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Assistance
Hello Ladies And Gentleman,
I am a 22 year old male who has been studying vast religions my entire life. Through this i have been unable to find one that i see fitting into my own moral and logical standards. i came accross the story of the Buddha in a second hand Philosophy book i happen to have and i was sucked in immediantly. my first literary purchase was a book simply titled Buddhism by Damien Keown. i dont belive the writer is the best by any means but i understand the basic concepts none the less.
the book is of course a basic ooutline of Buddhism as a whole and doesnt stray much into differant sects or anything. therefore i am here asking for some assistance.
The young Buddha as a prince before he became a Buddha was sheltered by palace walls. i interpret this as him being mentally sheltered from the harsh realtities of the outside world. this is easy to grasp. but there are some things i dont get.
Buddhism from my understanding denies the existance of a human "soul" therefore i do not completly understand how rebirthing works. i do understand that the Buddha said we should not focus on the questions but focus more on the answers but as with previous things i feel as though i must question this since Buddhism seems to have started with that very basic principal.
i also uderstand karma but i feel as though since karma binds us to rebirth that by stayin on our middle paths we stand a much better chance of escaping the wheel of life. i also do not like the signifigance the Manyanha? has placed on Bodhistavas? forgive my spelling. it seems almost saviourlike which does not sit well with me at all. it seems to me we need only hear the Buddha and interpret from there without straying from the middle path and without destroying his original intent.
i am hoping you folks here may be able to enlighten me a bit further. no pun intended haha
I am a 22 year old male who has been studying vast religions my entire life. Through this i have been unable to find one that i see fitting into my own moral and logical standards. i came accross the story of the Buddha in a second hand Philosophy book i happen to have and i was sucked in immediantly. my first literary purchase was a book simply titled Buddhism by Damien Keown. i dont belive the writer is the best by any means but i understand the basic concepts none the less.
the book is of course a basic ooutline of Buddhism as a whole and doesnt stray much into differant sects or anything. therefore i am here asking for some assistance.
The young Buddha as a prince before he became a Buddha was sheltered by palace walls. i interpret this as him being mentally sheltered from the harsh realtities of the outside world. this is easy to grasp. but there are some things i dont get.
Buddhism from my understanding denies the existance of a human "soul" therefore i do not completly understand how rebirthing works. i do understand that the Buddha said we should not focus on the questions but focus more on the answers but as with previous things i feel as though i must question this since Buddhism seems to have started with that very basic principal.
i also uderstand karma but i feel as though since karma binds us to rebirth that by stayin on our middle paths we stand a much better chance of escaping the wheel of life. i also do not like the signifigance the Manyanha? has placed on Bodhistavas? forgive my spelling. it seems almost saviourlike which does not sit well with me at all. it seems to me we need only hear the Buddha and interpret from there without straying from the middle path and without destroying his original intent.
i am hoping you folks here may be able to enlighten me a bit further. no pun intended haha
0
Comments
No, the Buddha really was an elevated and extremely wealthy prince, whose father had been advised that he would become either a famous, renowned and well-loved monarch - or an ascetic who would leave worldly things and become a wandering monk. His father tried to prevent this, and the rest is history.
in all the literature I have read about Buddhism, and the Buddha, I have never come across anything that has pointed to his story as being an allegory....
Oooh, there is much debate going on in this forum right now, on this very subject. I would urge you actually, to NOT read these threads, but to do external research.
to my own mind, we are reborn every day, not to say, every minute. The adage goes, 'you can never gaze upon the same river twice'. you might think you're the same, but your thoughts and perceptions, experiences and daily witnessing of events, changes "who you are" from day to day, from moment to moment.
I personally happen to believe that your Consciousness - or mental mind-energy - cannot be destroyed, but passes into a new conception.... that's just my view. you'd have to study the Buddha's direct teachings on this.
This is a very good site: enjoy perusing it....
The Buddha said we should take nothing at face value, but absorb the teaching, then examine it, scrutinise it and dissect it to the Nth degree before accepting it, rejecting it or laying it aside as a current imponderable.
Some things you reject, may well be accepted by others. And that's Ok.
The Kalama Sutta is one of the Buddha's most famous teachings, and in it, he advises us to not accept anything anyone says without first subjecting it to complete examination. Then - assuming we find it acceptable to our mind - living by it.
Read this, on what Kamma actually is. it's VOLITIONAL action. I find it fascinating.... Mahayana is the second school of buddhism, known as the greater vehicle, but I am a theravada Buddhist, myself. much clearer and matter-of-fact and down to earth. Not so many whistles, bells and frills....:D
Accesstoinsight is Theravadan teaching.
you're on your own there, kid!!
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/bodhi/wheel433.html
I just saw that Fed linked you to it as well.
BTW welcome.
Thanks Again
You can try Mircea Eliade " The history on/of religion" ( I guess this is how it's called in English)...You should google it. I mean, I know that the books (they are volume one and two) were first published in the West ( I don't know what country). But I can tell you that it's like a compedium, an encyclopedia of all major religions of Earth. You should give it a try !
And about the Buddhism and the inexistence of the human soul...In my own point of view, Buddha did not imply that soul doesn't exist, he told that the ego doesn't exist...
The teaching of rebirth was a pre-existing teaching, not a unique Buddhist teaching, and was taught by the Buddha to the ordinary man to encourage morality or the avoidance of self-harm.
The Buddha himself did not teach the doctrine of not-self & rebirth together.
They are two completely separate & different teachings.
Kind regards
DD
Indeed, the bodhisatva is saviourlike.
But this is not the core teaching of the Buddha for enlightenment.
It is simply another teaching to accommodate people for whom enlightenment is difficult.
In brief, it appears the rebirth and bodhisatva teachings are not for you so it is best you simply focus on the practical core Buddhist teachings.
The afterlife, even if rebirth didn't exist, and you were left only with the heaven and hell concepts, it still requiered that humans had soul for ascending to heaven or going straight to hell.
And, if you want to know more about what Buddha taught, you should read the sutras. It would be better for you if you started with the Dhammapada...(home's speciality:D )