Some 2,500 years ago, an Indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, sat quietly in a place known as Deer Park at Sarnath in India, and began to offer simple teachings, based on his own experience. These teachings, referred to as the dharma, meaning simply “truth,” were practical instructions on how to free oneself from suffering by relating it to the everyday experience of life and mind. This practice became known as Buddhism. The Buddha’s discovery cannot effectively be described as a religion, a philosophy, or a psychology. It is better described as a journey or way of life. This journey entails seeing things as they are, beyond the fascination of our ego and the chaos of negative emotions. It does not indulge in philosophic assumption about first
