Susan Schoenbohm was the iRead guest speaker on February 22, 2011. Dr. Schoenbohm is currently the Practice Leader at the
Dr. Schoenbohm’s talk was about the history, philosophy, and practices of Buddhism. She explained that there are different forms of Buddhism with different understandings of its teachings. Zen Buddhism is a form of Ch’an which practices Dhyana, sitting meditation, to learn the teachings of Buddha which can not be learned through words or doctrine. Like Buddha, enlightenment can be gained through meditation practices. She brought with her a statue of Buddha and explained in Zen philosophy it is a symbol of meditation. In other Buddhist traditions the statue of Buddha is revered in veneration of the enlightenment experience. However, Buddha is not considered a god and did not claim divinity.
Buddhism was born in
Buddha was a Prince, Siddhartha Gautama, who was destined to be a holy man. His father did not want this so he protected him with a lavish lifestyle and kept him sheltered from the world. One day Buddha wonders from the palace and sees poverty, disease, old age, and death. He is inspired to understand suffering and goes on a spiritual journey in which he develops a philosophy based on Four Noble Truths. The First Noble Truth is called Dukkha meaning bitterness of life and its dissatisfying nature as it is always undergoing impermanence. The Second Noble Truth is the cause of life’s dissatisfactions, clinging to impermanent things. The Third Noble Truth is Nirvana. It is the cure for clinging and leads to freedom from entanglement with impermanent things. Seated meditation, as Buddha practiced, is itself enlightenment. The Fourth Noble Truth is the Eightfold Path, the practice of right thought and finding a balance.
During her talk, Dr. Schoenbohm led a short meditation session for the group. We focused on straight posture, breathing, and freeing our minds from thoughts. By practicing a lot, she told us, we can quiet our minds from fears, hopes, desires, and expectations. Through meditation we can develop understanding and compassion by realizing that we are all interconnected and that loss is inevitable.