Morality

Often when people first encounter a Buddhist they ask what are you not allowed to do? The hidden assumption in this question is that there is some authority such as a deity or a pope or such like who lays down the rules and the rest of us obey them. But it's not like that at all. The ethical precepts and principles of Buddhism are advice and you are free to take the advice or not, there is no compulsion. Indeed compulsion of that kind would be considered unethical in Buddhism. So the advice is if you want to have a happy and satisfying life you will need to make some effort to live by these principles. The terms used for right and wrong behaviour are 'skilful' and 'unskilful' which indicates that being ethical is a skill, a capability, which we can develop. It is a matter of intelligence not obedience.

The path of ethics involves trying to live your life in accordance with the ethical principles of non-violence, generosity, contentment, honesty in communication and mindfulness. If we were to say those in terms of what not to do it would be – don't harm any living thing; don't take what you are not given; don't coerce or manipulate people, especially for sexual gratification; don't be untruthful or dishonest in your communication and don't get so intoxicated that you become unmindful or unaware.

Radical Religion

The Buddha’s message is still radical and even revolutionary today: firstly he says your suffering is largely caused by your own mental states. You can do something about that and nobody else can do it for you. You are responsible for your own states of mind and for your life. This is quite radical even today. We live in a culture of blame and complaining. Secondly he says religion is whatever works to alleviate suffering and transform people completely in the direction of wisdom and compassion. There is no God or Guru to save you, you need to follow the guidance or take the medicine and in that way save yourself. This is a radical redefinition of religion. Then he says spiritual practices are a means to an end not ends in themselves. This is also radical.

And in our materialist, shopping culture his message about where happiness comes from is still radical. He says there is no lasting happiness to be found in worldly things. Therefore accumulating wealth or possessions or even having children doesn’t bring lasting happiness. In the end we will have to let go of everything and we will be happier if we train ourselves in letting go.

And in a world where some people are willing to kill or be killed on the basis of some real or imagined insult to their teacher or teachings it is quite radical for the Buddha to say that he and his Dharma do not need to be defended. Buddhism doesn’t need laws against blasphemy. Anger because the Buddha is denigrated or pride because Buddhism is praised are equally unhelpful on the path. (Brahmajala Sutta, Digha Nikaya) Buddhism is a radical teaching. Strong medicine for a sick world.

Impermanence

We can experience people dying. We can experience the ending of a relationship. We can experience our computer breaking down. But that is not insight. Insight into impermanence goes beyond knowing that all things are impermanent, it goes beyond our experiences of impermanence. When we experience impermanence at work in our lives and when we acknowledge the impermanent nature of all things to ourselves, there is still a sense in which we don’t fully take it on board. There is still an inability to let this knowledge and experience really permeate our lives fully.

We can carry on having an experience that impermanence means that all things come to an end sometime. But it doesn’t mean that. All things are impermanent all the time. It is the nature of things to change and keep on changing all the time, always. There is no non-change. There is no non-impermanence.

There is only impermanence always. If we can let this truth really sink into our being, to the very depths, then it transforms our whole view of ourselves and the world. It takes us outside time. It takes away all fear. Fear is fear of change, fear of death. We are really impermanent, thoroughly impermanent, 100% impermanent and not just in death, but all the time, every moment, every infinitesimal fraction of a moment, we are a process physically, emotionally and mentally.

Nothing stands still, nothing is fixed. There is nothing to hold onto. There are no moments even. When we know this, when this is constantly before our vision, permeating our vision, then we have a completely different experience of the world; liberated from fear, joyful, completely in unity with the universal flow of energy that is life