Need help understand Buddhism!!

I only know a very small amount of Buddhism. There are so many school of Buddhism I don't know where to start in learning about this amazing art! Can someone please help me!!

Jeffrey Grupp was a professor who taught classes in Buddhism, and I think he would be a good person to check out. He has a book called "Telementation", a practical how-to which was kind of a response to the media-promoted book "The Secret", which Jeffrey considers a recipe for failure.
Jeff follows a particular form of Japanese Zen Buddhism and he thinks it is more a meditation technique than a religion and considers real Christianity to be identical to pure Buddhism.
Antimatter Radio is his YouTube channel.

reply to post by jmdewey60


Well I know original Buddhism was not religious. Since it never revolved around a holy being.

buddhism.about.com...

If atheism is the absence of belief in gods, then many Buddhists are, indeed, atheists. Buddhism is not about either believing or not believing in God or gods. Rather, the historical Buddha taught that believing in gods was not useful for those seeking to realize enlightenment. In other words, God is unnecessary in Buddhism. For this reason, Buddhism is more accurately called nontheistic than atheistic. The Buddha also plainly said that he was not a god, but "awakened." Yet throughout Asia it is common to find people praying to the Buddha or to the many clearly mythical figures that populate Buddhist iconography. Pilgrims flock to stupas that are said to hold relics of the Buddha. Some schools of Buddhism are deeply devotional. Even in the nondevotional schools, such as Theravada or Zen, there are rituals that involve bowing and offering food, flowers and incense to a Buddha figure on an altar.

reply to post by Romantic_Rebel


If you are interested in Buddhism, my best advice would be just start searching for info on it! There is so much out there, some of it may be good some of it may be misleading, you need to use your own intuition to figure out what is what.

Here a few recommendations for now:

www.sacred-texts.com...
buddhisttorrents.blogspot.com/
Attan.com
newbuddhist.com...

And if your really serious in learning more about Buddhism, go buy the book "The Ways of Enlightenment". It is the easiest, straight forward, but still detailed read I have found for western students. It's like a Bible for Buddhist studies.

reply to post by jmdewey60


I just checked out that antimatter radio on youtube and listened to his long rant about Buddhism, Maitreya and the Dalai Lama. One word:

He says the Dalai Lama is not a Buddhist :shk: and is a illuminati member who is misleading people for the NWO, all because he does not teach meditation! It's funny I own 3 movies and 2 books from the Dalai Lama about his teachings on meditation. He also talks about how Obama and Osama are the same person! LOL! That guy is nuts. He is the one misleading people. He is like an extremely unorganized Alex Jones.

If you want to learn about Buddhism, stay away from that guy! LOL WTH!

I find that this is a great place to start.

I keep a copy of the book "the way of the bodhisattva by Shantideva by my bedside and try to read a passage or two every night and meditate on its meaning.

Here it is in Google books so you can get an idea as to what its all about.

If nothing else, it will make you think...

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy
What Jeffrey teaches is to believe what you can see and not what you are told. I would be suspicious of a book claiming to be written by a particular person that could have been written by anyone, and to follow that you can see and hear with your own ears, coming out of the Dalai Lama's mouth. I can not differentiate what he says from the pop-culture psycho-babble promoted by the corporate owned media. As far as I am concerned you might as well call someone like Oprah "your holiness" as this person.

reply to post by jmdewey60


How you call what 'Jefferey' does, teaching, I don't know. Seems more like complaining and ranting, with no solid evidence and no real end point or solutions. And your right, I do not know the Dalai Lama personally so I cannot speak for him, but difference between him and "pop culture psycho babble- Jefferey" is that his teachings are those of a study, art and science that is multiple-millenia old and can be verified and are directly applicable to our daily lives. Have you ever heard the Dalai Lama speak? From what you are saying it seems not.

I do agree with you on one point, that our MSM is a corporately controlled indoctrination and propaganda tool. But all of this illuminati talk is useless, because no one has any real evidence of them turning into 'satanists' or of them still existing, and everyone just is gossiping about it, never actually doing anything to change the world and empower the people. Instead they sit around writing and selling books and making youtube videos, instilling a false sense of fear and powerlessness inside people. For that, they seem no different, and maybe even more dangerous, than the MSM.

I would recommend you think about the same words you told to me, in fact I will use a quote from Buddha Gautama to do so:
"Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. " -Buddha

reply to post by LifeIsEnergy

. . .doing anything to change the world and empower the people.

The first step is to realise that everything we are being told is wrong because it is not based on real evidence but is based on what certain people with money and influence wish us to believe.
Empowerment comes after realizing that we actually have power and have potentials to make changes for the better. Expecting some leader to do that for us is a road to nowhere.
It may seem childish but thinking of yourself as the center of a universe that was created just for you could be a start to creating changes ourselves, and why else would we be here?

i would recommend the first book you read is one titled Zen for Beginners

i also like this one:
Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings

here are some of my favorite buddhist proverbs - i find them to be thoroughly applicable as well as useful AND fruitful!

• Everything in moderation, including moderation.
  
• When wishes are few, the heart is happy. When desire ends, there is peace.
  
• When you are walking, JUST walk. When you are sitting, JUST sit.
  
• Learn to respond instead of react.
  
• Before enlightenment - chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment - chop wood, carry water.
  

and finally, here is something i once wrote:

The Way

Remove your blinders
Walk with Dharma
Consider your deeds
Sleep with Karma

Shed your possessions
Learn to let go
Release opinions
Let the truth flow

Care for each other
We exist as one
Defeat hate with love
War will be done

The path is open
For decision
Make loving-kindness
Your religion


NAMASTE!

Just read Siddhartha, and get it over with...

Reading that book should spell out the basics better than anything else I can think of.

For the classical differences between the types of Buddhism though, any humanities text book covering Eastern Religions should suffice, or of course, a simple google on Buddhism should net you a site with the different types.

in reading another thread, i just thought of another favorite proverb:

to the beginner's mind there are many possibilities; to the expert's mind there are few.

this is along the same lines of the title of one of the books i recommended - Zen for Beginners, as it says in the book, is kind of an obvious title in that Zen is all about the "beginner's mind".

as long as you stay empty, you can be filled
but once full, there is no room for anything, even expansion.

there was an idea that floated around in my nursing school class, that we all tried to remain mindful of and to kindly remind each other of, if necessary.
it is:
once you think you know everything, that's when you kill someone (from making a mistake due to lack of research or preparation because you assumed you already knew it all)

of course, this applies in every profession and endeavor of human life.
but in nursing, the stakes are higher and they aren't personal. arrogance and the lack of a beginner's mind is gambling with the life of a stranger.

the idea of emptiness in Buddhism is often misunderstood as nihilism. it is exactly the opposite, really, because when one is an empty vessel it is all about the expectation of new things coming in to fill that void.

everytime something is poured into that space, one must take of it and drink, so to speak - taking into their body, their essential being, all that is "nutritious" so that it can be integrated into what already is, into the whole and all that is of no use or benefit can be discarded. then the cup is empty again, ready to be filled again.

what you receive, then in that process, is the ultimate food for your soul. more than just stored information, taking it in like this creates an experience which is beyond both knowing and understanding. once you experience something, you don't forget it and you don't doubt it. but you have to become one with it rather than holding it or storing it.

if that makes sense.

Jimi Hendrix helped me understand this - in one of his songs.

If you can just get your mind together
Then come on across to me
We'll hold hands and then we'll watch the sunrise
From the bottom of the sea

But first, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have

I know, I know you probably scream and cry
That your little world won't let you go
But who in your measly little world
Are you trying to prove that
You're made out of gold and, eh, can't be sold

So, are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Well, I have

Let me prove you...

Trumpets and violins I can hear in distance
I think they're calling our names
Maybe now you can't hear them, but you will
If you just take hold of my hand

Oh, but are you experienced?
Have you ever been experienced?
Not necessarily stoned, but beautiful...

source: www.lyricsfreak.com...

the "a-ha moment" is the moment of experience.

reply to post by Romantic_Rebel


Buddhism is one of the few open source religions. You can really do anything you want and call it buddhism, that is what most people do. Just say you meditate and you are in.

reply to post by zaiger


that's not true - and it isn't beneficial to anyone to promote that idea.

that's how the true essence gets lost and Buddhism is a very pure religion, or philosophy, at its root.

someone who knows and/or practices Buddhism would know immediately the difference between true Buddhism and open-source, as you call it, Buddhism.

meditation in the traditional sense is NOT required at all. it does help most but it has more to do with training the mind rather than getting to the core tenets of Buddhism. some people are able to remove the distractions without the practice of meditation. not many, but there are some. it is all about "quiet mind" which is attainable in many ways, with the same result.

even Crowley addressed it, from his own perspective. he called it something to the effect of monkey chatter.

my intent is not to challenge you on this but rather just to make something clear that i know to be true, personally.

do you practice buddhism, yourself?

meditation is just one part of practice. koans are another. listening to the teacher is important, too.

reply to post by queenannie38


Thank you for replying to the above poster. I was trying to think of what to say and not be rude while saying it, but I see that you have accomplished this very well.

Enjoying your posts in this thread and learning much..

I would advise you to read some books by Thich Nhat Hanh - a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist.

"The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching" would be a great start.



I would also recommend watching the PBS documentary, "The Buddha".



Good luck!

There's a very good book called 'What Makes You Not a Buddhist' by tibetan master Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse..

It's an incredibly accessible book, balanced and insightful, which just strips away a lot of misconceptions and sets things out beautifully.

And yeah, as mnmlst said - Thich Nhat Hanh is a very good author too

I'll leave you with this saying:

Don't just do something, sit there!

Buddhism:


you take a statue and worship it. Get completely insane and put yourself in yellow jammies.

Fear a Lord

Fear creates danger.
Courage dispels it.

Fear pollutes the mind.
Love cleanses the soul.

There is no room for fear in the quest for liberation.