What is Buddhism?

soundoff (4 Responses)

1. john sudic
   

   another step to avoid God and ten commandments!

   February 22, 2010 at 2:26 am |
2. Colleen
   

   **edit to my post**

   It should say:

   I WOULD NEVER presume to think I have the knowledge, experience, spirit or ability to ever try tell another person what to believe or how to live. What is most important to me is that I do not mislead, confuse, negatively effect or cause anyone any harm be it intentional or not.

   February 22, 2010 at 12:20 pm |
3. Bourgeoisette
   

   Buddhism is not what people say about it or read about it. It is in the practice of it that the true self may be glimpsed beyond our selfish, craving selves. Wanting is a trap; we fall in there every day. It takes courage and dedication to steel ourselves daily to the task of getting over ourselves and seeking to nurture our true self, which is to be found in loving and compassionate behavior toward all living beings.

   February 22, 2010 at 8:46 pm |
4. CJSH
   

   Compassion for all beings. That is the ultimate core of Buddhist teachings. Buddhism is unlike many other religions that require a belief in something or other, as in belief in God, belief in Jesus, belief in Allah, Belief in any specific dogma or religious system. There are different sects in Buddhism, but they are more like different languages or cultures,. In some ways, to call Buddhism a religion may cause non-buddhists to misunderstand what Buddhism is all about. It is more a system of thought, a system of apprehending life, the place of individuals in the cosmos, what it is to be enlightened, and ultimately compassion for others, for all others who are to one degree or another feeling the pain that we and all sentient beings all must endure in being alive. The Dalai Lama is believed to be a Bodhisatva – one who has achieved enlightenment and therefore is able to move on to the next stage of being, but instead of moving on, has vowed to stay with us until every last sentient being has also become enlightened, however long that takes. When one goes to a Buddhist temple and sees people bowing and giving thanks, we are not seeing people literally worshipping either the Buddha or the statues of Buddha that we see, but rather, we are seeing people express their gratitude to the Buddha and to the Bodhisativas among us who have given us guidance as to what it means to be enlightened and who stay among us to help us along that pathway. We also see the followers of Buddha, including Buddhist monks and nuns, such as the Dalai Lama, Suzuki-roshi who brought Zen buddhism to America, and many others who spend their lives working among us, to teach us how to meditate and come to understand a way of life that is rooted in compassion, in finding the enlightenment that is available to us all. This does not involve any system of belief in God, or for that matter non-belief. That is up to the individual. Buddhism is about something completely different than any of that. At its core, again, is compassion and I for one, believe that if we are to move forward as one human family, living on a fragile planet with more and more of our animal companions and the other living things that both keep us company and keep us alive, are dying off, not just as individuals, but as entire species of creatures, compassion for the whole, for all of humanity, for all living things, for the planet itself that makes life possible for us, is perhaps the most important idea the we could begin to understand and share.

   February 23, 2010 at 2:34 am |