by Ibon » Thu 05 Oct 2006, 02:49:34
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dinopello', 'D')oes buddhism offer a reason why goodness and purity are 'right'? Is that dictated from some higher power or do they claim it is self-evident or is it based on practical experience or what ? I guess I should take some religion courses. Didn't have much time for that in engineering school.
We need a "clueless buddhist" to give you the best answer. I am not a strict practicing buddhist but I understand its basic tenants. Good old wikipedia does a pretty good job;
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism.
Noble Eightfold Path
The Buddha told people to follow a special way of life called the Noble Eightfold Path if they want to understand the Four Noble Truths and end suffering. These are:
Right View
Right Thought
Right Speech
Right Action
Right Job
Right Effort (or Right Working)
Right Mindfulness (or Right Awakeness)
Right Concentration (or Right Deep-thinking)
To learn more, read: Noble Eightfold Path
Five Precepts
Most Buddhists follow five precepts, or rules, that say what not to do. These are similar to the Ten Commandments in Christianity, or the Yamas and Niyamas in Hinduism.
These are the Five Precepts.
I will not hurt a person or animal that is alive.
I will not take something if it was not given to me.
I will not have sex in a way that is not right.
I will not lie or say things that hurt people.
I will not take intoxicants, like alcohol or drugs.
In some types of Buddhism, when a person wants to be a monk, he will follow other precepts also.
Buddhism is part discipline you practice (as in meditation), part philosophy and part religion. Desire and attachment is what prevents one from reaching a more awakened or enlightened state. Meditation is key to letting go of desire and attachment. It is almost more phiosophy than religion but concepts like Karma and reincarnation are definately religious in that your behaviour in this life effects what life you will be reborn into. This acts in a similar way to christianity in offering some sort of continuity after death and in instilling a moral discipline. Like going to hell in christianity if as a buddhist you do harm and steal or commit murder or rape you will pay for it in your next life by your accumulation of bad karma. Christianity gives you maybe an easier way to atone for your bad karma. Just accept Jesus and your sins are forgotten. In buddhism it may take you many lives to atone for accumulated bad karma.
There is no bible in buddhism, just many fables and stories all pointing toward acheiving an awakened or meditative awareness.
Buddhists, unlike islam or christianity, do not believe in a creator.
Buddhists are not evangelical. They do not try to convert and there is no concept of being saved. They would look at the act of trying to convert someone to their way of thinking as an act of aggression.
Buddhist philosophy is often referred to as the science of the spirit as it is more focussed on the practice of overcoming the human condition. I have read 1200 year old texts that read more like humanistic psychology text than religion.
Western scientists and agnostics in search of spiritual meaning often find it easier to embrace buddhism than any of the monotheistic religions due to is more philosophic characteristics.
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