Chapter 2: Why Study Gotama Buddha’s Teachings?

Chapter 2

Why Study Gotama Buddha’s Teachings?

Life is unsatisfactory and in life we all experience “discontentedness or suffering”. To be motivated to study and practice Gotama Buddha’s Teachings and thus spend lots of time and effort, the world must be “shocked” into not being so comfortable with “what is” and be able to see “what is the future if more and more humans attain Enlightenment”.

If all humans see the world as a happy, delightful, and a comfortable place to exist, there is no motivation to do anything to improve one’s own life.

Thus, one must feel very uncomfortable with life and its existence in order to be motivated to study, learn, implement, and gain the results of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings. The results are a liberated mind and a pure mind, Enlightenment.

You may have experienced happiness and excitement in your life but you have also experienced a lot of pain and suffering that you would not want to repeat.

Gotama Buddha’s goal was to provide Teachings that gave the mind a place where it could be permanently peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy. The mental state of Enlightenment will completely eliminate discontentedness of the mind, for every human. A Practitioner’s mind who has attained Enlightenment will have concentration, clarity, and an increased ability for memorization which will prove useful in daily life.

Gotama Buddha understood that the mental state of Enlightenment is permanent while everything else in the world is impermanent. Because of our cravings, desires, attachments and clinging for everything to be permanent, we cause our own discontentedness in the mind. Nobody can cause us discontentedness but instead, we cause it ourselves.

You will learn in these Teachings that you cause all the discontent feelings associated with anger, sadness, boredom, loneliness, stress, anxiety, etc. And, you will learn how to completely eliminate the feelings of anger, sadness, boredom, loneliness, stress, anxiety, or other discontent feelings so that you will never experience a discontent mind.

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No one ever said life would be “easy” but it’s also not supposed to be “tough”. Learning Gotama Buddha's Teachings is not “easy” but learning and practicing The Teachings of The Buddha will ensure “life is not tough”.

Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are not to control an individual nor dictate what they should or should not do. But instead, provide guidance that when practiced will lead to Enlightenment, a peaceful, contented, and liberated mind and, thus, a peaceful and content life. Everything in this practice is obtained through personal choice.

A Discontent Mind - There Are No Quick Fixes

Living as a human being can be challenging and difficult even in the best of times. The human mind is vastly misunderstood across all of humanity.

Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are not based on belief. It is important for each Practitioner to learn The Teachings and practice The Teachings so that you can observe the truth in The Teachings for yourself.

It is through understanding the truth in The Teachings and observing these truths in practice that you will attain wisdom to liberate the mind.

These Teachings are meant to assist you in developing a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy where you are unaffected by everyday challenges that produce sadness, worry, anger, stress, anxiety, and other discontent feelings.

Many people feel the goal in life is to be happy, but, happiness is impermanent and cannot be kept forever. When the mind is not happy, thus, unhappy, it will move to sadness, anger, or worse.

Therefore, if we dwell upon happiness and pursue it as a life goal, the craving and desire for happiness will lead to a discontent mind because the mind cannot hold on to happiness forever. Happiness is still impermanent and is not the goal that would lead to Enlightenment or a lasting peaceful mind.

Happiness is impermanent and the constant craving of happiness is the reason why you have not been able to attain lasting happiness in your life.

Gotama Buddha offered Teachings that would provide the mind a permanent place to reside. These Teachings lead to a mind that is peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy that has fully cultivated generosity, loving-

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kindness, and compassion among other wholesome qualities. These Teachings will guide you in developing a mind that has joy in seeing others succeed and is without craving, anger, and ignorance (unknowing of true reality) and free from ego enabling the realization of non-self. This is Enlightenment.

Attaining Enlightenment, you would have eliminated discontentedness or suffering of the mind. With every human attaining Enlightenment the entire world would be kind, peaceful and loving.

It is possible.

But you must strive and work to attain Enlightenment through learning and practicing The Teachings so that you can attain the results. No person or entity can “give” you Enlightenment. You must gradually progress through learning and implementing these Teachings.

Enlightenment is not a quick fix or an instantaneous result. In English we use the word “Enlightenment” but attaining Enlightenment is not like turning on a “light switch”. The mind will need gradual training to learn and practice The Teachings shared in this book and book series with the guidance of Teachers.

Enlightenment is a permanent mental state you can attain through liberating the mind with wisdom.

This is one reason why Enlightenment is permanent.

Once you gain the wisdom that leads you to Enlightenment, you will not “unlearn” that wisdom and the mind will permanently reside peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy. The mind will be “unshakable” and “unaffected” by life situations and all that happens in everyday life. The mind will need gradual training in the direction of Enlightenment. Your dedication and commitment to learning and growing is important. Determination, dedication, and diligence applied to your goal of Enlightenment is important.

What Will I Learn?

The Teachings in this book and book series are Teachings that ultimately came from Gotama Buddha, a Teacher and a person that never wanted to be idolized, worshiped, or have his image captured in a statue. It’s not a religion. It’s a way of life. These Teachings and practices lead to a “better way of life”.

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Gotama Buddha said, “One who sees The Teachings sees me, one who sees me, sees The Teachings”. Meaning, he was a walking, living, breathing example of his Teachings and if you understand and practice his Teachings deeply enough you can see his Teachings everywhere around you in real life. There is no need to see him or have him exist in the human form because we can see his Teachings in the world, we do not need to see his physical form.

Gotama Buddha is not a God or someone to worship or give praise to. He asks for nothing. He was merely a humble Teacher who asked for nothing and expected nothing in return for his Teachings. He taught without arrogance, pride, or conceit.

The Teachings of Gotama Buddha have been significantly diminished and are practically invisible on this planet. While we have Temples, male Ordained Practitioners, female Ordained Practitioners, and other traces of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings, those practicing his Teachings closely, those who truly understand his Teachings and the number of people attaining Enlightenment through his Teachings, is currently minimal but will now be increasing. Gotama Buddha’s Teachings have been affected by impermanence.

The Teachings in this book series present The Teachings that lead to Enlightenment as existed during Gotama Buddha’s lifetime.

While nearly 500 million people in the world are identified as Practitioners of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings, there are multiple traditions with different Teachings and practices. The Teachings in this book series are those that existed closest to the time of his death from the Theravada tradition of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings. The meaning of Theravada is “teachings of the elders”. The Theravada tradition considers The Pāli Canon as the original source text for what was taught by Gotama Buddha. We do not believe The Pāli Canon but instead investigate The Teachings to learn, reflect, and practice them to independently verify the truth to acquire wisdom. In this way, as the condition of the mind gradually improves, reducing then eliminating discontentedness, one can observe what they are learning is the truth.

If the entire world practiced Gotama Buddha’s Teachings, we would not have mass amounts of warring, terrorism, countries fighting, an unwholesome earth, massive storms, people dying in poverty, children without parents, unwholesome drugs/substances, murders, rapes, suicide, incurable diseases or sickness, lack of education and countless other aspects of the world that appear to be causing “self-destruction” of human civilization and the planet we inhabit.

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Human beings are causing all these problems in the world which means we can eliminate all these problems in the world through learning and practicing Teachings that lead to a better way of life.

Humans can have generosity, loving-kindness, compassion, be pleased with others’ success, evenness of temper especially in difficult situations, treat all people fairly, eliminate craving, anger, and ignorance (unknowing of true reality) while conducting their life in a way that does no harm to themselves, other beings or our planet. There is a better way to live life through understanding and practicing The Teachings that lead to a Higher Consciousness or Enlightenment.

When is this world going to be SHOCKED enough to wake up to the reality that no one is coming to save us?  We must save ourselves from the problems that we have created.

Each person in the world will need to “earn their own Enlightenment”.

Are you ready to experience a life without suffering or discontentedness? Would you like to have focus, concentration, clarity of mind and improved memory? Would you like to learn how to have compassion for all beings with a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy experiencing lasting inner fulfillment? Would you like to create lasting inner peace and have harmony in your relationships?

You will learn how to develop a peaceful, calm, and stable mind that is unshakable, never again experiencing discontentedness.

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A Rare Human Existence

Gotama Buddha explained that our existence in the human realm is extremely rare and unique. His simile described for us just how rare this existence as a human really is and why we should pursue Enlightenment in this human state or we will regret it later. Meditate, Monks, do not be complacent, lest you regret it later. This is my instruction to you. (Gotama Buddha) (Reference: SN 43.1)

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You have this rare human existence to cultivate the mind while in the human state, develop a pure mind, and escape The Cycle of Rebirth. The human existence is perfect to be motivated to learn and practice these Teachings because the unEnlightened mind experiences a pleasant feeling, a painful feeling, and feelings that are neither painful-nor-pleasant and humans have the ability to cultivate the mind. In a human existence, we experience all three types of discontentedness of mind and, thus, have an interest to overcome it by developing the mind and escaping The Cycle of Rebirth.

For a Practitioner who is new to this path or is just starting out, I suggest you set aside The Teachings on The Cycle of Rebirth until there is a well developed understanding and practice of the core and central Teachings. The core Teachings are The Three Universal Truths, The Four Noble Truths, The Eight Fold Path, The Five Precepts with a well developed meditation practice. You will learn these and more through this book series and by connecting with a Teacher to seek guidance.

What happened in the past is in the past. What may or may not happen in the future is in the future. What is important is that right now you are experiencing a discontent mind and focusing on the core Teachings will allow you to experience results of an improved condition of the mind. When you are ready, there are Teachings towards the end of this book on The Cycle of Rebirth and you can seek guidance to guide you in understanding The Cycle of Rebirth. But for now, it is suggested that you focus on establishing a well developed practice of the core and central Teachings.

Do not waste this human existence. Do not be the last person to attain Enlightenment. Seek liberation of the mind by wisdom. Understand that anger, sadness, loneliness and all other unwelcome emotions can be eliminated. Eradicate every drop of complacency. Learn and practice The Teachings of Gotama Buddha which will completely liberate you from the darkness that has a hold on the unEnlightened mind.

You can decide to start pursuing “The Path” towards Enlightenment by continuing to read, learn, grow, evolve and implement these Teachings. Having a Teacher is helpful and required to attain Enlightenment. These Teachings are not practiced as a religion, but as a way of life or lifestyle and it will be important for you to seek guidance from someone who understands how to guide you in learning and implementing these Teachings into your life.

One key attribute of the mind that you must maintain in your pursuit of Enlightenment and beyond is the interest to learn and be open to all of life’s lessons.

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An open mind that learns from every situation but practices The Teachings to find the truth and wisdom in The Teachings, will most likely find Enlightenment. You will find the truth and the wisdom that liberates the mind.

A mind that is closed and not interested in being open to learning from all people, will wander and lengthen their path to final knowledge and liberation of the mind. Many more rebirths will be needed to escape The Cycle of Rebirth with the risk of being reborn into one of the lower realms of existence, afflicted spirits realm, animal realm, or hell realm.

A closed mind may never be liberated because it is not open to learning The Teachings that lead to Enlightenment.

Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are not to be interpreted but instead, practiced so that one may know the “truth” and gain wisdom leading to liberation of the mind.

It is through your practice that you gain wisdom and know the truth, and through wisdom that the mind is liberated.

So, if anyone ever provides you a Teaching, you would have to practice that Teaching to determine if it’s truth. In this way, you can learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings to determine exactly what is the truth and what leads to Enlightenment.

In this way, Gotama Buddha’s Teachings cannot be interpreted incorrectly because you discover the “truth” in your practice. If someone does interpret The Teachings incorrectly, you discover whether they are correct or incorrect from practicing The Teachings.

Everyone’s number one goal in life should be to attain Enlightenment, thus be loving, kind, and compassionate to all beings. Learning The Path to Enlightenment and implementing these Teachings into your life is like walking a path to a better life existence.

We must empty the mind of the negativity that it often holds on to, cultivate a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy that has abandoned craving, anger, and ignorance (unknowing of true reality), while dissolving the ego to realize non-self. This is the future of the world and how to create a comfortable existence for all beings where we respect each other and mother earth.

Gotama Buddha provided us Teachings that lead to a better way of life.

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Peacefulness, contentedness, a stable mind with generosity, loving-kindness towards all beings, compassion, being pleased for others’ success, and calmness is a better way of life in which we experience peace on earth.

Long after his death, people gathered these “Teachings for a better way of life” and made them into a “religion”. Gotama Buddha was not a Buddhist and had no plans to create a religion. The term “Buddhist” was created long after his death. He was a Teacher who taught us a better way of life.

Statues were eventually created and, rites and rituals along with many other aspects were added that turned The Teachings into what some consider to be a religion.

Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are meant to be studied and practiced so that we can obtain the results of a peaceful, loving, compassionate and generous society.

His original Teachings do not contain “belief” or “worship”. You should not believe The Teachings or worship Gotama Buddha because when you practice his Teachings, you see the results for yourself observing the truth to gain wisdom. You discover the truth and you have appreciation for his Teachings but do not worship him. Gradually learn to practice his Teachings until they become natural for you.

When you practice The Teachings, you see the mind becomes more steady, calm, and peaceful. This is why a society of people practicing Gotama Buddha’s Teachings is widely peaceful and loving with lots of smiles and care for others.

Look for ways to help others and support others along The Path to Enlightenment through friendly discussions and friendship in a Community of Practitioners.

The measure of a successful nation and a successful society is not by how much money people have, how much land and how much material possessions that exist.

The measure of a successful nation and a successful society is how calm and peaceful the people are among each other. Are the people genuinely peaceful, considerate, loving, warm, kind and open to helping all beings? Do the people work together to help each other to cultivate a warm loving society? Is there fighting, racism, hatred, ill will, greed, hate groups, mass shootings, no time for family, all work, and no time for a peaceful coexistence? That is not success; it is not freedom.

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If you would like to model a “truly successful and peaceful” society, look at Thailand. These people have figured out how to peacefully co-exist for multiple centuries and are Practitioners of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings. While Thailand is not perfect, there are many wholesome attributes of Thai society that can be attributed to their culture being rooted in The Teachings of The Buddha.

It’s not an experiment - its proven truth as we can observe the polite, kind, friendly, and respectful peacefulness among many who live in Thailand.

How did people learn during the lifetime of Gotama Buddha?

Gotama Buddha attained Full and Perfect Enlightenment through independent realization of Enlightenment. In the pursuit of independently realized Enlightenment, a person obtains extensive amounts of wisdom in order to attain their own Enlightenment without any Teachers.

Gotama Buddha’s knowledge is represented by all the soil on the earth while what he taught during his lifetime that leads to Enlightenment was represented only by the soil that existed under his finger nail.

During the lifetime of Gotama Buddha, there were many seekers of wisdom.

Recognizing Gotama Buddha’s high degree of Enlightenment as The Fully Perfectly Enlightened Buddha, humans asked him questions and received Teachings. This is how people learned.

As a Fully Perfectly Enlightened Buddha, he had extensive amounts of wisdom represented by all the soil of all the earth.

Gotama Buddha only ever shared Teachings that liberate the mind to attain Enlightenment and would only teach that which people asked and which helped lead the people to Enlightenment. He did not push or force his Teachings onto others but instead, only taught those who were seeking guidance with him through asking questions. However, he did not answer all questions asked of him because the answers were not beneficial and did not lead to Enlightenment.

Through the questions people asked, Gotama Buddha understood what people needed to know so that he could guide them to Enlightenment. Gotama Buddha would not have enough time during his lifetime to teach “everything” that he knew as a Fully Perfectly Enlightened Buddha. That would be too difficult and lengthy.

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So, it is questions from the Students, that allowed Gotama Buddha to provide The Teachings people needed to liberate their mind. You should also view this practice as an independent journey, in which, you seek guidance from Teachers but you ensure you are asking questions to seek more and more knowledge from your Teachers. Only a true Buddha would be able to attain Enlightenment without the guidance of any Teachers. Since you are not a Buddha, you will need guidance from a Teacher.

Today, it seems that many “want” and “crave” to teach and few are willing to apply determination, dedication, and diligence to learn.

Due to extensive amounts of craving to show their wisdom and increased amounts of ego (i.e. arrogance), it is extremely common for people to share their information and rare for people to ask questions to learn from others.

Many want to teach but rarely are people interested to learn.

If humanity is going to evolve past its current state of existence, there will need to be open minded people who are interested to learn, to ask questions and gain The Teachings needed to liberate the mind of billions of humans on this planet.

When you know of someone that has wisdom you’d like to acquire, ask them questions and listen attentively to the answers. Then, ask them more questions and still more.

Start listening and learning to gain knowledge. Let the Teacher know what questions you have, so they can guide you to liberate the mind by wisdom through your own practice of these Teachings.

Establishing a Solid Practice of These Teachings

To get started learning and practicing these Teachings, it is important that you develop a consistent meditation practice to train the mind which includes guidance from Teachers. The Chapter “Meditation: Developing Your Practice” (Chapter 11) will guide you in establishing a dedicated meditation practice.

You will need The Teachings, Teachers, dedication and commitment to learning and growing towards attaining Enlightenment.

In the world of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings, there are several sources of information and Teachings.

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It is important that you source The Teachings from a reliable source that is dedicated to the accurate translation of The Pāli Canon. Assembled into forty-five (45) volumes of books, the Pāli text or Pāli Canon is the original source of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings.

This book and book series have reliable translations of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings and the experiences of a dedicated Practitioner and Teacher to guide you in learning and practicing The Teachings.

Internet sources such as Wikipedia and others are not considered reliable sources of The Teachings. When you find Teachers who have attained Enlightenment, they will have a reliable source of The Teachings. (More on how to find Teachers who have attained Enlightenment later in this book.)

Study these Teachings and practice The Teachings so that you can independently observe the truth with the help of Teachers. Do not just believe anything you learn in this tradition of Teachings, including those Teachings in this book series. Belief will not liberate the mind through wisdom. It is only when you observe the truth in The Teachings that then becomes wisdom, will you understand the truth of reality so the mind can be liberated to attain Enlightenment.

The Pāli Canon, the source of Gotama Buddha’s Teachings, does not have everything you need to attain Enlightenment. This is why having this book series and Teachers who have attained Enlightenment and who share their experience is important as a guiding light for you.

This is why Gotama Buddha encouraged us to learn and practice The Teachings. He was encouraging us to practice The Teachings to determine the truth for ourselves with guidance from Teachers where you are attaining growth.

You will know The Teachings are truth if you practice these Teachings and they produce results which liberate the mind. As you study and practice The Teachings, you should notice that the mind gradually becomes more peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy.

You should have observed truth in your practice and notice that The Teachings you study and the practice you develop are progressing you further along the path. Then you will know for sure that The Teachings and Teachers you are learning with is accurate and are helpful.

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If the mind is abandoning such feelings as, anger, hatred, judgment, ill will and is cultivating such qualities as generosity, loving-kindness, compassion, and equanimity then The Teachings you study and the practice you have established is leading you on the right path. There are many qualities of the mind that you will eliminate and cultivate. As part of learning and practicing these Teachings, you should notice gradual improvements in the mind as you near closer and closer to Enlightenment.

It is your practice of The Teachings that sorts through the impermanence that affects all things, including the impermanence that affects The Teachings of Gotama Buddha. It is your practice of The Teachings where you discover the truth to liberate the mind.

As you progress in your learning and practice, reflect on The Teachings through practice of The Teachings, so that you can determine the truth for yourself.

In this way, you will not be misled because the benefits of what you learn and practice are independently observable. These Teachings and practices are based on guiding you to discover the truth and are not based on belief.

The Teachings and practices in this book will assist you on the journey to Enlightenment.

All the benefits you attain through these Teachings and practices are based on your personal choices to learn and practice The Teachings closer and closer to that which are known to produce Enlightenment.

A wise one is not going to hope, dream, or wish for awakening of the mind but instead, take consistent and deliberate steps towards attaining their own awakening to the Enlightened mind.

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Rules of Forbidden Activity or Guidance that Leads to Enlightenment

Oftentimes, Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are thought of or discussed as “rules of forbidden activity”. Some will even translate his Teachings as “training rules”.

In my opinion, if a Practitioner approaches The Path to Enlightenment in this way, it is harmful to deeply understanding The Teachings of Gotama Buddha and can inhibit one from attaining the objective of Enlightenment.

Gotama Buddha shared Teachings that he knew would lead the mind to Enlightenment.

Enlightenment is a peaceful, calm, serene and content mind with joy that is permanent. The mind has eliminated all discontent feelings such as sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fears, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, stress, anxiety, etc.

All discontent feelings are eliminated from the mind 100% with the mind residing perfectly in the middle - peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy.

To attain the mental state of Enlightenment, a Practitioner needs to learn The Teachings with guidance and practice these Teachings to independently observe the “truth” for themselves acquiring wisdom.

It is through observing The Teachings in practice that one acquires wisdom. The mind then functions through this newly found wisdom making wholesome decisions based on the wisdom of The Teachings.

All progress on The Path to Enlightenment is attained through making wholesome individual choices, wholesome individual decisions as part of one’s own “free will”.

Following “rules of forbidden activity” will not lead a Practitioner to making wholesome choices based on the wisdom they acquired through learning and practicing The Teachings.

For Gotama Buddha’s Teachings to be “rules”, he would have had to create a doctrine of rules with an organization to collect, distribute, and enforce those rules.

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That is not what Gotama Buddha did.

He offered Teachings that he knew lead to the mental state of Enlightenment, a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy that is permanent, acquired through wise decision making by the individual Practitioner. The mind is liberated through wise decision making based on wisdom.

Through Students learning and practicing these Teachings, a Practitioner can observe through their own learning and practice that the condition of the mind improves.

Anger and frustration in the mind is slowly and gradually reduced and ultimately completely eliminated - along with all other discontent feelings. Individual Practitioners can observe for themselves that The Teachings and practices shared improved the condition of the mind through training of the mind.

Nothing Gotama Buddha taught is based on belief but instead, Teachings are shared with guidance that when learned and practiced can be observed as truth to acquire wisdom.

For one to learn and practice Gotama Buddha’s Teachings is a personal choice based on free will decisions.

To attain Enlightenment is not to “follow rules of forbidden activity” but instead “learning and practicing Teachings with guidance from a Teacher”.

Gotama Buddha did not establish a set of rules to be enforced but instead, shared Teachings with guidance that through your own wholesome personal choices will lead the mind to Enlightenment - if you choose to learn and practice with the guidance of a Teacher.

There are no rules, forbidden activity, or certain things that Gotama Buddha necessarily allowed or disallowed.

His Teachings are guidance that you can choose to learn and practice or not.

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If his Teachings are rules of forbidden activity, who is coming to enforce those rules?

Surely not Gotama Buddha or anyone else.

Learning and practicing The Teachings as guidance will lead a Practitioner towards making countless wholesome decisions not because of rules or enforcement of said rules, but because the Practitioner learns through experience, then chooses to make wise wholesome decisions leading to good wholesome results - the Enlightened mind.

Enlightenment is a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy that is permanent based on personal choices to learn and practice Gotama Buddha’s Teachings with guidance from a Teacher.

Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are guidance to learn and practice through personal choice. Not rules. The mind will awaken to Enlightenment as it gains wisdom in The Natural Laws of Existence (i.e. The Buddha’s Teachings) and decides to develop a life practice based on wise decision making.

The Problem - The Wisdom of Enlightenment Has Been Lost

Gotama Buddha lived over 2,500 years ago sharing The Teachings that lead to Enlightenment.

During his lifetime, it was well known to people who were learning, reflecting, and practicing with him as their Teacher, exactly what Enlightenment is and how to attain it.

This wisdom remained for 500 years after the death of The Buddha. But thereafter, this wisdom has gradually declined and diminished to the point where we are today, 2,500 years later. Gotama Buddha predicted this would occur.

The vast majority of the world does not understand what Enlightenment is and how to attain it. The Path to Enlightenment, while once was strong and vibrant during the lifetime of The Buddha, has now practically disappeared.

There are very few beings in existence today who understand what Enlightenment is and how to attain it.

The Universal Truth of Impermanence has drastically affected humanity’s understanding of The Path to Enlightenment.

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This occurred through the lack of focus and diligence to maintain The Teachings of The Buddha as vibrantly as existed during his lifetime. People gradually and slowly mixed and blended various traditions and thoughts into The Buddha’s Teachings which, while perhaps well intended, have only served to dilute humanity’s understanding of The Path to Enlightenment and, thus, have made it extremely difficult for countless beings to experience Enlightenment.

Enlightenment is a peaceful, calm, serene, and content mind with joy that is permanent. The Enlightened mind no longer experiences any discontent feelings. All discontentedness such as sadness, anger, frustration, irritation, annoyance, guilt, shame, fears, boredom, loneliness, shyness, jealousy, resentment, stress, anxiety, etc., has been completely eliminated from the Enlightened mind.

Gotama Buddha’s objective is for his Teachings to be shared worldwide so that all beings can experience the Enlightened mental state. However, during his lifetime, it was impossible to share his Teachings worldwide. It has now come to us to be able to actively learn, reflect, and practice his Teachings, in such a way, that they are restored and shining in the world so that countless individuals can attain Enlightenment today and in multiple generations to come.

But, in order to accomplish this goal, we will need to stay determined, dedicated, and diligent to learning, reflecting, and practicing The Teachings of The Buddha that he shared over 2,500 years ago. We will need to be diligent to ensure that we are not diluting his Teachings through mixing various traditions and practices that are not part of The Path to Enlightenment.

Every Practitioner will need to decide, are they interested in being part of the problem or part of the solution.

The solution takes time, effort, energy, and resources to be committed enough to restoring The Buddha’s Teachings back into humanity, in such a way, that is highly beneficial to countless individuals today and long into the future.

Remaining part of the problem requires no time, effort, energy, or resources. It just requires continued complacency and lack of attention to the active learning, reflecting, and practicing of “The Words of The Buddha”. I suggest it would be unwise to remain part of the problem as one will continue to experience discontentedness and the suffering it causes.

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The Solution - Restoring The Buddha’s Teachings Back into Humanity

If you would like to be part of the solution, I would like to encourage you to actively learn, reflect, and practice The Teachings of The Buddha, in such a way, that does not include the diluting or mixing of his Teachings with other traditions. It is The Teachings of The Buddha that lead to Enlightenment, not those that are blended and mixed that only serve to dilute The Path to Enlightenment for all those who aspire to experience Enlightenment.

The primary obstacle or obstruction that hinders Practitioners from the attainment of Enlightenment is ignorance (unknowing of true reality). This is a taint/pollution of mind where the Practitioner lacks wisdom to understand the true Path to Enlightenment. This unknowing of true reality creates an obstacle or obstruction that keeps the mind trapped in the unEnlightened state continuing to experience continued discontentedness and the suffering it causes. The only way to remove this hindrance is to seek guidance with a Teacher in the true Teachings of The Buddha using The Words of The Buddha. It is The Teachings of The Buddha that will awaken the mind to Enlightenment through independent verification of his Teachings to acquire wisdom, thus, removing this obstruction to Enlightenment.

Through dedication to restoring The Teachings of The Buddha within your own life practice by acquiring wisdom using The Words of The Buddha, you are doing your part to contribute to restoring his Teachings back into humanity for the benefit of countless beings that exist now and long into the future. All of humanity can evolve so that everyone can attain Enlightenment creating the most peaceful world we have ever imagined. It will be like “heaven on earth”.

You are invited to join this Community to only learn and practice “The Words of The Buddha”, in such a way, that leads to your Enlightenment and the restoration of The Buddha’s Teachings so that you and countless beings can experience the peacefulness, liberation of mind, and complete elimination of discontentedness and the suffering it causes, known as Enlightenment.

The Words of The Buddha Book Series
https://www.buddhadailywisdom.com/freebuddhabooks

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“Thank you” for choosing to learn and practice Gotama Buddha’s Teachings.

You are making the world a better place through developing your life practice based on “The Words of The Buddha”.

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