The Bare Essentials of Buddhism: A Guide for Westerners

The Prometheus Institute ^ | 3/26/2008 | Justin Hartfield

[tang0r]

There is much confusion in the Western world over the basic tenants of Buddhism. Many Westerners believe that Buddhism is -- a) a religion circulating around the worship of a portly Asian sage (often gilded or bronzed and meditating near the door of your favorite Chinese restaurant holding the mints and toothpicks), b) involving a lot of sitting in uncomfortable positions, and c) coldly atheistic or fancifully pantheistic (depending on which section of Wikipedia you consult)

Of course, when inspected closer, these stereotypes and inadequate attempts of pigeonholing a religion that has neither formal creed nor “divine” teachings is absolutely useless.

At least in the Judeo-Christian sense, Buddhism is not a religion. Instead, Buddhism is more like a collection of insightful observations centered on a single principle- the study of what is. A Buddhist isn't interested in what might or what should be- he is simply interested in analyzing reality as it is, without undue romanticism or abstraction.

[svcw]

Didn't buda also abandon his wife and children so he could be more enlightened, never looking back?

[dighton]

There is much confusion in the Western world over the basic tenants of Buddhism.

Read all about it in Buddhism for Landlords.

[kozanne]

Where Buddhism and Christianity diverge is the person of Jesus Christ. Very dear friend of mine is a Buddhist, I’m Christian. She told me the deal is if you do a lot of good works in this life, your next one will be better. Eventually, you get to this place called nirvana and then it’s some kind of nothingness.

She’s one of those who believe we’re all on the same path, but I told her that’s not correct. If our spiritual fulfillment depends on what WE do, then we become our own saviors. We don’t need Jesus Christ. Given this, we both agreed that the gulf between Buddhism and Christianity can never be bridged, because without Jesus Christ, Christianity becomes just another one of the 31 flavors of religion we seem to have available to us these days.

Jesus Christ is where the rubber meets the road.

[Petronski]

I don’t think I could be a Buddhist. Honoring a deity known for his easy smile and jolly belly would seem somehow too subconsciously narcissistic to me.

[Dixie Yooper]

There is much confusion in the Western world over the basic tenants of Buddhism.

No confusion here. Every thing I know about Buddhism, I learned from watching Richard Gere movies.

[hosepipe]

Buddah was a Hindu that drank his own Kool Aid..
and became a raving MoonBat..

[Porterville]

Before you become harsh and closed of mind... know that Buddhism is a Philosophy in much of the world before a religion.

[Porterville]

You know Buddha and Buddhist never claimed he was a deity....

[Petronski]

Yes.

It was just a joke.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Good article - thanks.

[Greg F]

Well, as I understand it Buddhists strive to eliminate all desire.

So my question is . . . how do you get new Buddhists?

[LiteKeeper]

read later

[Abigail Adams]

What the eastern religions, new age, and occult have in common is meditation. They say a mantra or focus on breath in order to enter an altered state of consciousness, by which they access the spirit realm (demons, aka “angels” or “spirit guides” or “higher self” or “divine self,” etc.). The main point being that these religions/spiritualities say that you yourself are god.

I myself know that I am not god. There is only one God.

[kanawa]

"That same night, Yashodhara had a dream that Siddhartha had left her. She awoke and told him of the dream. Then she said, "Lord, wherever you go, please take me with you." And knowing that he was going to a place beyond suffering and death, he agreed, and told her, "Where I go, you may go too"

It was a night not too long after the birth of his son, Rahula, that the bodhisattva chose to quit the palace forever and enter the path of homelessness. He decided to have a last look at Rahula before leaving. He found him asleep next to Yashodhara, with her hand resting lightly on his head. He knew that if he picked the baby up, he would wake his wife and leaving would become difficult. He turned on the spot, vowing to see his son again after he had attained enlightenment.
~~
But though she sent her maids and serving women to pay homage to the Buddha, Princess Yashodhara remained in her apartments, thinking to herself, "If the Blessed One values me, he will come to see me." So when the meal was finished, the Tathagata gave his bowl to his father to carry, and they went to Yashodhara's apartments.

The Buddha entered and sat down on the seat prepared for him. Yashodhara came at once to greet him. Grasping his ankles, she placed his feet on her head.

Then King Shuddhodana told the Buddha about Yashodhara's loyalty to him. "When she hear you wore saffron-colored robes, she too began to wear them. When she heard that you took only one meal a day, this became her custom too. When she heard you no longer slept on a bed but on the ground, she also slept on a mat on the floor. When she heard that you had given up wearing flowers and perfume, she too gave that up. And when her relatives sent messages for her to return home, since they would gladly care for her, she merely ignored them. This is how loyal and good my daughter was," said the king.

Rahula, the Buddha's son, was now seven years old. One day soon after the Buddha's arrival in Kapilavastu, Rahula went to talk with him and ask for his inheritance, as his mother had instructed him. The Blessed One did not embrace the boy ant more than he had any of his other relatives, yet Rahula told him, :It feels good even to stand in your shadow" And when the Buddha left the place to return to the Nigrodha Park, the little boy followed him, continuing to ask for his inheritance. Thus the Buddha finally had Shariputra enter Rahula into homelessness, thus making him a novice monk.
~~
The Tathagata's former wife, Yashodhara, also eventually entered the order, and she too was able to attain arhatship. She was particularly gifted in supernormal powers and became foremost among the bhikshunis in that manifestation of awakened mind.

From Chapter 1 of Entering the Stream

[dfwgator]

"So I jump ship in Hong Kong and make my way over to Tibet, and I get on as a looper at a course over in the Himalayas. A looper, you know, a caddy, a looper, a jock. So, I tell them I'm a pro jock, and who do you think they give me? The Dalai Lama, himself. Twelfth son of the Lama. The flowing robes, the grace, bald... striking. So, I'm on the first tee with him. I give him the driver. He hauls off and whacks one -- big hitter, the Lama -- long, into a ten-thousand foot crevice, right at the base of this glacier. And do you know what the Lama says? Gunga galunga...gunga -- gunga galunga. So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consiousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

[kanawa]

Meditation has long been part of Christian practice.
Wiki link to point to further reading.

The main point being that these religions/spiritualities say that you yourself are god.

My take, fwiw, is that a Buddhist strives for a state of selflessness. Which imo is not a negation of the self/ego, just seeing it for what it is and is not. The self or ego can be the impediment to awakening to the presence of God. Similar to Jesus in the desert when confronted with temptations he let go of his human selfishness which culminated in his wonderful exclamation of acceptance and obedience to his Father, Let Your will be done!

One of the most salient parts of the Bible to me is...

Be Still and Know I AM

[Abigail Adams]

You might be interested in doing a little light reading here:

http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/index.html

Eastern or new age type of meditation is not Christian. We are not supposed to empty our minds so that “spirits” can fill them. We are told to meditate on Scripture, but that is thinking about it, not emptying our minds of thought. Yes there were mystics in the church, but my belief, and others’ belief, is that this was not a good thing, but led people to pantheism and panenthesim.

“Awakening to the presense of god” is really about what I described in my previous post. It is not the God of the Bible that meets people in that kind of meditation. “Be still” does not mean to empty our minds and do eastern/new age meditation.

[svcw]

Harsh and closed minded - wow. All I did was ask a question, didn't buda leave his wife and children to find his own enlightenment.

[Mr. Jeeves]

"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:" Luke 17:20

"Neither shall they say, Lo here or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:21

Meditation is not thinking. It is the deliberate cessation of thinking - the voluntary turning off of the ego/mind. When you learn how to stop those uncontrollable thought processes, you can at last discover the kingdom of God within you. You are not a separate, tiny, crawling, subservient worm who must live in terror of Hell - you are already in fact a part of God and part of the kingdom. You have just forgotten.

But since it became a hierarchical power structure the Christian Church has been terrified of meditation, because people who learn how to practice it have no more need to pay protection money to Earthly intermediaries. Unfortunately, theologians' teachings on the subject have frightened and misled a lot of people. It is a self-evident truth that it isn't meditative Buddhists or Taoists who have a history of flying airplanes into buildings and burning witches.