Buddha's core teachings are about enlightenment or awakening as the result of one's own experience. According to Buddhism, enlightenment can free a person from craving or desire, suffering and rebirth. The freedom is only achieved through self discipline, knowledge and meditation. The teaching is necessary to live a joyful life with love and compassion to others which is a proof of being enlightened.
There are two main objectives of Buddhism
1.) Learn the teachings of Buddha.
2.) Learn to know oneself (who we are).
First we need to learn the teachings before it can be put to use. When we learn to discover ourselves through the teachings applied to our daily living; that is the time we get to disregard the undesirable feelings of desire, anger, fear and jealousy and bring out the part in us which is free from all those sufferings, perfect like the Buddha in nature.
While the two main objectives are in force, there are important spiritual lessons about Buddha teachings. They are:
- The Four Noble Truths
- The Noble Eightfold Path
The only surviving early Buddhist Canon contains the Four Noble Truths which were the first teachings of Buddha after being enlightened and attaining nirvana.
1.) Life is suffering: It is life's unsolicited partner, such as old age, diseases, death, and pain. There are more things that cause our suffering like people we love and people we hate, unfulfilled desire and other worries brought about by everyday existence.
2.) Desire Causes of Suffering: The Buddha said that people suffer because of wrong desires and lack of knowledge of the consequences (karma) of the harmful things they do. People seem to be always short of contentment and fail to be happy because they never feel satisfied with they have.
3.) How to End Suffering: The teaching is about cutting off suffering by giving up unnecessary desires, live what is in you and be happy without the injured past and without so much foresight to the future. We are more likely to end up disappointed if we expect something we do not have.
4.) The Path to the end of Suffering: This is known in another teaching as the Noble Eightfold Path or the Middle way.
5.) The Noble Eightfold Path
The Eightfold Noble Path needs the practice of meditation. We seek to attain self control, give up personal will, greed, or desire. The Noble Eightfold Path includes:
- Right Understanding or Perception
- Right Intention or Purpose
- Right Speech or Words
- Right Action or Activities
- Right Livelihood or Occupation
- Right Conduct or Behavior
- Right Mindfulness or Awareness
- Right Concentration or Undivided Attention
The Buddha teachings are awakening tools to make us realize that it is possible to end suffering by practicing non-attachment.
