Buddha taught the great law of ‘Dharma’ as the living in accordance with the law of true compassion and wisdom and the attainment of freedom from suffering. The Buddhist: Dharma Teaching Service taught the true meaning of Dharma and the need for meditation among Buddhists. The service taught that chanting is a method of remembering Dharma when meditation is difficult and when mindfulness does not offer consolation. The service also taught that Buddhists bow as a sign of deep veneration to Buddha. The teaching service also explored the concepts of concentration, daily life practice, Dharma practice day, five hindrances, dying in Dharma, mindfulness, and metta or lovingkindness among others.
I learnt that the true acquisition of Dharma-by-Dharma entails the adherence to norm, law, justice, quality, doctrine, and righteousness. Dharma or the liberating law was proclaimed by the Buddha in Four Noble Truths, and creates part of the three gems (Chah, 2001). Dharma in the three gems is an object of the mind, imaginary or real, conditioned or not. To acquire Dharma, a person is taught to enter Dharma, see Dharma and their being must be Dharma. A person that enters and sees Dharma, and whose being is Dharma will avoid feelings like anger and desire. This principle implies that though a person may study Dharma, understand Dharma, see and practice Dharma, but is not Dharma then they cannot enter into Dharma (Chah, 2001). This means that true Dharma does not have falsehood.
The teaching of Buddhist on Dharma has assisted in overcoming several misconceptions of the religion and its teaching. The first misconception I had was that Buddhists welcome suffering. I believed that a true Buddhist is sincere if they share in poverty and suffering. I learnt that Buddhists do not look towards suffering but try to understand suffering as something necessarily and a chance to grow and learn. By following, Buddha’s teaching on Dharma, a Buddhists to look at difficulties and suffering as a positive effect and a teacher. This is because Buddha taught that being Dharma requires being free from unsatisfactory experiences even in unhappiness and suffering (Chah, 2001). A Buddhists only acquires true Dharma is they lean on suffering, and release themselves from suffering.
Moreover, as I read on Dharma I came to the awareness that the stream to Dharma leads one to the noble four truths on suffering. These noble truths were essential for they led to my overcoming of my misconceptions of Buddhism and suffering. I learnt that to the Buddhists, suffering and un-satisfaction exists in life. This is because human beings are always struggling to attain things, which they find pleasurable and pleasant, while they avoid those that cause them pain. The constant struggles and manipulation of people to find security and ease, causes them to suffer, as the rest of the world does not fit into their plans. In Buddha’s teachings, the practice and attainment of Dharma must find the causes of the un-satisfaction and suffering and end it.
Prior to the reading, I held the belief that Buddhists must endure long and grueling meditations to enter into enlightenment. However, according to Dharma meditation is the making of the mind peaceful in order for one to see Dharma. This is necessary as the attainment of Wisdom and Samadhi is achieved by the eight factors or the Noble Eightfold Path (Chah, 2001). The noble eightfold path to Dharma entails right seeing, right thought, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right contemplation (Chah, 2001). Therefore, for a successful Dharma practice, a Buddhist must look within by having a mental collectedness, morality, and wisdom in their mind. This is only attainable through meditation, which creates a direct path for rising to enlightenment and knowledge (Chah, 2001). In this meditation, the Buddhist must place their focus on the eight noble focal factors and the Samadhi. Therefore, since meditation is part of practicing Dharma, and Dharma is free from suffering, meditation is not gruesome. I learned from the teachings of Buddha on Dharma that suffering is one of the three signs being. Suffering is an important item of learning since it was used by Buddha to begin his great spiritual quest. The teachings explain that life is not all suffering but has joy.
My understanding of the Buddhists and the practice of Dharma has changed greatly from the teachings of Buddha. I have learned that when one reaches Dharma, one cannot lie or steal. This is because the Buddhists learn that when they lie or steal even when others are not aware they deviate from the stream to true Dharma and enlightenment. The Buddhists is aware that by being in the stream, wrong actions can be seen since others can see it. The Buddha taught that, where there is Dharma, someone can see and to think otherwise is a loss (Chah, 2001). Therefore, by lying or stealing, a Buddhists is contradicting the intention of Buddha’s teaching, which requires them to be witnesses to themselves. This lesson increases with the knowledge and awareness of Buddhism, since the true value of Dharma is self-witnessing. A person that practices Dharma witnesses to oneself, and are unable to lie or do any wrong as they practice upright and direct actions. In the nature of Dharma, one calls to Sacca Dharma or the truth (Chah, 2001).
In addition, by reading through the various teachings of Dharma, I learnt that meditation is not the only means to true Dharma. Meditation is second of the approaches to the study of Dharma. The first approach of Dharma entails the study under a teacher in Dharma. I learnt from the teachings of Buddha that the right practice of Dharma is obtained from a teacher, who also received it from a teacher (Chah, 2001). The true attainment of Dharma is by learning the truth from a teacher. Therefore, Dharma or the truth does not reside in any person but is carried from person to person. According to Buddha’s teaching, respecting the person of the teacher and acting out in deference to them is not Dharma. A Buddhists that practices their chores, duties, and Dharma when the teacher is around and slackens when they are gone is not Dharma. This implies that the teacher is the first level of Dharma practice with the individual being the second level. In learning from the teachers and putting into practice, one attains Dharma. This is by the application of the principles handed down by the teachers and the learning of things that already exists, as Dharma already exists in the individual. A Buddhists must learn the things they have to put into practice understand them and apply the instructions and explanations. Meditation on the other hand, is the preparation of the mind to acquire or study the things taught by the teachers of Buddhism. Meditation is the study of what is taught and varies according to the learning needs of an individual. An individual learning in the stream of Dharma will increase their meditation to study more the teachings of Buddha.
Given the case study above, I believe misconceptions about people and their religions exist and are common. This is because human beings make assumptions and biased conclusions on things they are ignorant to or cannot understand (Driscoll, 2009). Misconceptions on religions like Buddhism exists since societies like the western world does not understand and is ignorant of these communities and practices causing antagonism, superstition, and hatred. Misconceptions about religions exist since people do not understand and accept religious codes (Driscoll, 2009). Misconceptions also exist from historical back lashing and falsehood perpetrated to a religion by a competing religion.
One probable means of getting rid of misconceptions of religions is the education and creating awareness of the traditions and culture of religions. Increasing knowledge and enlightenment of religions and their practices can get rid of the rigidness and irrationalism of people that creates assumptions and misconceptions. The teaching of true knowledge will make individuals generous, humble, and brings people closer to others. By following the example of Buddha, humans can learn from each other and attain Dharma by becoming mirrors of themselves. In this manner, they will avoid lies, falsehood and attain true knowledge leading them to get rid of misconceptions of others.
References
Chah, A. (2001). Being Dharma: The Essence of the Buddha’s Teachings. Shambhala Publications.
Driscoll, M. (2009). Religion Saves: and Nine other Misconceptions. Crossway Publications.
Jain, S.A. (2009). Modern Thought for Higher Education Reformations The Unification of Faith and Scientism. KalPaz Publications.
UPSTREAM. http://www.ustream.tv/channel/buddhist-dgarma-teachings;
