What do you know about Buddhism?

[Polymath257]

do you have a qoute where this is written?

This was from reading I was doing of Buddhist writings many years ago. My *guess* was the Harvard collection of writings, but I truthfully do not recall.

Well from when buddha was teaching (all was oral teaching) to the time it was written down it did go years, but the good thing about those people around Buddha was that the oral tradition was very common so they would remember his word for a long time. and could pass it on to other buddhists.
But as you know it is 2600 years since buddha lived on earth, Yes it is a danger that some of his teachings has gotten lost or been translated wrong. But i would say in general 99% of the teaching is there, and the main teaching 4 noble truths and 8 folded path is there so we still can become enlighten from the teaching

I also want to point out that for his time, allowing women to become monks was revolutionary.

 

[Spirit of Light]

This was from reading I was doing of Buddhist writings many years ago. My *guess* was the Harvard collection of writings, but I truthfully do not recall.



I also want to point out that for his time, allowing women to become monks was revolutionary.

Buddha did allow woman to be monks yes i do not know how many woman who did follow Buddha personally but in the suttas there are told about woman who got enlighten from his teaching

 

[robocop (actually)]

Not sure i understand what you mean, when you say society fiht devils, who are the devils?

I just mean that we fight against our worst natures and that we rise and fall together.

 

[Spirit of Light]

I just mean that we fight against our worst natures and that we rise and fall together.

Yes we are often our own worsed enemy

 

[dybmh]

I am confused by the concept of Suffering as it is defined in Buddhism. Can you help? In Buddhism does Life = Suffering? Maybe I am confusing Suffering as defined in Buddhism with Suffering as defined in Hinduism?

 

[Jumi]

A religion is a huge topic, so I won't claim to know anything about it. I know some very specific things that I've had interest in or talked about with some knowledgeable buddhists, regards meditation and ascetics mostly. At the time I was a bit confrontational with them, so although our discussions were a bit deeper than most stuff I debate these days, we didn't touch some more interesting things.

Like with most major religions, I also did read some general information from a university textbook many years ago so I know some differences between Tibetan, Chan, Theravada, Pure land, Shingon and so on.

 

[wandering peacefully]

This is a question i have been thinking of for a long time in the forum

I have not seen to many buddhists here, so i was wondering. What do you know about buddhism or what would you ask about buddhism?

I'm not a Buddhist and do not believe in gods and reincarnation or karma but I sure enjoy the Buddha's teachings on ending suffering, mindfulness and the benefits of meditation. Wise advice which actually works when understood and practiced. It has allowed me to be peaceful and my existence satisfying.

 

[Cuminseed]

This is a question i have been thinking of for a long time in the forum

I have not seen to many buddhists here, so i was wondering. What do you know about buddhism or what would you ask about buddhism?

In a nutshell: "Life sucks then you die, but there is a way to not only accept this fact, but also to find peace and contentment with this truth."

Don't get all caught up in this school of thought or that school of thought. The significant differences between sects have to do with the monks. For lay Buddhist it's all pretty much all the same.

The Four Noble Truths

• The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
• The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)
• The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
• The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
• Four Noble Truths - Wikipedia

The Eightfold Path are:[27][note 2]

1. Right View: our actions have consequences, death is not the end, and our actions and beliefs have consequences after death. The Buddha followed and taught a successful path out of this world and the other world (heaven and underworld/hell).[28][29][30][31][note 3]Later on, right view came to explicitly include karma and rebirth, and the importance of the Four Noble Truths, when "insight" became central to Buddhist soteriology.[32][33]
2. Right Resolve or Intention: the giving up home and adopting the life of a religious mendicant in order to follow the path; this concept aims at peaceful renunciation, into an environment of non-sensuality, non-ill-will (to loving kindness), away from cruelty (to compassion).[34] Such an environment aids contemplation of impermanence, suffering, and non-Self.[34]
3. Right Speech: no lying, no rude speech, no telling one person what another says about him.[27]
4. Right Conduct or Action: no killing or injuring, no taking what is not given, no sexual acts, no material desires.[27]
5. Right Livelihood: beg to feed, only possessing what is essential to sustain life;[27]
6. Right Effort: preventing the arising of unwholesome states, and generating wholesome states, the bojjhagā (seven factors of awakening). This includes indriya-samvara, "guarding the sense-doors," restraint of the sense faculties.[35][34]
7. Right Mindfulness (sati; Satipatthana; Sampajañña): "retention," being mindful of the dhammas ("teachings," "elements") that are beneficial to the Buddhist path.[36][note 4] In the vipassana movement, sati is interpreted as "bare attention": never be absent minded, being conscious of what one is doing;[38] this encourages the awareness of the impermanence of body, feeling and mind, as well as to experience the five aggregates (skandhas), the five hindrances, the four True Realities and seven factors of awakening.[34]
8. Right samadhi (Passaddhi; Ekaggata; sampasadana): practicing four stages of dhyāna ("meditation"), which includes samadhi proper in the second stage, and reinforces the development of the bojjhagā, culminating into upekkha (equanimity) and mindfulness.[39][8]. In the Theravada tradition and the Vipassana movement, this is interpreted as ekaggata, concentration or one-pointedness of the mind, and supplemented with Vipassana-meditation, which aims at insight.
9. Noble Eightfold Path - Wikipedia

He then continues with reciting the five precepts:[45][46]

1. "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from onslaught on breathing beings." (Pali: Pāṇātipātā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)
2. "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from taking what is not given." (Pali: Adinnādānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)
3. "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from misconduct concerning sense-pleasures." (Pali: Kāmesumicchācāra veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)
4. "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from false speech." (Pali: Musāvādā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)
5. "I undertake the training-precept to abstain from alcoholic drink or drugs that are an opportunity for heedlessness." (Pali: Surāmerayamajjapamādaṭṭhānā veramaṇī sikkhāpadaṃ samādiyāmi.)
6. Five precepts - Wikipedia

 

[Vinayaka]

I know enough about Buddhism to know that it has many variants, and if there are parallels to my own faith in that, some folks makes the mistake that their particular version of Buddhism is THE version.

I've been to a Vietnamese Buddhist retreat center, spent a weekend at a retreat center of a differing variation, my brother claims to be a Buddhist, I've met kindly Buddhists who work hard, and met some Sri Lankan Sinhalese Buddhists who supported a genocide.

But in reality I know nothing.

 

[Ellen Brown]

This is a question i have been thinking of for a long time in the forum

I have not seen to many buddhists here, so i was wondering. What do you know about buddhism or what would you ask about buddhism?

I do not know much about it, but am often told that I am very "Zen", whatever that is. You could say that I have "seen" things that have made me more philosophical. I try to see suffering and difficulty as teaching. I don't anger easily.

 

[MJFlores]

This is a question i have been thinking of for a long time in the forum

I have not seen to many buddhists here, so i was wondering. What do you know about buddhism or what would you ask about buddhism?

The Chinese at Chinatown are Buddhist.
It was founded by Buddha or it is based on Buddha.
Buddha was formerly a rich guy or a well off guy
He starved himself for enlightenment.
So the story goes.

The former dictator of the Philippines stole a golden Buddha from somebody and it had a tragic ending.

 

[David1967]

Yes, I just edited my post as I saw you list it. I have more familiarity with Tibetan Buddhism as I'm friends with people who are leaders from the community. I got to meet and socialize a little with one of their highest lamas. It was a wonderful experience.

Free Tibet!

 

[Willamena]

Buddhism: Whatever is subject to origination is subject to cessation.

 

[Twilight Hue]

This is a question i have been thinking of for a long time in the forum

I have not seen to many buddhists here, so i was wondering. What do you know about buddhism or what would you ask about buddhism?

In 2006 I had an interest in Soto and Rinzai Zen. Studied teachings of Sunryu Suzuki and Phillip Kapelu of the Rochester Zen Center. The Works of Dogen. Moon in a dewdrop. Alan Watts. The Blue Cliff Record.

Later I discovered my mind was irreparably warped by Brad Warner. *Grin* .

So consequently , due to my brain damage from reading too much of Brad Warner, I had to sit down and shut up. Perfect classical start like students of old.

Things naturally came out of the woodwork afterwards. Wow!

Decided Bompu Zen was the best fit, turned into a traitorous wild fox and ended up discovering everything as empty.

The Heart Sutra. Hakuin Ekaku's monkey. Dazzling brilliance .

I learned the entirety of Buddhism just by hearing a bell. Buddhism in a ding. That's it.

I find I actually have no more need to hear anything else, or or have a need to ask any more questions. It feels just like the song lyric, "Life has been good to me so far".

 

[Twilight Hue]

Buddhism: Whatever is subject to origination is subject to cessation.

Indeed.

 

[Lyndon]

I was a Buddhist for years, even became a monk for 3 weeks and a temple boy for about a year total. What finally made me give up on Buddhism is I believe in the soul as do Hindus, and I believe in a God as per the Tao, and was told that was not compatible with Buddhism

 

[blü 2]

This is a question i have been thinking of for a long time in the forum

I have not seen to many buddhists here, so i was wondering. What do you know about buddhism or what would you ask about buddhism?

I have lunch every month or two with a friend who's a Buddhist and has lectured in Buddhism. You'll immediately note that this makes him the expert, not me.

From a western point of view, there are two main schools of Buddhism, one in effect atheist, and one with a kit of gods. (Interestingly, Gautama Buddha was agnostic on the afterlife. In the Kalama Sutta he says that if you live a moderate, benevolent life then if there's no afterlife you have the reward of knowing you've lived well; and if there is, you'll be in good stead to get the best of it.)

The atheist one has had more success overall in the West, but the theist tradition can be found in most places. Tibetan Buddhism, for example, has incorporated the culture's old tribal gods, but there is, or was, an annual festival where they all give obeisance to the Buddha.

The principles of Buddhism are set out (I notice) >here<.

(There's a general impression that Buddhism is a peaceful religion, and its teachings are of that kind. However, in Buddhist countries you can still encounter right wing violence, eg as against Muslims in southern Thailand, and in Sri Lanka's civil war, where the Buddhist right faction had no small hand in the government atrocities that occurred. So as with any religion, beware of the humans.)

 

[Spirit of Light]

I was a Buddhist for years, even became a monk for 3 weeks and a temple boy for about a year total. What finally made me give up on Buddhism is I believe in the soul as do Hindus, and I believe in a God as per the Tao, and was told that was not compatible with Buddhism

well in buddhism we do not follow other the buddha teaching, but i do not see a problem if you saw good in Tao too.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

This is a question i have been thinking of for a long time in the forum

I have not seen to many buddhists here, so i was wondering. What do you know about buddhism or what would you ask about buddhism?

HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
Gautama Siddharta was an extravagant prince in India. Like many spoiled rich, he got bored. One day he wandered out and saw four things that made an impression on him: an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and an ascetic. He came to the conclusion that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He through off his princely life to seek enlightenment. His search came to a head while he sat meditating under a Boddhi tree. He "woke up," meaning that he saw clearly what the problem was and how to free himself from it. Buddha's teachings are not meant to be exhuastive -- they leave many things unanswered. But they are the core upon which a person can cultivate his soul until they too reach enlightenment. Buddha means The One Who Woke Up. The teachings of Buddhism are the understandings that came to Gautama Siddharta as he became enlightened under the Boddhi tree. Buddha is not a deity -- he is an enlightened human being.

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS
1. Life is suffering. Even when we feel good, there is an undercurrent of anxiety that we will lose the good that we have.
2. Suffering is caused by desire/attachment. Basically, we want or expect things, and don't get them.
3. Suffering will end if we rid ourselves of attachment.
4. We can rid ourselves of attachment by following the Eightfold Path and reaching Enlightenment (Nirvana).

THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

1. Right Understanding
2. Right Thought
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration

These eight steps can be grouped under three headings: good moral conduct (Understanding, Thought, Speech); meditation and mental development (Action, Livelihood, Effort), and wisdom or insight (Mindfulness and Concentration).

KARMA
Karma is the idea that what goes around comes around, that all of our actions have just consequences, if not in this life, then in the next.

SAMSARA
The cycle of death and rebirth. This is usually referred to as reincarnation. It is in this cycle that karma is played out.


There are of course many schools of Buddhism, and there is folk Buddhism verses a more philosophical Buddhism. I don't really concern myself with those kinds of details.

I have found that there are truths in the Basics of Buddhism that are worth mulling over. I think that being attached to "things" is a trap and having expectations is also a trap. It's not that you withdraw from enjoying the world. On the contrary, my #1 song is "I hope you dance" by LeeAnn Womack. It's just that I'm happiest when I let things be what they are without having unrealistic expectations. Other things I have found just amazingly helpful about Buddhism is the idea of living in the moment and being mindful. My natural inclination is NOT to live in the moment -- I have been plagued by depression about the past, and anxieties about the future. Learning about Buddhism has taught me that most of my little crises in life are completely handleable if I just take them as they are in the moment.

However, as a true student of comparative religion, I cannot get too attached to Buddhism either. It is simply one form that can be used to cultivate one's self. It is the lattice upon which one can watch the light play. It is not the light. It is a finger pointing. Better to look where the finger is pointing, than to look at the finger. Form is, ultimately, simply illusion. It is the essence behind the form that we want to get to. And so I should say, as said the Sixth Patriarch, there really is no Boddhi tree.

I bet you never dreamed a simple ol' Jew would have so much to say about Buddhism.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

well in buddhism we do not follow other the buddha teaching, but i do not see a problem if you saw good in Tao too.

Ah, now you are going to get me talking about Taoism! I REALLY love the Tao Te Ching. If the Tao Te Ching is the essense of Taoism, then #1 and #25 are the essense of the Tao Te Ching, beginning with the verse, "The Tao which can be expressed is not the eternal Tao."

Sometimes I think a person either experience these things, and recognize what they are talking about, OR they have not had the necessary experiences, and no matter how much of the Tao Te Ching they read, no matter how many copies of The Tao of Pooh they have, no matter how many times they consider whether Chuang Tze is dreaming he is a butterfly or the butterfly is dreaming he is Chuang Tze... they just don't get it.