The main point of Buddhism — How to be Enlightened

Recently, I was grappling quite a lot with the idea of No-self and Emptiness, which is one the one of the hallmarks of Buddhist thinking.

However, it was not making any sense to me, and also I was confused about what even is the ‘point’ of knowing it. What am I to do with this knowledge?

I have listened to and done a lot of guided meditation on a number of Buddhist sutras, specially of the Mahayana canon. And the point they keep hammering on and on about is the notion of emptiness and no self, be it the Heart Sutra, the Daimond sutra, the writings of Longchenpa and so on.

But, what even is the ‘point’ of knowing this ‘idea’.

Then after a while , I had this realization — that Buddhism has nothing to do with describing the world, although it might seem like it. It might seem like — Buddhism is providing a description of the world, just like done by Quantum Mechanics or Newtonian mechanics.

But instead, its main focus is on eliminating suffering.

If we start to think of Buddhism from a Physics Paradigm, then its not going to make any sense, specially the concept of No self. It might even feel useless if you use Buddhist texts as a description of observable reality.

Many good arguements can be made FOR the existence of a self.

The people from Vedanta tradition , Christians, Muslims and so on all adhere to a notion of the self, and frankly there is no ‘proof’ that there is no self. There simply isn’t.

You will never be fully convinced of the idea of No self no matter how much logical or philosophical arguements you use.

The simile of the Chariot was used by Buddha for explaining no self, however logically understanding does no help, and if just understanding it was enough to get englightened, then millions would have been enlightened and there wouldn’t be any suffering in the world.

But instead, the point of Buddhism, is — Training of the Mind for liberation from suffering.

Its essential to relinquish any metaphysical debates about — whether there is a self, or a God and so on. You are never going to convinced.

But what Buddha wants us to do, is PRACTICE. PRACTICE the teachings. TRAIN the MIND. Point to be noted — Buddhism doesn’t say there is no mind, Buddhism only says that there is — No self (Anatta). The Mind and the self are distinct.

And once I did that, I immediately found a shift in the quality of my life.

Don’t argue against Buddha’s idea of No self. Instead — practice this idea.

Here’s an example — Let’s say a negative thought arises. You are jealous of someone. Now, instead of just identifying with it and continuing with your habitual patterns that lead to suffering — “He is so smarter than me, he has so many girlfriends, I am such a loser.” and so on, you instead train your mind to think in this way —
“ It is a just thought, there is no reality to it, it is empty, there is no I, there is no them, it is a thought.”

Immediately this feels liberating, and you do not go down that rabbit hole of Jealousy. By rejecting the notion of ‘I’ and ‘them’ , and with this paradigm shift in thinking, you find liberation.

However, it’s easier said then done.

And that is why, the main point of Buddhsm, is not ‘knowing’ about how the world works or the nature of reality, or debating whether there is a self or not, but PRACTING the idea. TRAINING your MIND is the main point of Buddhism.

It makes a lot of sense when you think of it that way.