Early Buddhism is an atheist’s way of a sublime life based on knowing correctly in the right context as it is rather than following belief or faith.

“Tathata” is ancient Pali word for knowing correctly in the right context as it is. “Tathagat” is word for person who has attained to such authentic knowing, also knowing the truth of their own nature as they are. Such persons were called Buddhas, the awakened ones who know as it is.

Buddha means “bodh” in Pali language which also means intellect or awareness, the phenomenon of knowing correctly in the right context as it is. The sublime ethical way of life lived through awareness is called “dhamma” in Pali language which can be translated to sublime human nature or ultimate human duty leading to a sublime life.

Nascent Buddhist Philosophy

Buddhist ideas were collectively documented during first and second Buddhist councils attended by hundreds of monks who personally knew their teacher, the renunciate Sakya prince Siddhartha Gotama later called Gautam Buddha.

Later, due to loss of patronage and status in the society through decline of Mauryan Dynasty, Buddhism adapted with the theistic ideas like deities, past birth and next birth. Some of the later schools of Buddhism believe that life forms are reborn due to intact transmigration of mind even after death, decay, disintegration, dispersion and recycling of the life form.

However, different gods and idea of multiple births in the philosophy of later Buddhism are underplayed and made subservient to the ultimate principle of impermanence or “anitya”, no inner-self or “anatma”, and collective conditional arising due to cause and conditions also called “samutpada”. Samutpada is an idea of life forms getting recreated cyclically through collective arising or Samsara in a closed system that gets constantly recycled. According to Buddhism, individual life forms are not reborn but get recreated through recycling.

Like atheists, Buddhists do not believe blindly. Just like atheists, the early Buddhists emphasized on knowing correctly in the right context through all the right means including but not limited to the six senses and clarity of awareness.

Early Buddhists were naturalists and extrapolated the cyclic nature of life to the beginningless universe which constantly changes and transforms through disintegration, dispersion, endless recycling and recreation.

Unlike theists, the early Buddhists did not bother themselves with imaginary ideas that cannot be validated, verified, proven, demonstrated, applied or known correctly. Hence early Buddhists did not consider irrelevant ideas like supreme creator and controller or God, birth, next birth and eternal immortal inner self independent of cause and conditions.

According to Buddhists, everything known and unknown is a phenomenon arising due to constituent cause and conditions. All phenomena are empty without it’s constituent cause and conditions.

When asked about god or the God, Buddha is known to have remained silent and when asked about after life, Buddha said that there is neither permanent Self nor independent inner self. However, Buddha was confronted by priests for preaching a Godless philosophy.

In later Buddhism, the supreme creator is rendered as one of the many insignificant dispensable factors that contribute to the story of creation and life.

On the other hand, the core Buddhist ideas like

Pragya or ability to know correctly in the right context,

anatta meaning no inner self,

anitya meaning impermanence, and

samutpada meaning collective conditional arising due to cause and conditions,

all indicate towards absence of monotheism or polytheism and after life, thus clearly indicating their atheist disposition.

Buddhism’s core emphasis on no eternal immortal inner self renders the idea of supreme creator or controller irrelevant.

Based on the philosophy of impermanence, phenomenon of creation due to eternal recycling of cause and conditions, no inner self and emptiness of awareness, Buddhists carved a map of life for their monks and their lay followers for mitigating suffering and attaining supreme peace of enlightenment or Nirvana.

Without eternal immortal inner self, Buddhism proposed that individual is a phenomenon of knowing arising due to constituent cause and conditions, individual becomes their tangible and intangible actions and individual continues in the effect of their intentional actions. However, Buddhism encourages to dispel ignorance, acknowledge suffering, expel impurities and escape the recycling of life to escape suffering.

Early Buddhism, without any beliefs in ideas of supreme creator and eternal inner self, was practice of living responsible ethical life and becoming sublime by expelling negativity through skillful actions producing benevolent effects.

Map of Buddhist Life

Buddhists do not believe in praying for better life or for better after life. Buddhists avoid unethical life and follow the principle of nonattachment to the impermanence of life and forms.

Buddhists strive to cure negativities by improving themselves, try to avoid negative activities, and try to do more meritorious deeds in order to mitigate the negativity in life. This principle is classically explained as “reducing the saltiness of water by adding more pure water”.

The way of sublime life, according to Buddhists, lay emphasis on ethical life, restrained actions, getting rid of negativity, self-improvement and leaving good effect on the world.

This is done through the 4 Buddhist noble truths that points to suffering of life, the 5 Buddhist principles to follow for a happy long haul of life and the 8 Buddhist rules for skillful living.

According to Buddhists, human nature is perfect without negativity, life is happiness without suffering and suffering is due to ignorance giving rise to unnecessary desires, aversions and attachments.

Buddhist Practices

Buddha urged his followers to be their own guide, carve their own path, follow the middle way and avoid extremes in order to live ethically and act skillfully.

Catharsis Through Meditation

Buddhism has the idea that “tanha” or stress giving rise to the Self is a source of conflict. According to Buddhism, the Self and it’s negativities give rise to rigidity, unskillfulness and conflict through self-conception, self-ideation, self-identity, self-image, inner self etc. Hence buddha encouraged living stress-free natural life of nonviolence and self-care.

Buddha encouraged practicing constant awareness of breath at entrance of nostrils through practice of “Vipassana” or “Anapanasati” meditation. Through Vipassana meditation stress is relieved, the awareness becomes seamlessly clear and without activities in mind. Without activities in the mind, the Self is dispelled and it’s negativities are expelled through process of catharsis. Catharsis is one of the many benefits of meditation.

Buddha taught to cure negativities, cultivate “pragya” or seamlessly clear detached awareness to reveal the natural pleasures of meditation and peace. Through “pragya” the “maya” or hypnosis is cured thus dispelling the charms of life and the world. According to Buddha, natural pleasure of meditation can render the meditator independent of external agencies for happiness.

Non-Violence and Supreme Value of Life

Buddha, knowing the precarious position of human life under some pretext or the other in the factionalized society of his time, declared human life to be rare, impermanent and of supreme value.

Buddha had declared absolute non-violence towards oneself and others as supreme duty or “dhamma” and upheld compassion as absolute principle to follow for his students. Buddha positively emphasized the moto of universal human welfare and universal human happiness, “bahujan hitaya bahujan sukhaya” to his disciples.

Declaring that all life tremble at the prospect of pain and fear death, Buddha upheld the ancient sublime idea of treating the other as oneself. Buddhis said that life is the ultimate value and non-violence is the ultimate human duty or sublime human nature.

However, Buddhism does not impose dietary rules of vegetarianism as evident through the Buddhist monks eating any food offered by any person regardless of their status in society. However, Buddhists do not adopt occupations that can harm life.

Nonviolence of Buddhism begins with oneself and does acknowledge the right to defend oneself and escape harm.

Enlightenment In Buddhism

Buddhist spiritual enlightenment is characterized by a feeling of deep relief and peace

The relief felt is due to freedom from “maya” meaning hypnotic attachment to the world and the feeling of peace is due to freedom from cravings or unnecessary desires. There is nothing supernatural about enlightenment in Buddhism.

However, the sublime peace of enlightenment is compared to relief from grave illness, big debt, coming home safely without getting robbed from dangerous route etc..

Buddha remembered and compared the peace of enlightenment to the deep peace he had felt during his carefree moments of happy childhood.

Death in Buddhism

Buddhism regards death as the end of life without any afterlife but declares continuity of individual in the effect of their intentional actions after death, disintegration, dispersion and recycling of life. Buddhism in later periods erroneously declared continuity of mind after life beyond death.

According to Buddhism, a lay person who has continued in the effect of their actions through possessions and relationships, does not ceased completely after death and may continue to suffer.

On the other hand, a monk who has not left any effect of their intentional actions will reach “nirvana” or enlightenment after getting purified through spiritual efforts and ceases completely after their death thus leaving behind nothing and thus reaching the state of “mahaparinirvana” or meta-enlightenment from the point of view of living beings.

Hence, life is a rare and valuable phenomenon according to Buddhism but not worth getting attached due to the suffering inherent in it.

Rebirth Through Collective Arising

Though there is no permanent “Self” in Buddhism, the ideas of eternal self and cycle of birth and death mushroomed in later Buddhism due to misunderstanding created by Buddha referring to contemporary ideas of rebirth and formation of living beings due to infiltration of womb by consciousness.

This misunderstanding in Buddhism, of the consciousness entering womb, is further fueled by the story of Mahamaya dreaming a white elephant entering her womb. Rather than understanding it as her subconscious interpretation of fertilization due to white sperm entering womb it is misinterpreted as Buddha’s consciousness entering her womb. Mahamaya was mother of prince Siddartha Gotama the Buddha.

Though, some of the modern Buddhists believe that mind transmigrates after life beyond death and some believe that conditions of Buddha consciousness get recreated repeatedly, most Buddhists adhere to the known facts of impermanence, no independent inner-Self, no permanent Self, and collective conditional arising of creation without any supreme Creator.

According to Buddhist philosophy of “Samutpada”, we are collectively reborn as part of nature and society or “Samsara” in a closed system of world. Hence Buddhism lays stress upon the importance of renunciation, wandering and living alone like a Rhino in order to escape the stream of recycling and prevent rebirth as part of collective society in a closed system.

Hence Buddhists acknowledge that life is suffering in order to escape the stream of recreation and collective arising. Samutpada means collective arising which means individual is reborn as part of collective through their associations and effects of intentional actions. In Buddhism, since there is no soul, there is no rebirth but recreation of conditions.

Since there is no independent eternal inner self or soul, nothing about the individual remains intact to be reborn after death, decay, disintegration and dispersion. For an individual there is no rebirth according to Buddhism but as part of nature and society, we are reborn through recycling and recreation. Individuals are not reborn but human societies or Samsara are reborn through recycling in a closed system.

The Statue of Buddha

The statue of buddha is symbol of peace, resolve and detachment.

The statue of Buddha represents a state of meditation in which Buddha is at peace, withdrawn and detached from known and unknown by closing his eyes to remain blissful in himself.

The statue of Buddha siting in cross legged Lotus posture is only symbolic of resolve to sit and meditate until ignorance is dispelled, and truth is known. However, the Lotus posture is not healthy to sit for long duration as evident from the fact that Buddha himself suffered from back pain. Buddha was against violence towards oneself and other life forms.

Reference to Buddha in scriptures indicate that Buddha use to meditate sleeping on his right flank. Buddha indicated to meditate in a comfortable posture with a straight lower back.

Buddha explained practice of meditation through example of a monk going to forest and sitting in Lotus posture under a tree to remain aware of incoming and outgoing breath.

Lotus posture is not suitable for prolonged sitting and meditation, especially for children, because it prevents lower back from remaining straight naturally. Trying to sit straight for long with legs cross locked one above the other can depress core muscles, give rise to stress and lower back issues. Rather than relaxing body and mind, this posture can make meditation more difficult.

Traditionally, the people in India sit on low pedestal for sitting comfortably in Lotus posture; however, Seiza posture is best for prolonged sitting and meditation.

The statue of Buddha in a lotus posture is a later creation few hundred years after demise of Buddha. Lotus posture is best for the poor to sit down on hard surface without any carpet, low bench or low pedestal but it is not good for meditation or prolonged sitting without any back-support.

Seiza is the best natural posture for meditation and prolonged sitting if you can afford a carpet or low bench.

Idea of Constant Becoming in Buddhism

The idea of constant becoming also called “bhava” in Pali language means feeling. Bhava or constant becoming means feeling of being the Self on account of association with the known and unknown.

Constant becoming or Bhava is feeling of being Self, whether inner self on account of association with experiences or the Self on account of association with ideas of name, class, caste, nationality, gender, relations, inner self etc. Hence when the mind calms and body relax, then there is no association giving rise to “bhava” or feeling of being inner self or the Self.

Buddhist idea of constant becoming is based on transmigration of mind. However, in reality, it is not possible for mind to transmigrate intact because of it’s constantly changing nature subject to disintegration, dispersion and recycling just like body.

There is no independent inner self that has past birth or will have next birth. Without eternal inner self or soul, life is impermanent in Buddhism.

Constant becoming does not mean rebirthing. Constant becoming means recreation as part of a flow of life. Hence no person is reborn, but the cause and conditions can get recreated as effect of person’s intentional actions, also called “Karma” in Pali language. The idea of Samutpada proposes rebirth of human society rather than rebirth of individual.