Everything in existence is preconditioned. Everything that exists in the present moment, exists only in that present moment, in the next moment it is not the same. It has changed. It is impermanent, not lasting, not permanent. All thoughts, emotions, perceptions, all of consciousness, its contents, the sense data, awareness, all is not permeating experience as concrete entities as it moves from moment to moment. It arises, and it fades away. There is no soul that controls them, or dictates what is next, or experiences the experience. There only is experience itself. There is awareness of what is happening in any of these realms. Awareness of the present moment, of seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, thinking, and there is the knowledge of being aware. Seeing is being known. Thinking is being known. Anger is being known. In the moment of recognition of what is happening, there is no anger, no hatred, no delusion, no desire, no aversion, there is clarity, peace, and equanimity. This is the essence of Buddhist dharma, it is essentially made up of psychologically beneficial tools, to improve the welfare of your life.

 What is most beneficial in your life is beneficial in the present moment, in the long term, and benefits your family, your society, and all sentient beings. If you are mindfully aware of reality, then you are able to recognize any unsatisfactoriness, or suffering which is inherit in your life. Anger, depression, anxiety, sickness, pain, aging, dying, family members dying, etc.; all is inherent in life. All the suffering caused by these things is because we crave for them to not happen, and we crave for good, beneficial things to happen, so much so that to the point when things don’t go our way, the suffering ensues. An understanding of the impermanence of life, enables you to be dispassionate about these things, accepting their inevitability, and helps you to be strong and supporting for others as they too go through the suffering in life. In addition to the craving that causes unsatisfactoriness, there is an attachment to the state of things when life goes our way. When all is good, your fame and fortune, career, family, all is in the state you desire, you become attached to that feeling, to that moment, to those material things, and mental feelings. The problem with becoming attached to anything in this world is that when it changes, you become unhappy, non-content, stressed, angry, and crave for it to be the way it was. You actually will suffer trying to maintain what you have, and in attempting to maintain it as “permanent”, your grip becomes tight upon the life you thought was perfect, and in that tight grip you lose the feeling of peace you thought everything you wanted was supposed to give you. This creates suffering. In not remembering that all these things are impermanent then the suffering will stretch beyond where it can potentially be modified, as it is in its nature to be modified. Not only are the things you become attached to likely to change, but it is inevitable they will.

The whole dynamic between craving and clinging really define our existence day to day, moment to moment, and it is the root of suffering in our lives. Once removed, the basis for anger, hatred, and delusion also will be removed, rendering our lives, and anyone we come into contact with, better, in that it promotes welfare. For this the Buddha laid out a plan that if followed, leads to the destruction of these negative emotions, to the destruction of the origin of suffering, this very craving and clinging. It’s worth noting that meditation becomes extremely useful here, you can experience subjectively the knowledge of awareness of phenomena as it arises and fades away, thoughts, emotions, the nature of consciousness, the impermanent nature of it all, and in practicing and cultivating this view, you can take it into possibly every moment of your life. So when anger arises, you know it’s based on causes, you know that it is based upon the desire for things to be different, you know acting on it will only increase its duration, you’re aware of angers presence, and in that moment of recognition, it goes away, possibly to return, but in every moment of conscious awareness of it, it is not there. You know anger is impermanent, unhelpful, that it’s not going to last forever. You became wise in considering the suffering inherit in yourself and in others if you continue being angry, or act on it towards someone else, thus the knowledge and mindfulness of angers presence allows you to eliminate the effective reaction it produces from your experience. The more practice in insight meditation, the more mindful – the more aware, and the more aware – the more you are able to cultivate good qualities, and eliminate negative ones, providing yourself and others a better life. So insight meditation, used in this way, enables the individual to improve his own understanding of his psyche, and thus become better equipped to integrate it and use it in an optimal fashion. In doing so, we improve the experience of life, as well as develop the ability to better conduct ourselves in a mindful way that is beneficial to others. This practice of mindfulness and the expansion of the mind in reference to the inherent dissatisfaction in life is a tool the Buddha articulated and shared with the world after he himself thought out the situation and its solution.

A more conclusive answer to the solution of suffering, which covers all aspects of human experience is the noble eight-fold path, the fourth noble truth in the Buddhist tradition. Like all religions, Buddhism is aimed at the individual aligning himself with the greatest possible good, and in that aligning, becoming better, and more like that object. For some religions it’s God, or Gods, who emulate ultimate wisdom, and ultimate goodness. In Buddhism you seek refuge in the Buddha and his teachings, he who has great wisdom, compassion, and purity, but you align yourself on the middle path, the eight-fold path, and it is not necessary to do this on faith. Once we can see the evidence for the things he laid out in our own lives, we find that he is not only teaching a different perspective, but that that perspective actually is in line with our actual experience of life. We find the truth of the teachings within us, not in the sense of “finding the holy spirit”, but that we see how desire and attachment lead to suffering, we see how it dominates life, in brief occurrences we see how virtuous conduct and proper behavior leads to temporary relief, we see the truth of the removal of suffering. The middle path outlines the things we can do to improve our situation, the correct conceptualization of eight areas of our lives that are directly intertwined with all of experience, and if we follow the teaching on them, will lead us to see reality more clearly, improve our moral character, and act in a way which promotes wellbeing. This necessarily will produce a more peaceful experience as we move throughout life.

The middle path lies in equanimity, in neither aversion nor in craving, in not emerging in sensual pleasures, nor in self mortification. It lies mindfully between any two extremes. It is a framework for which we can develop our minds, our actions, our lives, and in so doing so make the world a better place. It is comprised of eight subjects, at which the goal is to strive for rightness, wholesomeness, and perfection. The eight-fold path is right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration. To sum up briefly, the first two in the chain are characterized as “wisdom steps”, the next three “practical steps”, and the last three “meditative steps”. Right view is a correct understanding of reality, of philosophical, scientific and psychological knowledge, most importantly an understanding of the three marks of existence (non self, impermanence, suffering), the four noble truths, and this path itself to the elimination of suffering. All the following areas on the path lead from this one, and if developed strongly as the primary step, we will see that the proceeding factors are better able to be developed strongly. The same goes for the following steps, developing them with an importance on the antecedent step, better allows the improvement of the successive one.

Right intention is having the best intentions for others, and yourself. This means not harboring ill-will towards anyone, why would you ever want something bad for someone else? It only makes sense to want what is best for them and society. Sometimes what is best isn’t always what is nice, or leads to short term gratification, sometimes it is punishment, or harshness, with a silver lining, but this is all about intentions. This implies the illumination of intention based on anger, hatred, or lies, to be replaced with intention based on truth, compassion, and good will. This step also includes right thought, as intentions are located on that realm of perceptions and conscious contemplation, which we conceptualize as thought.

From these intentions springs the next rung in the ladder, right speech, the first of the three “Practical Steps”. This means, first of all, speech that is true, and not false. Speech that is helpful and not harmful. Speech that is unifying, and not divisive, or backfiring, or gossip. And for ultimately perfect speech, this means only speech that is truly beneficial, not idle gossip, or discussion of unimportant topics. Next is right action. This is characterized by similar standards as right speech, but includes, in the Buddhist tradition, not killing, not using drugs or alcohol, not intending for the harm of any beings, for acting out of compassion. With the right intentions which were previously cultivated, we are better able to act with virtuosity in our interactions. Next is right livelihood. In performing the right occupation, we necessarily are taking action in a manner that supports ourselves and our families, and the job we take, the way we spend our time in providing for ourselves, must be conducted along the same moral imperatives as right action and right speech. This excludes any type of labor that deals with the harm of sentient beings, any job that has to do with deception, manipulation, gambling, drug dealing, hustling, fortune telling, illusions, is advised against pursuing, for its effect on our moral character and on other sentient beings. Right livelihood is providing for yourself in a way that is beneficial to yourself, and to others without encompassing dishonesty, cheating, or harm to others.

Next is the three “meditative steps”, which become easier to develop the more we cultivate the previous steps. Defilements in any of the previous steps, or immorality, or ignorance, causes an diminishment of our ability to “meditate” or arouse effort, mindfulness, and concentration, as we are impaired. This is why the development of previous steps is important towards the maximizing of our potential in cultivating the later steps. Any moral wrongdoing, which produces shame or dread, will impede upon meditative practice, producing difficulty in their development. The first of the three meditative steps is right effort. This is effort in the sense of striving to eliminate negative qualities/defilements, and putting in effort to keep them away for a long time. On the flip side, right effort includes cultivating positive qualities/states of mind, and in keeping those states present for longer periods of time. After proper effort is cultivated, comes right mindfulness. Right mindfulness, in a nutshell, is correctly being aware of what is happening in the present moment, and knowing that you are aware. It means awareness without motives, without trying to change or manipulate, without distraction, without aversion or craving or attachment. It means being the observer with equanimity and ultimate clarity, to provide for a greater understanding of the phenomena of one’s own mind, and thus reality. From right mindfulness is the last step in the chain, right concentration. This means one-pointedness of mind. Being able to concentrate on what is important, and discarding distractions, or unworthy activities that aren’t useful or beneficial.  If you are able to actively practice the improvement of yourself in these eight areas, you will notice a change in your psychological state to one of less suffering, greater understanding, and increased wellbeing, that is, to the extent of which you progress. The great thing is, these areas are constantly able to be improved upon. As we increase in experience, and increase in practice, we can move towards greater and greater heights of understanding and morality. In the Buddhist tradition the pinnacle is perfection in all eight categories, producing enlightenment, in which case the practitioner either will become an Arahant, which is an enlightened one who has ended the cycle of birth and rebirth, and attained Nirvana, or, the state of Bodhisattva, who isn’t excluded from renewed existence, but rather will remain in the cyclic existence of Samsara to be able to aide others in enlightening them. As I don’t believe perfection in the Buddhist sense is possible, I do think the striving and intention of either of these two goals is noble and a good goal in which we can attempt to move closer to. Having an ideal conceptualization of a noble direction in which to grow, and keeping in mind the ways to do so, and practicing along the path, is something I believe to be truly worthy of our attention and time, as our own personal wellbeing, as well as expanding to our circle of influence, is all effected positively by forward progress in this direction. This is the ultimate goal, development of the mind, so that knowledge of the truth can be seen, and that virtuous qualities can be exemplified and implemented.