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            SURELY, TO BE FAIR, we should scrap all one-sided systems that favor particular groups, and look for impartial foundations for our living in Nature. Present-day concern over environmental-pollution and conservation is a good step in the right direction, as it involves everyone on the planet. Maybe ecology will be the religion of the future, as we become more and more aware that we share our Planet with countless other life-forms, and learn to live with instead of on them. We have many things to learn from Nature.

            In our pride and arrogance at being able to walk upright, we have lost our sense of relationship with the rest of Nature, and see ourselves apart from it instead of part of it. Thus, we have tried to master and control it, until now, we find ourselves in a hell-of-a-mess! We can understand ourselves only in relation to the Whole of which we are parts, but we’ve cut ourselves off, and live apart from the rest of existence, so how to understand ourselves? We have countless theories and philosophies of life, but if we wish to find out what is true, we must look to Nature, not to Man and his ideas, for Nature has not forgotten what is True.

            And Nature is at the heart of Buddhism, not the person of Gotama Buddha; Truth is not a Person or a Being. The Buddha never said things like: "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life", but showed others the Way to find Truth themselves, so He explained about Life in an impersonal way. He spoke about Three Universal Facts of Life, which no-one, looking impartially and objectively, can deny. Here is a passage from the Pali Canon, entitled: DHAMMANIYAMA SUTTA (The Discourse on the Fixed Law of Dharma):

            THUS HAVE I HEARD: At one time, the Exalted One was staying at Savatthi in Prince Jeta’s Grove, in the Park of Anathapindika. Then the Exalted One spoke thus to the monks: "O monks". Those monks replied to the Exalted One: "Lord". The Exalted One then said: "Monks, whether there is the appearance of Tathagatas or there is not the appearance of Tathagatas¹, there is this established condition of Dhamma, this fixed Law of Dhamma: All that is conditioned is Impermanent. That, a Tathagata has fully-awakened to, He fully understands. So, awakened and understanding, He announces it, points it out, declares, establishes, expounds, explains and clarifies that: All that is Conditioned is Impermanent.

            Monks, whether there is the appearance of Tathagatas or there is not the appearance of Tathagatas, there is this established condition of Dhamma, this fixed Law of Dhamma: All that is Conditioned is Dukkha. That, a Tathagata has fully awakened to, He fully understands. So, awakened and understanding, He announces it, points it out, declares, establishes, expounds, explains and clarifies that: All that is Conditioned is Dukkha.

            Monks, whether there is the appearance of Tathagatas or there is not the appearance of Tathagatas, there is this established condition of Dhamma, this fixed Law of Dhamma: All things are Without Self. That, a Tathagata is fully awakened to, He fully understands. So, awakened and understanding, He announces it, points it out, declares, establishes, expounds, explains and clarifies that: "All things are without Self".

            Thus spoke the Exalted One. Delighted, those monks rejoiced in what the Exalted One had said.

            These are the Three Universal Facts of Existence. By perceiving and understanding them, Sakyamuni became the Buddha, Enlightened and Free.

            All things, having come into being, move towards dissolution: all meetings end in partings, all building ends in destruction, all birth ends in death.

            To cling to that which changes results in pain, anguish, suffering. In all this seemingly-fair show of Earth, there is nothing that will not change and pass. In whatever form one might be born, the natural and inevitable result of that birth is death. Therefore, the intelligent person uses his opportunities to search for Truth while living in this world; he does not expect to find it only after death.

            The word Dukkha— like Anicca and Anatta— is Pali, and we will understand it if we know how the Buddha defined it. He said this: Birth is Dukkha, Old Age is Dukkha, Sickness is Dukkha; Sorrow, Lamentation, Pain and Dejection is Dukkha. Separation from the Loved is Dukkha; Association with the Unloved is Dukkha; not getting what we want is Dukkha; getting what we don’t want is Dukkha; and finally, Death is Dukkha. In short, the bodily condition is Dukkha.

            Continuing, He taught that it is possible for Dukkha to come to an end, without Craving remaining, in the abandoning, forsaking, release from Craving, in Non-Attachment.

            And the Way to this state— which He called Nirvana, and which can be experienced in this very life, and not in some far-off after-death state or place— consists of following the Noble Eightfold Path:

                              Right Understanding

                              Right Aspirations.

                              Right Speech.

                              Right Action.

                              Right Livelihood.

                              Right Effort.

                              Right Awareness.

                              Right Concentration.

The Buddha’s Noble Eightfold Path is a Middle Way of Peace, Knowledge, Understanding and Enlightenment.

            Nothing exists in and by itself; things arise according to various factors, remain a while, then cease to be. Nothing is independent; everything depends upon many things; indeed, if we would look at things clearly, we would find that everything is involved with, and connected to, everything else. This means interdependence, inter-existence, Unity of Life. Brotherhood is therefore not an abstract idea, a far-off dream, but a reality; however, it is a reality we would usually rather not see, preferring to live in conflict with each other.

            The Buddha’s way does not require belief but only practical and intelligent application. In fact, belief is regarded as an obstacle, and, contrary to what many people think, belief and faith are quite different, for belief exists where there is no knowledge, while faith is born of knowledge applied; faith means confidence in something that one has some knowledge and experience of.

            From this, it may be seen that the Buddha’s Way does not center around Him personally, but around facts that are visible and verifiable. It is a clear, democratic and non-authoritarian Way, a Way that is right HERE and NOW; all this is required is to walk it!

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¹The Buddha used the term Tathagata when speaking of Himself; it means: ‘He who has thus come (or gone)’

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