Hi guys i'm new here first thread.. anyways... my parents are both buddhists and i have been raised with buddhists traditions.. during my teenage years i was pushed by so many people that "GOD was the only path and that i was heading towards eternal hell!" so of course i was scared and studied up on my religions.. after about 5 years i came back to buddhism as being the only, not just logical, but fair belief. regardless.. after all my studying i came to realize something odd. my studies of buddha and buddhism have led me to believe that buddha taught the religion without any ceremonies or things of that nature and that there weren't any gods or a god that could bless us.. but rather our karma determined our lives.. but my parents insist that they pray to the buddha, kwan yin, and others for blessings.. and tell me to chant the name arahan when i am in tough situations to help me get through.. i completely do not believe this parts of the religion that i feel someone along the way has created.. but i do not know if i am right or wrong... or if there is a right or wrong. could any one shed some light on this for me?
buddhism 101 Buddhism as it is practiced today around asia is a formalized religion with rituals and prayers, ect... This was not buddha's original intent, just like Jesus did not intend to create christianity. But people are lazy, they just want to go through the motions, and not expend any real effort. To practice the true buddhism, you must not be a buddhist. Buddhism is not a belief. Let your life become the prayer, let awareness guide your actions. One you cross the stream, there is no need to carry the raft around on your shoulders, this means, once enlightenment happens, buddhism is useless. I recommend anything by Alan Watts. Particularly, "The Way of Zen".
Adding to spidergoat's advice: Karma or Cause and effect is both integral to Hindusim and Buddhism. Awareness is the key. Understanding the mother of all philosophies that is Sanatana Dharma can help you where you came from or rather where Gautama came from.... The other part is: rituals and prayers create an environment of awareness and provide synchronization of conscious and subconscious mind that facilitates one's actions or inaction. Meditation does the same in lesser time. Had Gautama not meditated - he would not have brought in and enlighten us. It helps to learn how to use ones subconscious as well as the universal (superconscious) mind to reach your objective.
I am wowed by spidergoat. very well put, and It reminded me of a few things I had forgotten. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ANd I would also recommend Alan Watts, though keep in mind that his background is that of an American Hippie (nothing wrong with that, it's just good to remember). "The Watercourse Way" is also a very good book, on Daoism.
Buddha himself actually said that there was no god. I believe he meant there was no god in the way people think of god. He also said that good and evil were created by man. Go with what spidergoat says, Buddhism is a philosophy, a way of life. It is not something you do at a certain day or time, its something that you do all the time. Buddha, according to the Hindus was the incarnation of Vishnu (the maintainer/preserver).
"The Art Of Happiness" by Dalai Lama is a great book that will teach you some good stuff about Buddhism and mainly yourself. Its a great book!
Excellent post by spidergoat. If only some of the christian fanatics would understand this rather than ignorantly preaching and performing mundane rituals just for the hell (or rather, heaven) of it.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I agree with spidergoat. I was a Christian but suddenly i felt something was wrong. I turned to Buddhism. It has filled the vaccum to a certain extent. The Buddha taught how HE reached enlightenment. His purpose was to give an example of how you can achieve nirvana. The truth is that the truth is inside you, we are spiritually capable of getting to where he got. you have probably heard a thousand times- we are all different... and we are so in a way religion doesn't really help. I did read "The Art of Happiness". very good book. Meditate upon this: The truth is that there is no truth. Everuthing is based on perceptions.
yes, and then you will understand Eistiens' theories about physics, too Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! A wonderful side effect. An even better side efffect is then you can understand the whole "walk a mile in another man's shoes" thing. Really understand it. feel it, hear it, taste it, see it. not just consider it, but be it. Talk about having a strong foundation for winning an arguement. you have already see their argument from their eyes. now all you have to do is point out the problems in their logic - the ones that they already know are there. Just don't forget to do the same thing to yourself, first. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Followers of Abrahamic religions should all be converted to Buddhism. Would make the world a better place.
Because Bu7ddhism in its earlier form doesn't shove dogmas down throats, practitioners are usually free to mix it up with whatever local religions they already practiced (such as adding Buddha into the Chinese animistic pantheon), which explains how Buddhism can be so different than what it is supposed to be.
moron there are no conversions to buddhism, no chants, no rituals, no nothing. stop your asinine pollution of buddhism this instant! eyeball this hypocrite... The Dalai Lama XIV initiated thousands of participants from more than 30 nations into Tibetan Buddhism in the city of Graz, Austria, in October. The initiation rite is a shamanistic process than involves the conjuring of 722 spirits for release over the land. According to church leaders in Austria and Germany, the Dalai Lama wants to make Graz the foundation of a bridge for Buddhism into the West ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dalai Lama on Thursday joined Hindu leaders in condemning the Muslim and Christian practice of conversion,stepping into one of the hottest religious controversies in South Asia. "Whether Hindu or Muslim or Christian, whoever tries to convert, it's wrong, not good," the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader said after a lunch meeting with top Hindu priests and members of the World Hindu Council that wants India to be a Hindu country. off with his head i say!
I've always been confused by the exsistanc eof the Dahli Lama. Buddha, when becoming enlighted was supposed to escape the cycle of rebirth, right? When he died, and one of his followers was crying, he asked why the guy was crying on the joyous occation of Budda's freedom from suffering. So then why is there a guy who is supposedly the reincarnation of Buddha walking around the planet?
diksha Shivaism emphasises the absolute necessity of Shaivi diksha, that is, initiation into a Shaiva `order'. All Shaiva schools are agreed that the one who has the authority to initiate others is the qualified guru (the preceptor) - indeed there was almost a deification of the guru. One major definition of diksha obtainable in a Shaiva Aagama text lays down that it paves the way for eradicating impurities of mind and body, and destroys `animality' (pashutva). http://alexm.here.ru/mirrors/www.enteract.com/jwalz/Eliade/144.html so ahh if it is used in a buddhist context it should imply intiation(priesthood) and not conversion.
Tibetan Buddhism explains that since Buddha was very merciful, he decided to go back and suffer reincarnation so he can continue to enlighten others with his wisdom.
People don't "convert" to Buddhism. It's something they learn that doesn't require abandoning anything else that's part of them. Like the Dao and other Eastern philosophies, its big thing is to help you figure yourself out and find out who you are. Christians and Jews adopt a Buddhist philosophy and it makes them better Christians and Jews. Sorry, I don't happen to know any Muslims who studied Buddhism but I'm sure it works the same for them.
It is hard to see a Christian or Jew or Muslim adopt the Karma and Reincarnation ideals that are the core of Buddhism. Yes, all peoples should learn all the morality available in all of the faiths. But unfortunately, to extreme- {religion}-fundamentalists religions such as Buddhism & Hinduism are "evil" and spawn of the devil. Too bad, for them.
I'd better let the guy who was actually raised as a Buddhist give us the official line on that one. definitions are just a google search away. to grow up a buddhist might not really be a positive. it might be better to adopt it as a way of life when one's reasoning faculties are better developed rather that.."mom and pop are buddhists, so am i" In a sense, we have two different agendas or maybe cultural agendas. The Asian tradition is based on something they have grown up with and has more ritual aspects. Coming to a service on Sunday is like coming to church anywhere else. Western Buddhists tend to be more interested in learning how to meditate and Buddhist philosophy. So there is somewhat of a clash of cultures. The Tensions in American Buddhism_ In international news, Buddhism is almost never blamed for the foibles of Asian societies. No one associates the state religion of Buddhism with the nasty politics in Burma; no one implicates the Buddhists of Sri Lanka in the bloody campaign against the Hindu Tamils. warmongering Monks of Sri Lanka The Direction of Buddhism in America todayl buddhism in america
