Is anybody here a Buddhist or has converted to Buddhism from another religion?

Question

I am interested in learning what it was about the Buddhist religion that attracted you. What religion were you before you became a Buddhist? I appreciate your answers and thank you for sharing.

Thank you very much pretty lesbian for responding to my question and especially for your reading suggestion. I hope there are other people who would be willing to tell me why they were attracted to Buddhism.

To all of you who have shared your path and vision of the Buddhist religion, I give my thanks. I loved reading what each of you had to say. Let me tell you that I find it extremely difficult to deal with all the violence and turmoil and injustice that exists in the world today and never a day goes by without my questioning why, if there is a God, that he would allow these things to happen or even that there is a God. I really want to put that all aside and find a way to live in the world without being emotionally torn apart by it. I have read a little about Buddhism and it definitely has a philosophy which is very appealing to me after all the does and don't of the Catholic Church, but I know I still have more reading and preparation to do before I take the step. I will leave this question open and hope more people will "speak" to me. I cannot choose a best answer because each of you has given your best to me so I will ask the others to decide. Namaste!!!

Answer 1

If you live in the Southern California area, I highly recommend you visit the Hsi Lai Temple in Hacienda Heights.

Answer 2

I suppose that I qualify for this question. I'm a Buddhist, but before that, I had been in several Christian denominations and more recently in the Baha'i Faith. I suppose that my life has been an interesting spiritual journey.

I suppose that my journey to Buddhism is two-fold. The first part was the analysis of Theism in general. When I was in theistic faiths, I always seemed to be on the outside looking in. After over thirty years of exposure to theism in one form or another, I came to the conclusion that my beliefs in God do not include a personal aspect. Essentially, I realised that from the deeper parts of my thinking process that if God or gods do exist, they are not truly relevant to the natural world.

This would be enough to turn me into an atheist, or at least an agnostic. However, I also realised that I do believe in SOMETHING. I see the Universe as a gestalt of matter and energy, exhibiting qualities that go beyond the concepts of natural materialism. One aspect of this is the concept of pattern recognition, which I don't think can truly be a property of matter and energy alone. That is, there is a consciousness to the Universe that defines what I perceive as a life-force.

Buddhism come into the equation as a way of interpreting the nature of these qualities. I can see Life as a form of energy not entirely describable by current scientific methods. (We're still trying to get past E=mc^2 in many ways.) If Life is an energy, then it must be conserved. However, that does not imply a conservation of mind or soul, but spirit only. The Buddhist concept of rebirth (as opposed to reincarnation) fits this idea.

An appeal of Buddhism is the description of how the Universe is constantly changing. Thinking along the lines of quantum mechanics, perhaps a way of describing changes over time is that the Universe is in a constant cycle of destruction and re-creation every fraction of a second, much like a motion picture filmstrip. This suggests that we are never the same person that we were a decade ago, or last year, or yesterday, or even a second ago. Indeed, science indicates that every cell in the body is less than seven-years-old, but we seem to have memories that can go back decades. This fits along with the Buddhist concept of ataman, or no self. That is, we are not static creatures, but more like rivers of life in the Universe.

One peripheral concept that I'd like to mention is the concept of prayer and meditation. To me, prayer is like an attempt to alter the Universe in an invasive way. It didn't seem to work to me. However, I do understand meditation as a way of communing with whatever is divine in the Universe simply by listening. That was another attraction of Buddhist practices.

It took me over a year of thought and seeking to decide to be a Buddhist. A reason that it took this long was that I had to deal with the cosmology that Buddhism states. I finally decided that I didn't need to accept that in order to accept the Buddha's teachings. What I decided was that the Buddha was simply a man that became a pioneer into how our paths in life should be. Since it's not a divine revelation, but a man's discovery, that returned me to why I left the theistic faiths.

I hope that my story of discovery is helpful for you, and I wish you well in whatever path you are taking.

Answer 3

I became Buddhist when I was 19 after a couple of years studying asian thought. Before I was a Buddhist I wasn't religious. It was the weirdest thing, my parents just didn't practice a religion. So I was raised entirely without faith. Lack of inhierent faith seems to inhibit your ability to subscribe to most of the major religions. The Bible, the Koran and other religious books were kind of off limits. I read both of them and they were wonderful books, with overall altruistic messages, but with a predisposition towards belief in God, they were lacking.

I don't want to take anything away from these religions, for those who enjoy having faith and more importantly feel the need for faith they are without equal. The only problem was that they mention Jesus as the son of God, and Mohammed as the last prophet, but they never got around to explaining how one was supposed to arrive at an agreement with the concepts. In studying Buddhism I read about not believing anything that doesn't make sense, even if the Buddha said it.

Most religions are doctrines of answers, I hadn't even figured out the questions, Buddhism has helped me with that. I also had a little problem with the idea only one of the big religions being true and the rest of us going to hell.

Answer 4

While I haven't committed to Buddhism I've studied and attended a number of Buddhist retreats over the years. I enjoy the study and the practice. I love sitting in quiet meditation (altho it isn't necessarily easy to quiet the mind). I was raised Protestant, converted to Catholicism during the course of a relationship when I was young and since then - over the years - have explored and studied a number of religions. I do practice sitting meditation daily and try to live according to Buddhist principles.

What appeals to me is the acceptance, the introspection and the focus on non-violence and tolerance. Buddhism has different flavors in different parts of the world including in America. It seems more a way of life than a religion to me.

Answer 5

Because to me it's the only logical reason. Faith does play a role, but it's not blind faith, because by practicing, we can experience the fact that the teachings are true for ourselves. This motivates us to continue to practice. Buddhism answers the questions that other religions answers, and provides an answer to the meaning of life, what happens after death, and how we can end all suffering and attain everlasting bliss and peace. Edit: And it is a religion, despite what some misinformed atheists may say on here.

Answer 6

im a buddhist. mostly i grew up as a buddhist cause my family follows the religion. but the main goal if ur a Buddhist is to reach Enlightment, in other words, be a great person. aka, vegetarian, killing nothing that has a mind of its own, etc. i know of books of somewhat like poetry that tell of all these ways to reach enlightment. i know i failed and i wont reach enlightment but oh well. anways, those books start out saying stuff like face towards peace, kindness and the like. im going to china next year to visit Buddha's birth place. i hear ppl bow every 3 steps on the way up to the temple. right now, im planning on trying to find a way to keep my knees from hurting too much. i know that Buddhists often take the ashes from the stuff we burn for Buddha and feed it to the sick or to themselves to grant a prayer. i remember when i was really sick at about 6 years old, my grandma got some ashes, mixed it in water and fed it to me. i got better in about 2 days. im not a thorough Buddhist like my grandparents who r totally obseesed with their religion im just follow the religion. of course there are also rules like which way u have to face Buddha and stuff.

Answer 7

Well I recently got interested in Buddhism, I was born and raised as a catholic. I decided to become a Buddhist because their philsophy, and outlook of life intrigued me and fulfilled my thoughts. I goto the library and study buddhism regularly. I advice you to take out the book called "Zen Buddhism, beginners mind"

Answer 8

Buddhism for me came about naturally from the self exploration I was doing in myself. I found it through trying to quantify and qualify what those views meant.

Before Buddhism I was agnostic.

Answer 9

I'm a Jedi. it combines Buddhism, Taoism and Zen. It does wonders for me .Yet I was raised and forced to be catholic until I was 18.

Answer 10

Yes me. I am from India. My parents embraced Budhism in the year 1956 and I was born in 1958. So you can call me a born Budhist.

Please e-mail me your queries. I shall be happy to reply back.