Buddhism is one of the major religions in the world; actually it is the 4th one behind Christianity, Muslim, and Hinduism as far as the number of the followers. Buddhism originated from India in the fifth century B.C.E., and it is based on the teaching of Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as Buddha. There are several groups in Buddhism, but some scholars categorize them into two main groups of Buddhists: Mahayana (maha-yean) and Theravada (hin-yean). Another main group “Tibetan Buddhism”, led by Dalai Lama, is considered to be part of Mahayana. Cambodian Buddhists are in Theravada group. Even though these groups have some differences on their belief, they still agree on the basic concepts of Buddhism such as the four noble truths, the Eightfold path, the precepts, etc.                                            

 Four Noble truths (Arey Sacha teang boun) are:

1. Life is suffering. As soon as we came out to this world, we really cried hard. That indicates right away that our life is full of suffering, and that cry was just the beginning. Sure enough we have all kind of suffering (both physical and mental) such as pain, injury, sickness, hunger, death, sadness, depression, fear, frustration, disappointment, etc.

2. Cause of suffering is craving and ignorance. The more we attach to something or someone, the more we suffer. When someone whom we love most walk away from us, we drastically suffer; some could not even bear the suffering and decide to take their own life, especially Khmer in Cambodia. After we realize that some parts of our beloved country were taken away in the past by Thailand and Vietnam, we are sad and angry. Anger is the sign of mental suffering.

3. To get rid of suffering we have to cease all craving and ignornace, and there is a way – achieving Nirvana.

4. Way to achieve Nirvana is practicing Eightfold path.

Eightfold Path (meakea teang bram bey) are:

1. Right Understanding such as understanding 4 noble truths.

2. Right Thought such as good will thoughts and avoiding angry thoughts.

3. Right Speech such as using wise and truthful words, and avoiding false and harsh words.

4. Right Action such as avoiding any intentional harm to living creatures.

5. Right livelihood such as to be a teacher and avoid to be butcher, liquor vendor.

6. Right Effort is to put all effort to do only righteous actions in thought, speech, and body .

7. Right Mindfulness -Mind is ever clear and sees things for what they are with clear consciousness. Ready to understand the ultimate nature of existence - impermanence (anicha), dukkha (tuk), anatta/no-self (khmean khloun), etc.

8. Right Concentration is the persistent meditation to master over one’s own mind and gain insight into the nature of the existence. Eventually craving (the cause of suffering will be understood, overcame and blown away. Hence Nirvana will be reached.

These above 8 paths are categorized into 3 groups: wisdom (1st and 2nd paths), morality (3-5th paths), and Samadhi (6-8th paths). As we can see in order to achieve Nirvana, we have to have wisdom first (understanding clearly what good and bad actions are, what are the noble truths, etc), then we have to have morality (acting accordingly to wisdom in the 1st category), and lastly we have to do Samadhi, which is the meditation and the last step towards achieving Nirvana. Based on this understanding, each category is very important and has to be clearly understood before going to the next group, and it should not be bypassed. However some said the 8 paths could be practiced in parallel or one path at a time.

Precepts of Buddhism (sel bram, sel bram bey, sel dob):

The five, eight, and ten basic moral precepts of Buddhism are following.

1. Not killing

2. Not stealing

3. Not misusing sex

4. Not lying

5. Not abusing intoxicants

6. Not eating at forbidden time such as after noon

7. Not entertaining such as dancing and music

8. Not using perfume or make-up

9. Not sleeping on higher and luxury place

10. Not accepting gold, silver or money

What is Nirvana (nipean)?

Nirvana means the cession of craving and ignorance, therefore suffering and the cycle of rebirths. It is also known as Awakening and Enlightenment. It is the ultimate goal of each Buddhist. People who achieve Nirvana will not be reborn; when they die, they will enter paranirvana (para-nipean). Buddha compared paranirvana to candle light; when the candle flame is gone, the light will be gone.

However Mahayana Buddhists believe a little bit different; they want to be born in human form again as Bodhisattvas (pothis-sat) to spread Buddhism, and hold their paranirvana until all lives achieve nirvana too, meaning no more life form in our universe.

What is Karma (kamm)?

Karma is an individual willful action that can be a thought, speech, and body. The law of karma is the law of cause and effect. The cause is what we do, and the effect is the result of what we do. The result of Karma can be in the current life or next life. Good karma (wholesome actions - kosol) springs from selfless compassion, kindness, and wisdom. Bad karma (unwholesome actions - akkosol) springs from craving, greed, hatred, and ignorance. In Buddhism, the karma is the cause of the rebirth. If there is no karma, there will be no rebirth (life). Attaining Nirvana by practicing Eithfold path will eliminate karma, and therefore rebirth (life).

Rebirth

This is the sticking subject of every body's mind across the globe. People believe different ways. Theravada Buddhists believe they will not be reborn to suffer if they achieve Nirvana. If they don't, they will be reborn and could go into one of the 6 realms below depending on their karma. Buddhism teaches that only their karmic stream will propel them from one life to the next, and nothing else goes with it. There is no soul or self to go with karma. Buddhism does not teach to believe on God or Supreme Being dictating the fate of any life. Everyone including Devas (Taiv-da) has to go through the rebirth cycle with his/her own karma and can not escape it even Buddha himself (before he enlightened).

Realm (tharn)

There are 6 realms , and they are following.

1. Realm of Devas (tharn taiv-da)

2. Realm of Asura - Titans (tharn yeak)

3. Realm of Hungry Ghosts (tharn prait)

4. Realm of Hell (tharn norork)

5. Realm of Animals (tharn sat)

6. Realm of Humans (tharn monus). Humans have more opportunity to attain enlightenmant than others.

There is an extended realm system that consist of 31 planes. The above 6 realms is just part of the 31 plane systems.

Five Khandhas (khann teang bram):

In Buddhism, an individual is formed from five aggregates (also called Five khandhas). The 1st aggregate is the physical part and the rest are mental parts.

1. Form (roup): basically it is the physical parts including the 5 sense organs.

2. Feeling: There are 6 feelings (senses): seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and mental feeling. The latest (mental feeling) is unique to Buddhism, and it is caused by the contact between mind (mind is considered as an organ in this case) and the mental object such as idea and image. All feeling can be pleasant, painful, or neutral.

3. Perception: registering and thinking whether the object is recognized or not.

4. Mental formation: All mental habits, thoughts, ideas, opinions, compulsions, and decisions triggered by object. This is the place where karma is formed.

5. Consciousness: It is awareness. Some say it is the base that ties the experience of life.

Perhaps you may also hear words "roup-name", in which roup is the 1st aggregate and name is the last 4 aggregates.

"How do these 5 aggregates interact" is really hard to understand; some said it is problematic, and I agree. It is differently explained from one school to another. There is one explanation that is easy to comprehend; it is called the linear way, in which the 5 aggregates interact from form to feeling to perception to mental formation and finally to consciousness.

My following simple example is how I see the linear explanation works.

One night, I walked in the dark from my bedroom to the kitchen to get water, and I hit something. Then I touched and felt it with my hands. From that touching, I recognized that object, and it was a chair in my kitchen. I decided to move it out of my way instead of turning the light on first. During moving the chair, I suddenly fell down. All along I was aware of what was happening.

In this above example, I would say the following statements.

1. My hand, my nervous system from my hand all the way to my brain, and the brain are my 1st aggregate (my form - roup).

2. The feeling from touching "something" is my feeling (2nd aggregate).

3. Recognizing "something" as the chair in my kitchen is my perception (3rd aggregate).

4. Deciding to move the chair out of the way instead of turning the light on first is my mental formation (4th aggregate). My falling down is the result of my karma (action of not turning the light on first).

5. "I was aware of what was happening all along" is my consciousness (5th aggregate).

If we look more into this whole process, it is just a phenomenon of arising, disappearing of each aggregate from one to the next; so we could say each aggregate is not permanent.

Depending arising (or Depending origination):

The fundamental concept of Buddhism is based on the fact that every thing depends on every thing else (thing is conditioned by other thing). It is the law of causation. Most (if not all) of Buddhist Dhamma are based on this concept such as Four Noble Truth and the following Rebirth process (Depending arising).

With Ignorance as condition, Mental Formations arise

With Mental Formations as condition, Consciousness arises

With Consciousness as condition, Name and Form arise

With Name & Form as condition, Sense Gates arise

With Sense Gates as condition, Contact arises

With Contact as condition, Feeling arises

With Feeling as condition, Craving arises

With Craving as condition, Clinging arises

With Clinging as condition, Becoming arises

With Becoming as a condition, Birth arises

With Birth as condition, Aging and Dying arise

Note - This rebirth process is excerpted from Wikipedia site.

Three Marks of life

Buddha taught that life (sat-lok) is marked by 3 characteristics: Impermanence (min tieng), Suffering (tuk), and Non-self (min main khloun).

1. Impermanence (min tieng): Yes, life is impermanent. We have seen no one lives forever; every body dies, and some die in young age and some live a little bit longer. Actually this concept (impermanence) should be applied not just only to life, but to all matters in our universe. All things we see are inconstant, unsteady, and impermanent. They are constantly changing, and nothing lasts. Have you seen any thing last forever? I do not. Today we are happy, the next day we are sad. Nothing in this world is permanent even our earth. Our Milky Way galaxy is supposed to collide with our neighbor galaxy "Andromeda" in about 3 billions years; our Earth may not survive from that collision. If it does, it will evaporate and be absorbed by our sun in 4 to 5 billions from now when the sun is running out of hydrogen for its nuclear fusion. The sun itself will become red star in 7 billions or so. Hence, nothing will last forever; if there is one, please share it.

2. Suffering or Dukkha (tuk): As soon as we came out to this world, we really cried hard. That indicates right away that our life is full of suffering and that cry was just the beginning. Sure enough we have all kind of suffering (both physical and mental) such as pain, injury, sickness, hunger, death, sadness, depression, fear, frustration, disappointment, and etc. It sounds like I am too pessimistic about life. No, I also know life is full of joy, laughing, and happiness. Actually I know that life is filled with both happiness and suffering. That is what Buddha saw. He knew that we wanted to be happy and crave for pleasure all the time. He also knew that no matter how happy we were, we never satisfied. We always crave for more and look for more; when we do not get it, we start to get frustrated, angry, and occasionally lead to unwholesome actions. Thus unwholesome (bad) karma is formed. Buddha knew that all craving, greed, hatred, and delusion were from the ignorance of his Dhamma; the consequence of that ignorance is suffering.

3. Selflessness - Egolessness – non-self (min main khloun): In other religions, each individual has soul, but in Buddhism there is neither soul nor self. It is really hard to accept that I have no soul nor self, meaning no "I or Me". Then there would be a question of what will happen to us when we die since there is neither self nor soul. The Buddhist answer is - our karma will propel from this life to the next, and nothing else will go with it ".

Back to the non-self concept, what is that about? In Theravada, one of the explanations is this - one can not hold the idea that there is “self” because that will imply the eternal life; one can not hold the idea that there is “non self” either because that will imply the annihilation theory (nothing after death; death is death -destruction). Buddhism denies both ideas because they contradict with other Dhamma and they are the wrong view. Actually, Buddha had been asked by a Brahman about the "no soul and self", and he did not answer to that question because answering with Yes or No would be wrong and would not lead to reach nirvana. The right view would be to see "self existence" as an illusion and also as a by-product of 5 khandhas (described above), which are not absolute and will not survive death. Some say that if we clearly understand this concept, we are liberated and reach nirvana.

In Mahayana, one of the explanations compares the ocean as the universe, waves as formation of all beings, and wind as karmic stream. Thus each wave represents rebirth and death of a being. To get the ocean calm (no waves - no beings) is to get rid of wind (karmic stream). Thus there is no self. Another explanation is based on that the 5 aggregates are empty, and thus the self is empty.

Well, whatever we try to explain the no-self doctrine to convince ourselves, it is still hard to logically accept it. Perhaps only people who achieve nirvana understand it; therefore we should try practicing the Eightfold path and hope we get insight into this doctrine.

 

Conclusion - Buddhism is unique religion compared to others; it is based on the law of cause and effect. The main difference from other religions is - Buddhism is not just for believing, but also for realizing things in the world as we see. Buddha is not God; he does not ask followers to believe in him and his Dhamma, but to rationally realize things including his Dhamma as we see. He has no God power to help followers; he only knows and shows the path to worldly happiness (nirvana). Hence do not ask him for help when problems arise, use his Dhamma to solve problems. The following quotes are from Buddha - “But O Kalamas, when you know for yourselves that certain things are unwholesome (akusal), and wrong, and bad, then give them up...And when you know for yourselves that certain things are wholesome (kusal) and good, then accept them and follow them”.

 

                                              The following pictures are realated to Buddha:

 

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