I make so much fun of every religion that the question I get asked the most is what's mine? Of course, the only acceptable answer there would be Atheism. Identifying as an atheist leaves one open to a plethora of shallow judgments. But shallowness is such that it is rarely, if ever true.
I grew up in a highly religious family that takes Buddhism, as a religion, very seriously. However, the philosophy of Buddhism is secular, and atheism is not completely separate from it. In fact, with a good understanding of it, it should be the automatic refugee and reasoning of atheists.
The first misconception about Buddhism includes the Buddha - people see him in a light similar to Abrahamic gods. He couldn't be more different. The title reserved for him is 'Toenpa' which translates to Teacher. He has merely explained and shown what was already there.
The second is that Buddhism is unified and it includes meditation, celibacy, vegetarianism, etc. None of this is true. There are more sects of Buddhism than there of Islam or Christianity. The confusion comes from oversimplification of 'religion'. We ought to see it not as a single entity but as an institution of culture guiding philosophy. A Buddhist-Atheist believes in the philosophy and remains separate from culture, not necessarily condemning that either.
Here however, I will write a few tenets of Buddhism as I understood it, having been forced into learning and understanding it my entire life.
Buddhism puts an emphasis on the separation of soul and body. This soul which is consciousness is what allows the material body to coalesce, form and survive. If it did not exist, the material body will not either.
It is as Descarte wrote 'I am because I think'. There is no physical form of the soul, the body is merely a vessel that is occupied (not rented, for that choice of word would imply that the soul can move on and rent other bodies - incarnation must be seen with scrutiny and seen as a metaphor).
To this soul, Buddha identified 84,000 poisons. Obviously if I knew all of them, I wouldn't be writing for you to read (I'd probably be drinking tea with the Dalai Lama and making awesome Buddhist jokes); luckily all of them have been grouped under 5.
The first is Zhedhang, translating as anger. It is seen as the most basic reaction to anything that provokes the ego. This explains why cynicism (not in the sense of Diogenes but the modern day misinterpretation) is our first reaction to something new.
The second is Doechhag, translating as Desire. This Desire is more than the physical need that we now have understood it to be. Any emotion that asks for ownership is Desire. (As usual, go read a poem I wrote in the same theme - haha!)
The third is Timug, translating as Ignorance. Modern epistemology defines knowledge as a justified, conscious understanding of the truth. The part that Buddhism has always stressed on is 'Conscious'. Anything that has come about as a result of pure luck, not effort or intention is bound to ambiguity. Therefore, all actions and intentions must be meant and must have a basis in wisdom and knowledge.
The fourth is Ngagyel, translating as Pride of the ego. At the basis of all of Buddhism is that humans are by nature bound to be selfish - we must overcome it, of course, but overcoming this does not have to mean going against it. There are ways to combine self interest with collective interest. In the next article I will describe how Buddhists try to do that.
The fifth and final category of poison is Thadog, translating as Jealousy. Jealousy is usually described as a derived emotion that comes from a combination of Desire, Pride and Anger but, Buddhists believe in that it is fundamental.
All these poisons come about as a result of attachment. However, I interpret this part slightly different because I view attachment as validation - or rather, what we allow ourselves to be validated by. If that which validates us is sinister, we are left to feel anger at it. If it is attractive we are left to feel desire. If it is the vast unknown, we are left to not even try to understand.
To oppose Timug is to gain Wisdom. If we allow ourselves to be validated by ownership, we are bound to feel jealousy and if vanity validates us, well, Pride falls.
In my next article, we will see how these poisons can be overcome - as explained by the Buddha.
