The Central Teaching of Buddhism

Caitríona Reed

The central teaching of Buddhism describes the intimacy with which all things interconnect. Everything's connected. Everything counts for something-every thought, word and action! This is not a 'Buddhist' truth so much as it is a human truth-a simple truth to live by.
Notions of transcendence have pervaded spiritual understanding both East and West. They have led us to disassociation and disconnection. They have led us to self-hatred and violence; to the oppression and commodification of ourselves and of others; to the destruction of cultures and of the biosphere; and to the degradation of the imagination in our time.

Our practice begins and ends right here, right now. When we bring ourselves back INTO our bodies, into our lives, into our passion, as well as into our fears, into our anger and grief with clarity and awareness; when we become intimate with our shame as well as with our love; something extraordinary happens. We see that there is nowhere else to go, that we can never transcend present reality by denying it. We see that our integrity and courage, our energy, our joy, our creativity, and our basic common sense are innate. They are built-in. They are part of who we already are.
Think of the teachings and the practice as ways to remove the obstacles that prevent us from coming to our senses, to all that the world offers us, and to ourselves.

Everything we experience is a way through-into an open and dynamic relationship with the world, and with ourselves in it-our life, our heart, our imagination. It is precise, and at the same time it fully honors the mysterious and the sacred, not separating it from the everyday realities and responsibilities of our time.