Buddhism is not for me

[ZenFender]

I've always tried to get myself into buddhism because it always seemed so...logical. I read the material, and light bulbs are going off everywhere in my head! But since day one, I've never truly felt comfortable with it. There's always this little feeling in me that tells me something isn't quite right (but I don't know exactly what). So in the beginning, I took these feelings to heart, and would just read about buddhism briefly, and leave it at that. But a few months back, I was getting really lost in life, and I decided to go back into buddhism once again. This time, I marched through those "gut feelings" of mine, and kept on reading and digesting and generally pleasing my mind with all this knowledge that seemed to make so much sense!

But alas, I did not get any happier. If anything, I was more confused, more dissatisfied, and less joyful. Only today did I realize- Buddhism is not for me.

Buddhism focuses on pain and suffering- and it is my opinion that whatever we focus on expands (sorta like LOA). So we focus on removing suffering, and what do we get? More suffering.

Another reason why buddhism isn't right for me is that there is simply too much "stuff" in buddhism. So many different things to learn, so many labels to remember...I just wanna be happy dammit! Joy cannot be this complicated! Sometimes, I think most of the Buddhist material is mental Masturbation that serves to please nothing but the logical, problem solving, egotistical mind.

And most importantly of all, it Buddhism just doesn't feel right for me. I guess thats reason enough for me!

Don't get me wrong, I think Buddhism is a great religion overall, but I feel at this point, I should let go of trying to learn more from it. I have taken MANY helpful stuff from it, but I will also have to discard many of the not so helpful stuff.

Buddhism has taught me the LIFE CHANGING teachings of Mindfulness, awareness and conscious breathing. It has also taught me the importance of loving others and being compassionate. It has made me understand myself, my thoughts, and my feelings more, allowing me to get closer to myself.

And strangely enough, it unlocked many chapters within the Tao Te Ching for me (I consider myself a philosophical Taoist).

I think I could've stopped at these three Buddhist books (in order of priority):

1) Peace is every step- Thich Nhat Hanh
2) The Art of Happiness- Dalai Lama (not truly "Buddhist," but still a good read)
3) The miracle of Mindfulness- Thich Nhat Hanh

But alas, I have had enough of this Ancient Indian Religion. Time for me to move on! I re-read my first "Western" self help book today (Feel the fear and do it anyways), and dammit, I'm glad to be back!

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by ZenFender

But alas, I have had enough of this Ancient Indian Religion. Time for me to move on! I re-read my first "Western" self help book today (Feel the fear and do it anyways), and dammit, I'm glad to be back!

I have taken the seminar EST a long time ago which is based on Zen... which is quite close to Buddhism I understand... and that has helped me a lot...

The whole message of EST is this... "This is it" which means that life is what you are living right now and that nothing else matters...

I paid about a thousand bucks to learn that... but, now I know it... and it works... so, money well spent...

.

[Akashic_Librarian]

Buddhism is good to a certain extent. I can't agree with its non-violence policy though. Violence can be used for good as well. Remember Violence is not "Evil" the way you use it defines its Evilness

[ethereal]

Haha, I think you've probably got the gist out of Buddhism already anyhow. I don't really like getting stuck in it too much, either. Better to get predigested stuff from modern enlightened mystics (Dr. Hawkins, Ramana Maharshi, Nisargadatta Maharaj, etc) who can distill the essence out of Buddhism/religion/spirituality.

Everything serves a purpose at some stage in your life, and once you're past it, you can move on to other stuff

Also, you can take whatever works from all sources. Buddhism most resembles the pathway of mind, and if you add the pathway of heart to it (i.e. devotion/service, or Christian traditions that focus on unconditional love), it'll be more balanced for you it seems.

[infinitethoughts]

Zenfender

Have you read Alan Watts? The guy was a master at disembowling traditional Buddhism and replacing it with Zen.

[reflections]

One book that helped me a lot with Buddhism was 'Siddhartha' by Herman Hesse. In this book Siddhartha meets Buddha recognizes him as being enlightened but still recognizes that his own enlightenment will only come from doing things his way. He follows a round about track to finding enlightenment himself. I remember hearing the tale that Buddha also ended up straying from the 'normal' path, was kind of put down by his fellow monks for breaking tradition, then ended up becoming enlightened and they all came back to learn from him.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by Akashic_Librarian

I can't agree with its non-violence policy though. Violence can be used for good as well. Remember Violence is not "Evil" the way you use it defines its Evilness

Care to explain further Phillip? I fail to see any circumstances where violence could improve the situation

[Akashic_Librarian]

Well if a man with a sword is coming at you I fail to see how a policy of non-violence is going to stop him Taking his sword from him and running him through with it is the only way to stop this type of behaviour...unless you can capture him and talk him out of violence...I am just saying that if your being attacked, attack back, you don't have to utterly destroy the person, but just fight until you can get away or they run.

If your talking about wars and big scale fights then your right, there is no need for war. But should I be forced to fight in a war I would obliterate the enemy because its better than dying right?

I don't go around looking for violence. And I have never resorted to a fist fight to settle any debate. But should unavoidable violence come about...I wouldn't shy away.

[Lychee]

Originally Posted by Akashic_Librarian

Violence can be used for good as well.

I also agree that violence in some cases is necessary.

[Erock]

Have you read I Am That? No traditions required. Nothing complicated. Just almost 500 pages of an enlightened man's question and answer sessions. I highly recommend it.

Erock

[Groundless]

Originally Posted by Erock

Have you read I Am That? No traditions required. Nothing complicated. Just almost 500 pages of an enlightened man's question and answer sessions. I highly recommend it.

Erock

I second this motion. One of the top three books I have read so far on all spiritual/non-dualism matters.

[undecided]

The historical Buddha lived 2500 years ago. What happened at that time, I do not know.

Thoughout the years, Buddhism has been changed/edited by many human beings. Was Zen really part of Buddha's teachings? It seems to have come about many centuries after Buddha was around.

Buddha was a seeker of truth/enlightenment/(the highest potential a person can reach). Did he want to be a figure to be worshipped? Are our understanding of the actual events and his thoughts correct?

I was a buddhist for 10 year. I no longer want to label myself as one. I still seek to fulfill my human potential. But I don't believe we should be so concerned over what a person did/said 2500 years ago. It's so far in the past. Who knows what has happened?

Everyone seems to be saying mediation is good. I have found it to be damaging to my health. You experience bliss during mediation. But I found that I was only a state(to be experienced). It is not much.

Seeking to improve our thinking abilities, our understanding of the world is important. But is medition so useful?

What exactly was the Buddha doing 2500 years ago? What was his mediation like? Are what our views/believes of what happened accurate.

Are his believes useful/correct anyway? Why waste so much time with something that you do not know is true? Learn and integrate what is useful. Don't accept everything just because a lot of people believe in it. Be efficient with our time, we only live so long.

[DaveTyler]

Welll said:

Heres a article I think you would like to read: Towards a New Buddhism

I agree its ridiculous people worship buddha like a god which goes against all he was saying. Its like Jesus, if either of them ever existed all their teachings has been edited 33333333333tiems

[ginkgo]

Who is the most famous person in the Eastern world that is not Buddhist? Buddha. You are right that what you focus on expands. But the religion has veered off course. In fact here are many sects that disagree with each other.

It is similar to the Christian religion. They preach what Jesus never said. He never said that he will die to break the Adam and Eve curse that was placed on you. The protestant religion in the US is based on what one Christian taught around 1930 in NY. I read a whole book about it.

But there is a way to go beyond suffereing and experience perfect peace and limitless happiness. Read this short article What is Enlightenment. It tells about research from psychologists about a state of consciousness that is beyond suffering. This guy researched it since he found some very happy people that were living in horrible situations.

[Cantando]

Originally Posted by undecided

Everyone seems to be saying meditation is good. I have found it to be damaging to my health. You experience bliss during meditation. But I found that I was only a state(to be experienced). It is not much.

I agree with that. Someone said quite recently that that aspect of buddhism was a kind of 'mental self-abuse' - too much trying to achieve some kind of cosmic climax. It can make you lose touch with reality and other people.

[Gukkor]

Personally, though I find much about Buddhism attractive, especially Mahayana Buddhism, I can't really take too much away from it that I couldn't get elsewhere. The reason for that is primarily that I disagree strongly with one of its fundamental tenets: I don't believe that the extinction of the self is a good thing to work for. I just don't think that the perception of an individual self is necessarily bad or a source of suffering, nor do I think it incompatible with the idea that everything is interconnected. I also don't think that desire is necessarily a bad thing so much as uncontrolled desire is bad.

I'm Christian (though I'm theologically liberal in my beliefs), but I draw from many different religions and belief systems, depending simply on what makes sense to me, and to be totally honest, there's not a whole lot in Buddhism that makes sense to me beyond a superficial level. That's not to say that I don't have enormous respect for Buddhists, though.

Oh yeah, this is my first post, so I guess I should say hi to everyone. Hi.

[Eric Revelin]

It sounds like you might find Buddhism more to your liking if the religious aspect of it were removed from the picture. For a glimpse into what I'm talking about, i suggest reading this article: Shambhala Sun - Killing the Buddha

I'd also suggest finding a copy of "Buddhism Without Beliefs": Amazon.com: Buddhism without Beliefs: Stephen Batchelor: Books

[Jarrod]

Worry less about the theory and more just on practicing for a serious period of time (months) to see if it benefits your life.

If buddhism doesn't feel right, they try something else but try not to get to caught up in the theory.