Live Well, No Matter What – How to thrive with life’s most difficult challenges. Including mindfulness tools from secular and Jewish sources

Buddhism has Made Me a Better Jew

Dec 1, 2021 | Jewish thought and practice, Mind & Body

Written by Margo Helman, MSW

The teachings of Buddhism have enriched my life unimaginably. They’ve healed me from dread and despair. They’ve helped me to connect to wellsprings of inner peace and wisdom. My favorite and most precious life tools come from Buddhism. This is true in my work as a therapist and workshop leader, and first and foremost, as a human being, 

 

The goal of Buddhism is to overcome suffering. For the last 2500 years this tradition has been developing and perfecting tools that do exactly that. I use Buddhist tools and approaches daily,  applying them to the most mundane and the most excruciating moments, as well as the most sublime. Take this morning for example, when I woke up hours too early and was exhausted and annoyed. Instead of giving all my attention to this state of resentment, I turned inwardly to my body’s sensations of tiredness. When I stopped fighting my reality, I was immediately more  relaxed. In a difficult argument with my husband, instead of zeroing in only on anger and hurt, I lift my gaze and notice the sun’s rays touching the cushion across the room. That helps me calm, and choose my response. When coping with physical pain or with emotional dread, I breathe in to the sensations with compassion, and notice too that pain is not the only thing that exists here and now. And also the most sublime moments: Gazing at the sky above the sea. Praying with full attention on every word – as best I can. I include eating ice cream in the sublime category. Mindful attention to the cool creaminess allows me to raise this ordinary moment to the sublime. My family knows not to talk to me when I’m having a bowl or spoonful of my favorite. Why waste that experience?

To get a taste of the deep effectiveness of Buddhist approaches, study the following. Each sentence distills a Buddhist teaching. 

  • Mindfulness: the practice of focusing your attention on the wonder and the humdrum of

the present moment instead of being rivetedto thoughts of past and future. This is the most familiar contribution of Buddhism to current Western culture.

  • Awareness of the power of attention: there are always countless things going on in any one moment. How that moment affects our feelings is dependent almost completely on where we direct our attention. 
  • The distinction between pain and suffering: pain is part of the package of life but    suffering is the creation of the mind and of our interpretations. 
  • All life takes place only here and now, even though we often live painfully in our  imaginings of the past and future as if they define the present moment. 
  • Fighting the reality of this moment is our greatest source of suffering. 
  • The simple power of noticing the subtle body sensations that accompany the breath. 
  • Finally, that we are all interconnected. Just as much as we are each alone, we are also all always together and joined to countless other beings in this world.

There is debate about whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy. The fact that hundreds of millions of people name it as the only religion they’ve ever known makes the question problematic. Yet, Buddhism need not include idolatry. Though some Buddhists do perform rituals which involve deities, there is no supreme

creator in Buddhism and faith in a divine being is not essential to Buddhist practice. The Buddha is said to have encouraged his students not to take what he says as truth but to explore the practices and see if their lives are enriched as a result. In this way, it’s encouraged to relate to Buddhism as a practical philosophy which can be combined with any religious faith.

Judaism, and especially Hasidut, contains much wisdom that is similar to many Buddhist ideas. Take, for example, the Ba’al Shem Tov on prayer. The Besht implores us to bring our focused attention to prayer and unite our thoughts with our speech, teaching that this is the only way that prayer pleases God. This is mindfulness in action. Bring your attention to the sound and meaning of the words you’re saying when you make a blessing on a bite of food or when you pray. This both deepens one’s prayer and soothes anxiety.

Buddhist thought allows us to fulfill the mitzva of being “b’simcha” (joyful), deepens our  experience of joy and gives us tools to move through painful feelings. It teaches us how to  increase our “kavanna”, or intention and focus, when praying or when fulfilling a mitzva. It supports Jewish practice so beautifully that it’s tempting to believe that Buddhism was one of the gifts that Avraham sent to the East or was developed by one of the ten lost tribes. I’d rather surrender this notion and acknowledge Eastern traditions with gratitude for their profound contribution to our lives. 

It supports Jewish practice so beautifully that it’s tempting to believe that Buddhism was one of the gifts that Avraham sent to the East or was developed by one of the ten lost tribes.

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