Thread: First Steps in Becoming a Buddhist?

Why do you need to become a Buddhist? It seems unnecessary to define yourself as the member of a practice intent on removing the self from the confinement of definition.

But anyways, you may find this thread helpful: http://www.dreamviews.com/f37/buddhi...so-far-136130/

I've been practicing Buddhism for years and have never considered myself a Buddhist. My advice would be to find a meditation retreat near you. A week long retreat is probably a good way to start. If you don't have the time for that you can probably find weekend ones. That's how I got into it and I liked that week so much that it turned into a 2 month residency at a monastery!

You can also probably find meditation centers near you that hold sessions regularly, if you don't want to do a retreat (although I strongly recommend it.). I believe the support of a community and teacher is vital to good practice, but that may not be the case for everyone.

I've been interested in Buddhism for years. Is it a religion though and, if so, are they worshipping Buddha? Most people worship Gods because prophets tell them to. Surely it's more a philosophy and a lot of it chimes well with Dream research...because they are the masters of LD...and, to them life is but a dream

Whether or not it is a Religion depends on who you ask. I know a lot of Buddhists who do consider it to be a religion. I don't really consider it to be a religion because it doesn't require you to have faith in the veracity of anything you are told by your teachers or scripture. It's experience based, rather than belief based. I personally think of it more as a science - all the practices are a set of easily replicable experiments that give similar results no matter who does them, and the knowledge you gain from those practices tells you more about yourself and the reality in which we live. It's a continuous venture in inquiry and discovery conducted with nothing but your own mind.

I don't think any Buddhist actually "worships" the Buddha. When we bow to an image of the Buddha, the idea is that you are giving yourself to your own Buddha nature. There isn't just one Buddha, there have been hundreds of thousands, and Buddhahood is something that's available to everyone.

It's more like a philosophy to me. Buddha wasn't a deity at all, but a mere human becoming enlightened. Anyways, Buddhism is the only "belief system" (wouldn't call it religion) that resonates with me. The DL seems like a wise man. I believe you can find a sense of "divinity" in your own mind, rather than from external sources.

Buddhists still utilize a similar strategy to Christians by turning Buddha into a deity in order to connect with Buddha and feel a divine presence. Over time the objective is to realize that this divine presence is actually yourself, which I think is the same thing monastic christians eventually realize.

Originally Posted by FriendlyFace

Whether or not it is a Religion depends on who you ask. I know a lot of Buddhists who do consider it to be a religion. I don't really consider it to be a religion because it doesn't require you to have faith in the veracity of anything you are told by your teachers or scripture. It's experience based, rather than belief based. I personally think of it more as a science - all the practices are a set of easily replicable experiments that give similar results no matter who does them, and the knowledge you gain from those practices tells you more about yourself and the reality in which we live. It's a continuous venture in inquiry and discovery conducted with nothing but your own mind.

I don't think any Buddhist actually "worships" the Buddha. When we bow to an image of the Buddha, the idea is that you are giving yourself to your own Buddha nature. There isn't just one Buddha, there have been hundreds of thousands, and Buddhahood is something that's available to everyone.

You are right about the not worshiping Buddha part, but it is definitely a religion. There is an ideology that comes out of Buddhism, I think that this for me is what verifies that it is not what I am looking for as far as spirituality goes. I have spent many years practicing meditation and have been a part of a Buddhist community for a while, though I've never took the precepts or any of that and most of the time I was there I didn't really participate in the ritual. I was there for the silence, not the bullshit.

I would advise anyone getting involved in Buddhism to be cautious. There is an ideological element to it and it is very easy to get drawn in. It's also quite likely that you already agree with much of this ideology, that's what makes it attractive. A world without suffering is a very enticing. So is the idea of helping others, saving all beings as they say. Many people who become Buddhists define themselves as being compassionate and caring. "I love everyone". This is delusion of the highest order. Everything is God and therefore nothing is God. The same becomes true of love if we try to define it this way. Everything is the way. There is some truth to this but most people living from this place are suffering greatly and causing even more to others. There is an element of personal experience here, it is possible to feel really really fucking good, like you are nothing but love, but is that where you live from. Is that who you are when someone is trying to hurt you? And is that who you even should be? I don't think it is. There are times when all is still and there are times to move. Beware of stagnation.

If you are going to go down the rabbit hole of eastern philosophy I would recommend balancing it out with some western philosophy. It's very easy to delude oneself and not even realize it because at the same time you are feeling good and you are being more mindful of the simple things. While there is much to learn from the dharma, from the official and spontaneous teaching you will encounter it's also important to keep asking questions. There is the teaching that the Buddha is in you, but it is also true that most people involved in Buddhism want to be more like The Buddha, more like their teacher. They want to be good as opposed to who they are now. Buddhist claim this ambiguity to be just the way things are, but I think that it is only so if one has an ideology, if one thinks that there is a certain way things should be. While I have preferences I recognize that these are subjective and based on my own values, not any kind of external or objective system of morality or ethics.

Anyway, I highly recommend meditation retreats as well, but I dunno if they are the place to start. If you want to start do it now, or don't do it at all. It's quite simple. Find a comfortable place to sit. Some people like to sit on the floor; it's nice if you have those fancy cushions those zen people use, but if not a normal straight backed chair is fine. Sit on the front 3rd of the chair without leaning against the back. I recommend stretching your arms over your head as a way to combat slouching. Good posture is very important, but being comfortable is more important(the reason for posture is so that you can sit still for a while without being in pain), don't strain yourself trying to have the right posture.

Let your gaze settle on a single point. Don't look around, but don't stare rigidly either. What you are looking at is not what you are going to be focusing on, at least if you are doing what I'm suggesting, you can also focus on visual stimulus.

Turn your attention to your breath. Pay attention to each inhalation and exhalation. If your mind wanders that is ok, just notice that this has happened and bring your awareness back to the breath. Do this for 10 minutes or so unless you feel like doing it for longer. I recommend doing it for longer once you are comfortable with the technique.

I'm with you on this. I only relate to aspects of Buddhism. Of course we should ideally love everyone and maybe we do all have skylike minds, but some people's skylike minds are severely overcast and no amount of enlightenment can avoid the fact that they have to be dealt with...now, not in an afterlife. There have always been Buddhist warrior monks of course, but the recent violence in Myanmar shows that even "enlightened" monks lose it when rubbing alongside Muslims

I would love reincarnation and karma to be right...what a great joke. Virulent racists etc possibly coming back as the very thing they despise ...or even as a warthog. So, keep the robe, the haircut, the religious aspect, the gongs, bells, flags, Give me meditation, lucid dreaming, mindfulness...and they're spot-on about samsara...personally I doubt that the World will ever be completely well ordered or fair to all. But you're right of course, these are subjective views and based on my own values...and most of the trouble occurs because people think their views are the pivot around which the Universe revolves.

As stoned ape said, be careful on eastern philosophy/ religious paths, instead of trying to find a religion you can fit in, just find a path for you. My advice, forget about it, and work on improving your self and how you view the world around you by experiencing as many altered states as possible until you find the state comfortable for you, then make it so you live that state always. That is a thing far greater than any religion.

Originally Posted by LukeSid

I'm with you on this. I only relate to aspects of Buddhism. Of course we should ideally love everyone and maybe we do all have skylike minds, but some people's skylike minds are severely overcast and no amount of enlightenment can avoid the fact that they have to be dealt with...now, not in an afterlife. There have always been Buddhist warrior monks of course, but the recent violence in Myanmar shows that even "enlightened" monks lose it when rubbing alongside Muslims

I would love reincarnation and karma to be right...what a great joke. Virulent racists etc possibly coming back as the very thing they despise ...or even as a warthog. So, keep the robe, the haircut, the religious aspect, the gongs, bells, flags, Give me meditation, lucid dreaming, mindfulness...and they're spot-on about samsara...personally I doubt that the World will ever be completely well ordered or fair to all. But you're right of course, these are subjective views and based on my own values...and most of the trouble occurs because people think their views are the pivot around which the Universe revolves.

Do you love racists? Should you love racists? I think that love is the wrong word. Maybe we should have compassion for everyone, but even that I doubt. If someone breaks into your house and is raping your wife do you really have time for compassion? Sometimes you just have to act.

Didn't hear anything about Myanmar, I'll have to look into that. I've been very wary of Buddhist ethics after I found out that the people who brought Zen to the west were racists who thought that the attacks on pearl harbor were a good thing. DT Suziki had some very wise things to say but he had some very serious flaws that shouldn't be overlooked.