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Being born outside Buddhist tradition
I have become disillusioned with Christianity and with all Western religions. I am a cross between an agnostic and an atheist.
The concept of the god who gets angry, vindictive, and quite mean in many ways was not acceptable to me.
All the religion dogma stands also in the opposition to findings of modern science : Darwin's theory of biological evolution or modern physics.
The idea of God is also a dangerous concept. Look at the history of human species and cruel and unethical acts committed in the name of God.
I find Buddhism consistent with the findings of modern science. It is not based on blind faith, superstitions, anthropomorphism and intolerant attitude towards the ideas of others.
Buddhism is based on personal experience, rationalism, practice, morality, and insight. There is no need to worship gods or priests or holy books scriptures
The idea of having to believe something is also distant to Buddhism.
It is practical and profound at the same time. It has helped me to understand myself and the world around me and helps me to grow spiritually.
I will benefit enormously if you will tell me your story.
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The thing that appealed to me about Buddhism was the logic. Christianity seemed like so much make-believe.
Welcome aboard, Tess.
God is the concept.
Humanity is a certainty and reality / even if we are able to perceive very little of it/
One day (ten years ago next month) I found Wake Up To Your Life, which explained the goals, practices and theory of Buddhism in a way I found very clear. I have been practicing assiduously ever since. By that point, I could see pretty clearly in my own life the patterns of reactivity ("suffering") described in the book. The book's promise to bring them to an end has powered my practice ever since.
I was born, baptised, raised, educated and married in the Roman Catholic Faith.
I raised my children as Catholics, through educating them in a dioscesian school, and I worked there voluntarily as an elected parent Governor.
My Roman catholic mother, about 20+ years ago, sent me a book titled "The Tibetan Book of Living & Dying" which changed my life forever.
I knew, the moment I began to read that book, that everything it contained was absolutely everything I would ever need to pursue a life of personal devotion.
Let me just add, however.
While I agree with your sentiments, opinions, views and comments on the practice of a Theistic religion, I personally have no resentment, animosity, hostility or antagonism towards Catholicism, or God - if indeed, he or she exists at all.
I never got a rough ride, I was never forced, coerced or obliged to follow blindly, or to proceed unquestioningly.
There are Christian people who are also deeply and actively involved in Buddhism; Jim Pym and Thomas Merton, to name but two.
There are Buddhists who seek to effect a sound and healthy connection with aspects of Christianity, Thich Nhat Hahn and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, to name but two.
The two practices, are not entirely mutually exclusive.
That is to say, you could entirely wholeheartedly adhere to a theistic religion, and incorporate the majority of Buddhist practice, but you cannot wholeheartedly adhere to Buddhism and incorporate the majority of a theistic practice.
I found this to be true for me, but it was not a negative realisation.
However, to alienate and to distance yourself from the wealth of experience a theistic foundation can bring, could be restrictive.
The idea of God, is not a dangerous concept, per se.
The idea of what God stands for, can be extremely dangerous in the wrong, misguided and blinkered hands, as a concept.
I hope you find what you seek, and that your walk on the path is a joyful one.
Welcome!
I need a bit of time to digest it.
I am looking forward for more ''food for thought''
Thank you very much for making me feel welcome here.
Namasti.
Well then, if it helps you! Here goes..
I was not raised in any religion. My dad was kind of Christian and my mom was not-caring-about-it-ian.
Then I tried meditation and at least it helped me a bit, so the Buddhist religion or not, I decided to follow it a bit. After a while I started looking into Buddhist beliefs more, still very agnostic about everything like I always am. It is very good to be like this, only belief your self, but be open to things also. So I investigated things like reincarnation/rebirth, it seemed plausible, but I couldn't really accept it either. Some meditation insights totally take all doubt away for me personally. But it is not nescessary to belief in this. Just accept whatever you can and find your own way in life.
Now I know I am on the right path, but I still very much respect all other religions and those can certainly learn people a lot too.
Sabre
Later in life, I became more open to the possibility that there was "something" more than what I was seeing. I just felt it somehow, like the universe was alive and we just didn't know it.
I started studying the teachings of the Buddha, and the various Buddhist traditions, and absorbed impermanence, not-self, dukkha... one day it became clear that everything was just flowing. There's nothing to hold onto. We're not living our lives in a way that represents this impermanent flowing nature, we're living them in such a way as to try and ignore this reality. To be happy.
The only happiness is not striving to be happy, not struggling against the changing nature of our world and of our lives. To simply accept what is, as it is, and "go with the flow". This is where the path leads, and I hope you find your answers.
My own turn to Buddhism and dharma practice took...a while. One of my uncles was a Buddhist, and we would talk about it now and again. I went to Thailand and learned about the Theravada tradition. And I've been studying on and off for the better part of a decade, meditating and attending temples infrequently. I only recently began integrating meditation practice into my daily life. I also began practicing hatha yoga, and my instructor practices yoga and vipassana meditation. I am still trying to look for other practitioners to meditate with. There's a small group that meets near me, and there are temples anywhere from an hour to two or three hours driving distance.
My experience mirrors Cloud's in terms of the sensory experience. When I am lucky enough to have it, that is. And Buddhism has always just felt right.
I a sense that worked.
When he learned I had embraced (Zen) Buddhism he was very upset and he preached to me - red faced - for more than an hour.
The next day I looked him up.
He had not slept a second that night, but he had made a transformation.
He told me to be a good Buddhist and that it’s better to be a good Buddhist than a lousy Christian. He read from his (and my mother’s) wedding Bible “But if I don't have love, I am nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:2 . He was very emotional.
He basically took the words right out of my mouth.
That was years ago and last year my father died at the age of 93.
I’m proud of him and grateful. I think that somehow he realized that his religion was beyond words and concepts; that we have to see through them.
The real thing is this fire burning in our hearts.
BTW, the "dangerous concept" you mention - the "concept" has no inherent being. The danger you perceive is man-made.
The idea that one can seek & find the answers to the most
important questions in life appealed to me.
I had a difficult teenage years. Books like 'Why worry?' by K Sri Dhammananda
helped me a lot.
It wasn't until about two years later that the local library got a small collection of Buddhist books, a couple by Charles Luk (Lu K'uan Yu), D.T.Suzuki's Introduction to Zen Buddhism, the Dhammapada and a couple of books on Therevada and Tibetan Buddhism. I devoured all of these books and got a second part-time job to pay for more. Fortunately my family lost their faith not long afterwards so there were not that many arguments or conflicts over my change of heart. When I got to university I met up with other Buddhists and ordained sangha for the first time and realised that although my initial choice had been based on light entertainment it had been the right one for me.
I've always been very much about leading a life of conscience and self-discovery though and I bumped into buddhism at a time when I was researching a lot of psychology and already well on my way on my "spiritual journey".
I never liked the term spiritual, but I guess, even though I still consider myself an agnostic, as far as other people are concerned I'm one of the most spiritual people I know. I'll never be able to consider myself a buddhist since I don't believe in rebirth or some other concepts....and because I'll never follow something because it's "the buddhist thing to do". I will always keep my sense of critique.
I had some exposure to eastern thought due to my step-father being half Hawaiian/Half Korean. He mentioned once that he felt that the Buddhist faith had some very good things in it. I lived in Hawaii from age 6-10 and we visited a Buddhist temple as a field trip...there were so many cultures present in Hawaii, the schools wanted us to be exposed to them so we understood them a little.
The last few years of high school, one of my better friend's parents were practicing Chan Buddhists. I lived in Ukiah, California..there is a large monastary there called The City of Ten Thousand Buddhas. Now and then, they would have a Monk over, stuck in my mind as being very nice people.
Fast foward past my 20s(drinking..women chasing..etc) to my mid 30s, and I ran into a book on Zen. It all made sense, at least in part to me. Spirituality with reason..introspection..looking into the root causes. That was about a year ago..I have never looked back.
In essence, I am a Buddhist and very Agnostic. There MIGHT be Devas(Gods), but I take Gautama's stance...they are stuck in their own Samsara, so worship of them will not lead to enlightenment.
I have no issues with any other faith these days..all people must find their own path. They just need to not preach at me unless I ask about it!
My parents weren't involved in organised religion and thought it was important for me to make up my own mind. I was in the scripture union (full of pretty ladies) as a kid and the boys brigade so i was exposed to protestant christianity. It never made sense to me, even at a young age.
I went through the early nineties as a bit of a raver with all that went with that......very sangha like! My first experience with buddhism was whilst in thailand......full moon parties had a slightly different significance to me then. I met a monk at a temple though and we maybe talked for about 10 hours...... cool guy who had suffered far more than i could imagine. The burmese border is a scary place.
Years later, i had a brief 'fling' with a buddhist girl..... although it was a short encounter, she opened my eyes to many things. Its amazing how two humans can connect so deeply, seeing beyond the eyes and into the heart in such a short intense period.
Not long after, i flipped out with too many life pressures which i couldnt cope with. I went to see a shrink who, i subsequently discovered was a buddhist, enabled me to look within myself for answers. My own answers to my suffering were consistent with many of the teachings of buddha
That was when I was a freshman in highschool. I went through diffrent phases looking at diffrent belief systems. Since I didn't and still don't believe in a higher power that controls the universe I looked into atheistic beliefs. At first I looked into Taoism after being atheist for awhile, since I didn't believe but still had the feeling that there was something supernatural around.
I couldn't really understand the concepts or Taoism so I kinda gave up on that and remained atheist.
A while later I remember meeting an aquantence who said that they were learning about Buddhism since they wanted to practice it. That got me really interested. I then looked at diffrent things about Buddhism, from articles in my social studies textbooks to online articles and the wikipedia page about it. I felt like and still do feel like the Buddhist teachings are a great fit.
Also on a side note, as a career I want to teach English in Japan, I have read books about Japanese culture and have found that their belief system with Buddhism and Shinto as one really struck me. Right now my beliefs are a mix of those traditions. The kami seem like a logical choice, because I believe that everything has a spirit and other parts of the practice that would take awhile to explain.
Now I am a junior in highschool and I'm really happy that I have found Buddhism (and Shinto) so early in my life so I can practice for as long as possiable and that I wasn't put into a daze from Christianity's brainwashing techniques. My parents do not know my beliefs, but I know that they know I find church boring and maybe know that I have some spiritual belief. My family isn't really that religious so it is not hard to hide or ignore it.
Like the poster above me, I was born and baptized a Catholic. As a young child, I was brainwashed to their ways - that's just how toddlers are, easily influenced. Around age eight, I began to think for myself. I decided I didn't believe in God, therefore I shouldn't have to go to church.
My parents didn't quite agree with that. While my dad is not at all religious, my mom had grown up Catholic and was partial to the church community. I was forced to attend Sunday School and mass through sixth grade, when my mom thought it over and decided I was mature enough to practice my own beliefs. Like most Buddhists, I have nothing against the idea of Christianity or other religions, it just wasn't where I wanted to be. No religion is right or wrong,
For about two years, I didn't know what I wanted. I wrote novels. Songs. Poetry. Rambling essays about my ideas. After much doubt and thought, I began to settle on a few core beliefs. However, I didn't know they had any relation to existing religions.
I was mentioning one to my mom (she's pretty open minded, despite her Catholic ways) and she said it sounded Buddhist.
I was really surprised. I'd never given much thought to Buddhism - honestly, I didn't know what it is. Somehow, I was under the impression it was a polytheistic, out-of-date religion. But, intrigued, I did some research.
I was shocked. The Buddhist ideas matched mine perfectly - the ideas I had thought up on my own. The idea of enlightenment had been one I'd held in my head since probably the age of six - not refined, of course, and without a name, but still the same concept. I had even been meditating without realizing what it was.
I had been a Buddhist almost my whole life, without knowing it.
Now I am fourteen years old, a Buddhist by choice, and an aspiring author. I'm not yet to where I want to be, but by becoming a Buddhist I have been awakened to what I know will be a life of peace and happiness.
One of the main things that I've noticed is that buddhists raised in the west typically practice in a much more philosophical way (meditation, precepts, EFP, but no reincarnation/rebirth or other cultural influences). Has anyone else noticed this?