Hi. I'm fifteen years old, and I've just been introduced to Buddhism. It feels right. I was brought up Protestant with a mother of that religion and a Catholic father who does not really follow the religion any longer. I defected from this religion when I was eight or so and stopped going to church a couple of years after that. Since then I've considered myself an atheist, but with complications. I have my own ideas about the nature of life, and one of the missing pieces in my philosophy is the fact that I can't seem to really wrap my head around simply dying and going out like a light. Buddhism, I think, may have the answers I'm looking for. But I have some questions I was hoping one of you wonderful kindly Buddhist folks would answer. 1. In the Buddhist FAQ, it mentioned Buddhists abstaining from alchohol and intoxicants. Does this mean I can no longer smoke the herb if I become a Buddhist? 2. What are the major parties involved in Buddhism? What are the major schools of thought? 3. Do most Buddhists read all the literature? 4. What kind of ceremonies are involved? 5. Who should I ask if I want to know more? Where can I find Buddhists? Thanks in advance.
Hi acidpulp I'll try and answer some of your questions, although don't take what I say too seriously as I'm still a bit of a newbie to Buddhism myself. To start with the aim in Buddhism is to end suffering, so perhaps if you are looking for answers like you are seeking you might not find them here. This is because unlike say Christianity, you are free to either accept, not accept, understand, or not understand (or any combination of these) any of the teachings. You can pick and choose any you like. In this way the beliefs are not set in concrete, there is only what the Buddha taught and whether you find it true or not. To me, and my limited understanding, when we die we do go out like a light, the only thing that carries on are the consequences of our actions... I'll have a go at your questions: 1. can we smoke herb? Sure, if you want to go right ahead! But part of the practice involved includes concentrated meditation. I found that getting stoned had the opposite affect of what I was trying to achieve. A clear and concentrated mind is the goal, intoxicants can only cloud it. 2. What are the major parties and schools of thought? Theravada, Mahayana and Vajrayana. The only way I can tell any difference is through the local groups (sanghas) I have been involved with... and the differences each group has is far more obvious that any philosophical difference. Some really friendly, some not so, some busy etc. 3. Do most Buddhists read all the literature? I very much doubt it, if you do get really into it then some traditions have massive ammounts of teachings, it would probably take a lifetime to get through it all! 4. What ceremonies are involved? The official 'become a Buddhist' ceremony is taking refuge in the three jewels. One group I go to has far more tradition to it than the others, theres chanting (in tibetan), another group is just a friendly get togethers for a chat. If you go to an official monastery or retreat temple there will be more formal stuff going on. You can just sit and watch if you like. 5. Who should I ask for more info? If you fancy it you can go along to one of your local groups (sangas). I just did a quick google search and there are plenty in rhode island. There seems to be a few Interbeing (zen) groups there. They will follow the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh who I am familiar with and like so that's where I'd be off to. There are online forums but to be honest I don't go on them anymore, the one that I did go to seems to favour one school of though over all others and as a result has lost the very thing I was looking for. I'd try out a few and only take the best each has to offer. Hope this has helped a little. I don't have any deep philosophical or academic knowledge of Buddhism, simply what I have experienced in real life.
try esangha buddhist forum for plenty of adverse views on buddhism http://www.lioncity.net/buddhism/ take everything with a grain of salt buddhism is a personal religion for most meaning take what benefits you
i'm gonna try to make this as simple as possible. 1. In the Buddhist FAQ, it mentioned Buddhists abstaining from alchohol and intoxicants. Does this mean I can no longer smoke the herb if I become a Buddhist? A: being a buddhist means that you live the doctrine. there are no strict guidelines in buddhism, you do as you wish, you can come and go as you wish, you do not wake up one day being buddhist, you can become a buddhist, and the dalai lama has no objection with people being christian-buddhist, catholic-buddhist, so basically no, you don't have to stop smoking the herbs. we all are not trying to reach perfect enlightenment so i don't think the herbs' gonna make you any less of a buddhist. 2. What are the major parties involved in Buddhism? What are the major schools of thought? A. as mentioned above, but again simplifying it. there's india buddhism, tibetan buddhism, mainland china buddhism, zen buddhism, and a mixture of all buddhism found in vietnam. 3. Do most Buddhists read all the literature? A. no, not really, it's a philosophy of life so my parents were buddhist and so i grew up under buddhist teachings and i did not interest myself into buddhist literature until my later years, but i knew most of it from day teachings. 4. What kind of ceremonies are involved? A. way too complex to get into buddy. you're on your own with this one because there are so many variety of buddhism out there and each has their own rituals. i think you will take a high interests in tibetan buddism and india's buddhism, but zen buddhism is a good starting point because the literature is not going to be completely cryptic. 5. Who should I ask if I want to know more? Where can I find Buddhists? A. to know more you gotta read, it's hard to find people to sit you down and talk to you about this stuff. try taking a class in eastern philosophy at your local junior college. but i do have a few book recomendation for you: siddartha tao te ching(get the translation where the cover looks like bits of wood) and read stuff by the dalai lama because he goes straight into applied buddhism and philosophy so it's very interesting! hope this helps Thanks in advance.
Do you know of a good online site for Zen? So far, I have only found a quality website for general Buddhism. There isn't much on Zen there.
Do not walk...run to this site and download: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: by Robert Pirsig It is very interesting that you chose to use the word Quality in regards to Zen sites. Pirsig's first book, above, is devoted to Values and covers many Zen teachings and introduces the concept of Quality. His second book "Lila: An Inquiry into Morals" is an expansion of what Quality is. So Pirsig would ask, "What is a Quality Zen site and how would you know it when you find it? What are the attributes of Quality? Can Quality be found, or defined without mentioning the attributes of the quality web site itself?" And so he covers both western and eastern philosophy in his quest of Quality. I have read many books on Zen but this is the one! There are only three types of people who read these books. The first never finish the first book, the second read them but can not fully understand what he is saying, and the third discover Zen.
Thanks for the ideas, guys. I will be making some purchases right away. I have a few good books in my collection already, but can always use more. All I meant by "quality Zen site" was something similar to the Buddhist site that I found last year, which is large and has quite a bit of activity. So far, the Zen sites I have found are rather lean in terms of content. Mostly, they are selling books or posting a schedule for a local sangha.
as far as website, i'm not really sure. but if you stop by a borders' or a barnes and nobles, look in the "eastern religion" section and they have a lot of that stuff. good luck, this stuff's good for you.
