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What is Buddhism?

Buddhism can help us to see the world with new eyes — as it really is

The basic mes­sage of Buddhism is straight­for­ward and practical:

  • We can’t rely on any­thing to be fixed or permanent
  • Our actions have consequences
  • We can change

Buddhist teach­ings can help us to live a life that has more mean­ing and pur­pose, whatever our circumstances.

Buddhism offers a range of prac­tices — eth­ical guidelines; med­it­a­tion; study; ritual; com­munity and friend­ship — that help us develop wis­dom and compassion.

Lotus Hall Buddha Detail

The Triratna tradition

Manchester Buddhist Centre is part of the Triratna Buddhist Community

Since the time of the Buddha, many Buddhist schools have come into being. Sangharakshita, Triratna’s founder, has been inspired by the core teach­ings under­ly­ing and uni­fy­ing the Buddhist tra­di­tion as a whole.

The Triratna tra­di­tion con­tin­ues to develop ways of prac­tice that are rel­ev­ant to the 21st century.

Little Buddhas in Lotus Hall

Explore Buddhism

Buddha under tree

The Buddhist Path

The Buddhist path has three essen­tial strands:

Ethics

We try and live our lives within the eth­ical guidelines that the Buddha taught –

  • not harm­ing anything
  • being gen­er­ous
  • liv­ing a simple and con­ten­ted life
  • speak­ing truthfully
  • liv­ing mindfully

These guidelines help us to live with a clear mind and develop pos­it­ive feel­ings. Acting more skil­fully also has a pos­it­ive impact on those around us.

Meditation

We develop both aware­ness and pos­it­ive feel­ings through our med­it­a­tion prac­tice. We become more mind­ful of our actions, thoughts and bod­ily sen­sa­tions and can see more clearly their effect on us and oth­ers. We also become more pos­it­ive towards ourselves and those around us.

Wisdom

Through these prac­tices, and through study­ing Buddhist teach­ings, ritual, and spir­itual friend­ship, we begin to see life more how it really is — that we and everything around us are in con­tinual pro­cess, and there are many factors at play in those processes.

When we see this we learn that grasp­ing after things to stay the same, or be how we want them to be rather than how they are, just causes us and oth­ers pain. We learn we can change our rela­tion­ship to things to help us feel more lib­er­ated and compassionate.

Ask a Buddhist

  • Clear Vision runs the schools ser­vice for Manchester Buddhist Centre
  • Ask a Buddhist! is an area of their web­site where Buddhists from a range of UK tra­di­tions answer fre­quent questions
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