Rules for life?

A Buddhist primer.

Published on April 28, 2004 By dharmagrl In Religion

I've been asked on more than one occasion recently how Buddhism 'works'....what it's basic 'rules' (for want of a better word) are and how it's similar to Christianity.

I thought that the best place to start would be to explain the 5 basic precepts. These are the things I agreed to do when I made the decision to practice Buddhism.

To refrain from killing and harming living beings.

To refrain from stealing and taking that which is not yours.

To refrain from causing harm through sexual misconduct.

To refrain from false speech, harmful speech, gossip and slander.

To refrain from the misuse of intoxicants or sunstances such as drugs and alcohol that cause carelessness or loss of awareness.

These are the basics...without them my spiritual practice is a sham; meaningless. I can see many similarites between just these 5 thoughts and Christianity's basic teachings:

Do not commit murder (Exodus c20, v13)

Do not steal (Exodus c20, v15)

Do not commit adultery (Exodus c 20, v14)

Do not testify falsely against your neighbor (Exodus c20, v 16)

I hope that this clarifies things a little.

Next time I'll go into more depth, but I think this is a good start.

Comments (Page 1)

JillUser

on Apr 28, 2004

Good rules for everyone to live by. So use of alcohol in moderation is still okay for buddhists, right? As long as you aren't altering your awareness. I find buddhism fascinating and am glad you and Kharma have been talking about it on JU.

Thanks!

dharmagrl

on Apr 28, 2004

So use of alcohol in moderation is still okay for buddhists, right?

I choose not to, but I'm not going to tell anyone else that they're a 'bad Buddhist' for having the occasional drink.

BigDreamer415

on Apr 28, 2004

Hey, dharma, thanks for sharing your beliefs. It's always interesting learning about different religions. I'm just curious... what made you choose Buddhism over Christianity, that is if you have done that? And if you believe the following, why do you think that Buddism is the "best" or "most effective" (for lack of better wording) religion?

Sarah

dharmagrl

on Apr 28, 2004

Christianity just didn't fit anymore. I have major issues with Christianity's definition of god, of creation, of salvation. Buddhism feels right, it feels like it fits, it just makes sense.

Shulamite

on Apr 28, 2004

Thanks for clearing some things up. That helps. I wrote some questions down in a blog on what is enlightment under philosophy (because I thought you said Buddhism is more of a philosophy). I want to learn more. Tell me what makes it feel right if you can (or what makes it different.) I hope my article is more articulate than I'm being here. I also just wrote on Moral Law in the general sense. I'm curious to see how you feel about what I said. I really value your input.

BigDreamer415

on Apr 28, 2004

dharma- Do you mind sharing your "major issues" with Christianity's definition of God, creation, and salvation? What does Buddhism teach about budda, how we came to be and the afterlife? Thanks for sharing your veiwpoint.

Sarah

dharmagrl

on Apr 28, 2004

What does Buddhism teach about budda, how we came to be and the afterlife?

The Buddha was enlightened, as his name implies (it means 'enlightened one'). We are reverent to the Buddha because he was enlightened, and that is deserving of our respect. How we came to be...evolution. There is no 'creator' or divine being in Buddhism. The afterlife...there isn't one. Those things aren't really important as far as a Buddhist path goes; what's important to us is NOW, and being aware of NOW. Buddhism also teaches about the impermanence of things...of everything. It teaches that desire leads to attachment, and attachment leads to suffering...that there is no 'I', no 'self'..that we are but a mere wave in the ocean of life. Is the wave a separate entity from the ocean? No.

There's waaaay more to it than that, but that should be enough to start with.

I have problems with christianity rejecting the theory of evolution. I have MAJOR problems reconciling the god of wrath and vengence depicted in the old testament and the loving god of the new. I think that the bible is a really nice story about how to live life...but I don't think that it's what god said, transcribed verbatim. Again, it goes a lot deeper than that...I'll have to sit and think about things this evening and come up with a structured train of thought regarding what I DON'T believe and why.

Oh, and please, please...don't preach to me, or try to convert me. It's all been done before.

BigDreamer415

on Apr 28, 2004

I really don't know much about buddha... do you believe he is your god? Or is he just a man who was believed to be enlightened?

"I'll have to sit and think about things this evening and come up with a structured train of thought regarding what I DON'T believe and why."
Sounds good to me... I'm not here to argue, just try and understand ya.

)

"Oh, and please, please...don't preach to me, or try to convert me. It's all been done before."
Don't worry, dharma... I'd rather have a nice conversation about our different viewpoints, or even just learn more about Buddism, than upset you by "trying to convert."

Sarah

dharmagrl

on Apr 29, 2004

I really don't know much about buddha... do you believe he is your god? Or is he just a man who was believed to be enlightened?

He's just a dude who attained enlightement. Not god, not deity. Just a guy.

JURookie

on Apr 29, 2004

Dharma, you do realize that there is a "form" of afterlife in Buddhism. Through enlightenment, people are to ascend through plains of conciousness. In addition, this God of Wrath that you see in the Old Testament is the same God of Love in the new BECAUSE of Christ. The Word tells us that God is wrathful upon sin and disobedience but shows His love to a thousand generations and more through the sacrifice of His Son.

Evolution is disproved by this ONE fact........mutation causes genetic information to be removed....not added.....therefore, you cannot have a species advance through evolution...they would become lower life forms.

Not attacking you at all....Christ would probably look at Buddha, smile and say, "You are not far from the kingdom of God"

:0) TeacherCreature

dharmagrl

on Apr 29, 2004

Not attacking you at all.

No, just preaching.

Thank you.

MasonM

on Apr 29, 2004

I have studied the Buddha Dharma and Buddhism itself. There are some really great ideas and teachings involved there. We have a very nice Buddhist temple and education center here in Virginia. I have visited it a few times and was always welcomed with a great deal of friendly respect. They are always happy to teach and inform the curious on their way of life.

Actually I first learned some basic meditation techniques while studying Buddhism. There is a great deal there that is useful to everyone, Christians included. I find it to be something of a non-religion in the strictest terms. More philosphy than religion as it does not address or encompass a diety. From my studies Buddhism, at least in it's original form, didn't address the existence or non-existence of a diety.

I think one can actually follow the teachings and precepts of the Buddha Dharma incorporated into their Christian or other religion with little or no conflict at all. Actually I do so. If I am in error here, please elighten me. (No pun intended. Really)

I am truly interested to read more on this from someone who follows the Dharma as their sole religious world view. I find it very fascinating.

dharmagrl

on Apr 29, 2004

You can be Buddhist-Christian, Buddhist-Pagan, Buddhist-whatever, with very little conflict at all. As I tried to outline in this article, I can draw many parallels between Buddhist teachings and Christian scripture. The one point at which the systems differ is the theisim. Buddhism, as you said, is non-theistic. Contrary to popular belief I have no deity. I don't worship any god or being..I show reverence and respect to the Buddha, but I don't worship him, and I don't pray to him.

You're correct in thinking that it's more of a philosophy/non-religion than a religion.

I don't know if there is a God or not. It really doesn't matter anyway, the existence or non existence of God has pretty much nothing to do with my practice of dis-attachment and liberation from suffering (sufferning in the Buddhist term, not the Christian standard....I'll explain more later.) I don't believe that the bible is divine. I think it's a very nice story full of wonderful wisdom and good advice on how to live your life, and I think that parts of it were created by Jewish scholars in order to educate the mostly uneducated masses in the way the world came into being...but I don't hold with the creation theory. None of that is of particular importance in my faith - I believe that everything is impermanent and ever-changing anyway, so what's the point about arguing where we came from?

I'm going to have to write another article about this; there's too much to be contained in a response...

BigDreamer415

on Apr 30, 2004

"I don't know if there is a God or not. It really doesn't matter anyway..."

Please just ponder what you said.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
"I believe that everything is impermanent..."

If everything is so impermanent, why do you try to live by the "5 basic precepts"?

Sarah

dharmagrl

on Apr 30, 2004

I HAVER pondered what I said, I've been pondering it for years. I don't believe in the Christian concept of God, and I don't know if there even IS a god. I said it doesn't matter because it doesn't matter to ME. I take it that my statement offended you. I was afraid that would happen.

I live by the 5 basic precepts because those are the core basics to my liberation from attachment and desire (aka suffering). No, I may not make a huge difference on the world by adhering to them, but because there really is not 'self' or no 'I'...whatever 'I' do is going to have an effect on someone else, dig?

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