There were 3 things that stood out to me in my reading this week. I read this chapter in 2 sittings, and in both sittings these stood out to me: The foundations of Buddhism are the Seals of the Law, Law of Dependent Origin, and the 4 Noble Truths. For something that made such a bold claim as to the foundations of Buddhism, it deserved to be examined.
The Seals of the Law
Also known as the 4 Dharma Seals, they are said to reflect true Buddhism. Any teaching that has these can be considered part of Buddhism. The 4 seals are as follows:
- All things are impermanent
- All existence is suffering
- All phenomena are empty
- Enlightenment is peace
The first seal, all things are impermanent, is fairly self-explanatory. Anything that is assembled will, sooner or later, come apart. Whether it be a sand castle, a cloud, a person, a planet, or a star, everything will come to an end.
The second seal is something that many people have a difficult time understanding. I know I did. However, it is a very simple concept. How can something like happiness be suffering? Aren’t they opposites? In a way, they are 2 sides of the same coin. Up implies down, black implies white, and happiness implies suffering.
The third seal is another simple, common sense understanding. Nothing is solely what it is. For example, what is a car? Imagine you disassembled every part of a car. All the pieces that make a car are still there, but where did the car go? When did it stop becoming a car? Was there even a car to begin with if all it took was for certain things to be assembled in certain ways? What things does this apply to? Does it apply to who you are?
The fourth seal essentially is looking for enlightenment contentment is counter-productive. You already have it. The only thing preventing you from having it is yourself.
The Law of Dependent Origin
This is a very fancy title for a concept that is very simple, and is more commonly known as “cause and effect”. For every cause, there is an effect. For every effect there was a cause. This is true on a cosmic scale, all the way down to your personal day-to-day life.
There were a nearly infinite amount of causes that lead to you reading this post today. Being born, living in a time period that had the internet, learning to read, and finding the hyperlink in the very few places I show this post in, and all of the things needed to cause those happen as well. But here we are.
The 4 Noble Truths
I feel The 3 Noble Truths are the core, central part of Buddhism.