Welcome to Gaia! ::

I invite all other members to share their stories on why they choose/have remained in the Buddhist lifestyle.

My story:
Well, I actually thought that Catholocism was right for me but as I got used to the teachings and customs, I realized that it was mostly misenterpreted through false prophets and monks who changed the scripts. I also am peaceful in nature and I find that scaring people with hell is very...unharmounious.

Now your turn ^__^

I have been Athiest most of my life. I know that there was really no way we could prove the exsistance of God, nor disprove it. However, there is such little to base the possibility of his exhistance on and so much that makes me wonder if god exhists is he on a vacation or what?! this world is a complete disaster in so many ways...mostly the Human Race. But perhaps he is a cockroach. One may never know.
At any rate I just last year bacame a vegatarian and began to loosly follow the teachings of Buddha. To be Zen and to be open-minded, tolerant, and to find peace with myself and the world.

That's cool. One of my two best friends is an Athiest and "anti-religious" because, and I completely see her point, religion is the cause of so many wars. However, if there wasn't that to fight over, I'm sure we, as a race, would have no trouble finding some other reason.

And that is why I'm a Buddhist

Many many years back, there was a village in the Himalayas where the inhabitants were primarily Buddhists. The village was completely isolated from the rest of the world and had a very peaceful and self-sufficient existence. Due to the altitude at which the village was located, the winters here were long and severe. The summer months were the time when the villagers would collectively gather, grow and store firewood and food to help tide the long winter months.

At the center of village was located a small monastery housing a prized, very ancient and tall wooden statue of Buddha. Besides being the center of daily prayers, the monastery offered much needed protection to the people and the supplies during storms and inclement weather. Every day the monastery's head Lama along with all the people from the village would participate in a worship ritual of the Buddha statue. The 89 year old Lama would personally lead the weekly bathing and adorning ritual with extreme devotion and reverence. Needless to say, Lama was the inspiration, leader and guide to all the village inhabitants. Everybody knew that the Lama's own inspiration was this statue of Buddha - his life force as it were. Grapevine had it that the Buddha statue even talked and communicated with the Lama in the silence of the night.

One year the winter arrived early and not enough food or firewood could be collected. As if the early arrival was not enough, the winter turned out to be the harshest the village had ever experienced. The oldest villagers said that the tyranny of storms they were experiencing this year far exceeded any they had seen themselves or heard from their grandfathers. To conserve, everybody gathered in the monastery and sparingly used the leftover firewood. But the weather did not let up and eventually the last piece of firewood was burnt and used up. The cold got worse and the people huddled up in their blankets and shawls. The paucity of food was adding to the difficulty.

Every piece of wood available had now been used and the only firewood remaining was from the statue of Buddha alone – but nobody dare ask the Lama, who had been meditating in his room for days. Finally when death stared directly in their faces and they could not take it any more, the villagers voted that the oldest man from the village should go to the Lama and ask for his counsel. The old man went to the Lama's quarters and mustered enough courage to bring the Lama out of his meditation. With a quivering voice he explained the situation and said, "We have used up all the firewood we have. We have even used our furniture and children's toys. There seems no hope of survival. We are sure to die. You have to guide us or else all of us will perish. What should we do?" The Lama looked lovingly at him and got up from his bed. He quietly walked towards the center worship hall with the old man following him like a baby. The Lama reached the hall where the villagers were huddled up. He looked up at the statue with love overflowing from his eyes. He walked up and started reverently removing all the ornaments from the statue after which he patiently disassembled the statue. As the villagers looked on in disbelief, the Lama, without any doubt or hesitation, took pieces of wood from what was the head of the statue of Buddha and carefully placed them on the smoldering remains of the fire. And within minutes the fireplace was alive once again, giving life-giving heat to everybody. As the Lama started to walk back to his quarters, he smiled and said softly – "Today our beloved Buddha decided to be one with all of us".

Just a tid-bit I've been meaning to add:

In my opinion, the Bible, Koran, Torah,
and all other religious books that resemble
a bible are just tales of humans doing
great things in their world. They are just
simple ways to teach others how to be
nice to eachother and how we can all
get along in the world we live in. I do not
believe it is a bad idea to read a bible of
any kind in your spare time and to think
about what the words mean, I do, however
think it is very wrong for someone to take
the stories out of context and twist their
original meanings to meet their needs.

That is what many religions do, they are not
"bad" per-say, they have just misjudged
a book of tales... it is not facts that we seek
within a bible, it is metaphorical guidance
to help us in our current situations, ones
that resemble those in the bibles we read.

For example, The story of Noah's Ark has
never been proven a fact, and I do not
believe that it is... it is simply a story to
teach people how to have trust... Noah
trusted God and made sure he did as told
and he survived the storm. The other people
died because they did not trust. Of course,
there are many other moral meanings behind
that tale, but those are for you, the reader,
to decide.

In closing, I would just like to point out that
we should not be closed-minded with our
heads inside boxes and think that these tales
are true, honest-to-goodness facts, but instead,
just love and appreciate them as moral guides
to aide us in our times of need. I have never
actually read a whole entire bible, I have read
portions of many, so I will not claim I know
everything, because I don't. But I do hope that
this little "tid-bit"of my opinions is enlightening
to many of you and that you will not choose to
close your mind to a new idea.
-[Haruko]

I have a question.... and was unsure
of where to ask it... so... here it is...

My fiance (username: [Claudio]) is
just curious about Buddhism... his
family is Mormon (LDS) but he does
not agree with their ideals and would
like to join the guild to be able to
learn more and possibly become
Buddhist himself.

I would never force him to become
anything he does not believe in, but
he would like to learn more about why
I am Buddhist and take others opinions
before deciding "officially."
-[Haruko]

If you could, please invite him.
Thank you ever so much. -[Haruko]