Concise explanation of Buddhism, please!

[Jim_Baur]

Is it possible to give me a concise introduction to Buddhism?

THANKS!

 

[Jim_Baur]

any help?

 

[rossum]

Is it possible to give me a concise introduction to Buddhism?

The (very) short version:

To avoid all evil,
to cultivate good,
and to cleanse one’s mind -
this is the teaching of the Buddhas.

– Dhammapada 14:5

Good and evil are very similar, though not identical, to Christianity. The “to cleanse one’s mind” part refers to meditation. Either go to a class or start with Counting Breaths.

There is a longer introduction in “Buddhism in a Nutshell”

The main thing about Buddhism is that it is something you do, rather than something you believe.

rossum

 

[tonyrey]

… The main thing about Buddhism is that it is something you do, rather than something you believe.

The main thing about Christianity is that everything you do should be motivated by love:

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

James 2 14-17

 

[Jim_Baur]

rossum

THANKS!

Please forgive my lack of knowledge, thank you!

I have read that in Buddhism that some hold the idea that there is something behind what we see and experience–a “consciousness.”

How accurate is that question/statement?

I do not know enough to ask the questions.

Again, to say it somewhat differently, are we the produce of a “consciousness”?

THANKS!

 

[rossum]

I have read that in Buddhism that some hold the idea that there is something behind what we see and experience–a “consciousness.”

How accurate is that question/statement?

Buddhism comes in almost as many varieties as Christianity, so you can find a great many contradictory things within it. In general Buddhism avoids reification: what you see is what you get. There is no Platonic ideal or Thomist Substance sitting behind reality. Consciousness is merely one of the five constituent parts of a human being (form, feelings, perceptions, formations and consciousness). Like all the other parts, it is impermanent, lacks a soul and is part of the unsatisfactoriness of the world (dukkha, usually translated as ‘suffering’). There is no “big consciousness in the sky”, there is just our own small individual, changing and impermanent consciousness.

Again, to say it somewhat differently, are we the produce of a “consciousness”?

No. We are the products of our parents and a gandhabba, which carries the “formations” element of a human being forward from a previous life to the current life. It carries all the unresolved karma, good and bad, forward for later resolution.

Buddhism does not look for big global external solutions, it looks for small local internal solutions:

Q: “How much leather does it take to cover the whole earth?”
A: “Enough to make one pair of shoes.”

rossum

 

[Jim_Baur]

rossum

thanks!

 

[Charlemagne_III]

Buddhism evolved. It is too complex and varied to give a concise introduction.

Just read any article on the Buddha and let it go at that.

 

[Jim_Baur]

Rossum

I was surprised by your answer.

I read from a good historian of philosophy that Schopenhauer was close to the teaching of Buddhism. I am not sure about Schopenhauer, but I thought he taught that all of this is from the consciousness of a superior being.

I assume my memory is mistaken, and that you are correct.

If I understood, your Buddhism sees us, for lack of better words, as alone in the universe–except for each other.

THANKS!!!

 

[rossum]

I read from a good historian of philosophy that Schopenhauer was close to the teaching of Buddhism.

Schopenhauer was closer to the 19th century western idea of what Buddhism was. At that time the west was still learning. The first good translations of many crucial Mahayana sutras only appeared from the 1950s onwards.

If I understood, your Buddhism sees us, for lack of better words, as alone in the universe–except for each other.

There are gods, and others, but we are the only people who can walk the path for ourselves.

rossum

 

[Jim_Baur]

rossum!

THANKS!

Do the gods communicate with us?

Please forgive my lack of knowledge, are the gods superior to us?

Are the gods responsible in any sense for our existence and that of the physical world?

If it is possible, what is the nature of the gods?

THANKS!

 

[Bahman]

Do the gods communicate with us?

Yes they do only when you are one of them.

Please forgive my lack of knowledge, are the gods superior to us?

We do differ as we are taped in a cycle and they are not.

Are the gods responsible in any sense for our existence and that of the physical world?

They could influence us depending on their nature.

If it is possible, what is the nature of the gods?

Too many roads
Things are changing too fast
Caresses is everywhere
Selfishness is eating up of the world
Who can dream a road and live to travel on it
Who can give birth to herself and then be her own mother, her own father
Who can live in future and live in present and not go crazy
Who can live among spirits and among human without dying
Who can spare with their own destiny and still not feel the happiness of a beautiful thing
These are the riddle of the tree
…

Three of love

 

[Jim_Baur]

Did the gods create us?

 

[Bahman]

Did the gods create us?

We are mostly part of our own creation.

 

[rossum]

Do the gods communicate with us?

They can do. They are living beings and are free to act as they wish, like us.

Please forgive my lack of knowledge, are the gods superior to us?

They live longer and are generally more powerful. They are less likely to attain nirvana because the heavens where they live are so pleasant that it is much more difficult for them to realise the First Noble Truth of Suffering. Humans have a better chance of attaining nirvana.

Are the gods responsible in any sense for our existence and that of the physical world?

No. Our own existence is the result of our own failure to attain enlightenment in our previous life. The enlightened are not reborn; the unenlightened are. The origin of the universe is one of the fourteen questions that the Buddha did not answer as being irrelevant:

[The Buddha said:] 'It is as if, Malunkyaputta, a man is shot with an arrow thickly smeared with poison, … and the wounded man were to say “I will not have the arrow taken out until I know the caste of the man who shot it, … his tribe … his clan … his village … his height etc.” [many questions omitted here] That man would die Malunkyaputta, before he learned all that he wanted to know.

'In exactly the same way, Malunkyaputta, any one who says “I will not lead the religious life under the Blessed One until the Blessed One explains to me whether the universe is eternal, whether the universe is not eternal, whether the universe is finite, whether the universe is infinite etc.” [many questions omitted here] That person would die Malunkyaputta, before I had ever explained all this to that person.

‘The religious life, Malunkyaputta, does not depend on the dogma that the universe is eternal, nor does it depend on the dogma that the universe is not eternal etc. [many dogmas omitted here] Whatever dogma obtains there is still birth, old age, death, sorrow, lamentation, misery, grief and despair, of which I declare the extinction in the present life.’

– Cula-Malunkyovada sutta, Majjhima Nikaya 63

If it is possible, what is the nature of the gods?

Not very relevant, but there are 27 levels of gods in 27 heavens, ranging from some that are very like the Olympian Greek gods up to almost entirely abstract immaterial gods. None of them are immortal, though their lifetimes get longer the higher you go.

Buddhism is not atheist, but its gods are not important. Their main function in Buddhist scriptures is to applaud at the right places when the Buddha is speaking.

rossum

 

[Jim_Baur]

rossum

THANKS!

 

[rossum]

We do differ as we are taped in a cycle and they are not.

The gods are just as much in the cycle of samsara as we are. They live longer so it taken then longer to complete each turn of the wheel. Gods can be reborn as humans; humans can be reborn as gods. For both humans and gods, future rebirths depend on previous actions. Actions have consequences.

rossum

 

[Bahman]

The gods are just as much in the cycle of samsara as we are.

First, the cycle has a purpose with the aim to perform soul searching through the suffering in searching the truth of what it is not accomplished in former life. Truth is however individual dependent since there is a purpose for everything hence we have responsibility in searching the truth and telling the truth.

There is a fight between life and death always one is granted to search the truth and the other to hide it. The cycle can however be broken depending on what you give compare to what you receive.

They live longer so it taken then longer to complete each turn of the wheel.

Yes and no. What cause the things upside down is the result of living a static life so there could be no turning point if you can grow constantly.

Gods can be reborn as humans; humans can be reborn as gods.

We have to experience all forms to become complete, God, otherwise we soon or late reach the turning point that we are not aware of it, waiting to be dead to complete other half which is about forgetting yourself and forgiving yourself.

For both humans and gods, future rebirths depend on previous actions. Actions have consequences.

You can have the rebirth without dying and it is not only about human, it applies to everything.

 

[KingCoil]

Is it possible to give me a concise introduction to Buddhism?

THANKS!

I have not read any posts here except the one above.

Now, I am very disappointed that the author is not possessed of any personal stock knowledge as to be for himself a concise introduction to Buddhism.

Here is my own take on Buddhism because I had put in a lot of time and effort to examine what Buddhism is all about.

First before anything else when it comes to a subject like Buddhism and Catholicism and Confucianism and Islamism and Judaism and Satanism, etc., you get my thought, you have to ask yourself what the rank and file ordinary adherents of the system are after.

So, I will ask you, Baur, have you done any inspection of what Buddhist ordinary folks who identify themselves as Buddhist in the Far East the home of Buddhism, are after in their everyday life in relation to their being or identifying themselves as Buddhist?

Then you ask yourself what Catholics the rank and file who identify themselves as Catholic, are after in their everyday life in relation to their identity as Catholic?

The rank and file in both isms are after obtaining from their respective objects or entities of worship, favors, all kinds of favors or to be more broad, advantages, or gains.

The adherents rank and file can recite what ideologues teach them to memorize, but they are in their conduct after advantages from the worship entities.

As a matter of fact if you are not told that a congregation of Buddhists praying together are Buddhist, and another congregation praying together are Catholic, you will get the idea that they are similar, both camps are praying for favors from their respective worship entities: Buddha and KuanYin for Buddhists, and Jesus and Mary for Catholics.

Now, you ask me what are the doctrines and practices taught by the ideologues of Buddhism?

Here, in effect the God of Buddhism is karma but it is not a free and intelligent God, it is a blind order or system, or you may call it a paradigm of re-incarnation: so that if you have done good in your present incarnation you will come back after death better off than today, if you do evil now after death you will come back as not better off, for example, as a cockroach which humans want to stamp on to kill right away while it scampers off for dear life.

For Catholics their God is the Holy Trinity (Buddhism also have a trinity borrowed from Hinduism of course), Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but in worship and prayer they approach predominantly Jesus, and Mary the mother of Jesus who is also called Mother of God since Jesus is God incarnated as man.

What do Buddhist ideologues teach about in regard to the last things?

In Buddhism the last things for a human is nirvana, and like the kingdom of heaven, it is more described in negatives than in positives, like when you get to nirvana there is no more pain, sorrow, death, etc., it is all peace and rest, and of course no more recurring re-incarnation.

For Catholics you will be in heaven united to the Holy Trinity and singing hosannas to God and Jesus, and with the other humans who have gotten to heaven also.

But in life for the rank and file of Buddhists it is all asking favors from Buddha and most predominantly at least in one very big school of Buddhism, KuanYin the Buddhist Goddess of mercy; so also with Catholics in regard to Jesus and Mary.

Here is one interesting difference between Catholics and Buddhists or Christians and Buddhists, Christians including of course Catholics get their doctrines from divine revelation, which revelation is divided into two kinds, natural and supernatural, natural is reason, supernatural is direct dictation from God (of course for Catholics supernatural revelation is of two kinds in turn, namely, written, the Bible, and oral, the traditions).

With Buddhists they get their doctrines on what to believe and how to act from what? Listen carefully, MEDITATION, which is the big deal in religions from the Far East.

But take notice, meditation from the ideologues starting with the first enlightened human, Buddhism founder himself, the Gautama.

Still any Buddhist can meditate and establish his own very own school of Buddhism, claiming to be inspired through meditation by the original founder of Buddhism, the Gautama (read that, the enlightened one).

So also with Christians, in particular with Protestants.

Hope you get now an introduction to Buddhism, and I am still disappointed with you.

KingCoil

 

[Jim_Baur]

KingCoil

THANKS!

Is there a eternal or permanent god?

Again, thanks!