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How do you deal with the title or label of Buddhist?
One thing I used to tell myself throughout my life, which still believe is "Don't join a team".
But I don't mean sports team or anything life that, I mean a team like "I'm the the Conservative team", "I'm in the Communist team", "I'm in the hippy Atheist team", "I'm in the right-wing, Christian team", because that's all it is is a team, its because humans are tribal by nature.
If you go t a football game and 100 hooligans are beating the living man-s**t out of each other, I can guarantee that only about 30% actually care about the game, what the rest of them want to do, is put on a football shirt that is a different colour than the other teams colour and fight for their tribe, and this is with everything.
There are employees of companies that hate each other because of the people who proit heavily off their labour, and throw them all peanuts at the end of the day, and that's supposed to make sense?
It actually does, because their corporation is their tribe, its what they live for and identify themselves by and people love doing it.
One thing I am having a hard time doing, is that before if people would ask what I am, I would just say Agnostic, because its the religion that isn't a religion, its the religion of "I don't know" I don't use the label of Agnostic, because when people who fall into the category of Agnostic, then they all buddy up to create a religion, and in reality, I'm nothing I don't believe in jack at the moment still however, I'm in the early stages and still exploring.
I would hate to have the label, if I became a Buddhist, then the only thing I would have a problem with is when people ask the painful question to whether or not I believe in god, I have to give them my label, its another thing that is slowing down the beliefs in me, because when I think of myself in a few years as a fully practising Buddhist, I think, well, why not Christian?, or Muslim? its just another label, I haven't found a spiritual path, I have looked at already existing paths and chosen which one I like best, I don't like Islam or Christianity, but whether or not I like them doesn't mean that they are wrong...
Life isn't about deciding what is and isn't, life is about tolerating crap, and if god or allah exist, then I have a tyrannical, eternal dictator to get pleasing, and I can't just say... screw this... I'm moving to Buddhism.. but who is to say that is correct?
What I'm getting at, is that I feel like my intentions for being here in the first place are bad, I tried to meditate today, and I was concentrating on my breathing and the thought of "wow, stuff has changed in the past 2 years, if you told me at 21 I would be meditating and travelling between temples..." and then it just kinda hit me, that all I did in the first place was feel depressed and chose something bigger than myself to be a part of, and that happens a lot, I haven't been doing anything unique, I feel like I have jumped on a band wagon, I'm just giving myself a label I can give myself to make me feel like I'm not alone.
I know I'm probably wrong, which is good, and I know there is somebody on here who can tell me other wise, and this is why I posted this.
I might post this from time to time, and its not me trying to prove anything, its just me asking you to prove me wrong, in a way that I want you to and know you can.
But I don't mean sports team or anything life that, I mean a team like "I'm the the Conservative team", "I'm in the Communist team", "I'm in the hippy Atheist team", "I'm in the right-wing, Christian team", because that's all it is is a team, its because humans are tribal by nature.
If you go t a football game and 100 hooligans are beating the living man-s**t out of each other, I can guarantee that only about 30% actually care about the game, what the rest of them want to do, is put on a football shirt that is a different colour than the other teams colour and fight for their tribe, and this is with everything.
There are employees of companies that hate each other because of the people who proit heavily off their labour, and throw them all peanuts at the end of the day, and that's supposed to make sense?
It actually does, because their corporation is their tribe, its what they live for and identify themselves by and people love doing it.
One thing I am having a hard time doing, is that before if people would ask what I am, I would just say Agnostic, because its the religion that isn't a religion, its the religion of "I don't know" I don't use the label of Agnostic, because when people who fall into the category of Agnostic, then they all buddy up to create a religion, and in reality, I'm nothing I don't believe in jack at the moment still however, I'm in the early stages and still exploring.
I would hate to have the label, if I became a Buddhist, then the only thing I would have a problem with is when people ask the painful question to whether or not I believe in god, I have to give them my label, its another thing that is slowing down the beliefs in me, because when I think of myself in a few years as a fully practising Buddhist, I think, well, why not Christian?, or Muslim? its just another label, I haven't found a spiritual path, I have looked at already existing paths and chosen which one I like best, I don't like Islam or Christianity, but whether or not I like them doesn't mean that they are wrong...
Life isn't about deciding what is and isn't, life is about tolerating crap, and if god or allah exist, then I have a tyrannical, eternal dictator to get pleasing, and I can't just say... screw this... I'm moving to Buddhism.. but who is to say that is correct?
What I'm getting at, is that I feel like my intentions for being here in the first place are bad, I tried to meditate today, and I was concentrating on my breathing and the thought of "wow, stuff has changed in the past 2 years, if you told me at 21 I would be meditating and travelling between temples..." and then it just kinda hit me, that all I did in the first place was feel depressed and chose something bigger than myself to be a part of, and that happens a lot, I haven't been doing anything unique, I feel like I have jumped on a band wagon, I'm just giving myself a label I can give myself to make me feel like I'm not alone.
I know I'm probably wrong, which is good, and I know there is somebody on here who can tell me other wise, and this is why I posted this.
I might post this from time to time, and its not me trying to prove anything, its just me asking you to prove me wrong, in a way that I want you to and know you can.
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Comments
Much of buddhism is within ineffable concepts and they can not possibly be summed up in concepts or in some label. At the most basic level you are a buddhist but much of buddhism is finding your own path, not following another.
and the reason "Why not Christian" is because you understand that Christianity is not as good of a way. The amount of suffering caused by the monotheistic Abrahamic religions is staggering, the only thing on a similar scale is the happiness caused by buddhism.
There are many buddhist schools, there are no commandments, there isn't much of a wagon to jump on. And unlike Christianity the wagon isn't the best we can do in this life, the shore we are brought to is.
Certainly the "will to meaning," to borrow the phrasing of Viktor Frankl is a powerful reactive motivation humans share, but much of buddhism is freeing yourself from reactive motivation such as this.
Stick with buddhism, i think you will find there is much of value in it. More than any other path I have yet heard of.
But the labels make my point, remember that billboard in America that says "You KNOW its a myth, this season, celebrate reason" and had a picture of the nativity?
That is one of the most religious things I have ever seen in my life, that is Atheist becoming a cult, people who label themselves and have created their own tribe, group, religion, and that's what it is.
And if I labelled myself an Agnostic, then all that would happen is that Agnostics would get together and have an entire cult based on the "I DON'T KNOW" ideology, just like the Atheists are doing.
Can you see why I'm starting to see why most things that are to do with religion are pretty much their own religion?
I just want to be a Meist, but then Meism would become popular, then people would say, "Lets start a group for Meists and live our lives by it and make a whole thing about it, ya know, like Richard Dawkins' clan did!" and so on...
Cheers, WK
But you can benefit from some support by likeminded people, so I don't advise you go the lonely road, you don't have to be unique you know. These people can be Buddhist, but also be Christians, Hindu's, whatever. All these people are trying to find a spiritual path, so you're never alone. Your always in some kind of a group, if you label yourself or not doesn't even matter. The connection is there anyway.
Wherever you find a bit of truth, try to incorporate it into your life. And if you only believe what you really found out for yourself and deep inside know to be true (whatever that may be, even if you really found God) well.. then I'll call you a Buddhist anyway.
Honestly, you don't need a religion. You can follow your own way, practice what you think is right, do what you think is right or wrong, you don't really need anything that says "I am this".
Buddhism is more or less suggestions on how to live a happy and peaceful life. You can practice the Buddhist teachings like the precepts, and the noble truths and still not call your self a buddhist. Who says we have to?
b) Tell them you're studying Comparative Religion, if anyone asks. Or simply say you don't believe in God, without elaborating. There's no label involved in that. (Why is "do you believe in God?" a painful question, by the way?)
c) The important thing is that Buddhism works for you. You're feeling better, meditation is helping, that's all that matters.
d) Buddhism is sort of a non-team. Do you see Buddhists organizing marches, like the Communists, Right-Wing Christians, or Hippy Atheists? Do you see them organizing rock concerts or coordinating letters-to-the editor campaigns against Muslims, or doing any of the things the other "teams" do? Buddhists tend to be very low-key, especially in the West, where they're below the radar. Relax. Enjoy. No need to over-think, or fret.
All human beings are ALREADY Buddha but (big percentage here) literally do not know it.
What happens for some people (us here at NewBuddhist for instance) is they wake up slowly but surely a little bit every day.
Simply speaking, if you inform yourself and guide all your actions by "What would Buddha do?" maybe that's a way to "become" a Buddhist.
Labels? What I do? I tell them Buddhism is cool (and unique) because it totally avoids trying to characterize or personify (and thus passively worship) god. All the spiritual energy is put into doing only good things for others including oneself. That shuts them up quickly (LOL) and gives them something to think about.
Just talking. I dunno. Wishing you well.
Don't worry about labels.
I believe Agnosticism is more neutral than Atheism, because Atheism is a faith just like the other religions. Atheism basically means "I am pretty sure there is nothing". So that is getting close to being a faith or fundamentalist type belief. Agnostic says "I don't know".
Buddhism on the other hand can be a religion, but more so than anything else, it is just a useful application. Such as martial arts is to fighting. Buddhism is essentially an application to improve your mental state on your own, without any faith. But again, when you start labeling it as a religion many westerners will have misconceptions about it.
"dharma" instead of buddh'ism
On those online networking sites, is there an option to put "no religion"? Just wondering, because so many Westerners feel that Buddhism isn't a religion. So Marc could truthfully put "none", under "religion?".
"How do you deal with the title or label of Buddhist?"
The more I practice, the less concern I have with labels.
Labeling is reductive and crude thinking. When people do it (BTW we are all people
We all get irritable, tired or..., ugh..., lazy from time to time so there will always be labels around.
Trick is to tolerate them among the people you are close to and care about and when the time is right (perhaps immediately) work to prove to them how bad labels are.
Irritable, tired or lazy - It's a form of suffering. You have to _help_ the label-maker!
Basically anyone who does that is essentially being a rebel. Males tend to openly be rebels more than females. If you actually want results to actually go on dates, using something more neutral that westerners know better than Buddhism, will most likely give you more options. I think once rational people learn what Buddhism is like, then they tend to be cool with it. But when they see the label of something so different than what they know, they may stay away.
Even rational people label and stereotype all the time. It is just the way human minds work. It takes a lot of Buddhist-like brain washing (the good kind lol) to really try to see the good in people without being judgmental of things that are different than you.
Here's my take on B. and dating.
On dating forms? I'm only going to say this once because it's kind of gross but I'm thinking you guys who are dating need all the help you can get.
Just saying "Buddhist" alone means money is not an issue which, for young people, reads: no means of $upport. Yes, this is crude, I apologize for sure, but dating scene is, from what I hear, a rough and tumble sorting process where a bit of non-hurtful, non-blatent-lie, near-proper misrepresentation can go a long way.
Also I don't technically feel I am a Buddhist as I haven't taken refuge yet. I was planning to, but health problems got in the way and I wasn't up to it. Then I had a chat with my would-be teacher and I think we decided I wasn't ready. It'll happen when it happens. Meantime, I'm a sort of probationary Buddhist and he's my sort of teacher.
Ah well, its all delusion anyway
Besides, it's not a secret - I've got nothing to hide and a lot of people are interested in Buddhism so ask me questions. I consider this to be service to the dharma and am happy to share what I know.
When they ask you if you're religious, what do you say? Yes, or no? or neither?
(Back to the "Is Buddhism a Religion or a Philosophy" question.)
They're not generally interested in pedantic discussions about whether Buddhism is a religion or not - it is generally considered to be so here in UK. And I wouldn't want to be rude or appear offish or superior just because I'm not an ordinary Christian or agnostic.
Quite often, people are much more interested in sharing their ideas with me than listening to me pontificate on Buddhism. Like today, a friend went on this almighty rant about the harm religion had done to the world - pausing to say "Not Buddhists though, of course"
I say the teachings of Buddha and Jesus (if you can find the teachings of Jesus) overlap quite well.
That "tactic" (sorry) connects me with those people who are obviously proud and apparently quite certain of and comfortable with their Christian faith.