Start With Questions

What we call Dharma, the teachings of the Buddha, sounds very extensive, very complicated, and sometimes religious. Some do see it as religion. But in reality, it is nothing but the wisdom of working with your mind. Dharma leads back to its root, which is the mind.

Very simple, isn’t it? Without understanding that, we think Buddhism is a religion. There could be a part of Buddhism that some people may practice as a religion. But the original teachings of the Buddha, as I understand them, are simply a science of mind. And there are a few reasons why, as we can see.

For example, science, generally speaking, begins with questions. Every experiment begins with a question and a hypothesis.

“You are Buddha from the beginning” – that’s the hypothesis. You don’t have to believe that, it’s a hypothesis. And the question, “Is my mind free from the beginning? Is my mind Buddha from the beginning?” is a question, a hypothesis. The teachings say, yes, that’s the hypothesis. In Buddhism, the path begins with this fundamental question.

And then, you do your research. You scrutinize your mind. You examine. You go deeper through meditation. And finally, that leads to some experiences and realizations. At that point, you have a result. You say, “Oh, yes, I see something there. I feel something there.”

No Answer Is Ultimate

It begins with a hypothesis, with a question. And then, you should end with some kind of answer. But that answer is not ultimate, is it? No scientist will tell you, “I have found the ultimate answer.” They will tell you, “This is our finding as of now.” That’s what we call “path” in Buddhism. At each level of the path, you find something. Then you think, “Oh, that may be the ultimate.” But if we think that is the ultimate, then we are mistaken.

We once thought atomic science was the ultimate, but now we know that was wrong. It’s not ultimate. Now we have modern physics, quantum physics, which has expanded our understanding. But it also doesn’t give us the ultimate answer.

With each level of experience you gain, in meditation or your inner analysis, that is a result. Each time you push forward, you experience some kind of result. You begin with a hypothesis, a question, then you get some kind of answer. Then you have another question, which generates more and more questions, resulting in more answers. That’s a science.

Whereas religion begins with the answer. And you end up with questions. So, in this way, we can see that Buddhism is not a religion. Because it doesn’t start with an answer, and it doesn’t end with a question. We start with questions, and we try to end with answers, with a sense of certainty.

Try This

You can conduct such an experiment on your mind right now. 

1. Ask yourself, “Is my mind free, from the beginning? Is my mind Buddha, from the beginning?”

2. Write down your answer. Yes or no is fine. If you have more questions, try to keep it to two or three, with one answer for each.

3. To test your hypothesis, you can do some meditation.

This article is based on a teaching given by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche at Nalanda West in Seattle, Washington on March 16, 2025.