What is Buddhism All About?
Feb 05, 2008 | Categorized Under: Buddhism | | Comments
Most of us take and think about Buddhism differently. On this earth realm, I think we can divide the followers of Buddha into three categories:
-There are some people who consider Buddhism is a very easy concept; it is all about worshiping Lord Buddha. But that’s not true. Buddhism is about following the Buddha’s teachings, not worshiping him even though that might earn you a tiny bit of gaywa or the virtues. Buddha will be far more happy if we follow the Four Noble Truths than if we make a pilgrimage trip to Lumibini - the birthplace of Buddha.
-Then there are other people who kind of understand what Buddhism is about, but they still don’t put it into practice. They understand as a Buddhists they should be compassionate towards all sentient beings. But they face the trouble of “reality of life” - you can’t be nice to everybody and that’s the part of life. They assume if they become a nice or nicer person people would run over them and it would be hard for them to live in a society. But if we take a time to think more critically we might be able to realize that life is short after all and it is not worth being mean to each other. People who fall under this category sometimes realize this after they become calm and delve into such incident.
Buddhism Flag-The last category can be formed by almost perfect Buddhists. I personally think such people exists and have a feeling that some people I know should fall under this category. These people may or may not pay a visit to monasteries and sacred sites; they may or may not chant Om Mani Padme Hun - but what they do on a daily basis is that they act Compassionate toward all sentient beings. Their Buddhism wisdom may or may not be a higher level, but they know the core concept of Buddhism - Compassion and Realization of Impermanence.
Buddhism, imo, is all about Compassion and Realization of Impermanence.