Can someone succinctly describe Buddhism for me?

Question

Let me explain. I am an Atheist - more than that, I am a passionate atheist who responds to many of the theist posts on Answers and other forums evangelising their particular faiths, by pointing out all the logical fallacies and moral nastiness promoted by exclusive belief in a deity. But I've had several responses from people saying Buddhism isn't like that - we don't have a god and we don’t criticise other philosophies. So is Buddhism a religion? What do you have to do to be a Buddhist? What could you do that would mean you are not a Buddhist? - Really, I genuinely want to know

Answer 1

Well, it's true that Buddhism does not have a god, but there is a sect called Mahayana Buddhism that asserts that there are three gods: the Amitabha Buddha, which is a Buddha of heaven, a Gautama Buddha, which is a Buddha of earth, and some other Buddha. Buddhism can be summarized in the Four Noble Truths that Buddha, an Indian prince who left his family (in the 500s B.C., I think) for some time to seek enlightenment, devised:
1) All life is suffering,
2) All suffering in life stems from desire (desire for material things, desire for company, separation from friends or family, etc.)
3)To end the suffering in life, we must end desire; and
4) To end desire, we must follow the Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold path is eight precepts that Buddha also made up that would lead to a happier life: right view, right intention (wisdom), right speech, right action, right livelihood (ethical conduct), right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration (mental development).
Buddhism is only similar to Hinduism (Siddhartha's former religion) in the respect that it believes in samsara, or reincarnation. After death, a person gets reincarnated as something else based on what he did during his lifetime. The emphasis is based on dharma, or duty (how well you fulfilled your duty) in Hinduism. In Buddhism, the point of life is to break the cycle of samsara by reaching nirvana, or an enlightened state of mind, by following the Eightfold Path, meditation, discipline, getting rid of desire, etc. That is really the whole point of Buddhism.
Buddhism, as I said before, has no God or any belief in angels, demons, heaven or Hell. It is still a religion, though.
What do you have to do to be a Buddhist? Well, I suppose you have to follow what Buddha said. Forsake your desires for friends, company, and possessions. Also get rid of feelings of affection and love, because these are forms of desire (I read this in the Dhammapada, so the Buddhists who try to dispute this are wrong. They can check for themselves; it's a Theravada text, so it's correct). Also, practice self-discipline and the right ways of thought, speech, and action. Also, one can meditate.
If a person doesn't want to be a Buddhist, I suppose they can go ahead and develop attachments to people and be undisciplined. Self-discipline, however, is important to everyone, in my opinion. Everyone should practice it, no matter what religion you are a part of. I hope that helped.

Answer 2

First off, there are actually several Buddhisms, including some beautifully complex philosophies. It's based on the teachings of a man, no divine revelation here, who recognised that suffering results from our attachment to impermanent things. And all things are of course impermanent. (I think that would have to include gods etc., hmmm. ;-) Fully realising this is enlightenment. But you shouldn't get attached to the quest for enlightenment.

There are different teachings and ways of going about this. Central though is the concept of the Middle Way or Middle Path, which is about walking between the excesses of both hedonism and ascetisism. It's about acting with intention and awareness instead of being driven by insecurity and desire.

There are Buddhist 'gods', although that means something different than it does in Christianity -- way too hard to try to take that one in limited space. Let's just say that they're more like tools to help people. A fundamentalist attachment to any of these beings is of course going against the very principles of Buddhism.

Differentiating between religion and philosophy is more of a western concept; it just doesn't make sense in this context. Just think of it as a way of living life with intention and compassion.

What you have to do to be a Buddhist, now that's a trick question. :-) Bottom line, I would say it's about commitment to study and meditation practice. And to a community. There are rituals which can be undertaken to make a formal affiliation, usually after years of practice.

Buddhism was actually my path to atheism. But that's an answer to another question.

Answer 3

This is all I know about Buddhism, and I may be WAY off here....

Buddhists don't really believe in a god, and don't have a specific dogma--they probably aren't really a "religion", per se.

Their whole deal is to meditate and becomed enlightened until reaching "Nirvana". Nirvana is a state in which they have emptied themselves of pretty much everything to the point of non-existence. I have even heard of some people that have supposedly reached this state of "non-existence" and consequently killed themselves.

I myself have very different beliefs. I am a pagan, and I think that life and existence is a GIFT to be enjoyed, not to deny oneself.

Answer 4

Buddhism is most definitely a religion. It takes a lot more than following a few concepts of Buddhism to be buddhist. :)

At the very core, Buddhism teaches that all people are enlightened, and that fundamental darkness clouds this and skews our view. Fundamental darkness is an internal facet of life that prevents us from seeing our enlightenment. We may call fundamental darkness "fear", "doubt", "hatred". These are internal negative forces.

Buddhism teaches that all people, regardless of race, gender, or background can attain enlightenment. How one does that varies from school to school, and I can only speak about my particular school (Soka Gakkai).

For us, we chant Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo and study the teachings of Shakyamuni Buddha and Nichiren Daishonin. We then take those teachings and apply them to daily life, helping us overcome our struggles and fulfilling our goals, dreams and wishes. We also use our life victories and struggles to encourage other people to break through theirs.

How to become Buddhist? You can study Buddhism -- but to be truly buddhist, you have to experience the religion. Practice it. Say the words, find people who know about the words and can give you an idea of what you are saying. :)

How does one not be Buddhist? Disrespect life. Whether your own or others... if we disrespect life in any way, we cannot be said to be practicing buddhism. :)

If you are curious, please feel free to contact me and we can discuss this further. Best of luck on your journey!

Answer 5

buddha did not claim that he was a god, the child of a god or even the messenger from a god. He was a man who perfected himself and taught that if we follow his example, we could perfect ourselves also.

To many, Buddhism goes beyond religion and is more of a philosophy or 'way of life'. It is a philosophy because philosophy 'means love of wisdom' and the Buddhist path can be summed up as:
(1) to lead a moral life,
(2) to be mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and
(3) to develop wisdom and understanding.

Simply speaking, this is to avoid harming others and to help them as much as possible. Another way of expressing this is, Abandon negative action; create perfect virtue; subdue your own mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. By abandoning negative actions (killing, etc.) and destructive motivations (anger, attachment, close-mindedness, etc.), we stop harming ourselves and others. By creating perfect virtue, we develop beneficial attitudes, like impartial love and compassion, and do actions motivated by these thoughts. By subduing our mind, we cut away all false projections, thus making ourselves calm and peaceful by understanding reality.

The essence of Buddha’s teachings is also contained in the three principles of the path: definite emergence, the dedicated heart and wisdom realizing emptiness. Initially, we seek definitely to emerge from the confusion of our problems and their causes. Then, we see that other people also have problems, and with love and compassion, we dedicate our heart to becoming a Buddha so that we are capable of helping others extensively. In order to do this, we develop the wisdom understanding the real nature of ourselves and other phenomena.

Answer 6

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