About Buddhism
Buddha
The historical Buddha Shakyamuni was born around 560 B.C.E. to a royal family in Northern India. From early childhood, he was surrounded by wealth and beauty, and enjoyed a sophisticated education. The texts describe him as tall, strong, and blue-eyed.
When he was 29 years old, he left the palace for the first time and encountered an old person, a sick person, and a dead person, experiences he had never known before. He then realized that nothing was permanent and left his palace to meditate in the mountains and forests of Northern India. After a six-year search for lasting meaning, he recognized the nature of mind while in deep meditation and reached enlightenment in what is Bodh Gaya in Northern India today.
The Buddha's teachings, which make beings fearless, joyful, and kind, are the main religion in several East Asian countries. Since the early seventies, the profound Buddhist view with its vast number of methods has inspired and fascinated a growing number of people in Western cultures.
Buddha teaches about ultimate and conditioned existence in a way that makes Buddhism directly relevant to our daily lives. Understanding this makes the experience of lasting happiness possible. Buddhism does not proclaim dogmas; rather, it encourages critical questioning. Using the right meditations, the intellectual understanding of the teachings becomes a personal everlasting experience. The goal of Buddha's teachings is the full development of the innate potential of body, speech, and mind.
Liberation and Enlightenment
Liberation means the awareness of body, thoughts, and feelings being in a constant state of change. Therefore, there is no basis for a real existing ego or “self.” Realizing this, one no longer feels like a target and stops taking suffering personally. Enlightenment is the second and ultimate step. Here, the clear light of mind radiates through every experience. One realizes that seer, what is seen and the act of seeing are interdependent parts of the same totality. In every moment, mind enjoys its self-arisen abilities and everything becomes spontaneous and effortless.
Cause and Effect - Karma
Karma means cause and effect. It does not mean fate. The understanding that each of us is responsible for our own lives makes it possible to generate positive impressions consciously. This brings happiness and helps us to avoid the causes of future suffering. Positive states of mind may be strengthened effectively through the methods of the Diamond Way Buddhism, while negative impressions waiting to mature can be transformed into wisdom.
Differences of Buddhist Schools
Buddha gave instructions for three different types of people. Those who wanted to avoid suffering received the instructions about cause and effect (“small way”, skt. Hinayana). Those who wanted to do more for others were given the teachings on wisdom and compassion called the Great Way (skt. Mahayana). Where people had strong confidence in their own and others' Buddha nature, Buddha taught the Diamond Way (skt. Vajrayana). Here, he manifested as forms of energy and light or directly transmitted his enlightened view as a flow of awareness. On this highest level, the aim is the complete development of mind, the spontaneous effortlessness of the Great Seal (skt. Mahamudra).
The Diamond Way offers the modern world "effective methods that lead to a direct experience of mind," as explained by the late Lopon Tsechu Rinpoche, one of the most experienced teachers of Tibetan Buddhism. One learns to experience the world from a rich and self-liberating viewpoint. Diamond Way meditations develop a deep inner richness and lead to a non-artificial and unwavering mind where every enlightened activity can unfold.
