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Hi, curious non-buddhist here

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  • 03-08-2007 3:55pm
    #1
    Ekancone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,553 ✭✭✭


    Hi im not religious myself but i am interested in the practices and beliefs of religion, more from a cultural point of view than anything else.

    Anyway this may seem like a really broad questions but what are your central beliefs? Is Buddha a god, as in a creator? Do you have a bible? Again the first question may seem broad so maybe try limit the answer to a few hundred words.


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    #2
    18AD
    Registered Users Posts: 1,821 ✭✭✭18AD


    I'm not strictly a Buddhist but I have been heavily influenced by it, along with Taoism, and some Zen.

    I retain the view that everything is one. Divisible only by name and that the name tells you nothing of what something is.
    I have recently discarded the concept of time, there is only a transforming now.
    The idea that the universe is illusory is an interesting idea that I am yet to delve into.
    I personally don't adhere to any strict practices or codes or follow anything like a bible.

    Maybe a Buddhist could be of more help :p


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    #3
    coffee_cake
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    Buddha was not a god or a creator, buddha was a teacher whose teachings we follow because we agree with them and observe them to work.
    Different traditions may have different opinions on the divinity of the buddha and bodhisattvas - some do worship them.
    There is no bible. There are precepts, 5 for laypeople, 8 for monks and nuns. Should be adhered to, but only because it can be observed that a lapse has not-nice consequences of various sorts, rather than for fear of punishment.

    There are also a collection of sutras, some longer than others. Different traditions place different emphasis on sutras; I believe Zen doesn't tend to rely on them at all though of course having read them is always good, and Nichiren for example focuses a lot on the lotus sutra, I think. reciting them anyway. Personally, I like the diamond sutra.

    I suggest going to
    http://www.buddhanet.net/
    and this forum is more active than ours
    http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/
    - for more info.

    Hope this helps. :)


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    #4
    maitri
    Closed Accounts Posts: 426 ✭✭maitri


    Hi! :)
    daithifleming wrote:
    Anyway this may seem like a really broad questions but what are your central beliefs?

    It seems to me that what is central in Buddhism - which is sometimes described more like a way of living than like a religion - is the practice of kindness and awareness in daily life.
    Buddha quotes:

    "Do not what is evil. Do what is good devotedly. Purify your mind. This is the teaching/advice of all the Buddhas." (Dhammapada, 183.)

    "Hatreds never cease by hatreds in this world. By love alone they cease. This is an ancient Law."

    To connect with our natural kindness; our basic human goodness, and to learn awareness Buddhism teaches meditation. Meditation also is (a way to) truly being in the here and now, not clinging to what is no longer the now, learning to let go.

    Kindness (towards oneself and all beings), awareness and the learning to let go and live in the now (also when it is painful) is according to Buddhism, as I understand it, the path to freedom and happiness.

    Also Buddhism teaches that everything in our changing world is conditioned and interdependent, and that to see oneself as a totally seperate unity is wrong and brings suffering.

    Buddhism also teaches that words cannot really describe the ultimate reality - which can only be experienced directly here and now - and that it is wise not to cling to ideologies and ideas or see them as "absolute truths".

    And ultimately that everybody has to find the truth within themselves (though the company of good friends and fellow seekers is reckoned very beneficial):

    Buddha quotes:

    "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

    Therefore, be ye lamps unto yourselves, be a refuge to yourselves. Hold fast to Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves. And those, who shall be a lamp unto themselves, shall betake themselves to no external refuge, but holding fast to the Truth as their lamp, and holding fast to the Truth as their refuge, they shall reach the topmost height."


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    #5
    The Mad Hatter
    Registered Users Posts: 4,718 ✭✭✭The Mad Hatter


    Er...can I suggest this thread be stickied? Great posts, bluey and maitri.


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    #6
    Ekancone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,553 ✭✭✭Ekancone


    So its not really like Judaism/Islam/Christianity then, where people have to believe in a God and are completely servile to this supreme being. Where buddhism is more of a way of life (i know the above relgions are too) and a means of being happier with things you cannot control, even if they are bad?

    What happens when you die, what are your beliefs regarding the afterlife/spirits?


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    #7
    coffee_cake
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Politics Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 81,309 CMod ✭✭✭✭coffee_cake


    daithifleming wrote:
    So its not really like Judaism/Islam/Christianity then, where people have to believe in a God and are completely servile to this supreme being. Where buddhism is more of a way of life (i know the above relgions are too) and a means of being happier with things you cannot control, even if they are bad?

    What happens when you die, what are your beliefs regarding the afterlife/spirits?

    Indeed, buddhism is non-theistic. That is to say, there are atheist, agnostic and theist buddhists.
    Generally speaking, buddhists believe in rebirth. The idea of a permanent soul is rejected (because we observe that all things change eventually) but we get reborn anyway. Reaching enlightenment will break the cycle of rebirth. (except for bodhisattvas who chose to be reborn to help other living beings become enlightened)


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    #8
    Ekancone
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,553 ✭✭✭Ekancone


    bluewolf wrote:
    Indeed, buddhism is non-theistic. That is to say, there are atheist, agnostic and theist buddhists.
    Generally speaking, buddhists believe in rebirth. The idea of a permanent soul is rejected (because we observe that all things change eventually) but we get reborn anyway. Reaching enlightenment will break the cycle of rebirth. (except for bodhisattvas who chose to be reborn to help other living beings become enlightened)


    Hmm, sounds kind of cool, might look into it a bit more.


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