Back to Basics: Buddhism as a set of Practices

Thinking is not enough to lead to less suffering

In current scholarship, the two main ways to approach Buddhist scriptures are either philological or philosophical.

• The philological approach is essential, among other things, to understand the origin of a text, its history, as well as the meaning of some words and expressions.

• The philosophical approach is important to understand what kind of problem a scripture is dealing with, what change regarding a problem the introduction of a precise concept occurs, as well as what are the ethical implications of an idea or viewpoint.

Modern philosophical approaches tend to assimilate Buddhist thought into European or American metaphysical or logical discourse. This strongly implies that such a context is befitting the Buddhist scriptures and their subject matter.

An Example of the Modern Philosophical Approach to Buddhism

Leaving aside logical research, one of the most interesting philosophical approaches to Buddhism is probably that of Dan Lusthaus.

He is the author of an highly debated study entitled Buddhist Phenomenology: A Philosophical Investigation of Yogācāra Buddhism and the Ch’eng Wei-shih Lun (2002).

According to Dan Lusthaus, Yogācāra Buddhism should be viewed as a “Buddhist phenomenology,” similar in many ways to the phenomenologies of Husserl and Merleau-Ponty. To support his thesis, he refers to some important texts from the Yogācāra scriptures and essentially to Xuanzang’s (玄奘, 602–664) Discourse on the Realization of Consciousness-Only (Vijñapti-mātratā-siddhi, 成唯識論).

The main question raised by Lusthaus concerns the status of external things. In Yogācāra Buddhism, do things exist outside the mind, or are they nothing more than “seeds” in the mind? This is a typical philosophical question. If things also exist outside the mind, then Yogācāra Buddhism may have something to do with modern phenomenology; if not, then it is nothing more than a radical idealistic approach to the mind.

However, the Buddha himself refused to answer such questions. Why did he do this? Because asking and answering certain questions does not help to attain enlightenment and eliminate suffering.

The point of Lusthaus’ approach is to state that Buddhist inquiry is a phenomenological inquiry. It aims to make Buddhism interesting to American and European philosophers. While Lusthaus’s questions are philosophically interesting, they do not serve the Buddhist purpose of helping people deal with and, ideally, eliminate suffering.

The Three Types of Wisdom according to Buddhist Scriptures: Learning, Reasoning, and Cultivating

Buddhist inquiry cannot and must not be reduced to a philosophical question and to a theory of knowledge. Of course, the Buddhist scriptures are very interesting from a metaphysical and logical point of view. I myself use Buddhist conceptions in my philosophical research (see, for instance, Jannel 2023).

But recent research on Buddhist studies highlights the importance of the “three [types of] wisdom” (trividhā prajñā, 三慧) — learning (śruta, 聞), reasoning (cintā, 思), and cultivating (bhāvanā, 修) — in Buddhist discourse (for instance, Fiordalis 2018).

These three words are essential in Yogācāra Buddhism, notably in Xuanzang’s Discourse on the Realization of Consciousness-Only (Vijñapti-mātratā-siddhi, 成唯識論), which is the main text Lusthaus focused on in his study (Jannel 2022).

In Buddhism, learning, reasoning, and cultivating form an educational foundation for the practitioner engaged in the path.

• Learning means learning Buddhist teachings from someone and/or from scripture.

• Reasoning means reasoning about what has been learned and experienced.

• Cultivating means cultivating, especially through meditative practices, and embodying what has been learned and reflected upon.

What Does this Mean for Us Today?

It means that we can learn to live a life with less suffering.

You can, of course, take Buddhist teaching or look to the greatest Buddhist scriptures. But you can also look to other traditions of thought from Greek and Christian philosophies as a way of life to modern psychology.

From such learnings, you can reflect on it, looking for what it might mean to you thinking about your own behaviors, reactions, and feelings.

But thinking is not enough to lead to less suffering.

Based on what you learn and reflect upon, you must cultivate insights, good behaviors, and positive feelings. Cultivating means transforming your mind to change the way you grasp the events you have encountered up to tomorrow, the events you are encountering now, and the events you will encounter in the future.

If you seem to be stuck in your reflection process, go back to learning or go on with cultivation, and if you seem to be stuck in your practice, go back to learning or reflection. It is not a straight path but rather a multiplication of cycles.

For most Buddhist practices, it means going through activities that involve both physical and mental dimensions, both conscious and unconscious (or automatic) dimensions.

There is not a single practice but a set of practices. It could be sitting meditation or walking meditation. It could be mindful eating or mindful exercising. And ideally, it should be a combination of several practices to provide a variety of effects.