Personal Development and Buddhism

It’s amazing what can happen in a few minutes of sitting perfectly still, eyes closed, and legs folded.

Ray Davis

I’ve been asked many times over the years. What is Buddhism about? How does Buddhism work with personal development?

Buddhism is an interesting anomaly in our modern world. It’s been miscast as “one of the five major religions.” It’s usually ranked fourth on that list, but if you counted the uncounted tens of millions of Buddhists that really live in China numbers would be much larger.

Buddhism is not a religion, if by a religion you mean a search for humanity’s connection to the divine. It’s life philosophy and practice built by a human for humans.

Siddhartha Gautama - the historical Buddha - chose not to engage in sectarian arguments about god in his native India.

To speed this up by taking the audacious step of summarizing his teaching related to god(s), he was not agnostic nor atheistic in today’s sense of those words. His basic conclusion was, whether there are or are not gods and whether they do or do not intervene in human affairs; we are human beings here having this human experience. That experience has certain phenomena, and we need to find a human way to deal with those challenges.

For the modern, materialistic human, this might sound like the death knell of our civilization. No consumption? No things, things, and more things?

Buddha is not saying that material life is wrong or bad. He’s simply saying it creates a craving for more in you and that creates suffering. Have you ever had that experience of wanting something so badly and then you finally get it only to discover it doesn’t fulfill you the way you’d hoped?

Buddha did not teach anti-materialism. He taught self-recognition of the trap inherent in it. He proposed what he called a Middle Path. That path recognizes the need for a certain level of material well-being (not opulent pointless luxury or abject poverty).

How does this tie to our personal development and why have I been intrigued with Buddha’s teachings for 30 years? He steadfastly rejects that humans require outside help from gods or anywhere else to walk a path to enlightenment.

”The greats of the past only show the way,” he said, you must walk the path.”

He’s the only major great spiritual teacher who said it’s up to you and me. Our present and our future can only be changed by our action and by our mindfulness. There’s no cavalry coming in the form of God or aliens. We must do this ourselves.

He also stated that no other incarnation is as beneficial for making progress on the path of enlightenment as being a human being. Neither the gods above nor other life forms are positioned as uniquely as humans to make progress along that path.

Whether you adhere to Siddhartha’s particular solution to the human condition or not, his human-centric approach and his belief in the ultimate agency of the individual match well with the principles of personal development. No one else is going to do it for us. We must make the effort.

If we take the reins of our lives, quiet our minds, and see the truth as Buddha saw it, the forces of negativity - on earth or beyond - cannot stop us from reaching our full potential or our enlightenment…whichever comes first.

Despite all the craziness in our world, our mindsets and our commitment to a free, transparent planet will prevail.

Namaste, my friends!

Ray