I would like to become a Buddhist

yomchi

Am I glad I found this forum. Now hopefully I can get some nice answers!

I have attended talks up in Kilmainham Buddhist centre and meditation classes in Leeson street. I've read many books on the Buddha and try my utmost to stick to Buddhist principles.
What exactly is involved in becoming a Buddhist? Can anyone steer me in the right direction?

Jon

Asiaprod

Jon wrote:

Am I glad I found this forum. Now hopefully I can get some nice answers!

I have attended talks up in Kilmainham Buddhist centre and meditation classes in Leeson street. I've read many books on the Buddha and try my utmost to stick to Buddhist principles.
What exactly is involved in becoming a Buddhist? Can anyone steer me in the right direction?

Jon

Hi Jon, I am afraid I can not help you much as I am here in Japan and am not sure what support is available in Ireland. I hope some of our Irish Bodhisattvas will give you some info as soon as they have their morning coffee.
Being or becoming a Buddhist only requires that you believe
If you have any question that I can help you with, please do not hesitate to ask them.

In answer to your question I am going to give you the official answer as a good starting point for your journey. This is a very basic answer and is generally true for all schools of Buddhism. But please remember, you do not need to do any of this to be a Buddhist. Buddhism come from the heart. It lies dormant till some spark ignites it. In reality, from a Buddhist perspective, you are already one. You just need to awaken to that fact. And it sound to me that this is what is happening. Congradulations in advance.

The specific ceremonies or rituals involved in becoming a Buddhist differ greatly depending on the particular Buddhist sect or tradition, all share certain practices. One common practice, and one which is shared is to "receive" what are known as the "Three Treasures." Basically, a Buddhist stands before a Buddhist altar and, bowing their head with hands together, pledges to "take refuge" in the Three Treasures, which are the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. The "Buddha" is the symbolic "Amida Buddha," which represents the infinite wisdom and compassion the historic Buddha awakened to. "The Dharma" is the teaching of the (historic) Buddha. It is not a god, but "truth" or "reality." "The Sangha" is the community of fellow students or seekers of the truth which simply refers to all of our individuals with an interest in Buddhism. We need each of these three "treasures" in order to attain awakening.
The act of "Taking refuge" signifies the crucial change from living a "self-centered" life to living a "Dharma-centered" life; i.e., living a life which is sincerely and humbly centered on the teachings of the Buddha. Furthermore, the act of bowing before the altar is also very significant. It indicates our awareness of a reality greater than our ego-self.
Regarding living life as a Buddhist, this happens naturally when we see the connection between the teachings and our own daily lives. Certainly, the passing of a loved one, the often troubling events in the news, or of course, our own impending mortality, can sensitize us to the Buddha Dharma, to the teachings of the Buddha. It is when we can see the connection between the Dharma and our everyday lives, the teachings can truly come alive. When the teachings come alive for us, we are living life as true Buddhists.

yomchi

Thank you very much Asiaprod,

That was a very comprehensive answer, thank you again,
I have to say, reading and trying to understand Buddhist teachings have changed my life completely. I am truely a different person nowadays, much more tolerant of others and less fearful of life!

I look forward to some more answers.

Thank you
Jon

coffee_cake

Jon wrote:

Am I glad I found this forum. Now hopefully I can get some nice answers!

I have attended talks up in Kilmainham Buddhist centre and meditation classes in Leeson street. I've read many books on the Buddha and try my utmost to stick to Buddhist principles.
What exactly is involved in becoming a Buddhist? Can anyone steer me in the right direction?

Jon

Mostly it's just practising it. There's no big formal baptism thingy etc, though there is the matter of taking refuge. I personally wouldn't regard that as vital, the most important part is basically what you've been doing, I think.

But please remember, you do not need to do any of this to be a Buddhist. Buddhism come from the heart. It lies dormant till some spark ignites it. In reality, from a Buddhist perspective, you are already one. You just need to awaken to that fact. And it sound to me that this is what is happening. Congradulations in advance.

Yeah, I'd go with that.

As for any external support, you've done more than I have in going to kilmainhaim (I passed by it, but they do stuff at times I can't make it ) etc so I can't suggest anything there.

Asiaprod

Jon wrote:

I am truely a different person nowadays, much more tolerant of others and less fearful of life!

Funny thing that. It is the most often quote statement I hear from people in respect to Buddhism. I wonder why? Well, in truth I think I know why. Buddhism seem to free us from all the restrictions and guilt that we inherit from organized religions, which generally try to tell us how bad we are and how we need to depend on the God head to save us. In contrast, the Buddhist understands that he and he alone is responsible for where he is currently at, and where he will end up if he maintains his current approach to life. It hands responsibility directly back to us and assures us that we have the capabilities to overcome all obstacles to change our life in the way that will make us happy. I think that knowing this, and believing this, makes us far more tolerant of others, and makes life an interesting place to be.

yomchi

Asiaprod wrote:

Funny thing that. It is the most often quote statement I hear from people in respect to Buddhism. I wonder why? Well, in truth I think I know why. Buddhism seem to free us from all the restrictions and guilt that we inherit from organized religions, which generally try to tell us how bad we are and how we need to depend on the God head to save us. In contrast, the Buddhist understands that he and he alone is responsible for where he is currently at, and where he will end up if he maintains his current approach to life. It hands responsibility directly back to us and assures us that we have the capabilities to overcome all obstacles to change our life in the way that will make us happy. I think that knowing this, and believing this, makes us far more tolerant of others, and makes life an interesting place to be.

Absolutely! One great quote from the Buddha I think is.. all things are immpermenant.. This to me is very powerful. Before, when I was stressed and in difficult situations I never realised that it was my doing that brought the stress on, it my decisions that landed me in stupid situations. Knowing this now, it is so much easier to avoid stress and make the right decisions, the decisions that keep away suffering, whether it be large or small.
I find great happiness in helping others, and being kind and friendly. I see how it changes peoples attitude's towards each other.

Ih ave one other question, when a buddhist passes on, what happens in regards to ceremony and burial etc? as opposed to the Catholic church?

Thanks all

Asiaprod

Jon wrote:

I find great happiness in helping others, and being kind and friendly. I see how it changes peoples attitude's towards each other.

Well done, this is very true and it is great that you see it so clearly in your life. Don`t forget that it also changes people`s attitude in how they in turn deal with you

Ih ave one other question, when a buddhist passes on, what happens in regards to ceremony and burial etc? as opposed to the Catholic church?

Humm, I never stopped to think about this before. I don`t think approaching it from "as opposed to the Catholic church" is really of much benefit here as the purpose of death between the two is radically different. A Catholic dies to go to God or Hell as the case may be. A Buddhist stars a new leg of his journey towards enlightenment. Both should in theory be a reason for joy.

If we circumvent the obvious problems of loosing someone we know, of feeling alone at having lost something that was precious, which are all very reasonable things to do, then a Buddhist will actually rejoice in the persons death because we say that he/she has served his/her purpose in this life and has now moved on to the next stage of development while we are still stuck here overcoming suffering. The rituals we would observe are as follows:

1. The process of dieing
In the case of the Buddhism I follow, we spend time with the person in question chanting for a speedy and pain free exit and rebirth for their spirit. The Buddha himself talked about the 4 sufferings of Birth, sickness, old age and death. death is seen as a painful experience for the spirit, so we do our best to help out by chanting and burning incense.

2 Actual death
Since we acknowledge that the spirit requires a couple of hours to depart from its former body, the body in question resides in our home and life resolves around it. The body is treated as a it was during life. It is a member of the family and is welcomed in our presence. When my wife`s grandmother died we all slept in the same room with the body. That was an eye opening experience for me as I was still in the western frame of mind where the last thing one might want to do is spend the nigh in the company of a corpse.

3. Funeral
In Japan 99% of bodies are cremated. We all go to the crematorium to see the departed off. While the actual cremation takes place we have a small party where we eat and drink and talk about that persons life. There is a lot of joy and fond recounting of things they did when they were alive. After about 2 hours we all go back down to receive the remains. The guests form a line and walk up to the receiving tray that contains the ashes of the departed. Ashes is not really correct as what one sees in front of you are a pile of bones. In turn, each guest using a pair of ceremonial chopsticks places one bone in a porcelain urn. The body ids reconstructed from the feet up. The last person in the line is the spouse or closest family member. That persons job is to recreate al the facial bones which are placed on top bones in the urn. A set of Buddhist prayer beads and a copy of what ever Gosho or mandala that person used in his life is placed on top of the skull and the urn is sealed and presented to the closest family member.

4 Burial
Is up to the family. One could go one step further and have the bones then ground down into real ashes for dispersal into nature, you could inter the urn in the family grave you could keep it at home on you family alter.

All in all a nice ceremony. The most striking aspect for me was the finality of it all.
When I left Ireland Catholics were not permitted to be cremated and I always thought that the knowledge of a dearly loved one buried in the cold and dark 6 feet under was an unnessicerily painfully reminder. The Buddhist cremation in contrast was all so clean and quick, and having been involved with packing away the bones all one left with was the memory. No painful wondering of how long it would take the body to decompose. No thinking of the person in the cold and dark.

yomchi

. Funeral
In Japan 99% of bodies are cremated. We all go to the crematorium to see the departed off. While the actual cremation takes place we have a small party where we eat and drink and talk about that persons life. There is a lot of joy and fond recounting of things they did when they were alive. After about 2 hours we all go back down to receive the remains. The guests form a line and walk up to the receiving tray that contains the ashes of the departed. Ashes is not really correct as what one sees in front of you are a pile of bones. In turn, each guest using a pair of ceremonial chopsticks places one bone in a porcelain urn. The body ids reconstructed from the feet up. The last person in the line is the spouse or closest family member. That persons job is to recreate al the facial bones which are placed on top bones in the urn. A set of Buddhist prayer beads and a copy of what ever Gosho or mandala that person used in his life is placed on top of the skull and the urn is sealed and presented to the closest family member

Thank you Asiaprod, Is the bit about funeral a custom in Japan or is it general Buddhist custom practiced world wide?

Asiaprod

Jon wrote:

Thank you Asiaprod, Is the bit about funeral a custom in Japan or is it general Buddhist custom practiced world wide?

I only have experience of Japan. I am sure that in other school there are very elaborate customs and rituals. Maybe someone else here can tell us?

coffee_cake

This should help:
http://www.buddhanet.net/funeral.htm

Asiaprod

bluewolf wrote:

This should help:
http://www.buddhanet.net/funeral.htm

Bluewolf, very cool score, thank you. According to the site, this is my approach, but I have to dwell on it a little first


In Tibet, a Mahayana country, the day of death is thought of as highly important. It is believed that as soon as the death of the body has taken place, the personality goes into a state of trance for four days. During this time the person does not know they are dead. This period is called the First Bardo and during it lamas (monks) saying special verses can reach the person to them.

It is believed that towards the end of this time the dead person will see a brilliant light. If the radiance of the Clear Light does not terrify them, and they can welcome it, then the person will not be reborn. But most flee from the Light, which then fades.

The person then becomes conscious that death has occurred. At this point the Second Bardo begins. The person sees all that they have ever done or thought passing in front of them. While they watch they feel they have a body but when they realize this is not so, they long to possess one again. Then comes the Third Bardo, which is the state of seeking another birth. All previous thoughts and actions direct the person to choose new parents, who will give them their next body.

coffee_cake

buddhanet is usually quite helpful ^^
that's pretty interesting. I never thought about what happens immediately after death, just that we're reborn at some point.
I guess if I ever see any white lights I'll try to be welcoming

Asiaprod

bluewolf wrote:

that's pretty interesting. I never thought about what happens immediately after death, just that we're reborn at some point. I guess if I ever see any white lights I'll try to be welcoming

Yes, sounds like a good idea. Also makes me wonder about all those near death experiences you hear about. So many of them all seem to mention a white light. I remember in the film the Poltergeist when the kid was told to walk into the light. When you hear of so many references to this white light one could be inclined to read some truth in to it.