available in PDF form at www.insightmeditationcenter.org. This is in the Buddhist tradition that all teachings being given freely with the opportunity for voluntary donations.]

Buddhism is a 2500 year old spiritual tradition that offers a simple intellectual framework and a set of practical tools for spiritual development. It has no dogma, no doctrine, no metaphysical speculation, and constantly encourages practitioners to test its methods through their own personal experience.

It's central teaching is the Four Noble Truths:

1. Suffering occurs (not 'life is suffering').

2. The cause of suffering is craving (or grasping or attachment …).

3. The possibility to end suffering exists.

4. One path to end suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path.

Notice this is a medical model: stating the problem, its cause, the possiblity of a cure, and a course of treatment.

What does suffering mean? Suffering can be physical pain (I stubbed my toe), emotional pain, or mental anquish and anxiety. Some pain is inevitable in any human life, however, much of it we might call optional. Optional suffering is caused by how we react to our experience. Buddhist practice addresses the optional suffering caused by clinging to or pushing away from some aspect of our experience.

The Buddha once asked a student, “If a person is struck by an arrow is it painful?” The student replied, “It is.” The Buddha then asked, “If the person is struck by a second arrow, is that even more painful?” The student replied again, “It is.” The Buddha then explained, “In life, we cannot always control the first arrow. However, the second arrow is our reaction to the first. This second arrow is optional.”

As long as we are alive we can expect painful experiences— the first arrow. To condemn, judge, criticize, hate, or deny the first arrow is like being struck by a second arrow. Many times the first arrow is out of our control but the arrow of reactivity is not.

Suffering and its causes in all their variety are objects of study in Buddhist practice. We attend to where and how we cling and push away, how our experience changes as we attend to it, and notice what happens when we stop clinging.

Some types of clinging:

Clinging to spiritual forms and practices.

Clinging to views, that is, to our opinions, stories, and judgments.

Clinging to our identity, the “story of me.”

Clinging to sense pleasure. Note, this isn't saying sense pleasure is bad or wrong, only that clinging to it causes suffering. Often we confuse happiness with pleasure. Discovering a happiness not connected to objects of desire is liberating.

Understanding the Four Noble Truths happens in the present, not the past or future. Suffering occurs in the present, our grasping occurs in the present, liberation from suffering occurs in the present. Even memories of the past and fantasies about the futture occur in the present. Thus Buddist practice emphasizes being here now, being present-minded, being mindful of what is happening in the present.

The Eightfold Path (the fourth noble truth)

Letting go of clinging is quite difficult; that is, developing spiritual maturity is not easy. However, the eight steps on the path are a pragmatic way to move from suffering to freedom.

Right Understanding

wisdom

Right Intention

Right Speech

ethics

Right Action

Right Livelihood

Right Effort

inner practices

Right Mindfulness

Right Concentration

Studying and practicing in all eight of these areas offers a rich world of practice.

Mindfulness meditation

Of the eight parts of the Eighfold path, one of the oldest Buddhist traditions places particular emphasis on Right Mindfulness, because when mindfulness is full the other aspects of the Eightfold Path follow in its wake.

[instruction for mindfulness practice, becoming a naturalist studying your own experience, developing the skill of witnessing]

We learn to pay attention to the present moment so that when suffering arises we notice it. We can take an interest in it instead of running away from it. We can learn how to be comfortable with suffering, so that we don't act inappropriately because of our discomfort. Then we can begin to understand its roots and let go of the clinging. In letting go of the clinging we end the suffering.

Lovingkindess Meditation

Lovingkindess is one of the most important Buddhist practices. It is closely related to the softening of the heart that allows us to feel empathy with the happiness and sorrow of the world. Simply put, it is the heartfelt wish for the well-being of ourselves and others.

This practice develops the innate friendliness of an open heart. It is not positive thinking or an artificial positive attitude. There is no need to feel loving or kind during the practice, rather we meditate on our intentions and water the seeds of our good intentions. Mindfulness practice complements lovingkindness by guarding it against being partial or sentimental, while lovingkindness practice ensures our path to freedom is not aloof from others.

[instructions for lovingkindness meditation]

Summary

All Buddhist teachings are an elaboration of the Four Noble Truths. A mature understanding of these teachings leads to a straightforward and practical spiritual life. We can all experience the joy and peace that comes from the freedom from clinging.

Postscript

There are libraries full of Buddhist texts and commentary and a vast collection of audio files by contemporary Buddhist teachers on the web. Still, the gist is in the simple statement of the Four Noble Truths with its Eightfold Path and the simple practices of mindfulness and lovingkindness meditation. In a sense, the essence of this spiritual path is so simple it is all too easy to miss the depth and richness that comes from study and meditation practice.

In addition to the points of commonality between UU and Buddhism mentioned at the beginning of this short introduction, another stands out: an emphasis on being a part of a supportive community.

UU Church of Arlington has within its congregation a Buddhist Fellowship. My wish is to create one here at Cedar Lane.   

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