60 pages • 2-hour read
The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching: Transforming Suffering into Peace, Joy, and Liberation
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Key Figures
The Buddha
The Buddha, or “the enlightened one” was born Siddattha Gotama (spelled Siddartha Gautama in Sanskrit) in the 6th century BCE. Gotama was born a prince; his parents were Queen Māyā and King Suddhodana, who ruled the Sākyas Kingdom in what is now Nepal. At age 16, Gotama married Princess Yasodharā, with whom he had one son, named Rāhula. As a young man Gotama realized how all of humanity suffers, and left his family and life of privilege to search for a resolution to this suffering.
According to Buddhist tradition, Gotama embraced a life of asceticism for six years as he travelled through the Ganges valley and studied under different religious teachers from the Hindu tradition. He felt unsatisfied with the ascetic practices he learned and decided to follow a different path. Buddhists believe that a 35-year-old Gotama realized enlightenment one evening under a Bodhi tree. With this new mindset, Gotama, now “the Buddha” or “the enlightened one,” began preaching his beliefs to others.
For the rest of his life, the Buddha taught people of all ages, social classes, and genders how to live a noble and happy life and realize enlightenment for themselves. The Buddha died in modern-day Uttar Pradesh at the age of 80. After his death, people across Asia continued to embrace Buddhism, which now has hundreds of millions of followers worldwide.
Brother Thích Nhât Tri
Brother Nhât Tri was a Buddhist monk from Vietnam. The author explains that Brother Nhât Tri was the first monk he ever ordained, and the two worked together on humanitarian projects in Vietnam, rescuing flooding victims and establishing The School of Youth for Social Service.
Thích portrays Brother Nhât Tri as a selfless and kind person who was dedicated to his work serving the most vulnerable people in Vietnam. Thích describes Brother Nhât Tri’s tragic death at the hands of right-wing militants during the civil war, writing, “In 1967, Brother Nhât Tri and seven other social workers were kidnapped by a group on the extreme right, and he has not been heard from since then” (202).
In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thích points to Brother Nhât Tri’s experience with an American soldier to illustrate his point on inclusiveness. When an American soldier spit on Nhât Tri, he returned home deeply upset. Thích coached him to be understanding and forgive the American’s actions, which were born out of the wrong perception of the monks. Thích remembers, “I held him in my arms for half an hour in order to transform that feeling of being deeply hurt. I said, ‘My child, you were not born to hold a gun. You were born to be a monk, and your power is the power of understanding and love’” (202).
Venerable Sariputta
The Venerable Sariputta, also known as Śāriputra, was a contemporary of the Buddha’s and one of his most famous disciples. Sariputta is believed to have lived in the 6th to 5th centuries BCE. He searched for spiritual meaning until he encountered the Buddha and became ordained as a monk. Shortly afterwards, he attained enlightenment.
Due to his close relationship with the Buddha, Sariputta has a high status in many Buddhist traditions. Thích uses Sariputta’s teaching in his final passage, “Discourse on Right View,” his English translation of Sariputta’s explanation of Right View. By including this discourse, the author treats Sariputta as a respected authority in Buddhism and uses his words to educate the reader.
Robert McNamara
Robert McNamara (1916-2009) was an American Lieutenant Colonel, businessman, political figure, and president of the World Bank. He served as the US Secretary of Defense from 1961 to 1968 under Presidents Lyndon B. Johnson and John F. Kennedy, during which time he promoted the US war in Vietnam.
In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, the author uses his interaction with McNamara in 1966 as an example of the Buddhist principle of inclusiveness. Thích defines inclusiveness as the ability to receive, embrace, and transform pain. He explains, “To suppress our pain is not the teaching of inclusiveness. We have to receive it, embrace it, and transform it. The only way to do this is to make our heart big. We look deeply in order to understand and forgive” (201).
Instead of focusing on his anger towards McNamara for his complicity in the war, Thích tried to maintain his compassion and understanding towards McNamara in their conversation. He believes that this approach may have had a constructive effect on shifting McNamara’s view on the war. He explains, “Half a year later, he resigned as Secretary of Defense, and recently he wrote a book and confessed that the war in Vietnam was a terrible mistake. Perhaps I helped plant some seeds of understanding in him” (203).
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