By the way im a buddhist..Still searching for the enlightenment. or you could emphasize it with the word TRUTH. Anyone here has the same goal as me? please share your philosophy. If you do.
yes buddhism was found in india and have spread throughout asia by THEE person called siddartha.. i really enjoy the teachings of buddhism..its very passive and peaceful...i especially like it because it makes a lot of sense...but rite now i dont have a lot of time to study it i would love to really get into it eventually....busy life tho >_>
I have the same goal, but it is near impossible to reach enlightenment in todays society. too much temptation out there in the world. What I'll do instead is accumulate good deeds so I will have positive karma.
You are correct in saying that buddhism is not a religion, as compared to western religion. The goal of mahayana buddhism, which spread from India to China and SE Asia about 2500 years ago, is to reach enlightenment (buddhahood). There is not a single God, everyone can become buddha, once obtaining englightenment.
There are basically three approaches to reach this achievable goal, i.e. through chants and meditation, by doing good deeds (practicing the 6 prajna paramita), by reading the sutura to truly realize the teachings of buddha (i.e. prajna) thereby acquiring wisdom and enlightenment. Obviously, these 3 aproaches are not mutually exclusive. However, each approach when practiced to its fullest will nevertheless bring you the ultimate reward (enlightenment). You will most likely need someone to guide you in learning both the theory and practice of meditation, because the lack of textbooks in the traditonal sense and the truth(wisdom) you are seeking is not the memory intensive traditional knowoedge that you have been accustomed to.
hey.. nice thread here.. those who know more pls share. Im pretty ashame that as a Buddhist, I know little of the teachings.. This might sound like a dumb qn.. but for those who have meditated b4.. what exactly do you do? should ur mind be thinking of sth? or keep it empty?
Since there is some interest, I will try to provide some guidance. There are many, many ways to meditate. Traditional Tibetan buddhism will ask you to visulize a saint or one form of the buddha, with or without chants. While the most common Chinese buddhist practice ("pure land school") is to chant the name of Amitabhaya. As your practice advances, you will also begin to visulize. At the highest state, you will have emptied all your senses and thoughts. The reasons for all this is very complex and are well documented in many mahayana sutras. I will not attempt to recount them for you. However, my recommendation is that you should find an experienced teacher (master), someone who have already achieved advanced meditative practice (NOT many, but there are some).
Choose your teacher carefully. In fact, in Tibetan buddhism, choosing a teacher has a rigid protocol passed on through many hundreds years and is a very formal affair. He will choose you and you will in turn choose(observe) him. This formal protocol has been ignored by many. If your teacher does not follow this protocol, maybe it's time to question. With the proper teacher, you will quickly advance in your path to acquiring the ultimate wisdom and enlightenment.
No questions are dumb... if you want to know the teachings, i will share with you my knowledge... if you want to start by meditation and not the other two approaches, I will also try to clarify the issues for you, but to really meditate properly, you will need someone to watch over you, which I cannot obviously do.
Yes, meditation can be dangerous, only if you are in a very advanced state.. but by then you should already know what they are. For 99.99999% of you it's not dangerous at all. It makes good kungfu stories.
