Who thinks Buddhism is the best religion? What do you have to do to join that religion?

Question

Does Buddhism put up a Christimas tree?How long does last?
Does women are allowed to wear jeans? Do they give gifts on Chritsmas? Dothey have a god such as Christians? What is tha major belif of this religion?

Answer 1

Please refer to :http://www.bswa.org
the above site is one of the best for information about Buddhist.You can ask questions and also they have forum,articles,videos and audio on the teaching of the Buddha.

Answer 2

It all depends on what type of Buddhism you are talking about as there are many. Most lay Buddhist celebrate Christmas, the women wear jeans, etc. but they also don't really know the deep doctrines of the Buddhist religion. I'm for doing something right and all the way if you are going to do it. If you are going to do it just to incorporate the best practices and beliefs in your life then you may as well just do it and not claim a religion. Buddhists do generally believe that there isn't just one true religion, but that all religions lead to the same destination. As others have stated, Buddhism is primarily about overcoming one's self, and this is acheived through the Four Noble Truths and the Eight Fold Path. However, there is much more to it. Buddhism at it's purest form taught there was something greater than Buddha, that one would come after Buddha and provide the fullness. Strict Buddhist don't drink, fornicate, etc. There isn't much needed to join, you just are, but I would recommend going to temple and asking how you can do it, or how you can participate; I'm sure there's a temple somewhere near you. Good luck.

Answer 3

Buddhists are actually very flexible with their standards. So wearing jeans for either sex is ok. To "officially" become Buddhist you take what are called the Five Precepts: No killing, no stealing, no social ignorance, no sexual misconduct, no lying. However, Buddhism is not an all-or-nothing type of proposition like Christianity is.

Some Buddhists (like myself) are also Christian, therefore we celebrate Christmas and all the feasts of the Holy Church and give and receive gifts. Others are more Eastern and don't celebrate the holidays.

With respect to God, Buddhism allows either or. Some Buddhists are atheistic, others (like myself) are not. There is no supreme God which is worshipped and feared. The goal is to become enlightened and transcend the system.

To get into more detail about Buddhist beliefs you need to go to Wikipedia and search "Buddhism"

+Peace

Answer 4

well i'm agnostic but out of all the religions so far buddhism seems to be the nicest religion out of them all as they believe in love tolerance and patience and yes buddhists could celebrate christmas if they want to they just feel that a person shouldn't be materialistic anyway they have what's called a bodhi tree and yes i've seen some of the women in a buddhist temple wear pants they used to show this buddhism sermon on tv every saturday nights oh and buddhisms major beliefs are in reincarnation and karma and dharma and in love patience tolerance and in being the best possible person one can be and to keep an open mind and meditation is a big part of the faith and trying to achieve enlightenment

Answer 5

You don't have to 'do' anything. Just get a book and start learning about Buddhism, look it up online or find out if there are groups near you.

They don't celebrate Christmas in a religious way as its got NOTHING at all to do with the Abrahamic religions, however most buy presents for their families and put up trees like the rest of us.

Answer 6

Real buddhism is not a philosophy (like westerners try to make it) and neither a belief system (that some asian cultures have tried to make it). Real buddhism has as its ultimate goal to alleviate suffering. The only way to really do that is to have an experience (enlightenment) that shows you and me that we're not these psychological selves, limited to an individual body that is born and will die. Instead, our real nature is part of the the very thing that is beyond all form and imagination (the thing that has always been). The belief and attachment that we have to this illusory psychological self is the cause of suffering --- we think we're these bodies (physical and psychological). Because of this, we think we are lacking -- we 'need' physical things like oxygen, food, shelter for the body and psychological things like 'love', companionship, acceptance, etc. These are all illusory because of our delusion (but it's not wrong to be attached to these things; just that part of the mind training will let us see the real nature of ourselves and of the illusory forms in the universe).
Buddhism is based on the teachings of an indian prince, Siddhartha Gautama, who saw the 'realities' of life (sickness, old age, death) and was scared and depressed and set out to find if this was reality and whether there was a way out of this suffering. He ultimately succeeded by fully realizing himself and everything in the universe. He initially didn't teach because there's no way to teach this experience. He then finally came up with a set of concepts and teachings to be used as tools for people to get to the same experience. None of his concepts were to be considered absolute truth; they're just tools. The teachings are summed up in the 4 Noble Truths (suffering exists and there's a way out) and the 8-fold path (a training program to realize oneself and get out of suffering). Part of his set of tools is the concept that there's no real individual self (instead, we are 'everything'). Therefore, to counter the problems of reincarnation, he came up with 'rebirth' which is completely different.
Buddhism spread to various countries and incorporated native religions along the way. There are many different sects, the main ones being Pure Land, Tibetan, and Zen. Tibetan buddhism has some reincarnation-like elements in it because of its native religion integration. Zen emphasizes the enlightenment experience and achieves this with mind training via first developing concentration (by watching the breath) and then by either koan study or by 'just sitting'.
Many asian countries have unfortunately incorporated superstitions into buddhism and we see examples where buddhism is treated like a magical religion, with the buddha being worshipped as a god. This is the opposite of what the buddha taught -- belief should only be used as a tool to get to the same experience he had.
You can celebrate any tradition you want with buddhism. Buddhism's path is very flexible and doesn't deal with absolutes (except that the alleviation of suffering is always the fundamental aim).

Answer 7

Please go to Google and type in Buddhism. There are hundreds of thousands of websites related to it. I'm sure you can cull some useful information there.

In a nutshell - desire is suffering. We are so married to "I" - our egos - that we really don't know who we are. In order to discover our true nature we must meditate. Period.

You can get an altar and do stuff like that, but with Buddhism, you aren't doing it if you aren't meditating.

FP

Answer 8

I truly think that Buddhism is the most peaceful and enlightening philosphy.

Most souls cross over, religion has nothing to do with it. Ignore the ignorant fanatics who will tell you that there is a hell.

Answer 9

I am happy with it. You just have to follow The Four Noble Truths and The Noble Eightfold Path. It doesn't have laws and judgments.

Answer 10

they do not have a God ... they live by philosophies
and yes it is a lovely religion
but forget the Christmas trees etc they arent important to the religion
but then they do not tell you not to