In this post I will outline a teaching which should especially appeal to atheists. It is a “spiritual” teaching which denies the existence of a soul, a God, and a paradise like heaven. Instead it offers hedonistic “higher” pleasures (like bliss and joy, tranquility and rapture) in the ultimate pursuit of personal freedom from suffering. While everyone is focused on the fabled “Nirvana” they fail to realize that along the journey to “Nirvana” are mental and bodily states of bliss. Let me outline the “perks” of Buddhism in the most concise way that I can.
Buddhism starts with four noble truths.
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the inner experience of life is riddled with suffering
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the cause of that suffering is craving
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the end of that suffering is the elimination of craving
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a path leading to the elimination of that craving has been found and it is called the “Noble Eight Fold Path”.
It consists of 1. Right View 2. Right Thought 3. Right Speech 4. Right Action 5. Right Livelihood 6. Right Effort 7. Right Mindfulness and 8. Right Concentration.
For the liberated Buddhist Saint, there are two more steps; 9. Right Liberation and 10. Right Knowledge.
Most importantly we have Right Concentration. The following is the seductive description of that Right Concentration. Without any help from God, or angels, or fairies the elements of rapture and blissful pleasure can be attained by anyone willing to practice the Path.
The Blessed One said: "Now what, monks, is five-factored noble right concentration? There is the case where a monk — quite withdrawn from sensuality, withdrawn from unskillful qualities — enters and remains in the first jhana: rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal, accompanied by directed thought and evaluation. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal.
"Just as if a skilled bathman or bathman’s apprentice would pour bath powder into a brass basin and knead it together, sprinkling it again and again with water, so that his ball of bath powder — saturated, moisture-laden, permeated within and without — would nevertheless not drip; even so, the monk permeates, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of withdrawal. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born from withdrawal. This is the first development of the five-factored noble right concentration.
"Furthermore, with the stilling of directed thoughts & evaluations, he enters and remains in the second jhana: rapture and pleasure born of composure, unification of awareness free from directed thought and evaluation — internal assurance. He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of composure. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born of composure.
"Just like a lake with spring-water welling up from within, having no inflow from east, west, north, or south, and with the skies periodically supplying abundant showers, so that the cool fount of water welling up from within the lake would permeate and pervade, suffuse and fill it with cool waters, there being no part of the lake unpervaded by the cool waters; even so, the monk permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the rapture and pleasure born of composure. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by rapture and pleasure born of composure. This is the second development of the five-factored noble right concentration.
"And furthermore, with the fading of rapture, he remains equanimous, mindful, & alert, and senses pleasure with the body. He enters & remains in the third jhana, of which the Noble Ones declare, ‘Equanimous & mindful, he has a pleasant abiding.’ He permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the pleasure divested of rapture, so that there is nothing of his entire body unpervaded with pleasure divested of rapture.
"Just as in a blue-, white-, or red-lotus pond, there may be some of the blue, white, or red lotuses which, born and growing in the water, stay immersed in the water and flourish without standing up out of the water, so that they are permeated and pervaded, suffused and filled with cool water from their roots to their tips, and nothing of those blue, white, or red lotuses would be unpervaded with cool water; even so, the monk permeates and pervades, suffuses and fills this very body with the pleasure divested of rapture. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded with pleasure divested of rapture. This is the third development of the five-factored noble right concentration.
"And furthermore, with the abandoning of pleasure and stress — as with the earlier disappearance of elation and distress — he enters and remains in the fourth jhana: purity of equanimity and mindfulness, neither-pleasure-nor-pain. He sits, permeating the body with a pure, bright awareness, so that there is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by pure, bright awareness.
"Just as if a man were sitting wrapped from head to foot with a white cloth so that there would be no part of his body to which the white cloth did not extend; even so, the monk sits, permeating his body with a pure, bright awareness. There is nothing of his entire body unpervaded by pure, bright awareness. This is the fourth development of the five-factored noble right concentration.
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an05/an05.028.than.html
Now if this doesn’t wet your appetite, I don’t know what will. Maybe intellectualism? Maybe drug use? But why not supermundane states of rapture and pleasure?
Onto Nirvana (“Unbinding”). How does this path which leads to right concentration lead to Nirvana? Here we find the answer.
"‘I tell you, the ending of the mental fermentations depends on the first jhana.’ Thus it has been said. In reference to what was it said? There is the case where a monk, secluded from sensuality, secluded from unskillful qualities, enters & remains in the first jhana: rapture & pleasure born of seclusion, accompanied by directed thought & evaluation. He regards whatever phenomena there that are connected with form, feeling, perception, fabrications, & consciousness, as inconstant, stressful, a disease, a cancer, an arrow, painful, an affliction, alien, a disintegration, an emptiness, not-self. He turns his mind away from those phenomena, and having done so, inclines his mind to the property of deathlessness: ‘This is peace, this is exquisite — the resolution of all fabrications; the relinquishment of all acquisitions; the ending of craving; dispassion; cessation; Unbinding.’
https://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/an/an09/an09.036.than.html
And so to is it the same for the remaining three higher jhanas. So, you’re welcome. Here is a solution in the here and now to all of your existential issues. This is the condensed essence of the Buddha’s original message.
Now, I’m waiting for Cog to tell me that there’s nothing special about this and that all of this word smithing is mere attachment and what not. But be your own source of verification. If you desire rapture, bliss, joy and tranquility - the Buddha has found it and points the way. If you would rather lead a life of sophistry, logic, intellectualism, escapism, drug use, then ignore what has been said. At least you are aware that a solution to existential suffering exists and there is a way to bring it about.
