I recently listened to a podcast between Sam Harris and Robert Wright, author of “Why Buddhism is True” and they were discussing the evolutionary biological and psychological perspective on how Buddhist practice counteracts the drive in humans to behave in ways that favor dominance and passing our genes on to the next generation. While it was useful to propagate the species it is no longer serving us modern humans. I’m taking a little break in this series on the Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path to explore this and then bring it back to Buddhist practice.

Podcast: Is Buddhism True?
A Conversation with Robert Wright

The Convergence of Science and Buddhism

Our minds are programmed by natural selection to crave the things we need to survive as a human and as a species. We hunger for food, thirst for water, crave sex for reproduction and it feels soooo good that we like to do it a lot in general terms. We are not perfect so some people don’t desire the things that keep our species going and we can develop disorders that block our desire for these things. Not saying a-sexual is a disorder but eating disorders can kill you. Having said that, the craving for the things we need to survive creates a perpetual state of dissatisfaction in us. The Buddhists have a word for this and it is called dukkha.

I first learned about dukkha about six years ago when I used to attend Community Meditation Center here in NYC. It is a great place to go to hear free dharma talks on Buddhist philosophy and practice. But I really didn’t “get it” until I began to learn how the mind works from a scientific perspective and saw that through a process of experimentation, observation and practice Buddhists figured this out starting in the 6th century B.C. He became distraught and deeply dissatisfied at the truths of life of sickness, suffering and death and saw that although he was a wealthy prince there was no way to escape these horrors.

The Buddha, or "enlightened one," was born Siddhartha (which means "he who achieves his aim") Gautama to a large clan called the Shakyas in Lumbini, (today, modern Nepal) in the 6th century B.C. His father was king who ruled the tribe, known to be economically poor and on the outskirts geographically. His mother died seven days after giving birth to him, but a holy man prophesized great things for the young Siddhartha: He would either be a great king or military leader or he would be a great spiritual leader. To keep his son from witnessing the miseries and suffering of the world, Siddhartha's father raised him in opulence in a palace built just for the boy and sheltered him from knowledge of religion and human hardship. According to custom, he married at the age of 16, but his life of total seclusion continued for another 13 years. Biography.com Buddha

He went on a journey and met many gurus and yogic practitioners and such and tried a lot of their extreme ways in an attempt to achieve enlightenment, whatever that meant. Legend has it that the Buddha through mediation and observing his mind he became illuminated on how the mind really works and saw reality clearly without dukkha. He continued to practice and teach and developed the Noble Eightfold Path otherwise known as The Middle Way. He taught his method for achieving enlightenment for anyone who wanted to work toward it and cautioned against going to extremes, thus the middle way, like starvation and renunciation that was prevalent at the time in yogic practice.

A renunciate in ashupatinath, Kathmandu, Nepal Photo by Ashes Sitoula on Unsplash

Buddhist practitioners continued to develop what later became known as Buddhism and slightly different variations on the method but the core is unchanged because many people who wanted to end their suffering tried the sitting with learning about how the mind works. When they achieved enlightenment themselves they passed it on. Today we have the awesome inheritance of these lineages so we too can practice, learn and become free of suffering.

When I Finally “Got it”

I’ve already addressed the errors in thinking we have known as cognitive biases. So, before I out this all together I was thinking why am I not getting it??? Because the beliefs I had formed in this lifetime prevented me from seeing things clearly so were not registering due to confirmation bias. That is the first and most important reason that if we want to be free of dukkha we must sit and learn how to observe the contents of our mind and learn how to detach from them while learning the key ethical stances and behaviors to adhere and commit to so we reprogram our minds for optimum performance and elimination of dukkha.

The first time I saw reality without seeing through dukkha I was amazed. And after that point all the required sitting, learning, practicing and relating on anew level was no longer some sort of chore or meh. It was like wooo hooooo! I get to do this and I feel better and better every day this can’t be real!

Think of what wonderful communities, relationships, societal structures, technologies…or maybe we would realize we need less of certain technologies and societal structures because they were created from the level of dukkha!

Do you see what I am talking about? Have a great day!!! Love to all and may all beings be free of suffering. And what a gift to give to yourself!

What do you think?

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@soulsistashakti is a musical artist and writer based in NYC as well as a practitioner of Buddhist teachings. You can check out my music on my FB artist page at https://www.facebook.com/soulsistashakti