What are the basics of Buddhism? The basic teachings and traditions of Buddhism are about finding happiness through a state of mind. Buddha teaches us how to find happiness inside our hearts and to give...
Buddha teaches us how to find happiness inside our hearts and to give that happiness to others. Those are the basic tenants. Everything depends on our mind. If we are happy, it depends on our mind. If we are not happy, where does that unhappiness come from? Only inside of our mind. It's kind of like the spiritual path that Buddha taught. We must look and journey deeply into our own minds, into our own hearts. If you are happy inside then you will show it, and it will be outside. If you are happy inside that is what you reflect. We can give that to others-that we know how to develop and maintain happiness in our hearts. It's much more valuable a gift than giving our aggravation of the day.
It starts with us in the morning. You get up and you tell yourself, "I'm going to try and be a kind and loving person to everybody I meet. See if what Buddha says is true. Buddha says be kind. Be a kind loving person and see what happens." So, you go through your day, and someone you don't like will manifest, or call you, or e-mail you; and you think, " I will try to be kind to them. I know they have lots of problems. And they are very sad inside. What is the point of me being mean to them? They have enough problems." Everyday you try to work that way, trying to be kind, giving love.
There are lots of ways to give. Giving love, giving a smile, in these days that's huge or giving gentle kind words. That's huge in these days cause everybody's kind of waiting for somebody to react negatively.
Buddhism is amongst the largest growing, "quote, unquote" religions of the world. I say, "Quote, unquote" because it's not like your average religion. It's more than that. It's not just talk. It's walking the talk, being what you are saying you are. It's trying to develop a mind of respect, a mind of love, a mind of compassion, a mind wishing others to be happy and to do no harm. So, it's more than just the average religion, I'd say. But it's growing quite a bit. I know that from our standpoint, from this tradition's standpoint, when Geshe Kelsang Gyatso started teaching in the Manjushri Center in 1977 , there were maybe 20, 30 people he was teaching. Now, when he teaches, he teaches twice a year, there are over four thousand people that come. That's just the people that can make it, that can take the time out from work. That's four thousand of this tradition alone. There is definitely more than half a million people maybe more, around, all around. Austin happens to be very fortunate that we have a center here that's functioning in the exact same way, maybe on a smaller scale, than the center in Manchester, England where it all began, but it's still functioning. So, it's pretty cool. It's growing. It's growing a lot.
