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Which Buddhist tradition do you follow...and why (any particular reason??)
I follow the 'Hinayana' tradition, which is the tradition of taking the basic teachings and applying them to your personal life & needs.
The basic teachings are morality (non-harming), concentration (meditation) and wisdom (insight).
The basic teachings are avoid evil, do good, purify the mind (from 'self-views')
The other traditions are often obsessions with either earning a living for yourself as a teacher, falling in love with a teacher (guru) or obsessions about trying to make others good and changing the world.
But, for me, the 'Hinayana tradition' ('small vehicle') is best & most beautiful.
'Hinayana' is not a dirty word; don't you believe what you've seen or heard
All path. search,tradition no matter what whether Buddhist or not it will eventually end up in purity sooner or later . We all ( living or non-living ) are on the way "home" , some takes longer road for site-seeing , some stop over for a coffee break , some still in "enjoying" themselve go to and fo but all will reach to a final destination -the purity . No road , path , map is designed specially to "home" , is not important how you get home whether by bus , train , plane , walk , crawl , run is all leading home . when you reach home , no one will interested how you get home or when you reach home . So no tradition , no text , no scripture , no monks including Mr Siddharta could be associated to Buddha or as referral to Buddha in any possible manner .
I follow the 'Hinayana' tradition, which is the tradition of taking the basic teachings and applying them to your personal life & needs.
The basic teachings are morality (non-harming), concentration (meditation) and wisdom (insight).
The basic teachings are avoid evil, do good, purify the mind (from 'self-views')
The other traditions are often obsessions with either earning a living for yourself as a teacher, falling in love with a teacher (guru) or obsessions about trying to make others good and changing the world.
But, for me, the 'Hinayana tradition' ('small vehicle') is best & most beautiful.
'Hinayana' is not a dirty word; don't you believe what you've seen or heard
Regards
Namaste,
My understanding is that without Hinayana, you couldn't have Mahayana as Hinayana is at the foundation of Mahayana as well.
I may be naive and silly, but that doesn't sound very "little" to me
In metta, Raven (a Tibetan/Mahayana-ist practicioner)
I guess I practice DD's 'Hinayana' as well. I follow this because from the moment I put the 4 noble truths and the noble eight-fold path into practice, I started to notice a positive change in my life: even during negative events.
Im a Theravadin, a Vibhajyavada(doctrine of analysis) Theravadin. Anything else with Sarvam Asti or similiar mind enslaving mechanism no longer appeals to me.
All path. search,tradition no matter what whether Buddhist or not it will eventually end up in purity sooner or later . We all ( living or non-living ) are on the way "home" , some takes longer road for site-seeing , some stop over for a coffee break , some still in "enjoying" themselve go to and fo but all will reach to a final destination -the purity . No road , path , map is designed specially to "home" , is not important how you get home whether by bus , train , plane , walk , crawl , run is all leading home . when you reach home , no one will interested how you get home or when you reach home . So no tradition , no text , no scripture , no monks including Mr Siddharta could be associated to Buddha or as referral to Buddha in any possible manner .
For me, all practice falls under the noble truth of the cessation of suffering. I look at Buddhism as not being about attaining anything, or becoming something, but rather as the letting go and letting pass by desire and aversion. From this point of view it is easier to not get caught up in grasping for doing,being,arriving. It also, to me, means that, like someone said above, we already have everything.
Modern Zen- no clergy,no robes,no artificial or overuse of Asian culture no crap: Alan Watts,Brad Warner,Shaolin Chan,Ordinary Mind and Red Thread. I practice imperfect zen with fun and humor mixed in to make it taste better.
Soto Zen I got hooked when I was still in school. Yeah, I was warned it might be addictive but the emptyness caught me off guard. Now I've lost everything just to keep going. Going, going, always going on, always becoming...
Zen, as it was my first exposure through the martial arts.
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DavidA human residing in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Ancestral territory of the Erie, Haudenosaunee, Huron-Wendat, Mississauga and Neutral First NationsVeteran
My understanding is that without Hinayana, you couldn't have Mahayana as Hinayana is at the foundation of Mahayana as well. I may be naive and silly, but that doesn't sound very "little" to me
Quite right, and size isn't everything. And why re-invent the wheel when you already have a perfectly good one?
I started off in Zen, then Chan, then Tibetan. Now I don't follow any particular tradition and I envy those who do. In fact, I'm not sure I'm still a Buddhist. I do meditation for time to time but my only motivation seems to be that it feels good and makes my mind more clear. I feel a bit hopeless and without direction but perhaps it's a good sign. I don't know.
THE 'SELF' TRADITION. (with a little bit of that and a little bit of this)
That explains a lot
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personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
I've attended a Tibetan sangha and followed Tibetan teachers. But lately I wonder if I'm following the tradition of Indian Buddhism. A lot of the teachings I study and relate to are by old Indian Buddhists such as Shantideva, Nagarjuna, Chandrakirti. I don't really practice any Vajrayana my meditation is a more simple style of watching the mind or doing some guided analytical meditation or some tonglen. There is also a strong element of devotional practice in TB that I don't really engage in. TB originates from the Indian tradition so there is much in TB of the Indian Buddhists and is really the only living source of Indian Buddhism and the most important thing is to have a good teacher.
I am affiliated with the Kagyu Samye Dzong Tibetan Buddhist centre in London and have taken refuge with the abbot of Samye Ling monastery in Scotland. My policy is to just take the opportunities of developing my spiritual practice that naturally present themselves to me and then follow them whole-heartedly and it seems to work pretty well for me. There don't seem to be many other "Tibetan Buddhists" on this thread apart from @person and me. But it's great to see so many Zen and Theravadan practitioners here and all the wonderful reasons everyone has found to engage in spiritual practice. I feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to engage Buddhist practice.
@SattvaPaul: I agree, feeling without direction doesn't have to be a bad thing. Just carry on listening, watching and observing and follow your intuition as to what feels right. Just like you say: it feels good and makes your mind clear. What greater hope than feeling one's head get increasingly clearer. With increased clarity maybe a sense of direction will also emerge. Also maybe this sense of no direction has always been there, but only now has your awareness grown to a point, where you notice it. And from there you can go on to dispelling it, if indeed you feel that that might be helpful. So no reason to feel hopeless! Maybe it will feel better still if you add to your motivation that your efforts are not just benefitting yourself, but who knows how many others who come into contact with the increasingly clear you. When you feel good you become a force for good in the world. I don't think being part of a lineage or subscribing to one or the other Buddhist tradition is a fail-safe to never having any feelings of hopelessness or directionlessness. So don't be envious. I think, we all occasionally wonder "What am I doing on this cushion?".
Fo Guang Shan :-) Humanistic Buddhism is my beloved tradition, which feels like it were made for me :-) x
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personDon't believe everything you thinkThe liminal spaceVeteran
edited June 2012
@LydiaLondon there are several Tibetan Buddhists here @Jeffrey, @Sile, and @caznamyaw come to mind right away and I think maybe @Tosh. There are plenty others that learn from TB but aren't really affiliated with any particular school.
I learn from theravada, tibetan, chan and zen buddhist traditions. I don't find that one is better than other, all have the Four Noble True and the Eightfold Path, to me all are Dharma.
@person Aw. That's great! I'm a little bit new to this forum, so don't know who's who and what's what. But it's brilliant to have that many "different" Buddhist all come together in one place albeit a virtual one. This might be a bit of an off-topic plug, but at Kagyu Samye Dzong London there'll be an Interfaith event on June 30 from 2pm till 5pm, where a Tibetan Lama will speak as well as representatives of many other faiths and also other Buddhist traditions. Each will speak for 10 minutes with the common theme given to them all being "the environment". And there'll be a tree-planting ceremony afterwards. I think, it's a great idea to bring different Buddhist traditions together and other faiths too, because it can be really inspiring to see and hear about other people's "paths".
@Lydia, welcome to the forum. I'm more interested in where people come from, so I can conceptualise stereotypical pigeon holes to slot people into, than what their tradition is (though it's good to know the Zen types IMO, just so you kinda know you're going to read some weird posts from them in advance; what's that thing they say about Zen teachers speaking from both sides of their non-sided mouths?)
Anyway, welcome to the forum from a fellow Brit (a Geordie living in South East Wales), and I'm kinda affiliated with Tibetan Buddhism; I've done a foundation course with the Jamyang Centre (Gelug) and I am a regular visitor to a Kadampa group, but I always think that I'm an A.A.er first, rather than a Buddhist; though I don't think that there's much difference in practise. Both should be mindful, meditate and practise compassion; in fact isn't that what all Buddhists should be doing with a right view in mind?
@Tosh Nice to meet'ya. Do you mean where people come from as in nationality? You can put me straight into the German pigeon hole then: crazily efficient to the point of being anal, annoyingly fascist about recycling stuff and generally über-disciplined, which does help with maintaining a regular meditation practice... I suppose we do love labeling things. We don't seem to quite be able to be content with just practicing mindfulness and compassion and meditating. We want to know the name of what that is we are participating in. But I think you are right: there are many things that require all three and it probably doesn't matter what you call it, as long as you do it...
You can put me straight into the German pigeon hole then: crazily efficient to the point of being anal, annoyingly fascist about recycling stuff and generally über-disciplined, which does help with maintaining a regular meditation practice...
Comments
The basic teachings are morality (non-harming), concentration (meditation) and wisdom (insight).
The basic teachings are avoid evil, do good, purify the mind (from 'self-views')
The other traditions are often obsessions with either earning a living for yourself as a teacher, falling in love with a teacher (guru) or obsessions about trying to make others good and changing the world.
But, for me, the 'Hinayana tradition' ('small vehicle') is best & most beautiful.
'Hinayana' is not a dirty word; don't you believe what you've seen or heard
Regards
Alan
(with a little bit of that and a little bit of this)
No road , path , map is designed specially to "home" , is not important how you get home whether by bus , train , plane , walk , crawl , run is all leading home .
when you reach home , no one will interested how you get home or when you reach home .
So no tradition , no text , no scripture , no monks including Mr Siddharta could be associated to Buddha or as referral to Buddha in any possible manner .
My understanding is that without Hinayana, you couldn't have Mahayana as Hinayana is at the foundation of Mahayana as well.
I may be naive and silly, but that doesn't sound very "little" to me
In metta,
Raven (a Tibetan/Mahayana-ist practicioner)
Amen!
Drink to that!! X
do a search on google for it.
this is our sanghas website tell us what you think about it.
and if you want to spread the Buddhas teachings to others just let me know.
peace an love
I got hooked when I was still in school.
Yeah, I was warned it might be addictive
but the emptyness caught me off guard.
Now I've lost everything just to keep going.
Going, going, always going on, always becoming...
Hey buddy, ya got any ego to share.
But I also get some inspiration and ideas from Mayahana teachings.
In the end I don't think it matters that much. For each difference there are 100 similatities between different Buddhist paths.
And why re-invent the wheel when you already have a perfectly good one?
There don't seem to be many other "Tibetan Buddhists" on this thread apart from @person and me. But it's great to see so many Zen and Theravadan practitioners here and all the wonderful reasons everyone has found to engage in spiritual practice. I feel really fortunate to have the opportunity to engage Buddhist practice.
@SattvaPaul: I agree, feeling without direction doesn't have to be a bad thing. Just carry on listening, watching and observing and follow your intuition as to what feels right. Just like you say: it feels good and makes your mind clear. What greater hope than feeling one's head get increasingly clearer. With increased clarity maybe a sense of direction will also emerge. Also maybe this sense of no direction has always been there, but only now has your awareness grown to a point, where you notice it. And from there you can go on to dispelling it, if indeed you feel that that might be helpful. So no reason to feel hopeless! Maybe it will feel better still if you add to your motivation that your efforts are not just benefitting yourself, but who knows how many others who come into contact with the increasingly clear you. When you feel good you become a force for good in the world. I don't think being part of a lineage or subscribing to one or the other Buddhist tradition is a fail-safe to never having any feelings of hopelessness or directionlessness. So don't be envious. I think, we all occasionally wonder "What am I doing on this cushion?".
I think, it's a great idea to bring different Buddhist traditions together and other faiths too, because it can be really inspiring to see and hear about other people's "paths".
Anyway, welcome to the forum from a fellow Brit (a Geordie living in South East Wales), and I'm kinda affiliated with Tibetan Buddhism; I've done a foundation course with the Jamyang Centre (Gelug) and I am a regular visitor to a Kadampa group, but I always think that I'm an A.A.er first, rather than a Buddhist; though I don't think that there's much difference in practise. Both should be mindful, meditate and practise compassion; in fact isn't that what all Buddhists should be doing with a right view in mind?
I suppose we do love labeling things. We don't seem to quite be able to be content with just practicing mindfulness and compassion and meditating. We want to know the name of what that is we are participating in. But I think you are right: there are many things that require all three and it probably doesn't matter what you call it, as long as you do it...
Nice to meet you.