hi i think i am going to become a buddhist ......

[Akensai]

Yes no sex, money, big houses, cars, or any other "luxury". Go live in a hut in a forest and bring some sutra's whit you, hehehe.



You think buddha was a buddhist, he was not, he was just a human being on the path of self-discovery and freedom.

You can become a buddhist if you want, sure, but I wouldn't recommend to be of any religion, just be free and walk your own path.

Other than that perhaps you could give a more specific question?

[twstedrage]

Buddism has alot of good knowledge in the religion, but as far as fallowing it as a religion, I agree with Akensai, just be free and walk your own path. I always try to keep an open mind and experiance everything. It is worth reading into there are alot of great buddist qoutes and knowledde but as far as it being my path it wasn't. I hope that helps.

[findtruth]

Go to http://www.buddhanet.net

[findtruth]

To add to that: The meditation library is cool.  Cha'an meditation methods.[]

[ralphm]

Go Tibetian! Nyingma especially.

[The AlphaOmega]

My only statement is that any teaching that is founded on and emphasis the virtues of love and forgiveness as healing is a wise teaching indeed.  Buddhist or Christian, their cores are the same which to me emphasis's the truth of the message.

[Dark_Phoenix]

ok i guess i might not become a buddhist...after all....i can't live without me sex.....[]

[Gandalf]

Hold on. You are a bit narrow in your conception of Buddhism. This is a problem I come across all the time when westerners talk about Buddhism.

There are two main forms of Buddhism, 'the Lesser Wheel' (Southern Buddhism) practiced only in Vietnam, Thailand and adjacent countries,
and 'The Greater Wheel' or Northern Buddhism, which is far the more popular form of Buddhism (about 75% of all Buddhists belong to this form) and it is this type that is practised everywhere else, albeit with regional differences; these areas include Tibet, China and Japan.

In Northern Buddhism, you don't have to be a Monk to be a Buddhist.
That's the problem in the West. People can only conceive of Buddhism as in Buddhist 'Monks'. That's like saying only Christian monks are true Christians.

In Northern Buddhism the normal population follow the Buddhist religion 'lay Buddhists' if you like. They can still have sex, drink etc, although too much is disapproved of.

eg in Hong Kong, everyone is Buddhist, but not in the sense of Buddhist monks!

Southern Buddhism is the minority version of Buddhism which doesn't accept any of the normal north Buddhist deities (it admits to the existence of boddivistas but denies that they stay behind to help humanity) and says that ONLY monks can be Buddhist. It is for this reason that most other Buddhists (the Northern Buddhists) don't take them very seriously.

Zen Buddhism which is popular in the West, is also a variation of Northern Buddhism. They also accept all the usual Buddhist Deities or Boddhivistas.

Of course the Southern Buddhists like to say that their version is the original teachings unlike the northern lot who split off a couple of hundred years later, but they are both still pretty old, with Southern Buddhism coming along around 500BCE and the Northern sect splitting off around 300BCE.

Also, I wouldn't disregard Northern Buddhism just because it is a little later; after all, the monks who split of from the original form did this because of the findings of their spiritual journeys, and truths they discovered through meditation, which is just what the original Buddha had advised. Through their continuing explorations of reality, they expanded on much of the nature of reality which the original Buddha had not touched upon. They also found some of his teachings as being incorrect.

So you can be a 'normal' Buddhist, like the majority of China, and Japan etc, you don't have to be a monk!
A great deity to follow is Amida Buddha in Japan, legend has it he was a man who advanced far and who promised to all his followers that he would hold back from entering Nirvana until he had helped as many people as possible. He did this by creating a heaven realm where everyone can attain enlightenment one they go there.. Guaranteed.. simply by chanting his name!

The great thing about Buddhist deities or bodhivistas is that they were all once human but they have stopped short of enlightenment so as to help others on the path.

btw Southern Buddhism, or original Buddhism, DOES also accept the existence of these deities but denies that they have any interest in helping the rest of humanity, they are only concerned with their own advancement.. this kind of selfish attitude was seen as contradictory and is one of the reasons why the Northern Buddhists do not accept it; they feel that any enlightened being will of course try to help all their brothers and sisters.

The Dalai Lama, whose branch of Northern Buddhism has been further influenced by local shamanic practice, is in fact the reincarnation of one of the boddhivistas, a goddess of mercy, cant remember the name, who has also vowed to help humanity. The Tibetan form of Buddhism boasts that it can get you to Nirvana in one lifetime, which is impressive.

Northern Buddhism also has a form of Trinity, as does Christianity, with one aspect of the Buddha being the universe, a pantheistic vision similar to Hinduism actually, a second aspect which is present on the higher levels and helps people, and finally a physical incarnation which can be born on earth.

They also explain the concept of Nirvana more properly, something which the original Buddha didn't do. Nirvana is merging with the ALL, the universe, which is the Buddha in his first trinity aspect.
So you become the all. In this sense, Buddhism has come back to Hinduism in some respects.

Zen Buddhism says you can taste this feeling of ALL and merge with the Universe or Nirvana through meditation while you are still alive, you don't have to wait to get a taster of it. This is confirmed by Zen Buddhists themselves.

Hope some of this is food for thought.
Its just that westerners usually (and I used to be the same) only have a very limited conception of Buddhism.. many in the west simply try to reduce it to a philosophy, others try to stick only to Southern Buddhism as they think that the original Buddha's teaching are the only relevant ones (this is probably where the common conception of Buddhism automatically = 'monk' comes from)  however by doing this, they will not be able to sample the benefits of Northern Buddhism, which includes Zen and Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the majority of Buddhist culture/people in the east.

So be a Buddhist, its great.. and lots of cool deities to help you out along the way as well!
The only people who wouldn't be comfortable with this are those who are still subconscious monotheistic Christians... well... do you want to be as Buddhist or not?!!!
Douglas

[gamer666]

Yoy should read some books on Buddhism.  Try some by the Dalai Lama, one I read I think is called The Path to Enlightenment.  It says that you don't have to believe in the Reincarnation or other things like that.  But you should just be freindly and care about other people, and things like that.  Something I thought was interesting is how he said something like if you don't steal because you'll get in trouble and people will think poorlly of you is almost as bad as stealing, you should think how it would hurt who you stole from.( I may have remebered this wrong)
Also my friends father used to be I monk in Thailand, now he live here he is one of the happiest people I know.  You should see him he was watching a baseball game and when the hit the ball he would make woshing noises and things like that.

Well thought you would like to know.

[Dark_Phoenix]

and i was wondering if you had any advice for me?