What are the core beliefs and concepts of Buddhism?
Buddhism is not really about beliefs, however there are concepts that are treated as ‘tools’ to provide guidance to the practitioner. The most basic idea of these tools is usually called ‘the four noble truths’ (unfortunately, ancient teachings had a tendency to get rather flowery with language): 1- Life is suffering (stated more specifically, suffering is an ineradicable part of living as we normally live) 2- Suffering comes from attachment (trying to hang on to things that aren’t permanent, or trying to get rid of things that are unavoidable) 3- Because suffering has a cause, it can cease. 4- The path to cessation of suffering. (This isn’t really a ‘truth’, is it? It’s just saying ‘follow these instructions to end suffering’. Again, the ancients seemed to have interesting relationships with semantics). So that’s the entry point in Buddhism. The #4 point is just referencing the practices and teachings of the tradition, which are designed to help an individual ‘awaken’ so they can unde
