Buddhism Plain and Simple

The buddha-dharma points the way to a similar, but more universal and profound, sense of “Aha!” It’s not about pondering some vague, faraway realm. It’s about here and now. About waking up to this moment, seeing this for what it is. And, just as your state of mind changed once you saw what the picture was, when you suddenly see the situation you’re in, you experience certainty. Things clear up.
This is called enlightenment, or awakening.
This awakening is available to all of us, at every moment, without exception.

moral teaching that derives from the buddha-dharma is not a goody-goody code of behavior where we pretend virtue, curry favor, or promise to be good so that we can claim a reward at some later date. Rather, sound morality takes place wholly in the moment. It is based on the immediacy of Reality, on how we actually live. Our “reward” is in immediacy, in here and now, not in a never-never land.

The buddha-dharma does not promise to make our lives problem-free. Rather, it urges us to examine the nature of our problems, what they are and where they come from. The buddha-dharma is not an armchair philosophy. It isn’t pipe dreaming. It’s about getting down to basics and acting on them.

The message is always to examine and see for yourself. When you see for yourself what is true—and that’s really the only way that you can genuinely know anything—then embrace it. Until then, just suspend judgment and criticism.
The point of Buddhism is to just see. That’s all.

The Buddha repeatedly emphasized the impossibility of ever arriving at Truth by giving up your own authority and following the lights of others. Such a path will lead only to an opinion, whether your own or someone else’s.

If you point out the moon to a cat, she probably won’t look at the sky; she’ll come up and sniff your finger. In a similar fashion, it’s easy for us to become fascinated by a particular teaching, or teacher, or book, or system, or culture, or ritual. But the buddhadharma— the teaching of the awakened—directs us to focus not on the pointing finger, but on the experience of Truth itself.