Am I a Buddhist?

John Doe

I was wondering, is there a type of Buddhism that believes in karma, promotes the use of meditation, teaches one to be generally decent towards other people and also promotes regular philosophical reflection without laying down many dogmatic stipulations or necessitating any specific belief in reincarnation? Y'see, karma makes sense to me, as it provides a sort of structure for existence and I can see good actions helping the doer all the time but I don't see a reason for believing in reincarnation as an animal or human on this world. I might as well believe one could be reincarnated as a ball of pure mystic energy, or not be reincarnated at all.
I also tend to shy away from religious dogma, and I would prefer not to become involved with any organised religion. However, maybe a personal Buddhist way of life could be possible for me. I have no idea, so please throw out your suggestions!

coffee_cake

John Doe wrote:

I was wondering, is there a type of Buddhism that believes in karma, promotes the use of meditation, teaches one to be generally decent towards other people and also promotes regular philosophical reflection without laying down many dogmatic stipulations or necessitating any specific belief in reincarnation?

Heh, karma is a very important part of buddhism. And buddhists do not believe in reincarnation (whatever about the tibetan crowd), buddhists believe in rebirth. The difference? The latter does not presuppose a soul.

Y'see, karma makes sense to me, as it provides a sort of structure for existence and I can see good actions helping the doer all the time but I don't see a reason for believing in reincarnation as an animal or human on this world. I might as well believe one could be reincarnated as a ball of pure mystic energy, or not be reincarnated at all.

In buddhism, one is reborn to fulfil any left over karma, so to speak. This keeps happening until one gets rid of all excess karma.

I also tend to shy away from religious dogma, and I would prefer not to become involved with any organised religion. However, maybe a personal Buddhist way of life could be possible for me. I have no idea, so please throw out your suggestions!

Buddhism can be adopted as merely a philosophy of how to live one's life without taking in the whole reborn thing. I think I would suggest reading some of the Dalai Lama books and see where you go from there.

god's toy

Yes,

I would call you a 'sleeping Buddha' that is to say your last life you may have been indeed Buddhist.

Are you interested in becoming Buddhist or are you happy the way you are now? For me it's about being happy with who you are now not what you call yourself.



Peace and love.

Asiaprod

Great, more wonderful questions to answer

John Doe wrote:

I was wondering, is there a type of Buddhism that believes in karma, promotes the use of meditation, teaches one to be generally decent towards other people and also promotes regular philosophical reflection without laying down many dogmatic stipulations or necessitating any specific belief in reincarnation?

Yes, but it does not have a special term, it is just called Buddhism plain and simple. Remember that this is not a religion, but a philosophy with an attached spiritual aspect. You can take what ever part of it you like to enhance your life and daily interactions. If you chose not to believe in rebirth, that is your decision. Nobody will force you to. It does not work that way.

Y'see, karma makes sense to me, as it provides a sort of structure for existence and I can see good actions helping the doer all the time but I don't see a reason for believing in reincarnation as an animal or human on this world. I might as well believe one could be reincarnated as a ball of pure mystic energy, or not be reincarnated at all.?

Hum, many interesting bits here. Now I have to stick my neck on the block. I talked about the provisional teachings in another post to Dublin Writer. And how the original teachings of the Buddha got refined as Buddhism began to spread. The question of reincarnation, and in particular, as an animal, was one of the major issues causing friction. Most people had forgotten that the Buddha had made it very clear that he was only a teacher, a raft to cross the river as Bubonicus has pointed out. He was not the final say on anything, he gave advice and guideline, and it was up to the individual themselves to study, learn and apply what was learned to life.
Think about on this animal reincarnation aspect for a moment:

The incorrect version goes:
A person lives a bad life, they die, they are reincarnated as a fly. Now what on earth would be point of this. How is this new fly to learn about Buddhism, to work of his bad Karma by doing good, to progress to be reborn as a human. A fly cannot do that. A fly lives for 3 days, poof, he is gone, or eaten by a spider. Not a very realistic method of atonement is it. It is a concept that was put forward 2,500 years ago. It applied to the people of its time. It was used in the same way that Christianity used parables to explain higher concepts that we outside the range of those living at that time.

The correct version could go something like this:
A person lives a bad life, they die, they are reborn with a disability or are physically challenged in some way. They learn to accept their disability, do not complain about it, and go on to do great good in the world. They die again, and are reborn into better conditions.

I also tend to shy away from religious dogma, and I would prefer not to become involved with any organized religion. However, maybe a personal Buddhist way of life could be possible for me. I have no idea, so please throw out your suggestions!?

Let me repeat myself, Buddhism is not a religion, it is a practical way to live an every day life. Most people do not realize that they are already living in harmony with what Buddhism teaches. It is not a question of becoming a Buddhist, it is a question of awakening to the fact that one IS already a Buddhist.
And not every body is destine to become a Buddhist monk. That is a highly specialized arena.
I think I will make that my goal for my next rebirth;)

John Doe

Thanks, all.
To reply to God's Toy and Asiaprod at once, I'm both quite happy with the way I am now and hopefully I'm living in harmony with what Buddhism teaches. Hugs to all.