I'm considering Buddhism.

Which was it, the lack of sexual misconduct or the no drinking that kept you from it? :wink:

Seriously though, I think that, as others have intimated, the idea of being a “Buddhist” (as opposed to following the path of knowledge that has been laid by those who have gone before you) is secondary to attaining mindfulness and being fully present.

If you say; “today, I am a Buddhist” you have already failed.

That isn’t a bad job of summing up where I’m at too.

IF it makes you feel better, there are a lot of Buddhists who ignore them, or at least the no drinking, no lying, and no kinky sex ones.

Don’t forget the soul is here for it’s own joy --Rumi
Breathe and relax - and don’t take anything too seriously.

While there are important differences, I too find Christianity and Buddhism to be highly similar at the core, like a peanut butter jelly sandwich or perhaps a Reeses peanut butter cup. In my mind, Christianity is like the burning bush, fiery and vibrant, burning but not consuming, intense and yet playful. Buddhism in my mind strikes up an image akin to that of a single, tiny leaf floating gently on an immense ocean of placid water. To me both images are beautiful, and, while I identify more with the Christian image, I find great comfort and truth in the Buddhist image as well.

Both Christianity and Buddhism believe in the death of the ego, and both in some fashion believe that through this death we are reborn as fully functional human beings. Whether you cal it agape, nirvana, Buddha-nature, or Christ-love, or whatever else, in my mind it is all generally the same result in terms of achieving our true human potential.

The way I think of it, there are many roads up many mountains, but they all reach the same sky.

For further reading I recommend Zen Way - Jesus Way and C.S.Lewis’ The Last Battle. I also did a quick google search just now and found this wonderful critique of Z-way J-Way: http://www.vsuccess.com/essays/zenway.html

I was all set to come in here and argue with you but damn, that was a really insightful and beautiful observation.

And there are buddhists who do their best to observe them to some degree, on the theory that doing your best is better than not doing it at all. Keep in mind the sex one is usually interpreted as sexual conduct harmful to others, or conduct that is obsessive.

Drinking and drugs should in perhaps in theory be done entirely without, but in practice, drinking less than you would have may be a good start. Again, keep in mind that it’s the middle path. Asceticism has little place in buddhism, and self reliance and self restraint have a big place.

Just my two cents.

No offence, but that’s the sort of “fortune cookie” Eastern philosophy I see a lot of in the West. There are 65 million Thais here who will readily tell you “I am a Buddhist,” today or any other day. Well, 65 million minus the 3% or so who are other religions.

There is another aspect I feel I should mention, since there seems to be some question here of being a Buddhist versus adopting certain Buddhist practices like meditation and points of view. Actually being a Buddhist is not all spirituality. I can act like a good Christian without actually being a Christian. Much of acting like a good Christian – or a good Buddhist or a good Muslim or what have you – is nothing more than basic common sense. But to be a Christian, I’d have to buy into, say, the whole son-of-God schtick if nothing else.

Similarly, the Buddhist religion over here comes with a wholle passel of mythology that is quite frankly as unbelieveable as what comes with Christianity or Islam or any other religion, if not more so. For instance, the moment the Buddha was born, he supposedly did something like take seven giant strides across the land, turn and announce in a loud, booming voice to his mother and the midwife that he was destined to be some sort of big, badass personage, or some such nonsense. And you thought the Virgin Birth or Muhammad climbing to Heaven was hokey?

A personal example: There’s a religious relic of the Buddha in central Thailand. His footprint. Me being a newbie here, an acquaintance took me to see it way back when. Never mind that there’s no record of the Buddha ever having actually traveled this far. This footprint was huge! 12 feet? 30 feet? It’s literally been decades since I saw it, so its size may be exaggerated in my memory, but I could definitely have crawled in and used it as a campsite. And it was not just shaped like a footprint; all sorts of nature scenes were imprinted into the sole. I looked at my friend and said something like: “Um, this doesn’t seem like a real footprint.” And he told me in all seriousness: “You must understand that the Buddha was not an ordinary person.” Oka-a-a-a-y. Well, what can you say to that? It would be like telling a child there is no Santa Claus. So it’s not all meditation and David Carradine. There’s some baggage that comes with it, like any religion. I mean, there are people over here swearing that the Buddha is appearing in their dreams and giving them winning lottery-ticket numbers. I’m betting no Buddhist-meditation center in the West is teaching any of this stuff.

And also, many Buddhists here never meditate. I would say most Buddhists here never meditate, but I have no actual statistics to throw at you. They will pray, but often they pray for things like a new motorcycle or a bigger end-of-year bonus at work. Hardly spiritual. My wife certainly never meditates, and she is a Buddhist, born and bred. She also does not buy into a lot of the mythology, but then she is highly educated. But most people here take it as gospel fact, just like there are educated Creationists who believe Moses parted the Red Sea. They also believe fortune-tellers have a place in Buddhism, and on any given night in many parks and even shopping centers and sidewalks, the tarot-card eaders are doing a booming business. Again, my wife turns her nose up at that, but most people here do not. For instance, she has two cousins, both with master’s degrees in business administration from a local Catholic university (but they are Buddhist, not Catholic), who regulate their diets according to what their favorite fortune-teller tells them to eat.

So anyway, my whole point here is that you really need to think about what it means to say “I am a Buddhist” or “I want to be a Buddhist.” ARE you a dyed-in-the-wool Buddhist, or do you simply get some benefit from certain practices that are traditionally associated with the Buddhist religion?

Wow, excellent points, all of you. I suppose I’m not trying to call myself Buddhist, I’m more interested in some of the principles. I kind of feel like it might help me stay healthy and strong.

I’m a recovering alcoholic, and I struggle with eating disorders, so the notions of maintaining midfulness (and therefore staying away from drugs and alcohol), and treating the body like a temple really appeal to me in the sense that I can say “In addition to personally not wanting to pick up a bottle or starve myself, I have ‘something’ else to be accountable to.”

Do you kind of get what I mean?

Sure. For the record, I live in the United States, I don’t believe in reincarnation, my view of karma is very pragmatic, I don’t meditate nearly as often as would be beneficial, and I still call myself a Buddhist, because the three marks of existence (suffering, equanimity and impermanence) most profoundly affect my life outlook more than any other religion. Many people have said they have been a Buddhist all their lives, they just didn’t realize it until X moment… that was the case for me. Nothing fits me as comfortably as Buddhism.

I used to worry that others would think this was a phase for me, or associate me with the new-age movement in general, but now I don’t care. My own spiritual practice happens within my own home. I’ve been to sanghas before but my schedule does not currently allow me to participate in regular group sitting sessions. I have my little home temple, my zafu, my books to guide me, the wealth of resources that is the internet, and I’m fine. I’m a Buddhist. I’m not a perfect, enlightened being, I’m not a master of meditation, I’m just this person doing the best I can to see into the nature of reality and find peace in what I discover.

You don’t have to call yourself Buddhist, but it’s not a misleading thing if you decide you will, and it doesn’t mean you don’t truly ‘‘understand’’ Buddhism. Whatever you decide is fine.

Mindfulness is an incredible tool for psychological recovery… you may not be aware of this, but several evidence-based mental health treatments borrow from Buddhist ideas. For me, the greatest help has been a true understanding of impermanence… in the harder moments I am reminded they won’t last. In the better moments I am reminded… they won’t last. A lot of psychological suffering comes from believing your thoughts are Absolute Truth and thinking that one emotion is there to stay… the more you meditate and bring awareness to your changing mental states the less you will come to believe in those thoughts and ideas and the more contented you will feel. Contentment is different than happiness or sadness. It’s a feeling of inner peace that perseveres no matter what’s going on in the present moment.

One book that truly helped me is Being Zen by Ezra Bayda. It’s very easy to understand and the sequel, At Home in the Muddy Water is just as good. Also anything by Cheri Huber is outstanding for people who struggle with low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression.

Siam Sam just curious–what sect of Buddhism is predominant where you live?

I don’t drink, and I really hope none of my sexual exploits fall under the catagory of ‘misconduct’, although it might. My problem with the precepts was that there are any at all. When I thought I was floating in the perfect zen-ness of understanding the philosophy, having rules to obey didn’t figure in. Had those rules not been there, I would have been cool. The very idea of there being rules at all clashed with what I thought was my understanding of the whole thing.

ETA: Siam, not to answer for buttonjockey, but I think he was making a comment on a certain Zen aspect of Buddhism. It is not the same as the nonsense that a lot of Americans mistake for Buddhism. In other words, I got his meaning.

He’s living in Thailand, so Theravada, I’d imagine.

Have you considered one of the Pure Land sects? I’m not a Buddhist, but if I was, I think I’d join one of those. There’s something really reassuring about putting your faith in Amitabha and going to the pure land.

Yes, Theravada, supposedly the more austere and less fanciful version, although as I’ve pointed out elsewhere on the Board, it’s become mixed in with a lot of local pre-Buddhist animism and Hinduism – this area was predominantly Hindu 2000 years ago or so – so I do admit it’s hardly “pure,” but the locals will insist that it is pure and all a part of regular Buddhism. You get this sort of mix in just about any other Buddhist country, too, regardless of the version.

Also, I’d just like to say that I hope I’ve not stepped on anyone’s toes with any of my comments. Even though I follow no specific religion and indeed believe organized religion, even Buddhism, to be evil in varying degrees, my intent is not to be snarky or insulting to anyone’s beliefs. My apologies if anyone has been offended.

I can’t speak for anyone else but personally I have really appreciated your input. When I was an undergraduate, I took a class on Southeast Asian history and I was rather startled by the professor’s cynical portrayal of Buddhism. I think my perception of it, as a relatively isolated Western practitioner, is quite different, and I was a bit disappointed to learn of the corruption that has infiltrated it. But there’s no reason Buddhism should be immune from corruption. Same as any other organized religion, when you have a hierarchical power structure or a group of people who possess the ‘‘right’’ information, corruption happens. That is human nature. Later I had another course called *Love and Death in Japanese Society *and one of our texts was Moon in a Dewdrop by Zen Master Dogen. This was a work written 800 years ago that somehow transcended time and culture to bring meaning to my life. It reminded me that underneath these layers of human imperfection there is something true and beautiful that can benefit anyone in the world who is looking for it.

I don’t think there was much to get offended at. However, just as Westerners easily tend to have a much too idealistic view of Buddhism, when you live in a predominantly Buddhist place, it’s easy to only see its many faults, as it is actually practised.

Yesterday, there was a show on television. This is a weekly programme that deals with how businesses deal with particular challenges. Yesterday’s topic was the New Year, and it focused on a restaurant chain trying to introduce a new New Years menu, department stores and fukubukuro, and lastly a Buddhist temple. On New Year, it’s customary for people to visit either a Shinto Shrine or a Buddhist temple to ask gods/buddhas to protect you for the next year. The story was presented entirely from a business point of view, with the head monk (and his daughter) talking about attracting more “customers” (their word), and running ads on television.

This was a typical example of the Japanese commercialization of religion, which is undoubtedly unrivalled. It’s very difficult not to be turned off, especially when you grew up in a culture where Mammon is antithesis to God.

However, it’s important not to forget that there is a very wide spectrum of Buddhist practice. It’s not all superstition and commercialism.