Buddhism????????????

[Gtrmstr]

I am very interested in buddhism. However I have some questions. Do Buddhists have passion about anything? Passion literally means to suffer, isn't that exactly what Buddhism tries to escape? Also, doesn't Buddhism teach us to not be an individual? Basically let go of our ego? What I am getting is that I should not be myself. Not get angry if someone offends me? Not get excited if someone compliments me? Im not sure I am reading into this correctly. But if this is true, im not sure I want to continue with my research. I am not trying to be offensive at all, just trying to get answers.

[Paul]

A widespread Asian religion or philosophy, founded by Siddartha Gautama in northeastern India in the 5th century bc.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&clien...80&bih=861

[occluderx]

It teaches Compassion as - Passion is for self and - Compassion is for others -

Subtle difference = HUGE difference! in the practise selfish V selfless

[Zepp]

Google "the Four Noble Truths" and then "The Eight Fold Path."

Buddhists get mad and angry... sad and depressed. Pissed off. Bummed out. Its about how you CHOOSE to react to it. Do you want to go punch someone if your mad? You might want to. Would you act on it, though?

Buddhism is a tough but very rewarding path. Disciplined. But compassionate. I would recommend searching on "Noah Levine" on Youtube. He gave a talk at USC that was excellent and may speak to you

added: here's a link to that video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=end...jhce63L0N4

[Absolute Guess]

Buddhism is not a clear cut religion, in some parts it mean something very different than in others. For example, some buddhists worship gods/idols while some are atheists. Buddah himself did not do most of his own writing, rather it was recorded by others long after his death.

His own views seems to be what you asked here, feeling nothing basically just living by a good mind. In my opinion that is cowardice.

[Been There]

You cannot stop your desire, passion, attachment or aversion. They never go away.

What DOES change is how YOU respond to these feelings. With time, practicing Buddhism, you are no longer "hooked", no longer pushed along, by what goes on inside you.
This is what generates our inner peace.
This is what generates our freedom from suffering.
This is what allows us to open up more-fully to live and especially to what goes on inside ourselves, so that we feel more fully and vibrantly alive .. without the suffering. We can even open up to our pain without it bowling us over ... most of the pain is caused by resisting the pain anyway.

Buddhism is not about escaping. It is about embracing, yet becoming free a the same time.
The one who does not practice Buddhism is the one who is into escapism ... always yearning for some distraction, for company of others, for pleasure, for anything that will allow them to run away from inner disatisfaction, boredom, restlessness. Buddhists don't try to distract themselves, don't try to keep busy so they won't encounter themselves.

If someone offends me (and I'm having a "good-Buddhist day" .. in other words, I'm being skillful) .. I observe my hurt flare up inside me. Then I observe the anger trying to cover up my hurt. And I open to both these feelings and relax into them. And like water in a stream, it passes over me and moves on away. It does not push me downstream, head over heels in a torrent of anger. This is true freedom.

If someone compliments me, I observe the gush of self-cherishing and excitement rising up in me, and it amuses me greatly. It took passes over me and moves on. And because I no longer get stuck on any given emotion, and because I no longer hide any of my feelings, this is where the feeling of being fully alive comes from, and this is what makes life so incredibly rich.

Ego? What ego? What we call ego is nothing more than a set of habits and patterns, both intellectual and emotional. Constantly changing. Just try sitting down and meditating for 10 minutes, and you will see for yourself that there is no constant there ... only a constantly shifting pattern, restless and pushing.

Buddhism is a journey into yourself, into discovering who you truly are. It's a very slow journey ... very slow.
The Buddhist “learns to watch changes occurring in all physical experiences, in feelings and in perceptions. He learns to study his own mental activities and the fluctuations in the character of consciousness itself. All of these changes are occurring perpetually and are present in every moment of our experiences. Meditation is a living activity, an inherently experiential activity. It cannot be taught as a purely scholastic subject.” (“Mindfulness in Plain English” by Venerable H. Gunaratana Mahayhera, a Theravadan Buddhist teacher)

[Fake Genius]

Buddhists are not different species other than man. We are man. So yes, we all are the same. We feel and do all other people feel and do. Of course!

Yes, we should stop passion in our mind. But we can only do it gradually. We all are passion addicts. It's not possible to stop right away.

Ego discriminates oneself from others. Extreme ego is too bad as it only causes wrong doings.

You must be yourself - without extreme ego. When you become free from delusion, you become free from ego too. Ego means "I exist" "they exist". Yes, we do exist but our views about existence are different. We should have the "right view".

Greed, anger and self-delusion are no way to be good. Generosity, kindness and wisdom are too good that we should reach such conditions.

The best is equanimity. It's peace of mind. If you have to response to anyone good or bad, when will you rest?

Keep on researching. Good job so far.

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm
http://buddhism.org/Sutras/BuddhaTeachings/page_19.html

[joe714]

it's very common for people to have many mis-perceptions about buddhism when they first become interested in it.

there is a youtube channel called Ask a Monk and he answers buddhist questions from regular people who have concerns such as yours.i bet he has answered every question you have.
below is a good video to start with, i think.

[Nucleus]

The marketed Buddhism online and by religious societies together is a fruit salad. You can find tit-bits as Buddha said this and Buddha said that. Even there are the Buddhist ways of using the toilet, Buddhist Eggs (http://farook.org/2002/09/02/), Little Buddhas, Buddha Bars, Buddha candles, Nirvana Bands, Buddhist Kings etc. (fake Buddhism)
http://www.fakebuddhaquotes.com/all-fake-buddha-quotes/

Buddhism has 2 distinct goals.

1). Mundane (worldly) harmony - projected recreation as religion - a world order

This goal is for average religious Buddhists (who under-stand) to follow middle path (no extremism), in order to avoid social instability and for easy, simple life. Current worldly Buddhist monks (acting as the assumed agents of Buddhism calling themselves 'sangha') in temples/aranyas serve this stream as social workers. Most of them have secondary jobs like teachers, doctors, astrologers, trade union leaders, parliament MPs, Government Agents, Diplomats, etc.
Some social aspects like 5-percepts are borrowed from ancient Hamurabi code and you find them in 10-commandments as well.

For religious Buddhism, there is a history (around 2600 years) and profitable business at pilgrimages (Dambadiva Yatra) to show fake evidence as the original Buddhist history to promote loyalty to religion.

Here, Buddhist monks use fear tactics (rebirth in hell or as animals) as sins to discipline followers and privilege tactics (rebirth in heaven) as merits for the survival of Buddhist religion by accumulating material resources towards temples.

The questions you asked in the description are aimed at worldly living.
Therefore, research at Buddhist religion is sufficient.

Meditation here is a worldly repeat practice, and many followers use meditation for relaxation (or sit & sleep).

2). Super-mundane (out of worlds = freedom)
This is for true Buddhists (for the wise) who seek ultimate freedom from worldly suffering.
These Buddhists over-stand the guidance with symbolic interpretations (not worldly religious interpretations with history) as abstract concepts.

Buddhism is timeless (akalika) as well as Anandan (blissful mind = no past, no future), the chief attendant of Buddha (wisdom).

The development towards the core (Nirvana) is a reference removal process, roughly as follows:
kama world (Sensual attachment) >
Rupa world (attachment to body of definition) >
Arupa/Naama world (attachment to name of definition) >
Nibbana (No worldly definition/self)
http://www.energyenhancement.org/31-Plan...o-Body.jpg

Meditation here is a journey towards core. (no repeat practicing involved)

"The sparrow is unbeaten as long as it doesn't land where the lion roars"
Worldly conditions do not apply for out-of-the-world elements.

Similar to be like Robin-hood (out-law) with no social/worldly privileges