Anything you know about buddhism?

Discussion in 'Religion, Beliefs and Spirituality' started by AbstractMinds, Apr 8, 2015.

  1. So lately buddhism has called a lot my attention. I've investigated in google and gathered the most info I could. However I think that there is a lot of knowledge that I haven't found in google that you guys might know. I am interested in any kind of things from the most basic ones to the most complex ones. And I'm also really interested in prayers/mantras you might know.  

     
  2. Those who know don't speak - those who speak don't know. So, I dunno...
     
  3. I don't know what your looking for on google, but there are various types of Buddhism and I think nearly all information about Buddhism is available online.
     
  4. Well, a key teaching of the Buddha is not-self or no-self, anatta. This is particularly in reference to the five skandhas, which are components of how we experience reality that can really be seen to be essentially all-encompassing. With all of these words, it's best to understand that these words are translated from other language. Meaning, it is not necessarily a 100% english equivalent, hence why sometimes different english words are suggested, to make the point implied by the original word clear. So, using the translations I personally like best as of now, the five skandhas are form, sensation, discrimination, mental formations, and consciousness. Form is just that, physical form. Sensations are direct, tangible sensations, direct sensory impressions. Discrimination is our evaluation of reality, breaking things down into discrete objects, then labeling them, then giving them relative importance, meaning, and worth. Mental formations encompass everything which is intentionally done because of our mind. Thoughts that we think, willful actions, and such. Consciousness is just the underlying state of consciousness, like the state of being joyful as opposed to the state of being angry, or various altered states opposed to each other and general sobriety.
     
    Buddha says, your entire experience can be characterized by these five skandhas, and yet if you look closely you can see that all of these things are impermanent, and not self. So where is your self? Some interpret as there truly is no self, there is just an impersonal transient flux of these skandhas. Some say, as the buddha was quoted as saying in the original pali canon, it's a question which is ultimately unanswerable and therefore it is unskillful to try to give a definite answer. And the later mahayana schools generally teach, as Buddha is said to have said in certain Mahayana scriptures, that all possible wrong, limited notions have to first be removed, before the true self can be realized. And not-self is a practical teaching to remove all false, limited notions of self, and then the greater mahayana teaching of buddha-nature, true self, can be realized. Sometimes this is said to be consciousness, which might strike you as being one of the skandhas the buddha taught was not self. Thus we must understand this consciousness or mind to be of a different, more transcendental nature than the consciousness originally referred to in the pali canon. In the mind-only school, there is the idea of the alaya-vinnana, storehouse consciousness. Everything whatsoever that occurs is like a seed which drops into the alaya-vinnana where it inevitably ripens again into experience.
     
    So, these are a few of the major buddhist ideas and teachings.
     
  5. ❤️
     
  6. Buddhism is Hinduism distilled down to just the philosophy. Hinduism preceded Buddhism, but it had integrated into it a culture aspect that laid out life in Hindu society. If you took Hinduism and stripped it of it's culture, that's Buddhism.

    Buddhism has certain precepts, it has no commandments. One precept is that the Ultimate Ground of Reality is Shunyata, or Emptiness (void). They posit that if you are aware of Something, you only know it by comparing it to Nothing. They also have the tale of the Net of Indra, in which they convey the concept of Jiji-Muge, mutual interpenetration, or the connectivity of all things. Other than that they have the 4 Noble Truths concerning the nature of suffering, the last one being the Noble 8 Fold Path. The Noble 8 Fold Path is pretty cool, it lays out a method which is expedient to living a life free of suffering.

    Buddhism also has different schools within it. Theravada ("Elder-Word", Words of the Elders) Buddhism was succeeded by Mahayana Buddhism. Mahayana means "Great Boat", because they believed their school to be the Greater of two. Hinduism evolved to Buddhism, which underwent divisions. It was taken to China where they came up with Daoism and Confucianism, I am a huge fan of Daoism. It also went to Japan where they created Zen Buddhism, Zen being the Japanese word for the Sanskrit word Dhyana, which means "profound union between subject and object". All throughout Hinduism and Buddhism you'll find references to the Unity of all things, the concept expressed by the word Dhyana.

    The one central thing that I took away from all of the forms of Buddhism is that there is no boss. In Western religion, reality is conceived in the form of authority. God is the boss, because he created the Universe. Therefore God owns and operates it, and we are subject to him. In Buddhist philosophy, they realized that Life created itself, Life is self sustaining. Thus the biggest thing I've taken away is that YOU are God. You ARE literally the ecosystem we call Universe, and that Ecosystem is responsible for creating itself. Nothing rules over it. The Daoists say Life is Ziran: "Of itself, so".

    This subtle difference in philosophy has meant the world to me. Honestly I would encourage you to research Buddhism more in all its forms, and listen to Alan Watts! He's the best. [​IMG]
     
  7. I like the five precepts. I am not very hard core about it, I say I "try" to follow them. That "no kill" goes out the window during deer season.
     
  8. you are buddha
     
  9. You walked along great knowledge and are using it wisely.

    To add to the conversation, Eastern Philosophy and Western Religion have more in common than what first appears. First and foremost, religion and philosophy are two different entities that either can be encompassed as a singular object or as a symbiotic existence. Society seems to have drawn some interesting distinctions between the two.

    If you take the idea fro Western Religion that man was created in the image of God and that God is everywhere and made all things and you compare Eastern Philosophy where it is believed that we are God/god..... And just think about that and sit with it.

    Some how, some way, we, as humans, made major divisions between the existence of Life and what this all means. It is us, who try to make sense of it all.

    Once we begin to look inwardly and accept ourselves for who we are, then, we can begin to Love ourselves in ways that expand our existence to a higher level of understanding. Along the processing of Loving and accepting ourselves, we can begin to Love and accept others who are here occupying this time and space we currently experience. Part of the process of achieving a level of self actualization, is understanding that each of us hold equal value. There is no right or wrong. There just is.


    E
     
  10. Why are you looking for prayers or mantras? Just discover and recognize what the buddha taught and reside in the unborn luminosity of mind. There is no self, you are a collection of dependant causes and there is no inherent reality to your being. All phenomena is empty of inherent reality and must be understood as such. There's a lot of buddhism to go through. It's a personal journey but are you interested in a particular branch?
     
  11. Listen to Alan Watts and you can't go wrong. He lived and studied in India, China, and Japan especially, so he knows the ins and outs of each culture. Beyond that he speaks so conversationally, so everyone can understand him.

    From what he says, I very much like the latter schools of Buddhism, Mahayana to be specific. Daoism and Zen especially, the Chinese and Japanese form of Buddhism respectively.

    The main thing I've taken from his lectures and these philosophies as a whole is the identification with what fundamentally is. The ability to and the joy/peace that comes with identifying with Reality or Life itself.

    Sounds kind of silly or cliche but it has honestly changed my life.
     
  12. Thank you sir. [​IMG] 

    I wholeheartedly agree with what you say.
     
  13.  
    No, basically I'm looking forward to learn about anything in any branch of buddhism, that way I can learn a little bit about everything and apply that knowledge the way its best to me. I'm looking forward to prayers/mantras, because I believe they are an important part about buddhism, given that there are a lot of different mantras all over the place, with different meanings or intentions, which I  would like to learn, analyze, and understand.
     
  14. #14 pickledpie, May 20, 2015
    Last edited by a moderator: May 20, 2015
     Are you interested in a certain branch in particular? The Buddhadharma has found it's expression in many ways, some might resonate with you more. I can give you random sources of reading, but it would be from my own practice and learning.
     
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  16. Yes, i totally agree with anyone who told you to listen to alan watts. He is amazing and he was the teacher who got me into buddhism and the real fundamental concepts. 
     

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