Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Is Buddhism a Religion or ...
... is Buddhism a personal experience of Profound Absolute Truth?
0
Comments
How long does it take?
Aaaaah.
That is the question.
It is not Buddhism which is unclear, you see.
It is we who do not get it...
That's what takes the time.
Hello Grace, and welcome.
A religion is a system of human thought which usually includes a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, deity or deities, or ultimate truth.
Using that as a definition, then yes, I believe that Buddhism is a religion. But not in the way that most people think of a religion.
Yes, for someone, somewhere.
The Buddha compared his teaching to a raft that one uses to cross a river. The raft is not the other shore, and you don't carry the raft around with you when you reach the other shore.
I am also quite a buddhist.
That's just me, though.
When I stayed in Buddhist Centres in UK several years ago, I was amazed at the number of people who sat going through books and texts etc, yet had never experienced a past life recall for example. Whenever I asked for discussion about Buddhism what I got was the quotation of various texts but not the description of any direct experience of the knowingness or gnosis of the cycle of death and rebirth.
I'm not sure that 'memory' of 'past lives' is integral to the practice of Buddhism, either as a religion or as a philosophy or as a way of life.
I'm interested in learning how different people or 'buddhists' actually approach Buddhism and whether they find a different meaning beneath the surface layers of the teachings etc.
I see 'religion' as something GIVEN to people to study and follow. But I experienced Buddhism as something that wasn't put in front of me or handed down to me by anyone - but as something I MOVED towards as a direct result of personal experiences which caused me to question the actual metaphysics of my existence.
Does it matter? :-)
It's important to remember that the fact that something is not part of my version of Buddhism doesn't make it non-Buddhist. At the same time, the goal of Buddhism is not to have experiences, but to attain liberation from duhkha. People can have a wide variety of metaphysical beliefs and still be Buddhists who share a common goal. Memory of past lives is less important than freedom from the cycle of birth and death. And that requires a practice or way of living that doesn't strengthen the resentments and attachments that bind us to samsara.
You mention experiences that led you to question your metaphysical assumptions. Do these experiences help free you from feelings of hostility? Do they help you to avoid becoming attached to whatever seems pleasant? Are you able to let go of the experiences, or do you need to hang on to them for self-validation?
BTW, I'm enjoying your posts.
I think that's when the real message that Buddhism conveys really sank in.
Even Buddhism passes.
... be easily and successfully translated into plain English? I presume many people who study Buddhism are from Western and European backgrounds.
So why has it taken so long for the eastern terminology which is associated with Buddhism to be translated into plain English, the language in which I and the rest of the members of this site are speaking and writing in? Why do I have this uncomfortable feeling that many Westerners who become involved in Buddhism, seem to end up with an amazing ability to quote from texts about what the Buddha thought, said and did, they are able to talk about Avelokitsvara, Vajrayana, Buddha, Dharma and Sangha but they are unable to actually experience or put the experience of Buddhism into words in their own language?
I suppose what I'm now asking here is does Budhhism belong to the East? What constitutes a Buddhist? Can Buddhism be REALISED, UNDERSTOOD AND PRACTISED - without having to study and learn a whole new Eastern vocabulary?
A very pertinent question, Grace. The answer has, I fear, to be 'no', although similar effects can, I believe (if somewhat heretically), be achieved in other ways.
I recall a conversation that I had with a Geshe after a White Tara Initiation. We were discussing our different backgrounds: his in Tibet and Tibetan language, culture, etc, and mine in a Jewish/Catholic, humanist context. He said, and it has stuck with me, "If I wanted to become a Christian, I would have to learn a whole new language."
If you wanted to learn a new discipline, music or physics or medicine for example, you would need to learn a lot of new terms. Why should Buddhism be any different?
Thank you ... I'm enjoying this banter too! Regarding the quote above - I think what I'm trying to say is - that the message of any religion/discipline/philosophy/way of life - including Buddhism - seems to get lost in a sea of vocabulary associated with that particular 'pathway'. If I wanted learn music for example, yes I would have to learn a lot of new terms, symbols etc. But my point is that I wouldn't want to 'learn music' itself in that sense - I would want to EXPERIENCE IT, hear it, make it, enjoy it, dance to it WITHOUT knowing how it all works because I already know that. And that's how I feel about Buddhism - WE already know it within us - so spending years going over texts etc is actually counter productive when what we really need to know is - that we know. That's all. But I think sometimes that appears too simple an answer to those who are seeking some kind of 'knowledge' through Buddhism or any other philosophy.
But I can always console myself with the thought that I'm not as smart as I think I am. :-)
Can you study Buddhism in English? No one living speaks the language that the Buddha spoke. We don't even know what it was. All of the suttas and sutras originating in India are written in languages that he didn't speak. And once Buddhism left India, it had to be translated into Chinese and Khorusan and Japanese and Tibetan and who knows what else. So I don't see any reason why you can't study it in English.
I agree ... I don't see why 'kindness' can't be recorded, taught, translated and practised in any language. In fact, isn't kindness, a language in itself?
The Sacred Circuit
"The Sacred Circuit maps
our direct connection to the cosmos,
based upon the ancient adage -
'as above, so below',
stating that whatever changes occur at the
macrocosmic level (galactic core),
affect EVERYTHING at the microcosmic level.
Our DNA attunes to our cells,
which attune to our brain,
which attunes to our heart,
which attunes to the Earth,
which attunes to the Sun,
which along with all
the other stars
of the galaxy
attune to the Galactic Core.
So whatever changes occur at
the Galactic Core
also affect everything in the Galaxy
all the way down to our DNA!
Everything is connected through
this Sacred Circuit by staying in resonance
with the cosmic rhythmic pulsations
which cause the spinning of stars and planets
and even the beating of our heart.
The possible origin of these
rhythmic pulsations are revealed
within the Galactic Core."
:smilec:
Having experienced my own nervous system becoming hypersensitive to vibration of all kinds - odours, textures, colours, noises - even thoughts, that led me to study the effects of subtle vibrations upon my own mind and body and how remaining in an environment where the vibrations may be subtle and invisible but are nevertheless affecting us physically and mentally can cause disease.
Also I understood more easily how we can 'sense' that which we cannot see with the physical eyes. Everything is a vibration because the universe is a vibration. So it makes sense that vibrations affect other vibrations sometimes positively and sometimes negatively. If it's the latter we experience suffering. When we remove ourselves from the particular vibration we experience cessation of suffering. So basically we are all 'noise' of some kind. We all vibrate and that causes movement in our surroundings which to some degree causes noise at levels which are audible and less audible depending on the sensitivity of one's nervous system. The subtle vibration of a negative but unspoken thought from a person we live with perhaps, can cause us more suffering and pain than the noisy washing machine on a fast spin cycle. We can always switch off the washing machine, but it isn't always possible to switch off another person's thoughts or the vibrations they are emitting towards us. I imagine that this is how focussed chanting/praying can work to divert the thoughtforms created by the less conscious person and also how healings, relief from suffering can seemingly arise spontaneously and miraculously.
(Prof. J.B.S. Haldane Possible Worlds)