Teach Doug Buddhism

[FortunaMaximus]

Very nice. Preparing for a road trip, but I've bookmarked those and will give them a good look when I'm back home.

Nice SN, btw. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[madnak]

I'll say this - Buddhism as it's practiced in the West is generally based on Buddhism as a method of achieving happiness (absence of suffering, really). A "recipe," if you will. I recommend approaching it as such.

Also, if you really want to go into the philosophy of Buddhism, well.... Read poetry. Seriously. All kinds of poetry. Also read up on mythology (Buddhist but also Hindu, Shinto, etc), read some works from other Eastern religions (the Tao Te Ching, etc), and meditate.

Finally, stick to general concepts rather than specific sects. At first, anyhow.

[hmkpoker]

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As a former practicing Buddhist, I highly recommend finding a Zazen sitting group and practicing meditation with them. That's something I've been meaning to get back into actually.

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how do you go about finding something like that?

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You probably have to be in a reasonably metropolitan area. The one I got involved with was held at my college campus, and I found out about it through word of mouth.

Your best bet would be to find the closest New Age weirdo store and ask around, they might be able to give you a web address or something.

It's worth it if you can find a good group. Meditation with the right crowd is an awesome experience.

[The once and future king]

It important to understand that there are lots of different sects and flavours of Buddhism, all of which differ in very important ways. Zen and Tibetan Buddhism for example are very very different as is Theravada which is on the one hand the most practised form of Buddhism but at the same time the form westeners know least about.

As far as I concerned Buddhism is a practise. It is the act of meditating. What one "learns" through the act of meditating is in essence Buddhism.

I recieved instruction in my practise
Vipassana by going on a ten day residential course in which one must under take a vow of silence for the full ten days. One must live as monk would. Which is OK because buddhist monks eat well [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Those ten days were increadibly powerfull. Since then my practise has lapsed which is incedibly stupid on my part as the practise bestows great benefits. When "I" die it is very likely that one of my principal regrets will be that I did not practise more.

[FortunaMaximus]

Very cool, once and future.

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one must under take a vow of silence for the full ten days.

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Yeah, this has never been an issue with me. The Universe has been on mute for me since '80. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Still, the contributions to this thread have made me realize that my education may be lacking in the formalized aspects. So thanks for the links, and more information on a subject that I was always interested in.

[The once and future king]

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FM and MidGe care to teach me buddhism? Also this is open to anyone else that has a positive view of buddhism that wants to share. Where do I start?

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I copied this post by MidGe as it an excelent concise and clear explanation of the central ideas of Buddhism. This should be your starting point.

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The test as to whether a sect is accepted by Buddhists at large, irrespective of lineage/tradition, as Buddhist, is known as the three characteristics of existence.


Any sectarian view based on this is recognized as Buddhist by the three main streams: Theravada "Ways of the Elders aka as Hinayana or smaller vehicle, based on the oldest canonical texts exclusively, prevalent in Thailand, Myanmar and Sri Lanka), Mahayana (The Greater Vehicle, includes Zen, Chan and most of Chinese, Japanese and other South-east Asian countries buddhism not mentioned under Theravada), Vajranya ("Way of Wisdom", prevalent in Northern India, Tibet and Nepal).


The three characteristics of existence are: Anatta, Anicca and Dukkha.


Anatta is the doctrine of no-self. That is there is NO enduring entities anywhere to be found in the the phenomena of existence. (Note: if a Buddhist sect promotes a view of "re-incarnation", that view must be explained in terms of this fundamental characteristic, thus nothing of essence gets transmitted from life to life as many uneducated westerners, and even some uneducated Buddhists, believe Buddhism posit).



Anicca is the doctrine that everything is always subject to change, there is nothing, no entity, that is unchanging or eternal.


Dukkha, is the doctrine of unsatisfactoriness. Basically that all mechanisms of existence are fundamentally unsatisfactory or, as is often said, that life is suffering.


I hope this clear some misunderstandings and that it is clear that Buddhism does not in any way, at a fundamental level, require any beliefs at all, except for the three mentioned above.


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[DougShrapnel]

Thanks everyone for contributing to this thread. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I will be reading all the links and posts and asking some questions. I'll try to ask some stupid questions in the new future [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img] until then keep the recommendations coming.

[FortunaMaximus]

But of course. It's nice to have a thread that doesn't have theist and atheist alike foaming at the mouth. Actually learned a few things too, which is always useful [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

No such thing as a stupid question, just stupid answers. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[MidGe]

FWIW,

I have been thinking about which would be the best single book about Buddhism to recommend.

I know that of the hundreds of books I have, could I only keep one this is the one, for me. It is rather complete in its topics, in the sense that it covers the necessary essentials, and is an excellent self training manual for those that find it hard to access capable teachers.
The Heart of Buddhist Meditation: Satipatthna : A Handbook of Mental Training Based on the Buddha's Way of Mindfulness, With an Anthology of Relevant Texts Translated from the Pali (Paperback) by Nyanaponika A. Thera

It is a book based on the Theravada's tradition, which in turn is the one of the three major tradition of Buddhism that accept only the earlier texts as canonical.

[BiPolar_Nut]

Just go to your local hot dog stand and order one "with everything"