Explanation

Many times (as part of my insanity) I'll engage in a religious discussion on this site, though not legal as it could be said they are almost incessant. As a result of my jambing my foot in my mouth and taking the bait I'll end up having somebody ask me what is my religion. I'll tell them than they want an explantion. Now having told you all before in my introduction I have no real "formal education" in Buddhism as it seems to be called. therefore what I tell people is what I know and therefore may be flawed. Is there a certain place other than a temple that I could go for help on this matter or do I have to stick it out and listen to people go on and on while I try to explain my best at what we feel and do in the realm of divinity. A thought I have had was that maybe we could pool our knowledges here in the group and then if there is a need somebody like my incredibly large mouthed personage could fall back on in times such as those. As I knwo the group is open the possiblity of refereing them to reading what is posted could also be sent in a message with a link to the page.

Thanks RSP

Not sure exactly how to help, but I'd be happy to try.    Don't want to become the straw man buddhist that everyone with an axe to grind takes a run at tho!

haha I got your back mate don't worry about being ground down

In general Buddhists do not proselytize, but if someone wants to know I tell them the basic story focusing on the Heart teachings.

1. Do not do any evil. This means no lying, stealing, killing, harsh speech, illicit sexual activity. These actions result in greed, hatred, delusio

2. Cultivate Good. This is Right View, Right Actions, Right Thoughts.

3. Purify the mind. Mindfulness of #2. If you do an evil, then meditate upon the cause, correct the wrong done and correct your actions for the future.

If they are still with me I then talk about the Four Noble Truths.

Hope this helps.

indeed it does.

Yup. Discussion of religion/spirituality usually ends up being pointless, especially in online chat rooms. And as for finding actual truth in online chatrooms, better are the chances of a turtle surfacing once every hundred years and putting his head through a single hoop that floats the seven seas.

If you're looking for info, I'd do what His Holiness the Dalai Lama recommends. Go to as many temples as you can, read as many books as you can. Soon, you'll notice your mind starts gravitating towards one particular system/tradition. Once there, dive into it, and master it. You can study everything, but you'll end up mastering nothing.

I've interacted with hundreds, if not thousands, of people who claimed to be Buddhist over the years, when in reality, they were simply what I'd call "Buffet Buddhists." They just pick and choose what they like, but don't take the stuff that's hard to do.

Everyone wants to talk about "love" and "mystical experiences" but not many want to work hard on being an ethical person (which is ALL based on love) or actually putting time into actual meditation and KNOWING what meditation actually is. Don't even think about Tantra until you know what the foundational practices are.

Have studied/practiced for about twenty years now. Found my home in the Indo-Tibetan tradition, particularly the Gelug tradition (the one in which the Dalai Lama was raised.) If you're interested in that route, I'd recommend checking out the FPMT site, or the site set up by Alexander Berzin. In my perspective, both very pure. A couple I'd strongly recommend staying away from are anything connected with Michael Roach/ACI or Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. So much controversy associated with them, it's best to just stay away.

If interested in Theravada, Thich Nhat Hanh, from everything I've ever read, seen and heard, is a pure, pure Bodhisattva. Can't go wrong with him.

I hope this helps.

it helps quite a lot, I'll have to read it several times over probably.

Not my group mate. Do I know you?

Hey Dystopian,

Addressing some points you brought up:

1) Once read the problem with Buddhism is, religions see it as philosophy, but philosophies see it as religion. Both terms, in the Western traditional meaning, carry some heavy baggage. "Philosophy" meant something a thousand years ago or so, when if you claimed you were a philosopher, you actually practiced the philosophy. But, at some point, it just became word games. As for religion, in the West, the word has heavy connections with an inherently existent creator God. I personally just think of Buddhism as a "world view," which is something that everyone has.

2) Having a very critical mind, I was very wary of the theory of reincarnation when I first started. (Although, that's a misuse of the term...technically, only highly advanced beings can reincarnate, that is, choose how they're re-born...as for everyone else...cause & effect/karma propels them into a "rebirth.") If you accept the premise that mind/consciousness is a non-physical thing, and that results can only be similar to causes, then consciousness/mind cannot arise from a physical thing...therefore, mind cannot arise from a sperm and egg joining...it could only come from a previous moment of mind. There's a professor at the University of Virginia that studied/documented cases of reincarnation for a few decades. His name is Ian Stephenson (sp?) May want to check his stuff out. Not enough time to write it all out here, but if one were an alien, visiting from another planet, and someone described the concept of a creator god putting a "soul" into a body vs the continuum of consciousness/rebirth, the latter would make much more sense. Heck, most of the world accepted the concept of rebirth, including Christians, until 400 A.D. That was when King Constantine had the Nicean council "outlaw" rebirth, because as a king, he refused to accept the possibility that he could be reborn as a cat.

3) As for desire, that's a heavy topic, and there's much mis-information and bad translations in the West. The three primary poisons are usually called "Ignorance, anger and desire," whereas a more literal translation would be "Ignorance, aversion and clinging." The very purpose of life is happiness, and it's ok to enjoy the world...not to be some kind of vegetable. But, most place much too much emphasis on the material, usually to the point where negative results arise from too much clinging. As a great teacher once said, the problem is not the beauty of the flower...the problem is CLINGING to the beauty of the flower. I hope that helps.

Thanks!