115: Cheat Sheet: Buddhism

Published March 9, 2024 · 2 min read · #philosophy

I finished the book Old Path White Clouds.

Can’t say I’ve been reading too much these days, but it was leant by someone else, and I had intended to return it. He is someone kind in his demeanour to faces old and new. A silent gravitas in patience and experience. Non judgemental. Not really a close contact, nor an acquaintance. A figure assoicated with fishing.

There isn’t too much to this post, other than it being a cheat sheet for future reference.

The two paths and The middle way

Avoiding the extremes of ascetism and excess

The noble eightfold path:

  • right understanding
  • right thought
  • right speech
  • right mindfulness
  • right concentration

Four noble truths:

  • existence of suffering
  • cause of suffering
  • cessation of suffering
  • the path that leads to the cessation of suffering

Five precepts

  • Dont kill
  • Dont steal
  • Avoid sexual misconduct
  • Dont lie
  • Dont consume alcohol / intoxicants

Seven factors of awakening

Sutra of Breathing:

  • First breath: I know im breathing ina long breath
  • Second Breath: i know im breahting in a short breath
  • Then, Third breath: aware of my body
  • Making my body calm and at peace
  • Breathe in and be joyful .
  • Be happy
  • Awareness of activties in my mind
  • Calming the activities
  • Awareness of mind
  • Making mind happy and at peace
  • Concetrating the mind
  • Observe impermanence
  • Observe fading
  • Contemplate liberation
  • Sixteenth breath: Letting go

Dharma on true happiness:

  • Foster relations with people of virtue and avoid path of degradation
  • Live in an environment that is conducive to spiritual practice and builds good character
  • Foster opportunities to learn more about the Dharma, the precepts and your own trade in greater depths
  • Take the tme to care well for your parents, spouse, children
  • Share time, resources and happiness with others
  • Foster opportunities to cultivate virtue. Avoid alcohol and gambling
  • Cultivate humility, gratitude and simple living
  • Seek opportunities to be close to bhikkhus (monks) in order to study the way
  • Live a live based on the four noble truths
  • Learn to meditate in order to release sorrows and anxieties

Read next

Previous Post 114: Economics 9: On the Productivity Paradox and Illusion
Next Post On Poetry: The Gift of Verse

See also

108: Labour 2: On the Philosophy of Work

Housekeeping: Defining “Labour vs Career” This post continues to explore the interelation between the nature of work and human nature at a time when the notion of Work is being questioned. I recognised that I’ve embarked on two separate threads delving into the Philosophy of Work: One labelled “Labour” and one labelled “Career”. As a broad framework, the series on Career will refer to guiding principles and frameworks that have helped me, as an individual assess and determine where to work;

Read more

107: Philosophy 4 - On Polymathism

Preamble I’ve started to largely take each of these “-isms” continues to be a thematic way to think about matters philosophical. But as I write these “philosophical” posts, I often teeter on the moods of equal part disgust and equal part lascivious joy, for I currently pride myself in the “getting my hands dirty” phase grounded in reality and the world; while at the same time, I simply cannot help myself from digesting my thoughts and dumping these onto an online Canvas.

Read more

103: Life 5 - On Comfort zones, Coaching and Virtue

Sometime, in April 2023 I sit, at a Sue Hsiao Liu Dim sum restaraunt. Comfortably, I am reassured that Alipay could infact work with a foreign card. I sit as a ethnic homogenous but an outsider foreigner, betrayed by the lack of language, in what is technically my ethnic roots (although arguably my ancestors probably didn’t come from Shanghai necessarily). But as I sit, bravely and alone out of my comfort zone - I catch myself often reminding myself of what the discomfort is for, and how being up to a challenge can be managed.

Read more