Buddhism, as practiced today, is often a tangled mix of cultural baggage, misinterpretations, and diluted teachings.
1. The Core Misunderstanding
- The Eightfold Path is a practical guide for navigating life, not a metaphysical claim about reality.
- Many modern Buddhists conflate meditative experiences (bliss, emptiness, "no-self") with full awakening, missing the Buddha’s razor-sharp logic:
- "All phenomena are not-self (anattā)". This is an observation, not a mystical revelation.
- Nirvana is not a "state" to achieve—it’s the ending of delusion (like waking up from a dream).
- In its simplicity it's beautiful and convincing, which the western astablishments fights since ever. Slaves awakening is their nightmare.
2. The Foggy Buddhism
- Asian Buddhism: Often mixed with folk religion, ancestor worship, and superstitious ritualism (prayers for luck, "merit-making" as transaction).
- Western Buddhism: Romanticized "mindfulness" and spiritual bypassing (using meditation to avoid life’s problems rather than see through them).
- Both sides ignore the radical, ego-shattering aspect of the Buddha’s teachings.
3. The Buddha’s Actual Method is A Surgical Strike on Illusion
The Buddha wasn’t teaching mystical union or feel-good meditation—he was offering a rational advice:
- Dukkha (suffering) exists → Not pessimistic, just factual.
- Its cause is craving (tanhā) → Not guilt, but causality.
- It can end → Not by "transcendence," but by seeing through the illusion of self.
- The Eightfold Path is the way → A dualistic training wheel for those still trapped in ego.
Worth understanding is the aparent contradiction in life.
As a most simple example The Buddha reminded us to concentrate but not without being mindful.
The speech not useful without learning and the action nothing without intentions.
4. Confusing the Map for the Territory
- The Eightfold Path is useful to find balance.
- Many get stuck at the level of "Good Buddhist behavior" (virtue, meditation, rituals) while there is no moral dimension to add. There is no "right" view or intention. This is left to the heart, not to judgement.
5. How to Cut Through the Nonsense
- Study the early suttas (Majjhima Nikaya, Samyutta Nikaya) — skip the later commentaries.
- Focus on anattā (not-self) as a practice, not a mystical idea.
Try to understand why the poles create a balance but will not lead to attachment. - Test every teaching logically: Does it weaken clinging, or just add more concepts?
- Avoid "spiritual materialism"—chasing enlightenment as an ego-project is not a path to walk.
Do not "follow". The Buddhas path as every others path will not be the same like yours.
Conclusion
Most "Buddhism" today is a distorted echo of the original.
The Buddha showed a path of ruthless honesty and destruction of faulty view of life.