Welcome to Buddhism!
Hello everyone!
We are glad to have you joined to talk about Buddhism 🌸
Let’s start with a little introduction about Buddhism, so everyone can join to share their personal experience but also to learn about it by discussing the topic!
Buddhism is based on the search for the Way that leads to liberation from the conditions of suffering in which all human beings live. Buddhism is a religion of inner and outer peace, of deep compassion and respect, of dialogue and patience.
In Buddhism, the lack of centrality of deities in religious practices and Buddhist doctrines of all eras has been highlighted. It is a philosophy of life whose principles and rules allow you to reach a state of inner peace and with the outside world. Buddhism is in fact based on the principle that life is made up of suffering, but that it is possible to remove it by detaching ourselves from material goods and desire.
Feel free to answer the following question if they can help you share!
💡How did your view about life and the world change when you decided to get closer to Buddhism?
💡What are the most important aspects of this religion from your personal experience?
💡What are some things that help you grow in this spiritual path?
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@MeaningfulSilence
Thanks for the tag! This is not my personal faith, but I like its principles about inner and outer peace and detaching yourself from things that may aid or enhance the suffering in our lives. It sounds like a really calming faith and I would love to learn more.
@Jenna
Hi there Jenna!
Hope you are doing well 😊
Yes, it'd be interesting to learn more from people that are close to Buddhism to hear about their experience!
@MeaningfulSilence
Thanks, I hope you're also doing well. Indeed, I hope those in this faith participate and give their perspectives.
@Jenna thank your for posting. I am also interested in how people see their faith prompting them towards service to others if you care to comment about that.
@MeaningfulSilence thank you for this post on Buddhism. It is more than a path devised by the Buddna. It is also a collection of all the interpretations and collections and analysis about what the Buddha meant by 1000's of followers that spent their lives dedicated to the teaching. The Buddha is said to have given 84,000 teachings so whatever I say may be true for myself, but not applicable to everyone. There are different Buddhist faiths that were shaped by the places and people where those ideas took hold.
To clarify and expand one point that you made "that it is possible to remove it by detaching ourselves from material goods and desire." Buddhism talks about suffering but the original word could also be translated as dissatisfaction. What kind of dissatisfaction?
I tend to hope that a person or a thing will make me happy forever, but the things in this world are impermanent. So what often happens is we think if we get that new shirt or blouse and we will be happy, but we get it and within a short period of time it is just another article of clothing hanging in the closet. So maybe we think a new pair of slacks will make me happy. This continually leads to dissatisfaction.
The thing is not the problem, it is our expectation of the thing making us happy. So what I need to detach from is my false expectations that something in this world will make me happy. That is called exaggerations of the benefit of things or relationships.
What I find makes me really happy is helping other people to be happy and free of the problems that nag at them. This kind of altruism is part of some segments of the Buddhist faith and this aligns with other religions that encourage helping others who are less fortunate.
I will think about those questions and answer in a different post.
@soulsings
Thank you for sharing your thoughts. The idea that dissatisfaction can be viewed from a certain perspective is quite insightful. It reminds me of how in my faith, people often try to fill the emptiness they feel with material possessions, but in the end, they realize that it doesn't provide a lasting solution to their problems. I won't delve any further into my personal beliefs, as this may not be the appropriate forum for it.
I find it fascinating that Buddha taught various things, and how people of the same faith can interpret those teachings differently. What may work for one person may not work for another within this faith.
It's great that you prioritize long-lasting sources of satisfaction. What do you personally do to achieve that satisfaction?
@Jenna you asked "What do you personally do to achieve that satisfaction?"
One thing that I find is when I clean up myi mind from the negative emotions, there is a natural state of contentment. So part of my practice is aimed at getting to a place where the negative emotions do not run the show because when they do I am miserable.
I also try to practice being aware of what is happening inside because the more I do that the more I am able to focus. By having the ability to focus, I can more skillfully avoid destructive emotions like anger or jealousy.
But the real satisfaction I feel is when I help someone here at 7 Cups or smile and say hello to somone I meet. Or listen to someone that is needing to have human interaction. This is not a quick fix but over years, this practice gives me a sense of hope that I can eliminate the negative emotions from my mind and make progress towards a lasting satisfaction and contentment.
@MeaningfulSilence Thank you for the tag!
I personally do not follow Buddhism and I think my knowledge about it is limited, but I would love to learn more. If anyone could recommend readings or even just concepts to research I would love that!
Peace is a very important concept for me. I find the idea of detachment very interesting too. Because of my personal situation, I have been working a lot on emotional detachment from distressing situations. I am someone who has trouble with boundaries in my daily life and relationships, so I struggle to create distance between myself and other people's negative actions and emotions, even when I cannot control them. I deal with a lot of guilt whenever I emotionally distance myself. I'd love to hear thoughts about combining compassion and detachment?
@rhodawoolf
Hi there rhodawoolf, sorry for your struggle with some kind of relationships. It's surely difficult to detach from negative situations, I understand your need to learn how to better deal with them. Someone very wise taught me to see things from a different perspective, to take them not in a personal way but as obstacles to overcome.
Cognitive reframing technique can help too: it's a psychological technique that consists of identifying and then changing the way situations, experiences, events, ideas, and/or emotions are viewed.
I think that combining compassion and detachment, as you mentioned, would help finding the right balance. That's why, from my view point, compassion is good when practiced towards oneself, in order to slow down the guilt that leads to a negative loop of emotions and thoughts.
When something is necessary for our wellbeing (like emotional detachment) it's not rooted in a bad intention, so we can see it differently than something negative to be guilt for.
Good that you are looking for your spiritual dimension by trying to learn more also about Buddhism, hope people that have suggestions can show up to share some useful books for you to read!
Feel free to join again to share how things are going with you, so we'll celebrate your progress, I am sure we will! 😊 💙
@MeaningfulSilence thank you so much for your support ✨
I have read a little about cognitive reframing and cognitive behavioural therapy in general. Unfortunately, I can't afford therapy at the moment. But I'm trying my best to apply some of these principles through journaling, positive affirmations and guided meditations.
I love how you highlighted self-compassion. This is a difficult one for me, as I always think of compassion as a "giving" activity directed towards others. But you are right, compassion should be directed to ourselves too. I will incorporate this affirmation into my routine 💛
I won't discuss too deeply, because I don't know if this is the right forum for it. But I feel like for me, spirituality offers a sense of outward support, yet often stirs me away from self-love and self-focus. Basically, I have a hard time reconciling it with any assertion of self. It's tough
@MeaningfulSilence
First of all thank you for taking the time to write this post!
💡How did your view about life and the world change when you decided to get closer to Buddhism?
💡What are the most important aspects of this religion from your personal experience?
💡What are some things that help you grow in this spiritual path?
Buddhism changed my view a lot. I'm much more accepting suffering, that we all suffer, that we all want to be happy but that happiness, calm and freedom (examples) can only be found inside. No one can truly give it to you. I regularly listen to teachings from the belated Thich Nhat Hanh and some other spiritual leaders what helped me to understand that even if there is pain we can learn not to add more suffering to it and that forgiving others and ourselves is an essential way to heal wounds.
@amiablePeace77
Hello there amiablePeace77, how are you doing?
Glad to see you posting! Thank you a lot for having shared, it's a contribution for those that want to learn more about Buddhism. 😊
I love that part: ''forgiving others and ourselves is an essential way to heal wounds.'' 🌸
@MeaningfulSilence
I'm doing well. Buddhism teachings help me to get grounded in myself. For me it's a way of life rather than a religion though.
@amiablePeace77
Hi amiablePeace77! 😊 Sounds positive, in what aspects of your life, into specific, do you think it helps more? If you feel to share of course!
@MeaningfulSilence
Buddhism helps me in interaction with others, to understand that usually behind an act of unkindness is pain, that people are not just bad neither just good, same as I am neither all good or bad. Buddhism helps me to keep the love for humanity alive and this gives hope. It taught me that my feelings have value but also that I have to acknowledge them, especially feelings like anger and frustration and not push them away. These are only a very few things. I believe the most important thing to me is that there is Love and Kindness in this world and Buddhism helps to see it and focus on it.
💡How did your view about life and the world change when you decided to get closer to Buddhism?
Buddhist principles has helped through a journey through grief and renewal since my parents died. I had no idea of how to start processing their absence and understanding my own existence without them. The call towards renewal and acceptance of what is part of existence has been of tremendous help, as opposed to feeling abandoned and unable to process my sadness.
Cultivating Buddhist thoughts has also helped me remain connected to my father and my identity. My father practiced Zen Buddhism along with Japanese Shinto rituals. He did not teach me, as my parents strived to raise me as an agnostic above all, but I've voluntarily explored the thoughts that shaped my father, and it gives me a sense of continuity and rebirth to make my paternal heritage my own.
💡What are the most important aspects of this religion from your personal experience?
The acceptance of impermanence. Existence itself is part of a process with a beginning, a middle and an end. At just at the end, something new comes along. It's so reasuring and grounding that I cannot imagine another perspective now.
💡What are some things that help you grow in this spiritual path?
Actively embracing compassion as a way of life, beyond Western practices of charity and occassional acts of giving, choosing to be compassionate above being impatient, judgmental, neurotic or resentful makes every day life much more peaceful, quieter, simpler, and that always gives room to breathe better, think better, and become more diligent and focused.
@ScorchedRice thanks for sharing. You gave me food for thoughts how to reconcile my own parents death and the aftermath of that I faced.
@MeaningfulSilence
@Helgafy
Hello there Helgafy, thank you for your post!
Wish you to find soon inner peace, sending you good vibes 💙
@Helgafy I am sorry you are suffering. That must be rough.
I try not to identify with the pains in the body as I age, but that is difficult most of the time. i do find prayer helps if I focus in my mind on a holy object , I can get to a place where I am focusing in my mind's eye more on the holy object or image and less on the pain. That is some comfort to me by praying in silence and allowing my mind to be filled with what is holy, I am transcending the pain for brief periods. This encourages me to believe it is possible to rise above the pain. I keep trying.
May you abide in a lasting peace and joy my friend.
@Helgafy,
I can really appreciate your comments about reading, studying, and most importantly, trying to understand your suffering.
I won't go into my own, but I will share my thoughts on a 25-year or so practice of Buddhism across many different lineages.
I came to the conclusion myself, but I've heard others say that Buddhists are enamored with numbers. If you read the texts of the traditional lineages, Vajrayana or Mahayana, or even the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which I read again yesterday, you can get lost in a lot of numbers, sequences, or ceremonial aspects. And that didn't do it for me.
You might say, "Maybe you just haven't studied it enough." Out of the 25 years, it took me maybe 23 years to find Pure Land Buddhism, a lineage that somehow came from Mahayana or Zen Buddhism. It's not caught up with so much of the ceremonial aspects and has a much different philosophy that all of us can become enlightened by a very simple practice of reciting the Nembutsu. It's simply a reminder of our heritage.
I think you will find, if you study it some, that you, perhaps like me, will have some comfort for your suffering.
If you care to contact me privately, I can share some names of groups or where there are some very fine online sanghas to participate in, as well as books that are available to study that are in the public domain. I don't know if I'd be able to post them here, but at least I could point you to links.
But I think that the Pure Land tradition, for me, after so many years, has brought me some comfort in understanding my own suffering.
@enigmaticOcean8813
Friend - thank you for answering. If you don't mind I bless you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.