can someone give me a quick overview of what budahist believe?

Question

Do they worship in a "church"? Are there many in the USA? Where would you go to learn about it?

Answer 1

*Please Patiently read this. Thank You.*

The teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, which Buddhists follow, were written over 2,500 yrs ago.

Buddhists have no creator god, but we have morals and ethical standards in which we live by which are within the Dhammapada.
The Noble Eightfold Path is a guideline of standards to live by in order not to harm others, but guides us to walk in unconditional loving-kindness, compassion, attruism, patience,
mercy, wisdom, and understanding toward others and ourselves as well. We do not adopt morals, standards or ethical standards from other religions. In essence, Buddhism is not really a religion, for what constitutes a large group of people as being a religion is the belief in a creator god. Buddhism has no creator god.

The Eightfold Path {the moral and ethical standards we live by) are as follows:
Introduction first: the eightfold path ends our sufferings, pain, sorrows, etc. and provides us with much purpose in life, peace of mind, and Happiness. In Pali, Patience is definded as being internally calm, peaceful, and undisturbed, even in the face of harm or difficulties. This is Patience we learn to cultivate in Buddhism.
The Noble Eightfold Path:
1) Wise/Right Understanding/View - having a clear, right view/understanding governs our attitudes, thoughts, speech, and actions. It is the forerunner to the other 7 factors within the Eightfold Path. These views condition our actions. They lie behind our choices and goals, and our efforts to turn these goals from ideals into actuality. "In the fullest measure, wise view involves a correct understanding of the entire Dhammapada{the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama)." There is so much more to Wise View, but only so much space is available, and time for you to read this.
2) Wise/Right Intention or Wise/Rt. Thoughts - Wise Thoughts is threefold: the intention of renunciation, the intention of good-will, and the intention of harmlessness. These three are oppossed to the three parallel kinds 1 wrong intention = intention governed by desires. 2 intention governed by ill-will 3 intention governed by harmfulness. When the thoughts and intentions of our minds are right, then our speech and actions will be right. There is much more to Wise/Right Thoughts/Intentions, but time is short.
3) Wise/Right Speech - fourfold = abstaining from false speech{lying), abstaining from slanderous & gossiping speech, abstaining from harsh speech{be gentle, soft-spoken), abstaining from idle chatter{& harmful speech). We are to speak only at the right time, in accorance with all the facts, being disciplined in speech is impt. and very useful.
Speech has enormous consequences, which can easily harm others, or build them up. In order for the buddhist to have right speech, he must have wise/right thoughts.
It is very important that we are careful about what we choose to think on. Buddhists believe, (for it was taught 2,500 yrs ago) that what we think on the most, will come out eventually, in our speech. Wise/Right speech is very important.
4) Wise/Right Action - as follows: abstaining from taking a life {No not kill any living thing, for all life is sacred/holy), abstaining from taking what is not freely given{incl. do not be deceitful in any way, to get what you want), abstaining from sexual misconduct. Note: *Because of following of the following guidelines {the Eightfold Path), which has been observed by Buddhists [for 2,500 yrs] there has never been a war in the name of Buddhism.*
5) Wise/Right Livelihood: one must earn a living in a righteous way for oneself and family. Do not have an occupation which would cause harm to others, or kill another. And one should acquire his wages honestly, wholely, righteously, and without lying or deceit.
6) Wise/Right Effort: to prevent the arising of
unarisen unwholesome states in the mind,, (ie: anger, lusts, greed, aversion, hatred, pride, etc.), to abandon any already arisen unwholesome states in the mind,, to arouse unarisen wholesome states in the mind, to maintain arisen wholesome states in the mind. These are "very" difficult to understand unless one has already studied Buddhism for a while.
7) Wise/Right Mindfulness - mindfulness is presence of mind, attentiveness, focus, concentration, totally paying attention, a disciplined mind {thought-life as well).
Mindfulness exercises a very powerful stable, grounding function. It anchors the mind securely in the present, so we are not living foolishly in the past, or foolishly worrying about the future. Mindfulness is the anchor for serenity{peace of mind) and insight. Mindfulness serves as the guard with the responsibility of making sure that our mind does not slip away/or get distracted, in random undirected thoughts. It is mindfulness which greatly aids us in Patience also {recall it the the ability to remain internally calm, peaceful, and undisturbed, even in the face of harm or difficulties). There is so.....very much more to Right/Wise Mindfulness. This gives you a very short overview.
8) Wise/Right Concentration {Meditation is another word used for concentration).
It takes much, much practice, patience and time to cultivate Wise Concentration. There is
Insight Meditation, Mindfulness Meditation, Loving-kindness Meditation we do for other people, and also for ourselves. The acquirement of Wise/Right Concentration {meditation) makes the mind strong, powerful, stable, humble, gentle, steady, still, peaceful, balanced, harmonious, unified, and loving.

Life is suffering, in that we are born {suffering coming out of the mother's womb for the child), aging and sickness and eventual death. And there are many other degrees of suffering, from pain, despair, sorrow, grief, disappointments, living with unwholesome mental/emotional factors {ie, anger, lusts, selfishness, greed, hatred, pride, etc.) all cause us suffering. "Not always receiving what we think we should have, causes suffering." And so much more.
The Eightfold Path not only serves as a guideline of morals, and ethical standards, to live righteously, but it also frees us from our suffering. Transforming our minds, is the means to transforming our lives to acquire true peace of mind, and Happiness. Even after only being a student of Buddhism for only a year I had already acquired much peace of mind and happiness, and much of my suffering caused by ignorance { ignorance is caused by all the unwholesome mental/emotional factors) has already been dissolved away, and has been replaced with Loving-kindness, self"less"ness,
Patience, Joy, PEACE, Gentleness, Altruism, Mercy toward others, wholesome thoughts speech actions, purpose in life, and so much more. Buddhism teaches to respect the free will of others, therefore we share with others who sincerely ask questions.

Buddhism, as a result, produces very wholesome, healthy relationships with family, friends, and everyone we come in contact with. Even those who do much harm to us, we value - for they are used as our greatest teachers, aiding us to cultivate altruism, and patience in life.
Life is Great, as we have an optimistic attitude !

Hope my short explanation helps some.

Thubten Chodron has a helpful site, and
Buddhanet.net is an excellent beginner's site.

There is also a Most Excellent book out called,
"The Beginner's Guide to Insight Meditation."
By: Arinna Weisman and Jean Smith.
It teaches the various Buddhist meditations (and how to practice these meditations), teaches the Life of Siddhartha Gautama (the First Buddha), teaches how to overcome the hindrances to meditation {which are ill-will, sloth and torpor, restlessness, doubt), Teaches the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism and the fourth being how to end of suffering to acquire a stable peace of mind, and happiness - {the 4th is the Noble Eightfold Path this book teaches them much much better than I could ever do),
the book talks about where and how to go on meditation retreats, teaches how to find an excellent buddhist teacher, as well as how to find an excellent temple to attend, the book shares so much more too). Excellent Buddhist book. It is normally about $10 to $12, but I bought mine of Amazon,com for only $ 3.95, plus $3.00 shihpping.

Some of the other answers were correct before mine. Buddhists do not worship anyone. We show respect and give thanks to the Buddha for his 45 yrs. of teachings, which are compilled in the Dhammpada {Dharma) and also in many other volumes of books.

Hope this helps some. My wife, 2 children and I are still young, new students of Buddhism. We do not know too much yet, but always do our best to have a humbly teachable attitude.

With Metta {loving-kindness and friendship) !

Answer 2

Buddhism isn't about "worship", and it's far too much information to give in a short box like this without people misinterpreting half of it. You'd be far better served to read "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buddhism" or visit Buddhanet.net... be advised, there are lots of terms that do NOT have the same connotations and denotations as most of the Western versions of the same words do, so write down your specific questions and ask a Buddhist directly and you'll get clarified answers... um... as long as they know what they're talking about.

Tibetan Buddhist here and I try to get "in" here every day, so if I see a specific question I'll try to clarify for ya... hope this helps some... I'm not being flip, there's just far too much to it and too much that can get blown out of context and abused and I'm rather tired of that.

_()_

Answer 3

They don't formally worship. There is hardly anything to worship. THey try to lead better lives and seek enlightenment. Now some versions have temples and things that are almost deities. But you are not "condemned to hell" if you don't go. Because their is no hell, just earth and the universal God that is everything.There are buddhists in the US, but not too many. To learn about their philosophy, read dhammapada, a main buddhist philosophy book. To learn about it in general , first Wikipedia, then google. You will probably find a way to locate a Buddhist organisation near you (not business, just really a community. no taxes or creeds) if you google.

Answer 4

there are buddhist temples and groups and churches. You should be able to find a group fairly easily. try phone book or new age bookshops or ask anyone who looks a bit alternative. There are plenty around.

basic idea of buddhism is that through awareness and meditation you can be happy all the time even when things go wrong.

Answer 5

These sights have good information.
http://www.beliefnet.com/index/index_10001.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htm