Yahoo answers: Buddhists; can you give me the basic out line of yOur religion?

Buddhism fascinates me, especially the part about how it is an atheist religion ( as in no God(s)) and how it encourages education and creativity. An article written by a Buddhist psycyatrist helped me ou of a really dark place in my life. The article was abou elevating guilt and promoting self esteem through Buddhist principles. It was fascinating and inspiring. I feel like Buddhism might be for me.
But what exactly is it all about? Please, I only want answers from buddhists; I want to hear it straight from the horses mouth.

Read this: Good Questions, Good Answers
 
link: http://www.buddhanet.net/pdf_file/gqga-4ed.pdf
 
Hope it will give you the answers you want, a few highlights about buddhism:
 
1. Buddhism rejects the notion or concept of a creator God as we believe in dependent origination, i.e. cause and effects and there is no first cause just like you cannot find the smallest or largest number. Also, buddhism rejects the existence of a self or soul as states of existence arises and falls at every moment where the origination of one moment is dependent on the previous.
 
2. Buddha regards metaphysical or theological speculations as irrelavent and unfruitful to the cultivation of the righteous path (As we can all see, people would quarrel, kill, and conduct other evils because of religious and theological differences which has absolutely nothing to do with the spiritual cultivation of the individual)
 
3. Buddha taught about the 4 noble truths, namely:
 
    1.Suffering exists
    2.Suffering arises from attachment to desires
    3.Suffering ceases when attachment to desire ceases
    4.Freedom from suffering is possible by practising the Eightfold Path
 
 
4. The way to enlightenment is through the middle path, neither extreme sensual pleasure nor asectic self mortifications. This is also called the noble eightfold path, note that 'Right' in this context means not only correct, but also just the right amount i.e. the middle path:
 
http://www.beyondthenet.net/dhamma/nobleEight.htm
 
5. buddhists believe in the notion of cause & effect the same way a newtonian believes but goes even into more profound and deep levels that reach out to everything in the world physical psychological or metaphysical.
 
6.
buddhists believe that Karma should not be taken as destiny or fate (since that will be fatalism) but through your hardwork, the seeds of past bad karma cannot ripen. i.e. Our destiny is in our hands.
 
 
 
7. By means of self control through precepts, one can then go into practicing meditation that is not defiled, then during the highly concentrated state of mind in meditation, one can then focus and contemplate upon the various truths like suffering, impermenance to see reality as it really is to obtain penetrative insights into the truth.
 
8. in 3 sentences this is buddhism:
 
            Do good,
            Do not evil,
            Purify your mind.
 
and in the words of a famous chinese Zen master, "a theory that a 3 year old can understand but not even an 80 year old would practise."
 
 
Some people say that buddhism is a religion
Some people say that buddhism is a philosophy
Some people say that buddhism is both a religion and a philosophy
I personally however believe that buddhism is the truth

Dream of dad 16

爸，又梦见你了。 梦里我们在等巴士，我对你嘘寒问暖一起上车，你坐了下来，我心里庆幸还有机会祢补对你的一切， 醒来才知道一切都是梦。日有所思夜有所梦讲的就是这情况吧。

What proof is there that we have a soul?

Belief in an eternal soul is a misconception of the human consciousness.
Soul-Theories
With regard to the soul theory, there are three kinds of teachers in the world:
The first teacher teaches the existence of an eternal ego-entity that outlasts death: He is the eternalist.
The second teacher teaches a temporary ego-entity which becomes annihilated at death: He is the materialist.
The third teacher teaches neither an eternal nor a temporary ego-entity: He is the Buddha.

The Buddha regarded soul-speculation as useless and illusory. He once said, 'Only through ignorance and delusion do men indulge in the dream that their souls are separate and self-existing entities. Their heart still clings to Self. They are anxious about heaven and they seek the pleasure of Self in heaven. Thus they cannot see the bliss of righteousness and the immortality of truth.' Selfish ideas appear in man's mind due to his conception of Self and craving for existence.
Source(s):
http://www.purifymind.com/EternalSoul.htm
 
 

What do you think happens after death?

Atheist: You have no soul. you begin from nothing and end up becoming nothing

Abrahamic Theists: You have a soul that begins at your birth. You begin from nothing and end up eternally in Hell or Heaven

Hindus: You have a soul. Your soul is eternal and unchanging and you are reincarnated over and over again the way you slip into different clothes while yourself is intact

Buddhist: You do not have a soul. Your mental state 'lives'(arises) and 'dies' (cease) moment to moment based on principle of dependent origination and so does your physical body .

The combination of mental and physical states give one the illusion of a 'self' and thus the erroneous view of a soul or ghost in the machine.

As there is no soul, buddhists believe in 'rebirth' in opposed to 'reincarnation' . Rebirth is illustrated with the analogy of using the flame of one candle to light up the next - the flame is not the same flame, yet is a result of the previous flame.

First 2 views conflict with the law of conservation of energy.

Third view conflicts with the theory of change - since an eternally unchanging soul means there is no possibility of cultivation and development of the soul, since the soul is eternal and cannot be changed.

The buddhist view refutes the fallacy that Karma means there is such a thing as fate or destiny that cannot be changed.

Buddhists believe that the universe is in a constant flux of changes and everything is impermanent. Hence cultivation and personal salvation is possible through hardwork and abstinence in doing evil - i.e. you can change your own destiny.

Dream of dad 15

I dreamt of dad in march, in the dream, I saw him sitting on my kitchen floor, in the dream I dreamt that while his kidney had totally failed and had to be removed, it was ok, he did not have to die, I felt relieved, I cried and kneel in front of him, hugging his legs, seeking his forgiveness for my cruelty, he was very serene, he smiled at me with his usual smile, telling me that it is ok. Why can't this be real, why can't he be alive and reality of his departure be a dream?

Cruelty 1

How can I be so cruel, I only gave dad 350 dollars every month, thinking that 10 per day is enough to sustain him. How did he survive with such little money, I will never know. The last time he asked for money, as usual I would complain that he is using it too fast. Although I later told him that he let me know if it is not enough, I never apologize to him. He mentioned to my mom that he felt embarrassed when his Friends gave him money, I ignored his need for self esteem, he had to endure the suffering of his illness and yet also had to endure my cruelty, the lack of love, the feeling of being abandoned. Only a brave man like him could endure all these unjust. He never reprimanded me, took all in silence and I abused that, I only have interest in my own happiness. How evil can one get?

克己以利他， 坚忍持净戒

克己以利他， 坚忍持净戒

如果布施与持戒做个比较，持戒会比布施更疏胜，更重要。这是因为佛教是以止恶行善为手段，而清净身心，再以清净的身心去止恶行善，这样循次渐进，最终走上解脱之路。

布施往往是用身外物来接济众生，而持戒的主要目的却是在于克制自己的欲望，和行动，由于心中的杂染欲望是无形的，所以比身外物更难割舍。许多时候正是这些欲望与杂念，自私，不能让人真心的布施，所以说持戒乃布施之本。

再者克制自己欲望能让世间达到和乐善生的境界。怎么说呢？如果能克制自己欲望，就能确保我们不做损人利己的恶行。比如持不盗戒，不是一日两日不盗，一人两人不盗，而是从此以后，对所有人的财产，给予尊重，和不侵害的保障。 这就是没有差别性的遵守不盗戒。

又如不邪淫，就是从此以后，不对任何异性以诱惑，强暴，威胁等手段来满足自己欲望，却破坏了他人的尊严，家庭等。

因此，佛赞持五戒即五大施。要认真受持戒行，得忍受痛苦，诱惑甚至胁迫，持戒得有宁持戒而死，不毁戒而生的决心。由于人的贪嗔痴和妄想，是漂浮不定难以捉摸与预防的， 唯有坚毅的决心，来克服环境诱惑，克制情欲时时警惕用心才能保持净戒。要知道，万一不慎犯戒，一辈子的努力将付诸东流，毁于一旦。有时还可能万劫不复 - 就如一人一生守法，一次犯法却得受法律制裁 - 不管你曾经多么守法。