What is a Buddhist?

Statues, incense, lights, chanting, meditation—while these things are included in the practice of Buddhism, they're simply supports to the practitioner. Developing the heart and mind are the foundations of following the Dharma. For Mahayana Buddhists, compassion is not just seen as an important aspect of practice—it is the practice itself! All of the wisdom teachings serve to bring one to the pinnacle of the evolution of consciousness, which is impossible to achieve without the great altruistic heart.

The word for Buddhist in Tibetan language is ནང་པ། nang-pa, which literally means “insider.” This isn't meant to differentiate non-Buddhists from Buddhists. Rather, it is meant to be a reminder that a follower of the Buddha's teachings should look inside themselves in every situation. We look to our own thoughts and actions first and work to align ourselves with causes that bear positive fruit for ourselves and all sentient beings.

Self-discipline is important. We study and analyze the teachings to learn what to adopt and what to abandon in our actions of body, speech, and mind. Becoming a good hearted, compassionate, and loving individual dedicated to achieving the highest welfare for all sentient beings is our aim.

The teachings identify four points that make something a true Buddhist teaching. They must contain what are called the ལྟ་བ་བཀའ་རྟགས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ་བཞི། The Four Seals of the View Signifying the Buddha's Teaching, or simply—The Four Seals:

• འདུས་བྱས་ཐམས་ཅད་མི་རྟག་པ།

  All compounded things are impermanent.

• ཟག་བཅས་ཐམས་ཅད་སྡུག་བསྔལ་བ།

  All contaminated things (emotions) are suffering.

• ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅད་སྟོང་ཞིང་བདག་མེད་པ།

  All phenomena are empty and without inherent existence.

• མྱ་ངན་ལས་འདས་པ་ཞི་བའོ།

  Nirvana is beyond extremes.

For this week, I invite you to analyze the Four Seals in your daily reflections, contemplations, and meditations.