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 Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 5:41 am
I've been studying a little bit of buddhism but i'm not sure i fit in...!
I mean, buddhism is a way to reach nirvana (as far as i know it's when you reach enlightenment and know the truth as it really is and with the eyes of other) but i find this kind of selfish: i'm not trying to reach nirvana so i can be happy; i want to understand and help people become better man/women and more kinder, more understanding and tolerant toward others: i want my nirvana to be like a reward for helping because i truly deserve it, not simply because i know all the truth...
I also have some doubts.. i read in buddhanet that there are different stages for enlightenment... like, superhuman < human < hungry ghost (this are the only i can remember right now because they got stuck in my mind)... when people are reborn, they kind of lost all their database like a computer... could they really understand the buddha's teachings on that stage?
I think i don't quite understand this thing about being reborn: losing our "soul" doesn't make since to me: we can be reborn and become and hideous "monster" with no compassion...
And can we have contact with eachother?? i mean, can i see hungry ghosts and superhumans while i'm still a human?
I can't be happy if i can't feel my loved one's, somehow...
i'm just hoping for an answer... because i'm having doubts if buddhism is the right thing for me: it's not that i don't want to know all the truth, but i feel that compassion is an important part: that's what lead me into buddhism in the first place! I can't live in a world without love and compassion, and i believe love is achieved through understanding and comunication.
As i read through some buddhist articles (outside and inside the buddhanet), everything seems a little bit cold, like buddha is something to make ourselves be happy... but i can't be happy if i can't help someone else be happy...
bleh, everything is so confusing razz
i also have a question about zen buddhism... because i don't know what that is and i think it might be important for me.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:19 am
Ah, the realms. It was a sticking point for me once, too. I've since reworked my understanding of them - and this isn't exactly an 'all Buddhists' belief, just mine - to one of 'all realms are this realm'. Think about it.
A normal person is what we are, normal. An average life with an average history, we can go one way or another depending on circumstances. We have an easier time than those of higher birth in walking away and becoming a renunciate (monk or nun) simply due to less attachments to lifestyle and circumstances, but we may not have the access they do to understanding and teachers due to our lessened resources.
Those people born with money or an easier life for some reason would be the higher realms - if you consider it, isn't someone fantastically wealthy effectively a god in our world? They can do what they want, when they want. Some can even get away with murder. Because of the circumstances of their birth, if they want to, they may have access to more scripture or sources of understanding than us average folk. If they concentrate on it, they might do well.
Those born to a life of hunger, living hand to mouth on a good day, are effectively hungry ghosts. They can't really improve station at all until their basic needs are met, and really don't think about much beyond them. They would have little trouble being a renunciate were it not for the fact they're more concerned with their next meal than anything else.
As for souls, they aren't there to begin with. Buddhism has a distinct no soul doctrine, so you don't 'lose' it at a rebirth. It was never there to begin with. There is no soul required for compassion, even though the two terms are used interchangeably in the west. 3nodding
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:29 am
ok, i understand a little bit clearer now: i was confusing the stages as in after death... i confused about actual ghosts and angels people clame to see, sometimes.
though i'm not glad at all with the idea of no soul... i strongly believe people have souls and that it can't be lost...
perhaps buddhism isn't for me after all.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:31 am
No one's pressuring you to stick with it if you don't feel it's what you're after. 3nodding That's half the fun, far as I'm concerned. It encourages questioning and testing, and if you find it's not for you, it doesn't bother you to stay. Either way, you'll always be welcome here.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 6:47 am
i know, that's why i'm looking for a way to understand my life! i empathize a lot with buddhism... most of its teachings are truthful to me, such as life can be painfull sometimes, that understanding what's around us is the key to happiness, that we are reborn (in my case, i believe we reincarnate) and stuff like that. I don't believe in god but i believe every being is special in their own way and that it has somekind of soul that must be respected and preserved, even the most hideous criminal...
i'm just scared of not finding something where i fit in. i thought buddhism was my answer, but some parts don't fit on my beliefs.
i feel kind of lost without a place to fit in...
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 8:58 am
I see...hm. Question: Is a soul necessary for that respect to flourish? Because I feel similarly...without the soul. 3nodding
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 9:34 am
but the soul has simbolical meaning to me.. i believe the soul transmigates from body to body, that's the problem... it doesn't fit in the buddha's teachings.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:14 am
That it doesn't. 3nodding
Have you perhaps considered Hinduism?
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:24 am
god stuff.. i don't believe gods xP
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:36 am
Hm. Well, it was a suggestion, at any rate. xd
I suggest you keep poking around then, and see if you find anywhere you're comfortable with. It might be that there isn't a faith that encorporates all your needs; that does happen sometimes.
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 12:02 pm
i know, thanks for your support ^^
all i was looking for was a religion wich aims towards love, communication and acceptance, wich believes in souls transmigation and some kind of "karma law", no gods included... lol
buddhism was the closest... i think i might look for something else ^^
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 12:14 pm
We'll be here if you need us. 3nodding
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 10:54 pm
ana_akilina i know, thanks for your support ^^ all i was looking for was a religion wich aims towards love, communication and acceptance, wich believes in souls transmigation and some kind of "karma law", no gods included... lol buddhism was the closest... i think i might look for something else ^^  For the Rose is a Beautiful FlowerOne thing I have had to accept is that there is no established path in which I fit.
Currently I follow what I like to call the Winding Path,
It is very close to what you are looking for,
and it would be athiestic if the gods didn't keep bugging me biggrin A Beautiful Flower with Thorns
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Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 7:30 am
Briar Drake For the Rose is a Beautiful Flower One thing I have had to accept is that there is no established path in which I fit.
Currently I follow what I like to call the Winding Path,
It is very close to what you are looking for,
and it would be athiestic if the gods didn't keep bugging me biggrin A Beautiful Flower with Thorns I hear that gods thing happens to some people, and I do admit, I tried to hear them. All sorts of them. In the end though, none of them talked to me. Made me sad for a bit, being unwanted by gods, but I moved on. biggrin
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