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When is one officially "Buddhist"?
overthecuckoosnest
Explorer
Hello, all 
I am brand new to the forum, and I have a question. When is one officially a "Buddhist"? Is there any sort of initiation a person has to go through, or can someone start calling themselves as such when they feel it right in their hearts?
I was just wondering if there was any official stance on the matter. I apologize if this has been asked before. I didn't find anything when I did a search for it. I am looking forward to discussing this with all of you!
0
Comments
You'll get a variety of answers
Most (but not all) people who consider themselves Buddhists have taken refuge in the 3 jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha). Some people do this with a teacher, some people do it on their own (there is a lot of information about both online if you google search it). If you are trying to put Buddhism into practice in your life and you think of yourself as a Buddhist, that's perfectly fine.
I personally took refuge with a teacher, but that was because I was lucky to find one that I had an immediate connection with, and because it was important to me to do so with him. If I didn't have a teacher, I would have been fine doing it on my own as well.
By the way, welcome, and enjoy your journey, very nice to meet you!
Yes, see this.
Sorry, that first one was just a joke. For a more serious answer, see this.
Some people wait until they know what refuge means before taking it. Then when they do take it it is more meaningful because they know (deeply) what they are doing.
Some people take it before they know deeply what it is. For these people it can be good if it acts like a promise goading them on to discover more and more.
Hi
You could start being unofficially Buddhist - eventually even unofficially enlightened . . . :wave: .
@overthecuckoosnest -- No one ever becomes an official Buddhist until AFTER they swallow the goldfish. That usually occurs on the third Thursday of every month at a time and place to be designated.
More seriously ... In reality, there is no official starting gate just as there is no checkered flag for "Buddhists." It is nice to feel a sense of belonging, but basically it's probably best just to follow your nose: Read books, skim the Internet, go to lectures, visit temples, learn a little meditation, join a sangha and one day you will be content to accommodate others by saying, "I am a Buddhist." Perhaps a particular ritual will move things along. Perhaps not. Just put one foot in front of the other. Be patient. And always remember that whether you're a Buddhist or not, it still costs $2 to ride the bus.
You may think you rely on Buddhism, but the truth is that Buddhism relies utterly on you. Patience, courage and doubt are your great allies.
Best wishes.
So, just to clarify, I should send Jason all of my goldfish on the third Thursday of next month, yes?
It makes sense that a philosophy so deeply immured in inner wisdom and direct knowing wouldn't have a clear cut initiation rite, and instead involves an inner understanding that one is immured in the Buddhist path.
Haha, but seriously, thank you, everyone
I don't think that I quite consider myself a Buddhist, just yet, but I am certainly drawn to Buddhism's teachings. Thank you all for your advice and information.
And as the Buddha within you is uncovered so too will you feel allegiance to the truth however it is as such. Call it Buddha dharma.
Welcome
It may sound incredibly weird for 'a bunch of Buddhists' to inform you that being a Buddhist is definitely not on our bucket list anymore. Maybe once one is an official Buddhist the reason to become one ceases . . . um, reasoning.
I can't remember which nonBuddhist on this board encouraged me to NOT go about being a Buddhist or apply Buddhism to some life situation.
It's sort of like we think we are just 'doing it right', as the famous Facebook meme goes
PS "doing it right" doesn't have a name because we humans would pervert it and mess it up and make it in our image and totally f*** it up.
There are many much more helpful people who I admire here who live as examples (insofar as I can detect from their posts) of devout followers of the Buddha. We are all doing it right, and so are many many others who call themselves Whatever.
Right. I see what you're saying. It reminds me of something I've heard many times, "If you see the Buddha on the road, kill him".
By trying to intellectualize or dogmatize enlightenment, or by holding an image of what that will look like in your mind (i.e. being a "Buddhist") you may just wind up getting caught in attachments that are more likely to keep you from enlightenment than help you open yourself to it.
You are officially a Buddhist when you feel in your heart that the Dharma resonates with you and commit to align your conduct to the Dharma principles.
That first commitment is to yourself, and it's a commitment you can choose to renew every moment of your life.
That said, taking the vows in a ceremony can make it more official in your heart. I officially took the vows with my teacher, Lodrö Tulku Rinpoche, here in Switzerland, and have to own that the ceremony gave me a deeper sense of involvement in Buddhism.
It's a personal choice.
Thank you for sharing your experience, @dharmamom. I don't have a teacher at this stage in my journey, but perhaps someday I will. There is a certain appeal to the idea of a vow or ceremony.
Perhaps I will do that someday if the opportunity arises and it feels right in my heart.
Indeed this has many meanings. Excuse me for a moment . . .
No Mr Cushion, 'Killing the Buddha', does not mean road kill and there will be no barbecue . . .
Sorry about. Some cushions should be muffled, rather than sat on . . . I would suggest practicing Dharma, rather than being anything. Also if your cushion starts talking to you, call the sangha emergency response team . . . :thumbsup: .
Welcome, @overthecuckoosnest, (I'll just call you 'Jack'....)
Permit me to introduce myself:
I'm the idiot some village is looking for.
There are several forums on the internet which are specifically Buddhist-orientated, but I'm glad to say you found the right one...
There is no specific School, or Tradition you either should, or must, adhere to.
Time enough for that selection later, when whatever you practise sits well with you, or leaves you....whut....?
I personally follow a very simple path:
I study the 4 Noble Truths (basically, I'm forced to: I encounter their veracity every day, so, try avoiding that slap in the face!)
I follow the Eightfold path (but am wont to either stop and sit for a while, eating my marmite and banana sandwiches, or fall over slap bang down on my face!)
And I try really really hard to adhere to the Five Precepts (Do pretty well on the first, the second is just.... don't go there, third, fine by me, fourth - now that's a really tricky one...and the fifth, pretty much got that one bang to rights.).
There's loads more to read, study absorb and appreciate.... One site you will be invited to take a good look at is Accesstoinsight which I would say is basically THE most authoritative website in existence on Theravada Buddhism.
Buddhanet is encyclopaedic and you can find almost everything you need there, too...
I personally would advise you to just take it easy, read, absorb, learn, ponder, QUESTION everything and stroll with us, for as long and whenever you want.
Above all, enjoy.
It's not an ordeal, it's not a race, it's not something you have to master overnight.
Ask whatever questions you want, whenever you want.
It stands to reason that as new members have joined, the questions you ask, will probably have been asked before.
So what?
We will be happy to help.
We may have heard them before, but to you, they're new, and you need an answer.
"Calling yourself Buddhist" is going to get you all manner of responses, because of 'labelling' and all manner of other convoluted but presently not-important factors (identifying with an existent 'Self', etc....)
Worry not.
Frankly, as someone who's been plodding this path for a good long while, (and occasionally finding I've been walking in circles!) I am happy to refer to myself as 'Buddhist.'
Not all Buddhists are certifiable nutcases like me. But many are, and I love their company!
Nice to meet you!
Haha, thanks, you guys. I am so glad that I've stumbled across such an insightful yet easy going (and funny) community of folks of a similar spiritual persuasion.
I think I just may stick around these parts for a while
"If you meet the Buddha on the road,kill him!" attributed to Zen Master Linji
Groan....At the time it was uttered it was meaningful.
It was a reaction to institutionalised Buddhism.
Our situation is very different. We live in a culture where all meaning is being lost. Where nihilism abounds. Where values are confused.
Linji's aphorism is now a misleading and even dangerous cliche.
. " which means that any conceptual attachments to Buddha or enlightenment are far from the mark" JK-Z
I don't see it being as less pertinent now.
@MeisterBob, agreed
@Citta Even if it only meant one, specific thing in its original context, that does not invalidate other levels of meaning that one might find in it. I don't think of the teachings as set in stone dogma. They are nuanced tools for insight.
Things can sometimes take on new meaning over time, and attaching linear, unquestionable meaning to any one teaching seems a bit counter to the nuanced nature of Buddhism.
I do appreciate your information about the cultural context surrounding the original statement, though.
I swear I will take your ball away if you two boys don't play nicely. ~shaking mah fingur, here~ ....
This is not your thread.
If you'd like to discuss that particular 'aphorism' a new thread would be welcome.
Because frankly, there are many aphorisms* which may be pertinent, or not, and discussion may well clear the mist from the eyes....
*
For example:
- Things are not what they seem. Nor are they otherwise
- Karma means you get away with nothing: and it all counts
- When the finger is pointing at the moon....
etc., etc., etc.....
You will find, around here, anyway, that what constitutes being a Buddhist, officially or otherwise, can, and does mean, literally, anything.
You will also find, that if you afffiliate with a flesh/blood sangha out in the real world, that definitions such as this become a lot more specific In my my practice lineage, being a Buddhist is defined solely on Refuge, in this case, a formal "taking" of Refuge in the Buddha, Dharma and Sangha. There is a very specific ceremony with very secific components. It's all very nice, and very offical.You even get a new name!
Of course, there's nothing to say you can't think of yourself as a Buddhist or call yourself one. You can do whatever you want.
Labels aren't really all that important. Commitment is. In the case of a community, a "Sangha", that community looks to your commitment and a Refuge ceremony testifies to that. Some teachers won't give certain teachings to people who haven't taken Refuge - refuge being a prerequisite. Many won't accept people as formal students without it.
I see it as a step, much like getting married is a step in a relationship between to people. For some it's important. For others, meaningless.
If you allow yourself the right to be or become buddha, you have to accept everyone else does too, no matter what their background, or institutional affiliations. Buddhism is all-encompassing, if you think it's not, it will be little wonder that no progress is made.
Even I fit in somewhere ...
... hmmm, not quite sure where at the moment, but if I keep looking I might find there's an egocentric infinitely-faceted multidimensional space somewhere in the universal jigsaw puzzle that allows me to fit in perfectly.
Now where might I possibly find something like that? ... \ lol / ...