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Quarterly Newsletter of the Rev. Gyomay M. Kubose Dharma Legacy Vol. 6 No. 3 Autumn 2002OInsidePresident’s Messagep. 2Bright Dawn SunriseWalk Scheduledfor Sept. 15p. 3Upcoming AmericanBuddhist Servicesp. 3Book Review: Awakeningthe Buddha Withinp. 4Dharma Glimpsep. 5How the Buddha TaughtBy Rev. Gyomay M. Kubosewww.brightdawn.orgAlthough it is important to knowwhat the Buddha taught, in anotherway it is more important to knowhow he taught. I talked about thisrecently to our temple’s high schoolday I am not going to tell you aboutlook at how the Buddha taught. Henever gave answers on a silver plat-ter. He never said, ‘This is the truth;you should believe it and follow it.’On the contrary, the Buddha said,‘Do not believe something just be-cause I said it. Do not follow teach-ings until you test them through yoursaid to look into one’s own life.” Then I asked the students, “Whatis the most important thing in yourtalked about the importance of par-ents. Another student mentionedmoney. I asked, “Is money the mostimportant thing?” Everybody said,“No.” However, I countered that wetant. If we did not have money, wecould not function in today’s society.Another boy said, “Life itself is mostimportant.” “What do you mean lifeitself?” I asked. He must have takenbiology because he answered, “Lifeis composed of cells.” I commented,“It is important to keep your body“without a healthy body, we cannothelp others.” This led into exploringthe value of altruism. We continuedto consider many other different an-swers to the question of what is themost important thing in life. Althoughnot arrive at one final answer. I ex-plained that we each have to thinkthings out for ourselves. This is theBuddhist approach. The Buddha never handed outteachings like a pill saying, “Here,swallow this.” Instead he alwaysasked, “Is that right? What do youthink?” He offered teachings so thatyou could try them in your own life.teachings were not static or statisti-cal in form. His teachings were dy-namic and always dealt with value inone’s life. For instance, what is realare happy when their fathers givewhen that allowance is gone by themiddle of the week, they are sad.Happiness that is created by friend-ship lasts only as long as your friendis present. When your friend is gone,you are sad.ternal things? What is the real happi-ness in your life? These are the kindsof challenges that the Buddha alwaysasked. He never commanded people.is no set of formal teachings. Theteachings are always put within thecontext of an individual’s experience.Understanding should come from liv-ing, not from the head. This is theBuddhist way. This is how the Bud-dha taught. (The Center Within; pgs.52-53)

Universal Teachings For Everyday Living Page 1

students. I started out by saying, “To-

the Buddha’s teachings. These things

you can read about later. Instead, let’s

own experience.’ The Buddha always

life?” One girl said, “My parents.” We

can’t deny that money is very impor-

alive and healthy.” “Yes,” he replied,

many aspects were discussed, we did

He did not tabulate his teachings. His

happiness in your life? Many children

them a weekly allowance. However,

Does real happiness come from ex-

In Buddhism, there is no dogma; there