How do you know for sure if you're Buddhist?

Question

By simply believing in what Buddha taught? Do I have to believe everything in Buddhism?
I'm just confused. So far on what I've learned (still got more to learn) about Buddhism I generally agree with. I just don't want any strings attached, like I HAVE to believe in certain things or I HAVE to do things in Buddhism. I encourage myself to meditate and know in my head that the cause of suffering is attachment, but I don't want to follow a set of RULES in Buddhism.
BQ: in your definition, what is an atheist Buddhist? Or is Buddhism itself considered atheistic? Is Buddhism just another form of atheism?

Answer 1

not possible to know everything the Buddha for 45 years. many monks, kinds and adults, learned just how to be a monk and how to straighten their mind - i.e. insight meditation (vipassana).



generally a Buddhist should know who is the Buddha, what is the Dhamma, and who are the Sangha. a Buddhist should know how to live as a Buddhist - i.e. with five moral precepts, how to speak to others, how to behave among people, etc. for the sake of the purity of mind from doubt, guilt and worry/sorry. A Buddhist can meditate - good to do but not compulsory. Being a Buddhist is not enough to attain freedom. It's sort of being a uni student will not make him/her a degree but s/he must learn and do all works to get the degree.



Buddhism is a school of enlightenment or an institution of mental education. Buddhists are supposed to learn themselves and understand their own minds. This should lead to conscience and freedom from attachment.

Answer 2

Here's the bad news: If you don't want to follow a "set of RULES," then Buddhism will not help your life.



The Buddha taught that people suffer because they cling to their opinions.



Because people find it difficult to let go of their opinions, the Buddha offered a simple path to liberation from the dissatisfaction that arises from like and dislike:



1. Live an ethical life. Don't kill, steal, lie, misuse sex, and don't use substances and alcohol.

2. Develop wisdom. Join a Buddhist temple and associate with wise people. Follow the directions of a teacher.

3. Practice meditation. Daily. Under the guidance of a teacher.



Unfortunately, you seem very attached to your opinions. You don't want "strings" and "rules." You want Buddhism on your terms, rather than on the Buddha's terms.



I'm sorry but the world doesn't work that way. That has nothing to do with Buddhism - it's just how it is for human beings.



The Buddha knew better than you. He knew that if people wanted freedom from suffering, they actually had to change their life. You're not ready to make the necessary changes. So just be honest with yourself and accept that you're not ready for Buddhism.



Best wishes on your journey.

Answer 3

You are right, it says attachment is suffering. So, even to the Buddha, becoming a Buddhist is attachment. You are desiring something you are not. "Suffering". Everything in the earth is suffering. So, you have to let go of everything in the earth. It opens you to being Open to all. Not to be separated from nothing. It is an inward journey of letting go. So, then, the Buddha awakens in you. You are the Buddha. Now, That is not atheist, because Atheist believe in no Godhead. They are absent of the acknowledgement of light, which the symbol they use. It is an eyeball looking down with the steak going through to cut out the light from entering the eye. Now, to speak on Buddhist, just saying Buddhist is no different than speaking on Christians, it is broad. There are to many different separations and teachings, Tibetan Buddhist, Dharmas, Tao, Bhagwatam, and many others just like the many different Christian types, Jew, Kabbalist, Baptist, Pentecostal, Catholics, Greek Orthodox. The list just goes on with them both. Everyone maybe totally different than the other. So really, some believe you are the Buddha, some think the Buddha is a way of life. Not a religion. Eye know this because eye have been to many Buddhist Temples and to Christian Churches and in both eye have seen basically all the same material just interpreted differently. Some Buddhist believe there is no God, just Buddha. Buddha is everything. They say Jesus was Buddha also.

So, you don't want to follow a set of rules in Buddhism, then if you don't want to, then you won't. Some Buddhist think you should be in seclusion and others think you should become a begger, some think you should live in the city life and fight the desires.

Once you start to meditate though and you start doing it regularly, you will go through some changes and then those old desires will just fall away. That is how it works, It will just go away on its own. Look, eye use to be this really wild person, Not caring about the world or anything for that matter. Then just out of the blue, something changed and eye started studying Buddhism and Hindu then suddenly, all that eye thought eye wasn't going to change in me. Did so all on its own, no effort needed. So, from what eye gathered from some of the esoterically taught Buddhist, You just be you..... Spell guru..... G. U. R. U....... Gee YOU R YOU....... the guru. So, do you and do the practices and you won't have to worry about you right now, just keep being you and do you and be diligent with your practice. Watch, what will happen, eye promise you this, just keep doing the meditations. The more you desire Buddha, the more you will desire the disconnection from the earth. That is it. Then, the moment you let it all go, you will receive it all. Funny how that works but that is just how it goes. You have to be willing to let go of all your future planning, all your dreams, all your beliefs, all your desires, everything. That does something to a person to just let go of this life for even a second. Just let go. See what will happen to you. Eye swear, it will change your life.

Answer 4

I don't consider myself an Atheist because I devote myself to the Law of the Universe.



In essence, the appearance of the treasure tower indicates that on hearing the Lotus Sutra the three groups of voice-hearers perceived for the first time the treasure tower within their own lives. Now Nichiren’s disciples and lay supporters are also doing this. In the Latter Day of the Law, no treasure tower exists other than the figures of the men and women who embrace the Lotus Sutra. It follows, therefore, that whether eminent or humble, high or low, those who chant Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.are themselves the treasure tower, and, likewise, are themselves the Thus Come One Many Treasures. No treasure tower exists other than Myoho-renge-kyo. The daimoku of the Lotus Sutra is the treasure tower, and the treasure tower is Nam-myoho-renge-kyo.

At present the entire body of the Honorable Abutsu is composed of the five elements of earth, water, fire, wind, and space. These five elements are also the five characters of the daimoku. Abutsu-bo is therefore the treasure tower itself, and the treasure tower is Abutsu-bo himself. No other knowledge is purposeful. It is the treasure tower adorned with the seven kinds of treasures— hearing the correct teaching, believing it, keeping the precepts, engaging in meditation, practicing assiduously, renouncing one’s attachments, and reflecting on oneself. You may think you offered gifts to the treasure tower of the Thus Come One Many Treasures, but that is not so. You offered them to yourself. You, yourself,

Answer 5

Buddha did not teach "belief". Buddha taught practices ... things that you actually do (and not just meditation).

Buddha told every one to NOT blinding belief.



Doesn't matter whether or not you agree with Buddhism. As a Buddhist you aren't supposed to agree with someone else. You are supposed to look inward, and with the clarity of the calm meditative mind, observe what goes on inside of you. Instead of clinging to beliefs, you let go of beliefs .. both belief AND non-belief. All things that you cling to, to try to feel safe and secure, to try to feel the ground under your feet .. you must let go of and learn to relax in this very moment instead.



The "rules" of Buddhism are not rules. They are guidelines, they are instructions. Just as someone who wants to become a champion figure skater will listen to the instructions and guidelines that their skating coach gives them, will take those guidelines and practice them continually until they master them .. so, too, if you want to reach enlightenment, you will take Buddha's guidelines and follow them.

Hey .. you don't have to follow them. It's up to you whether or not you free yourself from your self-created unhappiness. No one is twisting your arm.

It's just that .. no figure skater becomes skilled by sitting by ignoring their coach and by not practicing ... no Buddhist gets to THEIR goal without self-discipline and proper action.



Is Buddhism atheistic? Buddha never discussed God.

Is the skating coach atheistic? The skating coach never discussed God with his student-skaters. That's because skating has nothing to do with "belief".

And neither does Buddhism.

It's up to you whether you want to be a theist or an atheist. You can be either and still be a Buddhist.

But sooner or later, you will see that "belief" is a safety raft, an attachment, a way to try to feel safe in this vast uncertainty of life.



HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE A BUDDHIST?

You have practiced daily for a minimum of 3-8 years and have begun to have some insight into how you respond to life and to your own self as well. You have started to feel in your very gut (not just see in your head) the sequence of attachment leading to suffering ... and you have started to develop that sense of mindfulness, both in meditation and also brief moments of it outside of meditation.

AT THIS POINT, when you say your refuge chants to the Buddha-dharma-sangha, you KNOW that this IS what matters in life.



The whole idea of not doing things you want to do (the Five Precepts) ... helps you see more clearly. Normally, when we are caught doing something, we feel a moment of panic and fear, and then we "ease" that negative feeling by lying to the person. A Buddhist does not run away from their panic or fear .. instead, they tell the truth. They use the mindfulness they have acquired through meditation, to observe what is happening inside them. And THIS is how you see that suffering causes attachment. You don't see it as a concept .. you see it, inside yourself, as it happens .. as an event.

Now, if you had just run from it by lying, you never would have seen it.

And that is why Buddhists do not lie, steal, cheat, get drunk, hurt others (through sexual activity or any other activity) .. there is no more running away from yourself by using some coping mechanism or distraction.

You must face what you do NOT want to face.

Honey .. you can't even face following a few simple guidelines. If you think you have the emotional courage to change your life, find yourself a live, qualified Buddhist coach (usually an ordained monk or nun). Westerners who try to go it alone usually don't understand what they are doing and end up stuck in dead-end alleys instead of progressing down the path. Buddhism will change your life, in just the ways it claims to .. but not if you are heading in the wrong direction.



The Buddhist “learns to watch changes occurring in all physical experiences, in feelings and in perceptions. He learns to study his own mental activities and the fluctuations in the character of consciousness itself. All of these changes are occurring perpetually and are present in every moment of our experiences. Meditation is a living activity, an inherently experiential activity. It cannot be taught as a purely scholastic subject.” (“Mindfulness in Plain English” by Venerable H. Gunaratana Mahayhera, a Theravadan Buddhist teacher)

Answer 6

Do you believe in the ongoing war between Buddhists & Muslims? You need to study Buddhism more and be able to explain these things.

Answer 7

watch this to learn about atheism http://killboringtime.com/religulous-by-bill-maher/



watch this to learn about Buddhism http://killboringtime.com/a-documentary-about-buddhism/