Buddhism believes in no Gods. Everything is under causes and effects. No Judge who can give us favour but it's all depends on our own behavior that affects this life and next life or lifes. So, we are here because of our past acts. There are some wander powerful spirits as they did something good and gave them power but not forever, as spirits also wander in what's true what's not true just like us, that they fasinate in power and do live human alone. Howevery, everyone still not escape the rule of nature, the changes. With this understanding buddhism teaches us to behave ourself along the journey. Because our journey ends at some place that has not any more changes and extreemly happy and peaceful.

To behave ourself along the journey, as our mind condition has not enough power to drive us to the goal, Buddhism has 5 basic precepts.
1. Refraining from destroying or harming other living creatures.
2. Refraining from taking what is not given.
3. Refraining from sexual misconduct.
4. Refraining from lying.
5. Refraining from taking intoxicants and narcotics.

3 things that buddhists should do are givings (forgive, things, knowledge) that will be useful for others, obey those precepts, and practise meditation. There are so many things to discuss about those but wouldn't be able to write it at once here. you can imagine that those are all peaceful behaviors.

Buddhism teaches about middle way, it's somewhere in the center where we are not too tense or too loose, for example, working, not too hard to halm the health and happiness, or doing nothing at all. Do the best with no greed, but being diligent. Our environment will last a long time, when everyone use natural resource as care about our next generations. It's all up to our mind, with good intention.

Once there are no one fighting in the name of God and call for help from others who believe in the same thing, and everyone are under the same rules that no one has no favor or previllage of doing something that be harmful or disturbing others. Can you imagine that if we will have no war and all the money is put toward clean energy generators instead of military, we all pay much less electricity bills and good for environment, wouldn't that be so nice?

The thing i find the most difficult is beleiving that these things apply to me. I meditate, I try to practice, but sooner or later i feel like i am some silly western yuppie pretending, that this stuff is really only meant for some robed monk sitting quietly on a hilltop. I try and try but i cant help but feel my basic lack of belief in my own ability to do this is holding me back. I believe the Buddhist way is the most peaceful but, i just wish i was a little better at it

Well, I look at it this way: what is perfection? Is perfection the rigid adherence to a form, or system, or set of rules? Or does 'perfection' come only with the understanding one's limitations?

Dundee, perhaps the fact that you are not 'better at it' IS what makes you good at it. I think that it is less the outcome that matters than it is the PROCESS that matters. The process involves trial and error, flying and falling down. I feel that my 'failures' and limitations are what teach me humility, understanding and compassion for the limits of others, humanity: and even in this I'm not anywhere even close to 'perfect'. I get angry. I sometimes place too much value on myself or my ideas. I always feel like I'm tipping to one side or the other, never in balance.

However, maybe that's what it's supposed to feel like. Maybe, ideally, in understanding our imbalances, in learning to appreciate and live with those imbalances, we learn to appreciate, understand and live with the imbalances of others.

Sometimes on a tightrope, the best way to go is just relax. It's when we're too rigid that we fall.



That's it right there. Very nice description.

I think the problem is my impatience, I am waiting for some....i don't know, is it called an epiphany or something.

I know what you mean. I searched a long time for 'the answer', and while I haven't found THE answer ... I've found a lot of little answers that will do.

These days ... I have a kind of joke that I use at work: I call it 'Ken Zen', also known as Ken Doll Zen. I tell people that I aspire to be like a Ken Doll. Ken is perfect. He's always smiling. His plastic hair is always in place. He has great clothes, and pre-made friends: and he doesn't have a single thing in his head.

I tell people at work: Don't question. Don't wonder why. 'Why' means nothing. 'Why' isn't the question for people like us. We're 'do-ers', we get the job done. Our question isn't 'why' but 'how'. Somebody tells us to do something, we don't say 'Why', we say 'How soon do you want it?', 'How would you like it?' Those questions get the job done.

It's simplistic, but Ken Zen can be applied to life at large. I try not to wonder 'why', I just try to 'be', and get along with that. I'm going down the great river of life. I don't wonder why there are rapids, or rocks: I just wonder how to get through it.

Ken Zen is a joke, but there's some truth in there.

Not entirely so, Toniol...but I'll let it go at that.

Actually, if you're not into meditation at all just do the basic which are practising precepts and giving is enough, but when you realized those good things you feel happy, then pray that you wish to be in peace and happiness place as the destination.

Givings really results you to be in a supporting life condition wherever you go in the revolution. and precepts prevent us to go to the suffering places. and that also means after death of this life. and the pray is the guide to make us do better and better in each life. one life, we're gonna get up and meditate and like it.

Dundee, I have the same thing, impatience but at least we know what we have eh? I think that's one thing that make my mind not delicate enough to get in advance in meditation.

I can't do much giving things but I do like to give something that's not tangible for now. means i'm not ready for giving material but I do try to practise those simple precepts. especially the 4th one though, sometimes it just came out so quick but at least it didn't killl or injure anyone. hehehe

Now, my point is we are not perfect, but at least we can do something and don't forget to wish or pray.

In buddhism, prayers is one of important things too

Imagine when we do good things in these 10 ways, we have more of something that buddhism called Boonya (don't mixed up with the word called Banya* that means being smart or clever in both spiritual and living world).

Those 10 ways are

1. giving 2. practising precepts 3. being able to stop unneccessary desire 4. making ourselves have more banya(as the meaning of punya above*) 5. being diligent 6. being patient 7. keeping our words 8. wishing or praying for ourselves to do or be better 9. wishing and helping people who're suffering and 10. being fair

Boonya is one of the outputs of good acts we did. The outputs are the consequenceses and Boonya. A consequence can result right the way and or later (day, month, year, life). but one of the consequences is feeling happy after we did something good, that's because boonya is like water to wash away the dirt and heat, so it gives us the cool feeling in our minds. Those boonya can be multiple by number 8. for example we are happy that we are not making anyone suffering which is number 2. the we feel happy and boonya happen, so we pray from that goodness we wish to do better then we have 2 kinds of boonya. (which results us wherever we go in the revolution we have good looking and the pray leads us to practise more good things.)

1 to 10 I choose 1, 2, and 8 and I think it's good enough for me for now. the others i let it comes by itself

I like that a lot, about why and how true

tutu it is so, remember that buddhism in our history originated in india and it was phrahma which believe in prohma the creator and many other gods. But buddhism is break away from that concept as Buddha found that we all be along our consequences of our acts only, no god who can or wants to control our long journey because everyone and everything here are changing.

but a lot of buddhists nowaday got mixed up as the belief happened in belive-in-god region the culture of phrahm attaches with it and people just don't believe in themselves but asking for help from the greater power sources. here it goes, a lot of buddhists doesn't practise or understand much but think alike that buddha is a god so they just ask for things from buddha or famous monk statues.

I think a lot of the trouble i have is with my western upbringing. Although I believe in the Buddhist concepts, the rules for living are pretty darn good i think and i can understand and appreciate how it works. Yet with all that, i still find it difficult to consider myself as part of it. I guess I have this thing in my head that makes me secretly believe that it is only wonderful people like His Holiness and people who have been brought up in a Buddhist culture that this applies to. I know it is not true but.... still i find it difficult.

Dundee, do you believe that you do understand a lot better than more than half percentage of people who called themselves buddhists. those who doesn't even know how important of precepts are, and think that they can ask for good things to happen from buddha statues. for me, if a person willing to try practising 5 precepts, and think that buddha is a great teacher who tries to help us to escape all the sufferings, so the person understands what is the suffering and wanna out of it at the end, the person can called oneself as a 100% buddhist.

Yet that depends on one's own individual understanding of God-nature (for want of a better term). For all their capacity for deep wisdom, humans seem mired in stagnant pools of shallow thought. Robert Frost said it best when he penned the words...

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Perhaps the oft-traveled road is simply a biological tendency that humans share in common with all social animals..that is to say...don't think, follow the pack..for therein lies safety...acceptance..comfort..etc. But the Buddha understands that the 'path of awakening' is a solitary, individual journey toward oneness with dharma. The unenlightened sleep among their fellows...enveloped in a dream state called Ego..which they perceive as reality. To awaken, however, is to begin one's journey with the unenlightened 'I' and to end with the dissolution of 'I' in dharma. Finally, there is only dharma...oneness...

To say that buddhism broke away from the dharma of its origin is to be mired in superficial teachings and limited understanding of dharma. There is no distinction between Vedic or Buddhism dharma....there is only one dharma. It is the ego which creates these distinctions...these false separations. The God(s) are also superficial representations of the dharma...they merely exist as mental constructs allowing for expression and discourse between one another...for the dharma itself is ineffable and manifests only in the moment..it simply 'is'...being...existence..and thus its true nature can only be understood in experiencing true existence...for it is nothing more than that. Consequently, I could not accurately express dharma to you...I could not 'teach' it to you...nor could the Buddha...nor any other spiritual teacher. For I, as any other, would be forced to rely on these superficial mental constructs..these necessarily limited representations of actuality...be they called 'God'...'Gods'...'sutras'...'scriptures'...'philosophies'...'laws'..etc...and, clearly, such expressions of intellectual thought would not be dharma. This is truth in Buddhism...and was also understood as truth long before the inception of Buddhism. There is no distinction between 'God' and 'dharma'...both are one in the same...in experience of it...express it..reason with it...define it...personify it...name it...affirm it...deny it...and, suddenly, the path becomes obscured..the way becomes lost..the truth becomes hidden..and the destination unobtainable.

A wise teacher knows...his greatest folly...his greatest failure...and most sublime sorrow...is in opening his mouth to teach. Dharma (truth) can not be learned..it can only be experienced. Dharma (god) can not be expressed...it can only be experienced. Dharma (understanding) can not be revealed...it can only be realized.

Dhamma has body. We see dhamma when our mind condition is right for it, delicate through stillness in peace. Buddha became a buddha through that as he found and with all his collected goodness (dedicate his properties, time, body parts and even his millions of life through so many world periods before he became a buddha for goodness) that goodness allows him to be able to understand to teach, others who found out oneself wouldn't teach. We are in the period that his teaching will carried in another 2500 years the vanish from the world until the next which is the last one of this world period. to the point that dhamma and god is not ineffable and manifest that's right but not all of it. Dhamma body is real if a person practise, but you're right at the point that, nobody can tell what it feels like or inside experiences. But dhamma body allows the mind to see and feel from the lowest to the top of what's going on which no other teachings teach us to prove their teaching, but beg for mercy.

now it's just about practising and see it oneself, because we can not see microorganism without a microscope.

We approach this from a different understanding, Toniol, and that is quite alright. For my part, I am unconcerned with the trappings of superficiality. I have never been one to be content in wading along the shore. I am more inclined to plunge headlong into the deep waters. I am a student of the metaphysical and a devotee of the spiritual. For this reason, I lean more toward the Eastern philosophies than any other. Profound beauty lies in their ever changing, ever deepening wisdom. It is meaning within meaning and without end. Yet, I understand that dharma is dharma for all and the awakening at a level suitable to each one's capacity to comprehend and experience. When one says 'this is Buddhism' or 'that is Buddhism' then one is subverting one very basic precept of Buddhism...that 'buddha' simply means 'awakened' and the path to one's awakening is one's own. To that end, a Buddhist is simply one who journeys toward enlightenment. We say we 'take refuge in the Buddha' but this does not mean the historical Buddha..it means we take refuge in the state of being awake. Here we find release from suffering. Here is peace in the absence of turmoil. Yet, some choose to believe that the first jewel means to take refuge in the historical Buddha and his teachings. And if such is one's choice then it matters not because that is one's own path and it does not negate the deeper understanding of 'refuge' and 'Buddha' that others may seek.

Dundee...you feel this way because you are caught up in the confines of religion and dogma. When you feel doubt and question yourself if you are a Buddhist or not, you must first clarify, in your mind, the nature of your question. If by Buddhist you mean 'one who seeks enlightenment' then the answer should be a clear 'yes'. If by Buddhist you mean 'one who seeks enlightenment' by believing the Three Universal Truths...if by adhering to the Four Noble Truths...if by following the Noble Eightfold Path...if by cultivating the Ten Perfections...the Six Perfections...if by obeying the Five Precepts...if an Arhat...or a Bodhisattva...etc...then the answer depends directly upon the conditions to which you have assigned to it.

Very well-explained, Iw2b2. I think it's important not to get too bogged down in ritual and formula. There is no secret recipe for enlightenment, and to be honest, I don't even seek 'spiritual perfection'. For me, I'm simply on a journey, and my only goal is to BE on the journey. I've finally reached a point in my life where it's no longer about 'what's at the end', but rather 'what's between here and there'. I'm not actually a buddhist, though I am familiar with a lot of different philosophies.

Many people take comfort in the teachings and guidelines for 'right living' and they may well feel lost and without purpose outside of them. As Toniol pointed out, the teachings are actually beneficial to humanity. But those who seek a path to enlightenment must come to understand that any such path will be inherently unique. Even if the principles are the same for all, the experiences will not be. Buddhism, like all Eastern Philosophies, teaches that the mind of one is the mind of all...that is to say, there is only ONE mind in actuality but many different minds in reality. Because each mind has its own reality...it must overcome its own unique perceptions...to strip away the veil of reality and find the one mind existing in actuality.

I am hesitant to label myself any one thing because I feel that to do so will necessarily limit my understanding of anything existing outside of its perimeters. And I believe that the ultimate truths may far well exceed anything humans have yet comprehended. Therefore, I say that I am simply a student of knowledge, a devotee of the spiritual and a seeker of truths. I'm fond of a line by the character of Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of the Rings, "It's a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to." Only, I don't intend to keep my feet.

I feel exactly the same way.

iwant2believe2 is right. That's why there is Mahayana. They teach and train as we call meditation in group and support each other. When it comes to englightment they stop. It's interesting that no matter where we are at we still have the will.

once they see dhamma which is at the beginning they go to next level by stay more still, and see the bodies in each level, since seeing themself in white (tippa), though more dilicate dhammas, body in heaven(teva), throu more dilicate dhammas, body in phromma (phromma),... then body in bodiless phromma (arupaphromma), then dhamma kaya

They will stop right here, at dhamma kaya but have so many knowledge about logiya(the world) and logutara(the places after death). Once they are at the level, they have friends to hold on, so they don't rush to get in the next and the next level which are

Sodabuna - still be able to be able to have family 7 lifes after will be arahuta or enlighten
Sakatakami - 3 lifes to enlighten
Anakami - 1 life to enlighten
Arahuta - no revolution

but all of these, even we don't want to be enlighten yet, starts from simple 5 precepts because we don't want to be wander in animal bodies and being in suffer. With 5 precepts buddhism teach that we can ensure that we will be borned in weather be again a thoughtful human or in heavens where we resting in convenient condition. but all is from our own action.

Actually Theravada Buddhism is akin to "atheism" while Mahayana Buddhism believes in many bodhisattvas and "god like" entitites (though this is not the teaching of THE Buddha). Mahayana is more akin to Catholicism really where the various bodhisattvas would be comparative to the saints.