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How do you know buddhism is the true religion?
jll
Veteran
for those who are buddhist, which criteria do you use to evaluate buddhism?
for those who has left their old religion eg catholics, why?
what i am asking is how do you choose a religion?
is it an objective process or not?
for those who has left their old religion eg catholics, why?
what i am asking is how do you choose a religion?
is it an objective process or not?
0
Comments
Much of Buddhism and much in the New Testament speak to me with wisdom and guidance.
I left the Catholic religion because I think the concept of confession is morally wrong. I occasionally go to a Methodist Church, and I'm thinking of looking into a universalist church.
How? Partly objective, partly emotional.
It just seems right and has helped overcome some mental issues experienced in the past.
How does one choose a religion -- hm, I don't think there is any objective way to say "these are the X-many steps to do to find out which spiritual tradition is right for you" -- I think you really just have to try it on, much like how you can ask all you want of your friends about a particular type of shoe, are they comfortable, do they pinch at the toes, are they water-resistant .. but until you try a pair on for yourself you won't know what you're getting into.
If you are asking why I practice Buddhism as opposed to following another spiritual tradition, I will have to stop you and say that I think most, if not all, spiritual traditions hold virtue, goodness, kindness, compassion, morality, generosity, forgiveness and so forth in high regard -- their greater goals are not at odds. Frankly, I was a very inquisitive kid and very unsatisfied with the "Creator God set the clock of the universe in motion" theory and wanted something deeper -- but even before I came across Buddhism I would have moments when I felt very "connected" if-you-will with life and the universe and whatnot. I don't think it's necessary to follow a spiritual tradition to live a fulfilling life and have meaningful experiences, but the wealth of information, the completeness of the philosophy, and the ultimate aims of a tradition are large deciding factors for me in evaluating how well I will get along with a spiritual path.
I had always thought I was about as concerned about animals as one could possibly be, and then was quite humbled when first instructed by the nuns to gently take out the dead flies, blow mantras on them, and put them in the garden! It's not that I disrespected animal bodies before Buddhism, I had just never thought of taking quite that much care with them. A memory which will always stay with me. I thought, "I'm home."
Another story I love is of the workers in the vegetable businesses in Switzerland--there are quite a few Tibetans there, and apparently they (like I!) find vegetable-cleaning rather painstaking, as it involves constant trips outside with both dead and live bugs and worms.
As a teen I had already read and understood the Bible and the Quran (Not in every aspect, but more than most people that label themselves under the religions know) because I had read them both multiple times... It absolutely fascinated me what these texts had on people, what they did to people... However I never felt that way, though I sure did enjoy going to church, but it was more of a social for me, it gave me a good feeling being around my peers outside of school... At an early age than usual I had found I understood way more than my peers did about the religion (Christianity), and so I decided to stop attending the session for younger people and instead, stay and be with the adults to listen to topics that were more involved and complex... That's when I started to learn how the religion operated, I learned more about the faith based aspect of the religion, which I didn't by into to begin with, but I was young I figured maybe I was naive and needed a professional to interpret the words for me. And this was turning me off greatly, there never seemed to be any questions I could ask an Christian that considered themselves a teacher, it always boiled down to, you just need to have faith...
Well that's the thing, basically in my 16 years in Christianity and Islam both, there was never anything that I could experience or feel, it was basically a matter of believing the people around me that these events in this book are real and they matter, believe that what this book has to say is true, but why should I? There is no way to prove it to me, there are countless number of religions out there saying different things, what makes this any special?... Christianity and Islam never gave me anything to apply to life, it never gave me anything to test... Sure they have some things to say about life, but it is nothing that can't be said by a non believer...
When I bumped into Buddhism, it gave me many things for me to test and apply to life, just about everything I read... What I like about Buddhism, is that there isn't a guy claiming to be Godly, there isn't a guy that is saying that if you don't believe in me as your God and Savior then you won't find yourself in this realm known as "heaven"... However, there is this man in Buddhism that is nothing but an enlightened human being that gave words of advice and says here, this is what I have to say, take what you need and use it where you need to use it... I am aware that in Buddhism that there are some outlandish beliefs and claims of different realms, but you aren't required to believe these things, I won't believe them because it requires faith, it cannot be tested... Yet it doesn't bother me to cherry pick in Buddhism because I am actually allowed to... In Islam and Christianity, they have "holy books" that are the word of God, are you going to cherry pick the words of your God that you worship while you believe he is almighty and the creator of the universe? No, that doesn't make any sense...
I am actually glad that I experienced two of the worlds major religions growing up... It gave me a great understanding of them and how much they did not fit my skeptical mind and I went on my own journey to find the philosophy that best fits me, even though I don't consider myself a Buddhist, I am only a student, studying as much as I have free time in a day, but I know that this is the best thing that has ever happened to me...
the same can be said for you. Both have the courage of their convictions.
Leave it there.
ETA: Reminder to all: The thread isn't about why others are wrong to be following what they follow, but why you follow what you follow.
I agree the question is loaded with words like "know" and "the true religion" that are best left with the other religions. Generally Buddhist don't buy into the Highlander model of Gods battling over who will be left standing.
Buddhism is right for me. My family wishes I would have stayed with Christianity. They claim it lost a great preacher when I walked away.
In response to your question i dont know buddhism is the one true religion but i do know it is the one that rings true with me.
If that makes sense
So why choose Buddhism, then? For me it is partly because the ethics are extended to include non-humans. But beyond worldly ethics, then, is the idea of transcending the cycle of suffering altogether and that by training our minds we have the capacity to do this. One develops a great sense of respect and responsibility for oneself, I think, with this approach, as opposed to focusing all respect and responsibility outward onto some other being.
I was raised Lutheran(Christian). From a very young age I didn't buy it as a valid option for me to understand my world. For me it was just a bad experience, and a complete lack of connection. We belonged to different congregations over the years, and there was no change. But I grew up in a very small town that is only Christian (there are non Christians of course, but no where to practice anything but Christianity in a more formal setting). When I asked my parents why I had to go to church I got a blank stare with a "well because it's what we do!" because they had never thought about why they went, either, lol. Thankfully their views of religion and the world have expanded as they got older, too. Anyhow, once I got to college and had access to so much information at libraries and eventually the internet as it came into being, I started learning the basics of a lot of different religions. I always liked Buddhism but the way it was presented to me wasn't in a very positive light and it seemed very complex to learn and at that place in my life I wasn't prepared to take on that level of learning on top of going to college and raising a young family (I was in my early 20s). I took what I felt and matched it with Pagan religions at the time, but never really felt at home there, either. More so than within Christianity but the rituals and some of the strange things within Pagan religions didn't fit me at all. Eventually I wandered back to Buddhism. At the same time I got a free Kindle book "Zen and the Art of Running," my teenage son was getting interested in Buddhism, and as a gift I got him tickets to see the Dalai Lama. That was the last kick i needed to jump in with both feet, and I'm still treading water but at least I don't feel like I'm drowning now.
As for criteria, I just discovered as I learned and talked to people and read books, that there was far more "yes! This is how I feel and this is what agrees with me!" than there was "uh, I'm not so sure about that."
"This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples, no need for complication. One's own mind, one's own heart is the temple, and loving-kindness is the philosophy."
Anyway I have know idea what feel be in the Dalai Lama position, so maybe you need ask to him personally
I think the idea of a "true religion" is pretty flawed.
A little boy in Minnesota was recently found to be a reincarnation of a lama. The story on his life was really interesting, I'll post it in a second.
I always found it "interesting" that all reincarnations that I personally know of, are always particular ethnic groups and pretty much always males. Are there are female/non ethnic (mostly nonTibetan) reincarnations out there?
Here's the story:
http://www.startribune.com/local/north/135804688.html?refer=y
He has already abdicated political responsibility, and I think that was a wise strategic move, but as for the rest - he's a prominent Buddhist who actually has done much to make Buddhism such a successfully growing 'calling' for so many, in the West.
I wonder how many of us would be Buddhists if he (and other Tibetan Buddhists after him), hadn't been so hight-profile?
He's my "favorite" Buddhist.
What I know is that I like what he said
For me what counts is that I got hooked on meditation.
I’m still not sure about Buddhism. There’s a devout type of Buddhism that brings out the worst in me.
What I liked about Zen is that the questions and the resistances are welcomed and that they get thrown back at me. Go and sit with doubt and embrace resistance. Making this connection with what is here and now and what is truly how I feel; that is the only true religion.
Imho
I just thought that the one quote mentioned doesn't quite fit what he does.
My criteria is this: does it help me be a better, kinder, more compassion person?
for those who has left their old religion eg catholics, why?
N/A in my case
what i am asking is how do you choose a religion?
You look in your heart and see how it responds to the religion
is it an objective process or not?
It is a matter of direct observation (inner observation of yourself), which is actually quite objective when you think about it. Our own direct experience is the only true reality we have.
Later, Hindu/Buddhist texts explained what was happening, and some other things that I experienced, and taught me mindfulness of the breath, which gave me a more consistent practice.
What I mean is, that's why it's true or useful for me.
Also HHDL is a "simple monk" doing his best to help this insane world see that there is a way to accept each other and live in harmony. But that's just my opinion.
One can see this message reflected in every public talk the Dalai Lama gives; he always begins with the advice to stick to ones own religion, and that all religions share an emphasis on loving-kindness and ethics, and that this is the basis for personal and world peace. He often adds that religion itself is not necessary--one can have a system of secular ethics to fit this same need.
He adds that if the Buddhist approach to life is what appeals to you, then investigate it closely. If you are certain it is the best fit, it's okay to choose the Buddhist path; however, he makes it very clear that the Buddhist path will encourage you to go beyond simple ethics into the investigation of the mind and ultimate liberation. From a Buddhist perspective, the mind is the ultimate tool, and working with this tool does absolutely require--in fact it is defined by--nitty gritty analysis, personal exploration, practice, hard work, study, etc., just as any serious discipline or vocation is.
Of course for Buddhists, ethics and liberation are related, but if you aren't into the Buddhist mind sciences, ethics themselves form a path for world peace, a path which runs through all religions and which can be followed even outside of religion.
Implicit in this oft-repeated two-part point, as I hear it, is the message that there is an acceptable difference between simple ethics, versus the disciplined pursuit of ultimate liberation according to Buddhist mind science.
However, as he often stresses, even the traditional-Buddhist mind sciences can be seen more and more through a modern scientific lens; but one doesn't achieve great investigations into the synthesis of 2500 years of Buddhist philosophy and modern mind science by abandoning the information contained in the first tradition, even if some of that tradition has what we label a religious component.
As any linguist or botanist knows, too, one doesn't throw information away lightly--woven throughout what we often call cultural trappings is precious information, both obvious and subtle.
And of course there's the very important issue of the millions of people who still today find the traditional Tibetan, Thai, Japanese and other paths, intact, the most rich and rewarding approach to the mind sciences. Not everyone is compelled toward what we somewhat hastily (imho) label a "secular" path without really having established a path at all.
Many find the incorporation of liturgical chant, for example, to be an asset in mind-training, or find that prostrations do indeed bring about a different and useful change in emotional state.
If I were under orders to immediately secularize Buddhism,--and I'm not averse to the concept of secularization--I would not throw out the musical and physical and visual trappings lightly at all, but instead try to find some secular substitue for these components, at least at first, because, quite frankly, I just don't know for a fact that they aren't necessary and important, or at least necessary and important for some.
This is where the Dalai Lama and neuroscientists' investigations are bearing fascinating fruit, I think--whereas once meditation itself was sort of mocked as a religious and/or cultural trapping, now many neuroscientists have agreed, for example, that there's a measurable change in the meditating brain, and that meditation is effective for pain-reduction.
Sorry for all the rambling--I just think it can be shown that the Dalai Lama is not being hypocritical when he says religion is not necessary for world peace, but he chooses the Buddhist path as a personal science. I think it's also clear he's very committed to finding secular parallels, both of ethics and mind sciences, but not by throwing out things we have labeled "religious" but in fact contain important information we have not yet fully understood.
And at the end of the day, how do we know ANY religion is the "True" religion. We don't. We only know what works for us. And what makes us the best people we can be is the "true" religion, whatever that path may be.
In metta,
Raven
I get to question everything and see it if holds up under scientific or personal scrutiny. No faith or suspension of disbelief required.