The Teachings of Buddha

I was reading the story of Buddha and his teachings, and was pleasantly surprised to find some parallels to tenets I use in life coaching. I’ll admit that I had little previous exposure to Buddha, and was certainly left wanting for more.

I read about The Eightfold Path, or the Middle Way, choosing neither extreme luxury nor extreme self-denial, which is key to a peaceful mind. The Eightfold Path includes Right Understanding that only reality is real, and it is our attachment to that which is unreal that causes us to suffer. This reminds me of the basic tenet I use in life coaching that it is not events that cause us to suffer, so much as how we think about or perceive those events. The event itself is neutral and causes no pain, even if we get fired from our job. Not until we have a thought about that event, will we experience pain. For instance if we think we are a failure for losing our job, we will suffer. But if we thought it was a relief to finally be out of that toxic workplace, we would not suffer. It is our thoughts, and not the reality of the situation that causes pain.

Next was Right Intention meaning the intention to be an instrument of healing instead of harm. All thought creates an effect or result on some level. If we want positive results in our lives, we will want to create positive thoughts and believe in our actions.

Right Speech seems to follow with Right Intention when we align our actions and words with our higher intentions. How we speak to others and to ourselves is important as it carries the force of the thought behind it.

Next comes Right Action, which according to Buddha is the directive to act only in ways that are in harmony with the universe. Basically to me this goes back to every cause has an effect, or our actions will create our results. If we take actions that we don’t believe are just or right, then we will not be pleased with the results we create.

Right Livelihood is the principle of making ethical career choices. This seems so important today. It feels so different when you are giving your all in a career that you believe in, instead of dreading going to work, or not feeling good about what you are asked to do at work.

Right Effort is followed by Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Right Concentration is the correct focus of the mind. Our minds have so many thoughts each day, and much of them are utter nonsense. We can train our brains to focus on the present and achieve better awareness. That is a lot of what I work on in coaching my clients; their awareness of their thoughts and the results those thoughts are creating. Once the awareness is there, they can start to determine for themselves whether those thoughts are the right intention that they want in their life.

My initiation to the teachings of Buddha deepened my understanding of the power of some of the directives I already practice. What a gift.