The Buddhist world view can best be under stood if we see it as being based upon five major assumptions:
Mutability or Change
All objects, conditions and creations are regarded as being in a continuous state of change. Nothing finite is eternally fixed or unchanging. Birth, growth, decay and death are inevitable for all material objects, men, societies and states of mind. Herein lies the answer to the mystery of creation: new forms arise out of the old; each new condition is determined by that which preceded it.
Cause and Effect
This process of change, however, is not con sidered to be chaotic but rather is regulated by a universal Law of cause and effect. The laws of cause and effect are impersonal, impartial and unchanging. The only things which do not change are the laws of change.
Selfishness and Suffering
The Law of cause and effect includes not only the laws of physics and chemistry so familiar to the Western world, but also includes laws of moral or psychological cause and effect known as karma-vipaka, or more commonly, karma.
Karma acts through time, and thus the full effects of one's thoughts and deeds may not become manifest until some years later. Karma is ines capable, for the Buddha said:
Not in the sky, not in the midst of the
sea, nor if we enter into the clefts of
the mountains, is there known a spot in
the whole world where a man might be
freed from an evil deed.
Not in the sky, not in the midst of the
sea, nor if we enter into the clefts of
the mountains, is there known a spot in
the whole world where death could not
overcome a mortal.
(Dhammapada 127-8)
One important aspect of the law of Karma is that selfishness results in suffering for the selfish party in proportion to the amount of wrong that has been committed. Conversely, love, com passion and other virtuous states of mind create proportionate amounts of happiness and emotional well-being. Often this is stated as "Desire is the cause of suffering". And in this context the word which has been translated into English as "suffering" is the Pali word dukkha. Dukkha is a term which includes all types of unpleasant experiences such as worry, fear, sorrow, dissatisfac tion, disharmony, etc. When the mind is craving pleasures or is strongly motivated by greed, hatred or egotism, it becomes predisposed to dukkha. A paradox is noted in that happiness is best found by those who are not preoccupied with looking for it. Thus we find in Buddhism no eternal punishment or eternal reward, but rather happiness and sorrow in proportion to one's own thoughts and actions.
Karma operates independently of any social mores or cultural standards of good and evil. Also, it does not account for all pleasure and displeasure, for the Buddha said that many of one's pleasures and painful experiences are not the result of ones previous actions. (Anguttara-Nikaya I, 173)
Nirvana (Nibbana)
Since all which is born must die, since all which is finite must change, the only thing immortal, infinite and unchanging is that which was never born and is not compounded. This is Nirvana. But the Buddha talked relatively little about Nirvana, for since it is neither matter nor energy, and since it does not exist within space and time, it is completely unrelated to anything with which we are familiar. Thus, it cannot be described, conceptualized nor understood by the normal human mind. It is known only by direct experience beyond sense preception and is the end of all dukkha. When Nirvana is experienced, ego tism has died, for Nirvana comes only with the abolition of all selfishness and craving. Yet one does not vegetate bu continues to act and work as long as the body remains alive. This is Buddhist salvation, and it is found by the training of one's mind and a maturing of the personalilty. Since it can never be known or comprehended except by direct experience, one should not concern one self with looking for Nirvana per se, but rather one should seek to abolish selfishness from his own personality, and this is a rewarding endeavour regardless of whether or not the highest goal is reached. Said the Buddha;
"Liberated, the wise are indifferent to the senses, and have no heed to seek anything; pass ionless they are beyond pleasure and displeasure."
Verifiability
Finally, it is stated that the above four premises can be verified by one's own reasoning and experience with no dependence on external authority. In a Tibetan text the Buddha is quoted; "Just as people test the purity of gold by burning it in fire, by cutting it, by examining it on a touchstone, so exactly should you, my disci ples, accept my words after subjecting them to a critical test and not out of reverence to me." (Self Mastery, by Soma Thera.