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Twenty-five
centuries ago in Northern India, a man decided to investigate the
problem of human suffering. After years of searching and trying
various methods, he discovered a way to gain insight into the
reality of his own nature and to experience true freedom from
suffering. Having reached the highest goal of liberation, of release
from misery and conflict, he devoted the rest of his life to helping
others do as he had done, showing them the way to liberate
themselves. This person was Siddhartha Gautama, known as the
Buddha, or the enlightened one.
Buddha
did not teach any religion or philosophy or system of belief. He
called his teaching Dharma, that is “law”, the law of nature,
experienced and verified by oneself. Therefore, in his teaching
Buddha always gave highest importance to the direct experience of
truth. What he had experienced, he explained as clearly as possible
so that the others might have guidelines with which to work towards
their own realization of truth.The only way to experience truth
directly is to look within; to observe oneself. All our
lives we have been accustomed to look outward. We have always been
interested in what is happening outside; what others are doing. We
never try to examine ourselves, our own mental and physical
structure, our own actions, our own reality. Therefore we remain
unknown to ourselves. We do not realize how
harmful this ignorance is.
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