Core Buddhist Values

As I have suggested already, Buddhism is a worldview that can take over your whole life. A common, if not necessary, component of any worldview is values. Humans have a deeply entrenched impulse to evaluate. Paradox alert: a key Buddhist value is to refrain from evaluating. Buddhist teachers talk about “judging mind,” usually to condemn it. Going back to our discussion of karma, for the most part, we should worry about our own issues and problems, helping others when and where they ask and we can do so, but not going out of our way to find or notice faults in others.