Buddhist???

Question

Sometimes we get lost in theories and concepts and spend too much time intellectualizing about Buddhism.How do we get down to living it?

Answer 1

hmm, that's an interesting question. i am a buddhist myself, and i do think that i explain it, rather than show it. my opinions on this are we should actually connect our mind to nature, and show compassion for it. if you have excess money, try donating to charity. also, do not long for the unneccessary, let it flow and come to you. do not cry when u lose it, because it won't come back anyways. just try to live your life happily, be good! don't think about reincarnation now, because this is the life for now! you won't remember anything later on of course, but still, as long as u remember it for now, you should treasure, and spend it with knowledge, and seeing not only of yourself, but others around you too.

that's how i want to live my life as a buddhist. i've converted one year ago. i can't say i have changed in personality, but what i feel for others certainly is different.

Answer 2

In my mind the simplest answer is one from the bible. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
I am a Buddhist living in Thailand and I have no faith in saying the right words, singing the proper songs, thinking pure thoughts, carrying the correct amulet or anything else other than just doing the right thing. All of Buddhist stories and teachings are to illustrate to basically uneducated rural communities what the right action is for a situation. Most people in a modern society know what is right and what is wrong and to follow the path of Buddha we only need to chose to do what we believe is right.
Most people do not think about their own actions in terms of right or wrong but more in terms of profitable, enjoyable or expedient.
I don't think that this is too intellectual.

Answer 3

The school of zen/ ch'an stressed experience rather than learning. It appealed because of its emphasis on the uselessness of words and the insistence of action without thought.
Zen teaches the possibility of enlightenment in the here and now, unlike the tendency that have developed in other strands of Buddhism as far off goals. It teaches that enlightenment is a spontaneous event, totally independent of concepts, techniques or rituals. Zen Monks are based on doing things, learning through experience.
Esoterically regarded, Zen is not a religion but rather an indefinable, incommunicable (fukasetsu) root, free from all names, descriptions, and concepts, that can only be experienced by each individual for him- or herself. From expressed forms of this, all religions have sprung. In this sense Zen is not bound to any religion, including Buddhism. It is the primordial perfection of everything existing, designated by the most various names, experienced by all great sages, saints, and founders of religions of all cultures and times. Buddhism has referred to it as the "identity of samsara and nirvana." From this point of view zazen is not a "method" that brings people living in ignorance (avidya) to the "goal" of liberation; rather it is the immediate expression and actualization of the perfection present in every person at every moment.