Review of “Buddhism Without Beliefs”: Awakening & Awareness in Buddhism and Similarities with the Old Testament
July 4th, 2008One of his students asked Buddha, “Are you the messiah?”
“No”, answered Buddha.
“Then are you a healer?”
“No”, Buddha replied.
“Then are you a teacher?” the student persisted.
“No, I am not a teacher.”
“Then what are you?” asked the student, exasperated.
“I am awake”, Buddha replied.
The first written records of Siddhartha (Later called the Buddha) come from Siri Lanka (an island off the coast of South India), several hundred miles from where he taught. Like many other figures of mythology, his teachings were first written down well after his death, about 300 years later, so the reality of his teachings were already well mixed with local religious ideas and mythology.
I like the above book because the author separates the meditational philosophy of balance/awakening from the religious beliefs. This makes the practice of awareness/awakening something that a person of any religious persuasion can learn and apply. For example, Siddhartha basically taught that,
“Anguish is to be understood, its origins to be let go of, its cessation to be realized, and the path to be cultivated.”
Or in other words, the root of anguish is desiring life to something other than it is. Accepting life as it is helps release anguish.
When this becomes, “Life IS Suffering” and the “Cause of suffering IS craving” then the philosophy of cultivating awareness becomes a belief system to be followed. This is where Buddhism becomes a religion.
During Siddhartha’s lifetime many people were able to attain awareness and “awakening” but after his death it became something to be strived for and rarely, if ever, achieved. Why has it become so hard to attain awakening? Because turning Buddhism into a religion made it’s tenants “Holy”, something well above ordinary reality. So following the teachings as a practice of expanding awareness switched to one of devotion.
The Buddhists explain this lack of “enlightenment” in modern religious Buddhism as an example of the degradation of humanity over time. That is the common excuse for any religious person to explain why the tenets of their religion are NOT followed in society AND can never be followed until ‘the end days’. This effectively removes moral responsibility for their actions as a society, as it is not the practitioners fault but life itself that makes enlightenment/awakening/peace impossible.
“An unawakened existence, in which we drift unaware on a surge of habitual impulses, is both ignoble and undignified. Instead of a natural and non-coercive authority, we impose our will on others either through manipulation and intimidation or by appealing to the opinions of those more powerful than ourselves. Authority becomes a question of force rather than integrity.”
Living for momentary pleasures makes a person jump from one thing to another rarely finding complete satisfaction in one thing - always looking for the next ‘high’. This high can be social company, excessive exercise, drinking, drugs (both illegal and legal ones) etc. Letting go of craving can free us, even if it is only momentarily. That is why the path must be cultivated.
Experiment
Sit comfortable and consciously relax all the muscles in your body. Begin from your scalp and work your way down to your toes. Now become aware of your breath and as you maintain the focus on your breathing ALSO become aware of the surface you are sitting on, the cloths on your body, your surroundings and even the dome of the sky stretching off to the horizon. Be aware of your breathing and all of the above simultaneously.
If you can do the above only for a few seconds that is fine. You just have experienced ‘expanded awareness’. Many people who try this will recognize the awareness they are experiencing from a previous experience. Yes, humans are ‘mystical’ creatures. Awakening, no matter how much it is avoided, is intrinsically a part of everyone AND is something that ANYONE can learn.
As a global culture we fix ourselves in ‘palaces’ of what is familiar and secure. We sense there is more to life than trying to gratify our desires and defend ourselves from fear. Yet we don’t know how to get their and this leads to even more activities of distraction.
For Example; We all know that the only certainty in life is death. If we keep the inevitability of death on our minds many things we worry about will no longer matter. Instead we try to avoid that thought at all costs to the point where when we encounter death we are shocked and terrified and say, ‘his/her time came early’. There is no such thing. Without the perspective of our death how can we possibly make short or long term decisions that aren’t influenced by drowning ourselves in momentary pleasures?
“Since no one knows the future,
who can tell him what is to come?
No man has power over his spirit to retain it,
so no one has power over the day of his death.”
Ecclesiastes 8:7-8:8
Death is always there waiting for you, every day of your life. It is sad, depressing, part of the sorrow of life, but it is not ‘early’.
What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset. - Blackfoot
Since death is certain, avoiding it makes you avoid life itself.
Think about it. How do you know that someone is alive? By the simple fact that he/she is not dead. in other words, death defines life. Without death we would not know what life is. So by avoiding the acceptance of death we become escapists of life itself. Chasing momentary pleasures to cloud our awareness and our fears.
If you are constantly making life to be some perfect image to be attained at some point in the future, you will ALWAYS be chasing that image. If you cannot be content now you will never be content as there will always be something else you ‘need’ before you can be happy. A bigger car, a bigger house, a plane? This will give a rush of excitement followed by boredom with your new toy and craving for the next one.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy expensive things just that you should be happy first or nothing you get will ever satisfy you. (“Be bountiful and multiply”)
If you jump from one emotion to another, blindly avoiding pain and seeking pleasure with no awareness or separation from your emotions THEN your emotions will control you. You will be a slave to your desire. Anyone who knows your desires can control you.
“All man’s efforts are for his mouth,
yet his appetite is never satisfied.”
Ecclesiastes 6:7
According to this book, the first step out: Become aware of every emotion you have as you experience it. Don’t try to stop the emotion but learn to distance yourself from it, pain, sorrow or joy. Keep a part of yourself that is always observing yourself and your emotions.
By these definitions awakening is a process of building and maintaining the discipline of awareness.
Laziness brings on deep sleep,
And the shiftless man goes hungry.
Proverbs 19:15
“The wise man has eyes in his head,
while the fool walks in the darkness.”
Ecclesiastes 6:7


