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Buddhism is a Nutshell, Please.
MindGate
United States Veteran
I think I'm ready to take the dive, become a Buddhist, act like a Buddhist, be a Buddhist.
But I need to know that I understand the basic concepts fully. Someone care to help me?
Life is suffering.
Suffering is caused by unskillful attachment/desires.
Attachment can be stopped via the 8-fold path.
Follow 8-fold path to the best of my ability.
Follow 5 precepts to best of my ability.
Meditate regularly.
But... with these ideas, I still do not feel as though I am complete.
But I need to know that I understand the basic concepts fully. Someone care to help me?
Life is suffering.
Suffering is caused by unskillful attachment/desires.
Attachment can be stopped via the 8-fold path.
Follow 8-fold path to the best of my ability.
Follow 5 precepts to best of my ability.
Meditate regularly.
But... with these ideas, I still do not feel as though I am complete.
0
Comments
2. Suffering is caused by all attachments, but not by desires. Desiring is a natural part of life. The key to desiring is not to crave. Be happy with where you are. But you can desire to improve yourself and your situation.
3. I suppose
4. I guess. They're pretty basic morals, I would say. Other than the drinking thing. I can only advise that you don't see precepts as commandments.
5. Meditation is great!
Here's what may help you. Impermanence and non-self. There is no "self" found in anything, because there is no permanence. All things are in flux.
Also on a side note: there is no distinct line between being a Buddhist and not being one. There is also no such thing as a good or a bad Buddhist, so don't be to harsh for yourself in trying to remember it all or doing everything 'right'. Just take the time, that's far more important.
I wish you well :clap: ,
Sabre
I suppose the actual roadblock with me is the lack of an explanation of... creation, I suppose.
Is time, reality, infinite?
Well, technically "I" have not existed for billions of years, apparently. So, does time end when "I" end? Or, wait, what? I'm so confused. :dunce:
What I honestly advise you to do is just continue to meditate on impermanence and non-self. These hold the key to finding the truth. Some say dependent origination, as well.
And, TJ, again, that sounds very pantheistic to me; everything is one, you are everything.
Everything is chaos, there is no order, everything is changing. <-- (We can see this scientifically, no? Quantum physics, if I recall from last year, shows that atoms, on a very minute level, are only chaotic particles working at random.)
You are one with everything, you are all that exists. (We are not individuals, we are just part of the chaos that is everything, forever changing.)
As of now, we should cease to be attached to things, but still have desires for desires will surely make us stronger.
And a good way to do this would be 8-fold path/other good moral guidelines.
Riiight?
The only purpose of having desire is because it makes you happier. We all want to be happy. Without an ego, we cannot experience happiness for we are everything. Therefore it is your instinct to pursue happiness. Whatever you think that means.
moral guidelines are a crutch for people who are unevolved. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with morals, or with being unevolved. I am simply saying that if you believe that you have found the moral standard to live by, live by that moral standard. For me, my moral standard is being happy.
Buddhists don't behave any differently than your average person, do they? It's not like you can pick a Buddhist out in a crowd. My outward behavior didn't change when I adopted Buddhism. Inwardly, I became mindful, I meditated, I became more conscious of my actions. But there's no "dive" to take, really. It's just basic thoughtfulness of others, which I'm sure you already are, and then analysis of your thought patterns, becoming aware of counterproductive thought-habits, and the like. Judging by your posts here, I'd say you've already been a Buddhist from some time.
Welcome, anyway.
My analogy as I see it:
Being happy is like... playing baseball.
Lets say you want to play baseball. You could just stand there and swing the bat and run in circles, but you might not be the best players, or may not even know the rules, so you get instructed on how you should play, or your stance, or how to hit the ball, and once you're instructed, you can then choose how you like to play the best, while using these instructions to help you.
Happiness I assume is like that. You use the precepts, 8-fold path, or any other moral guidelines as helpers, instructions from a teacher, which you can use to help you be happy, to help you play base ball, per se.
----
CW,
Well, to me, I suppose calling myself a "Buddhist" sort of means a lot to me. Also, I'd assume the meditation, mindfulness and such would cause your outward behavior to change.
I'm just stuck on: If you truly, within all of your depths, want to be happy, you will be happy.
So, please just answer this question with a simple sentence, preferably yes or no:
If someone has chemical imbalances in their brain which cause them to be depressed, do they truly not want to be happy?
Aren't some people spontaneously happy? Don't you know bubbly people? It's possible to be happy by nature. So where are you at on the chem-imbalance - to - naturally bubbly scale, MindGate? Somewhere in the middle?
And I wonder how we each define "happiness". I think quietly contented is a realistic goal.
Yeah, probably. I may even be a little masochistic because sometimes it feels good to cry. :skeptic:
"[Buddhist psychology's] basic prescription is for the daily practice of meditation, and I am inclined to agree that this is the best way to get at the root of depression and change it. That requires a long-term commitment, however, since meditation does not produce fast results." - Andrew Weil MD
http://www.wildmind.org/applied/depression
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/meditation-helps-depression-as-much-as-drugs.html
http://www.mcmanweb.com/meditation_yoga.html
Mindgate, yup I think you have summed it up. We don't do it just for the hell of it though. You don't simply pick up a couple of concepts, stop doing a couple of things and expect something to happen.
The eightfold path, in my opinion, is a way to cultivate wisdom. It doesn't mean you'll instantly become "complete". It gives you the tools to figure out why you're not complete. It's not as simple as "here... do this and you'll be fine". After you gain more and more insight and after you get more and more experience, cultivate compassion, grow as a person and understand the reasoning behind the eightfold path and dependant co-arising then you can start to examine and understand what's missing (or hindering).
However, through meditation you can gradually gain a deeper understanding of these concepts and see their truth.
The ideas are not meant to make you feel, or be, "complete." They are, in part, designed to make you realize there is no "you" to be completed. Striving to be complete is an unskillful endeavor.
Don't get bogged down in concepts and theory, or try to reach a goal.
Just meditate. Follow your breath, and when the focus on your breath is pulled away by thoughts, just see them as "thinking" and compassionately come back to your focus on your breath. This will likely happen a lot if you haven't meditated very much.
Live in the moment, it's all you have. Take what you do off the cushion and focus on your day to day activities just like you focus on your breath when you meditate.
Be mindful of the core teachings: the eightfold path and the 4 noble truths.
Best wishes!
I like "Know you are nothing" as nutshell of dharma, which is what was asked for. if I am mistaken, coach me;)
Buddhism in a nutshell; I believe, is realizing that your life is meaningless (or empty) in and of itself. Your life only has meaning in relation with other sentient beings...
Meditating on this little thought I think a lot of things will fall into place for you.
If I'm out of place, I apologize. But it seems to me as if you're regurgitating what you've read. You've formed this image of a "Buddhist" in your mind, and have decided that you wish to become this image...
Just... stay the course my friend. Keep questioning the nature of life.
I've been studying Buddhism for about a year, since I've joined this forum a bit over two months ago I've gotten very serious about it, but I still have my ups and downs. About two weeks or so ago I decided it was time (because of my nature I'm trying to read more advanced teachings) to make sure that my foundation was secure. I thought that 'emptiness' was the best place to start, so then I did some hard thinking in order to write a post to see how well I comprehended it. Despite the fact that I don't truly understand it, any breakthrough in comprehending emptiness, at least for me, has translated as a breakthrough in Buddhism. Everything else makes more sense and a firmer conviction comes along with a better grasp of emptiness. As Cloud aptly put it (not in this thread, of course)--one angle of emptiness is a combination of anicca and anatta, two of the three seals and since they cause the third, dukkha, whose remedy is analyzed either in the four noble truths or dependent arising you can see how, in fact, a comprehension of emptiness is paramount to being Buddhist. Of course, take my word with a grain of salt, but also let me add, that if my understanding is correct, emptiness when fully realized will lead you to stream-entry which is very close to liberation.