Survival mind: How Buddhism will help

    Intro to Buddhism and a Survival Mindset

You may be asking yourself "how in the world could Buddhism help me survive an emergency?" Faith in any religion can help; however, Buddhism is a road map to not just surviving, but living a conscious happy life.


Buddhism is considered a religion and/or a philosophy.
Studying Buddhism has brought individuals that have embraced it into a new awakening. The Buddha does not preach teachings to herd individuals into one way of thinking. He asks us to open up to living a fully conscious life. 

Many religions have been used as the basis for self-healing and specialized counseling programs. Buddhism has also been incorporated into healing programs. It's philosophy is used in DBT therapy as a way of helping individuals understand the truth of what is happening in their life (reality-testing) with concepts of distress tolerance, acceptance and mindful-awareness.

Stress, anxiety, loss of reality, confusion, dissociation and emotional upheaval are all words that spring to mind when I think of large scale emergencies. Well there's an "app" for dealing with it and thriving. It's called Buddhism!

The Buddha roamed the lands seeking understanding and a release from suffering. The Four Noble Truths are a contingency plan for dealing with the suffering humanity faces -- suffering of a physical kind, or of a mental nature.

The Four Noble Truths
The Four Noble Truths comprise the essence of Buddha's teachings. They are described like a doctors prescription to cure what ails you.

The First Noble Truth: the ailment, suffering. Life has suffering. Even boredom is a form of suffering. We attempt to alleviate it by maybe watching TV, but it won't make you happy forever.
Eventually the TV will be turned off or you might even lose power.  The notion of suffering is not intended to convey a negative world view, but rather, a pragmatic perspective that deals with the world as it is, and attempts to rectify it. In the end, only aging, sickness, and death are certain and unavoidable.

The Second Noble Truth: The origins of suffering is attachment. Desire and ignorance lie at the root of suffering. By desire, Buddhists refer to craving pleasure, material goods, and immortality, all of which are wants that can never be satisfied. As a result, desiring them can only bring suffering.  Ignorance, in comparison, relates to not seeing the world as it actually is. Without the capacity for mental concentration and insight, Buddhism explains, one's mind is left undeveloped, unable to grasp the true nature of things. Expectation that a person or thing be a particular way will ultimately cause suffering when it does not vices, such as greed, envy, hatred and anger, derive from this ignorance. 

The Third Noble Truth: Do not live in fear because there is indeed a way to end the suffering!  

The Fourth Noble Truth charts the method for attaining the end of suffering, Eightfold Path. 

Noble Eightfold Path: The steps are Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness and Right Concentration. Moreover, there are three themes into which the Path is divided: good moral conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech); meditation and mental development (Action, Livelihood, Effort), and wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and Concentration).

There will be suffering in everyone's life at some point.  For example a lover will leave us, someone close to us will die, there will be disasters and emergencies, we will get bored. Will you be crushed or will you survive? Our attachment to one outcome over another will ultimately decide how we approach our suffering. I wish to live a long and happy life, though I know I may die at anytime. This knowledge does not make me depressed or partake in risky behavior that may bring my end closer. It enables me to embrace life and fully appreciate every day.

Those that have had a near death experience or severe loss may have felt, at some point, a sense of clarity about the world: An awakening to what is truly important, love for what IS and not what you wish could be or should be, non-attachment, and appreciation for what you have; be it only a blanket or a king size bed.

For instance:

 "OMG I can't charge my iphone!! Oh wait I am being silly, I am alive and I can pass a message through another person or walk a few blocks (or a few miles) to talk with my loved ones." 

or

"There's no power I can't cook! I have a grill that I can boil water and cook what ever I need. There is wood all around."

Electricity doesn't sustain happiness; your phone will not keep you happy for ever. An understanding of this helps free a person from the stress of loss during an emergency.

Don't cling to one outcome and miss the opportunity to invent, thrive and survive. 

More resources for you:

Brilliantly funny explanations of Buddhist teachings: Buddhism in America (Pod Cast). Titles include: "Buddha Strikes Back", "The Lord of  Pizzas" and my personal favorite, "There is no podcast", which explores Buddhist themes in popular movies such as The Matrix.  http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/understanding-buddhism-in/id458189253

The Eightfold Path: http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html