A simple bow will do. Most temples offer lessons in yoga, meditation, or various sutra lessons. Spend time with friends and family members who are Buddhist, too. Study Buddhism regularly. Many translated sutras are available online, your temple might have a library, or you can buy sutras.
There are also many different Venerable monks and lay Buddhists who have written explanations of Buddhist sutras. Attend classes taught by a Venerable or lay devotee at your temple. Uphold the Five Precepts. When you took refuge in the Triple Gem, you vowed to uphold the Five Precepts, but this can be difficult at times.
Do your best to not kill any living creature, do not steal, do not commit sexual misconduct, be honest, and do not consume addictive intoxicants such as alcohol or drugs that makes you lose control of your mind. Practice the Middle Way. Spend time studying all eight: Right view Right intention Right speech Right action Right livelihood Right effort Right mindfulness Right concentration.
Yes, anyone can become a Buddhist. You will need to take refuge in the Triple Gem and follow a ceremony during which you take a vow to uphold the Five Precepts to not kill, not steal, not commit sexual misconduct, refrain from false speech and not take intoxicants that lessen your awareness.
The article above details the steps you need to take. Additionally, Buddha stated that everyone can become a Buddha but this is very hard. Not Helpful 9 Helpful The Four Noble Truths are Dukkha suffering exists ; Samudaya there is a cause for suffering ; Nirodha there is an end to suffering ; and Magga to end suffering, follow the Eightfold Path.
The Eightfold Path involves Panna discernment, wisdom , Sila virtue, morality and Samadhi concentration, meditation. The Five Precepts are to not kill, not steal, not commit sexual misconduct, refrain from false speech and not take intoxicants that lessen your awareness. Not Helpful 8 Helpful Consider what emotions the sentimental item brings out in you——and whether that emotion can be conjured up by a memory rather than an object.
Are you clinging to the objects out of fear of loss, sadness or other negative emotions? Remember, the love of the relationships and the joy of the experiences do not reside in the objects, they reside in your own memories, connections and a willingness to stay open to more experiences in life.
Not Helpful 6 Helpful In some schools of thought, eating fish or chicken is permitted as a Buddhist. For example, the Theravada view provides that Buddha allowed his monks to eat pork, chicken and fish provided the monk was aware the animal was not killed on their behalf. The Fifth Precept of a practicing Buddhist provides: Do not take intoxicants that lessen your awareness.
The reason behind this is to prevent heedless acts and clouded thinking. This can be interpreted as meaning that practicing Buddhists should not drink alcohol. Not Helpful 4 Helpful People who practice Buddhism are encourage to avoid "sexual misconduct," but there is no requirement for celibacy for those practicing. However, ordained Buddhist monks and nuns are expected to be celibate because it is thought that sexual desires are a form of craving which causes suffering , and prevents the achievement of enlightenment.
Not Helpful 7 Helpful I recently feel as though something is pulling me towards the Buddhist faith. I am so frightened to go to a temple, for multiple reasons. What can I do? I have been researching and reading so much. Face your fear! If you want to go to a temple, there will be people to welcome you there. The closest temple to me is at least 2 hours away. Can I still practice the religion? Yes you can! You could read books, or search and find various alternatives to practicing the religion.
You could also consider attending the temple once a month or so. Not Helpful 28 Helpful Only Buddhist monks shave their heads. They may also have been corrupted by that most insidious of all Buddhist propositions, the myth of total enlightenment. This is the notion that some rare souls achieve mystical self-transcendence so complete that they become morally infallible—like the Pope! Belief in this myth can turn spiritual teachers into tyrants and their students into mindless slaves, who excuse even their teachers' most abusive behavior as "crazy wisdom.
I have one final misgiving about Buddhism—or rather, about Buddha himself. His path to enlightenment began with his abandonment of his wife and child.
Even today, Tibetan Buddhism—again, like Catholicism—upholds male monasticism as the epitome of spirituality. To me, "spiritual" means life-embracing, and so a path that turns away from aspects of life as essential as sexual love and parenthood is not spiritual but anti-spiritual.
Buddhists often respond to my carping by saying, "You didn't give Buddhism enough time! If you truly understood it, you wouldn't say such stupid things! String theorists and Freudian psychoanalysts employ this same tactic against their critics. I can't fault these supposed solutions to existence until I have devoted as much time to them as true believers. Sorry, life's too short. Some of my best friends are Buddhists, and I enjoy reading and talking to Buddhist and quasi-Buddhist intellectuals, including all those I've mentioned above.
I admire the open-mindedness and pacifism of the Dalai Lama. I sometimes drag visitors to my hometown to a nearby Buddhist monastery, which features a foot statue of Buddha surrounded by thousands of mini-Buddha statuettes.
A porcelain Buddha smiles at me from atop a bookcase in my living room. I like to think he'd grok my take on the religion that he founded. Remember the old Zen aphorism: If you meet the Buddha in the road, kill him.
The views expressed are those of the author s and are not necessarily those of Scientific American. For many years, he wrote the immensely popular blog Cross Check for Scientific American.
Follow John Horgan on Twitter. Already a subscriber? Sign in. Thanks for reading Scientific American. The dichotomies that the Dalai Lama represents are clear: he is to Chinese autocrats, what spirituality is to materialism; what tolerance is to hate; and what pluralism is to chauvinism. Religion becomes a definition, a label, an identity when it sees walls between believers. When a believer defines a religion in the language of certitude, polarities of good and evil manifest.
Of course Buddhist, Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains have core precepts that define their tradition and distinguish them from others, but the tradition is not a members only trip to salvation, nirvana or moksha. We are committed to creating harmonious environments and helping all beings develop their full potential of infinite wisdom and compassion.
If you have compassion in your everyday life, you collect the most extensive merit and purify much negative karma in a very short time.
Many lifetimes, many eons of negative karma get purified. That helps you realize emptiness. These items include homestudy programs , prayers and practices in PDF or eBook format, materials for children , and other resources to support practitioners. Items displayed in the shop are made available for Dharma practice and educational purposes, and never for the purpose of profiting from their sale.
According to Buddhist practice, there are three stages or steps. The initial stage is to reduce attachment towards life. The second stage is the elimination of desire and attachment to this samsara. Then in the third stage, self-cherishing is eliminated. Becoming a Buddhist monk or nun is truly a meaningful and worthwhile way to spend your life, and to be of benefit to others. We are very fortunate that the monastic tradition started by the Buddha is still alive today, thanks to the devotion, dedication and efforts of many thousands of monks and nuns in Asia over the last years.
Although there is great benefit in becoming ordained, the life of a Buddhist monk or nun also carries a deep responsibility for oneself and for others.
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