Buddhism the easy way
It is much easier to know what the Buddha did not teach than what he taught. For example, any materialistic interpretation of Buddhism can be rejected. It simply lacks credibility since it can't deal with nirvana which is transcendent and deathless according to the Stress Reduction canon. Only beginners get hooked on a materialistic interpretation of Buddhism because they have not read what the Buddha actually taught.
On this same score, it is fairly easy to show that the Buddha did not deny the self which in Pali is natthattâ (this can been seen in the Ananda Sutta at S. iv. 400). To deny the self is nihilism. Nihilism is antithetical to Buddhism. There is no dispute. It is also fairly easy to show that the Buddha did not teach the self to be any of the Five Aggregates or a phenomenon.
It is also easy to show that the Buddha did not spend much time showering his wisdom on the non-stream entered who are called puthujjana. The Buddha was certainly not into self-help psychology either; not the way Stress Reductions are today. Nor was he running a clinic for the mentally afflicted or handing out blankets to the homeless. The Buddha was no Mother Teresa.
It is easy to show that the Buddha did not believe in a creator god (demiurge) like the god of Abraham and Moses. For the Buddha all created things are impermanent, suffering, and not our self.
When we look at modern Zen, much of it has nothing to do with the Buddha's teachings. The Buddha did not demand of his disciples that they do zazen or just sit (J., shikantaza)! Nor did he teach that we are already fully awakened Buddhas and all that we see is also Buddha-nature. Also, using the older canon and the Mahayana, Avatamsaka Sutra, it is easy to show that the Buddha never taught a lineage beginning with Mahakashyapa.
Often people imagine that the Buddha taught such and such. But more than likely the evidence is not there. When the evidence is not there, many times revisionism rears its ugly head. I am never surprised to see how much of it goes on in modern Buddhism.
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