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Do you love Buddhism?
Shim
Veteran
My guilty pleasure is watching videos about different religions and I've noticed that many people have great love and respect for their religion, in a very humble, down-to-earth way that is not based on some ideas about their path being supreme over others.
But... do you? Or Buddhists in general? (Personally, my views about the matter are a bit bitter so I'm going to shut up for a while, grab a bowl of imaginary chips and see how this turns out.)
Do we even need any kind of love and respect? Probably yes but how does that manifest in your practice?
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Comments
No...
yes ...
but then I love demons and all kinds of weird and wonderful things ...
dharma does not require love or respect, it only requires a motivational impetus. So for example some people are terrified of endless dukkha or wasting their lives on Whine, wimmin and songha ...
Today I created this pic based on a steam punk image, of bad boy Manjushri to hide behind when visiting the hell realms. Manjushri chops off demon heads - they grow more ... demons love that sort of thing. Fun for all the dharma family ...
Maybe it's like an old married couple ... it's not as exciting as "love," but there is something.
I keep thinking I understand it, but then realise I don't.
@Shim
Do you love Buddhism?
I think Buddhism's true love, is it's transcendence of self.
With such a love manifesting as the absence of self, the "you" part of that question limits it's expression.
I love Buddhism. It is helping me to be a better version of myself and to do my best to help people or at least do no harm. (read that somewhere
) I love what it has helped me do and what I think it can help others do.
I'm really enjoying this journey and Buddhism has helped me to find a slightly clearer path.
I am very attached to it. Hur hur hur...
"Do we even need any kind of love and respect? Probably yes but how does that manifest in your practice?"
Through my behaviour
I feel we are all on the same path but maybe different areas. Not just us Buddhists but everybody.
To me, seeing the logic of unconditional love and compassion is the practice.
Everything else is secondary.
Never thought about it.
I'd say no.
People "love" sports teams or their country, or brand of truck, but not ALL people. And not me.
Buddhism is useful. So are napkins. So is sunshine.
i respect my practice, I enjoy my practice, I gain from my practice. Love is not something I would apply to my practice. Love, compassion and mercy are outgrowths of my practice. I get very nervous around people who "Love" whatever practice, religion they have. Fanaticism is awfully close behind and intertwined with that kind of "love".
Well said @Lionduck
In that sense it sure would be weird to say, 'I love my atheism' but maybe we have heard people 'love science' or 'love maths'. Such lovers seem relatively safe to be around. Maybe we need to be wary of the dogmatists and 'buddhism uber alles' that are keen to convert to the 'One True Way out of ignorance'. We do not seem to have too many of those, they always tend to be a minority ...
I feel your answer is more reasoned and mature but I still loves Buddhism, religion and fanatical mystic yogis like the Buddha, who nearly died from his efforts ... my sort of guy ...
lobster is hopeless case
You all folks are so practical and sane...
)
(Perhaps I'm just projecting something else to this question about 'love'...
I'm gonna take a deep breath and try to answer my own question: no. I don't love Buddhism. I do respect it, theoretically, as a spiritual path and a cultural setting in Buddhist countries and as other people's practice but not as my own.
It makes sense to me. Some parts of it do. But it's a long way from 'making sense' to actually embracing a religion/philosophy the way I see other people doing with their path. Perhaps it all boils down to Shakyamuni. Sure, a great guy but it's really hard for me to see the smiling or rebellious or whatever 'the fans' keep saying about him. I just see this sort of wry, priestly kind of figure, respectable and noble but 'not my type'. Lol. Seems like I revere my own distorted views and "philosophies" more than Buddhism. Or anything else.
Wow, I think you just won the trifecta - from me, anyway:
An insightful, an awesome and a LoL.
(I especially like "I just see this sort of wry, priestly kind of figure, respectable and noble but 'not my type'. Lol."
I'm not.
Answering our own question is always the dharmic possibility. Go Buddha!
@Shim any and all paths, especially our own are limited. They are also limitless. In this sense it is not 'is this path good enough for me' but 'am I good enough to walk and transcend this path' ...
We need an impetus to practice rather than being sane, rational and a side liner.
... And now back to the practically sane answers ...
I agree with this so much. It's one of my problems: on the other hand I'm really lazy and arrogant person with this buffet mindset: pick the tasty parts - on the other hand I know it's a path that takes some guts and commitment and various other qualities that I don't have (something that makes me even more un-Buddhist: in theory I can believe in Buddha nature and the thought of every person having the possibilities for compassion/metta/other noble qualities but in practice it is impossible for me. I must be heading towards the hells. At least that is what I dream of.
)
I should never go on Buddha forums when it's hot outside and the train is crowded. I'll lose my face with all the whinery (see, of course it's not my fault, it's the weather and all the other people! 8)
So being on a forum, listening, perhaps a kind word here and there ... That may be sufficient.
Nobody starts with the qualities they end up with.
You have all the qualities required. Truly.
"Do you love Buddhism?"
I'm having an intimate affair with Buddhism- does this count as love ?
Not as a hard and fast rule, no.
Further comment:
If the definition of "Love" of Buddhism means:
Then, yes I do love Buddhism.
As with any relationship, an intimate affair neither equates with commitment nor love.
Affairs, intimate or otherwise, tend to be illusionary and transitory - they don't, as a rule, last.
Peace to all
Intimate = Inner (in this case)
Affair =of the heart
An inner heartfelt ongoing experience with Buddhism....So from this angle I guess one could call this love
This question reminded me of a passage in Jon Kabat-Zinn's book, "Wherever you go, there you are". He quotes a student, who told him:
"When I was a Buddhist, it drove my parents and friends crazy, but when I am a Buddha, nobody is upset at all."
Good point.
I do love buddhism
it makes me happy