How many Buddhists are there here?

Ayeee. Singaporean!

Sorry for submitting so many posts. The webpage was loading so slowly that I desperately clicked Submit many times. How do I remove posts, btw?

A few claims to be buddhist here.

I'm buddhist. You're from IRC or something? Do I know you?

I'm not, but I'm listening.....

Xy, when you click to edit your response, there will be a 'delete' button if your post is the last post (it won't be now that I've posted). Click that and then you can click away at your series of posts from the bottom up unless someone gets on and posts while you're doing it. Make sense?

I am a theoretical Buddhist.

To claim a Buddhist means you have taken refuge in the triple jem (not trinity LOL) which is Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

Yep I took refuge
I don't think I know you. just stumbled here by accident.

I do not really understand "theoratical buddhist", and I do not think you're a buddhist, i mean Eve. Perhaps you mean agreeing on certain buddhist teachings?

Thanks btw, the admin/moderator who removed my extra posts.

I am a Buddhist, and was a member of Roshi Suzuki's Bush Street Zendo in San Francisco way, way back in the early 1960's. I remain, at least nominally, a member of the Soto Sect. I was a relatively well-known Hippie Buddhist after leaving the "monastery". My wife and I were married by the Hewit St. "Bishop" in Los Angeles, and were members of that congregation for many years. Our sons were raised in that Zendo, and one is married to a Korean Buddhist.

One of my B.A.s was in Asian Studies, where the concentration was Oriental Religion. I studied Mandarin to gain greater access to Chinese religious texts, and did graduate work in Oriental Philosophy and Religion. I've been an outspoken advocate for the spread of Buddhism in the West for many years.

"What makes one a Buddhist?" To "take refuge in the Triple Gems", alright if that lights your fire. I belive it is more important to accept and live in accordance with the "Four Noble Truths" and follow the "Eight-Fold Path" as preached in the Deer Park sermon. The thing is, there are a lot of doctrinal elements that are common across the many schools and sects of Buddhism, just as there are divergencies that are every bit as great as those that divide Christianity from Islam.

Almost nothing concrete survives from the time of the Siddhartha Guatama. Early Buddhism had no iconography, and the principle symbol was the 8 spoked wheel, representing the Eight-Fold Path. Almost the entire following of the Buddha were what today would be called monks, and the number of "house-holder Buddhists" was relatively small. Those first Buddhists in Northern India truly did wear the yellow rags of the despised criminal and outcast. They traveled the roads with a begging bowl as their only possession, and there were no monastarys as we know them.

Though a large number of relics survive purporting to be from the Tagatha and his leading disciples, there is no scientific evidence that any of them are authentic, its a matter of faith. Sort of the Buddhist version of the "True Cross", etc. The stupa reliquaries that now dot a large part of East Asia didn't appear for almost a thousand years after the Great Decease.

Much of what we believe the Buddha taught was was written into the Sutras many years after his death. The oldest sutras were written in Pali, and they describe a very different sort of Buddhism than that practiced/believed in by most Buddhists today. In the modern world, that school calls themselves the Theravada. The far larger and more popular school, the Mahayan ("Large Vessel"), call the Theravadans Hiniyana ("Lesser Vessel"). There really is a large gulf between the philosophical foundations of these two major Buddhist Schools of thought.

Theravada, which is almost certainly closer to the actual teachings of the historical Buddha, maintains that each person can only find release from Samsara, the "World of Illusion and Suffering", for themselves. Each individual must adopt and practice the precepts of Buddhism earnestly if they are to defeat suffering. One person can't do it for another As a shining example of the benefits of Buddhist practice, we do influence the world and that slowly does reduce the general suffering over generations and Kalpas (a term denoting almost indescribably long Universal Cycles of rising and collapsing illusion). Even today, Theravada has very limited iconography and symbol set. The school remains very "practical" and austere. Most Theravadans live in Southeast Asia, especially on the island once known as Ceylon. I admire the Theravadan's greatly, but their message has not proven popular over the last two and a half thousand years.

Mahayana developed quite a bit later. Early Buddhism put down roots. The number of lay believers increased and small groups of monks settled into monasteries near population centers. Begging was still a major part of the monks daily activity, but much more time was spent in conversation and discussion with other monks. Out of those discussions and ponderings of what the Buddha had taught there grew up the beginnings of what we now call the Mahayana School. The central divergence from the Theravada was the notion that "salvation" might be extended to the world-at-large by the "grace" of another, a Bohisatava. That is release from the World of Illusion and Suffering did not have to result soley by the efforts of individuals striving form themselves alone. Some Buddhas (Enlightened Ones), in their great compassion, postpone their own full enlightenment to share their merit with less fortunate, and those sentient beings not quite ready for Enlightenement itself. This school began to generate many more symbols to promote the religion among the lay public. Those who were unable or unwilling to fully dedicate themselves to finding Enlightenemtn and the release from all suffering in this life, could now anticipate some reduction of suffering now and in the afterlife by the compassion of a Bodisatav. In some future times the person would progress "upward" toward full Enlightenment. Many Previously the term "Sanga" refered only to the unmarried monk/nun whose whole life was dedicated to finding Enlightenement. In modern times many Mahayana sub-schools and sects interpret the Sanga to be the entire community of Buddhists rather than in it's original meaning.

Mahayana was much more a missionary sort of religion than the older Theravada School. At home, in India, Buddhism reached it's peak with Ashoka and then fell into decline. Today there aren't a whole lot of Indian Buddhists, and the Tibetan expateriots make up a significant part of the entire Indian Buddhist community. A while before the Current Era, monks spread out from India spreading the teachings of the Buddha. One branch expanded toward the West and came into contact with Greek Culture, and the Gandaran sculpture that was produced often clearly shows that influence on Buddhist art, if not on Buddhist religious philosophy. Buddhism seems not to have had a terribly strong influence on the West in those early encounters.

Another group of missionary monks moved up into the high mountains of Nepal and Tibet. There, especially in Tibet, they encountered a very strong native shamanistic religion (Bo, or Bon-pa). Buddhism was much more successful there than in the West, and in relatively short order many elements of the two religions merged developing a very vivid and powerful sort of Buddhism today called Tantric. This is the religious school/form followed by His Holiness the Dali Lama. Tantric has been pretty successful in gaining the interest of Westerners.

A third direction taken by the expanding Mahayana movement was into S.E. Asia. Strong Buddhist communities were founded in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, etc. The Buddhist communities in these countries strongly reflect the cultural expressions and belief systems that already existed there. The iconography of these countries often contain small details that are unique, or almost unique, to their points of origin.

The first steps outside the Indian cradle of Buddhism were all on the periphery of China, the cultural engine that in many ways drives all of East Asia. It was only when Buddhism arrived and established itself in China that Buddhism became a major force in human affairs. One point of entry was across the arid deserts of north-central Asia, over the Silk Road. When the first Buddhist monks showed up at the fortified outposts of China, they were thought to be some sort of "advanced" Taoists. Lao-Tze, had gone off to the West perhaps 800 years earlier leaving behind him the Tao-Te-Ching, one of the most influential books ever written. Buddhism, as it first appeared in Northern China, bore some rather striking resemblances to the Mystical Schools of Taoism. Those similarities helped ease the transplantation of Buddhism into China.

Though some influence of the Tibetan Tantric forms may have found their way to China, this had apparently little or no influence on the development of Chinese Buddhism. Much more important was the southern route that followed the coastline of Indo-China. Traditionally, the first Buddhist to enter China along that route was Bodidharma. Bodidharma was extremely influential. He founded a School/Sect called Chan based on the so-called flower sutra. (Stripped of the formulistic structure of the sutras it goes something like this: Asked if there was another, secret, way to achieve enlightenment other than by rigorously following the Eight-Fold Path, the Buddha held out a flower and smiled. Instantly the questioner was struck by Enlightenment.) The Chinese Chan is pronounced "Zen" in Japanese. Bohdidharma is the source of those legless Japanese dolls that steadfastly remain upright when tipped over by delighted tourists. BodiDharma is said to have sat within a cave in meditation so long that his legs withered away. Oh, well.

Over the centuries Mahayana philosophical thinking based on the notion of the Bodisatva resulted in some very popular Buddhist schools/sects. One that came to be known as the "Pure Land" appeared in North-eastern China. In this form, the layman has only to repeatedly chant a phrase to avoid a hellish post-mortal period, and rebirth into a life with less suffering. Over many lives, the adherent to the "Pure Land" will finally achieve complete Enlightenment. This form is really very far from what the historical Buddha probably taught, from Theravada and most other Mahayana sects. In fact, those schools/sects that are similar to the "Pure Land" are in many ways closer to Abrahamic foundations than they are to their Buddhist and Hindu roots.

Buddhism never became the dominent religion of China. Confucism and Taoism were far too strong to be displaced. However, similarities between the philosophical approaches of Buddhism and Taoism made transplantation of Buddhism much easier. Traditionally the Chinese tend to be Confucian during their "active" years of participation in the world. When a person becomes older, they tended to lean more heavily on the more mystical and less social foundations of Taoism. Buddhism naturally seemed to bridge the gap, and deal with matters of post-mortality and meaning that were less completely covered by Taoist and Confucist thought. There was a fusion of the three religions in popular culture, with the icons of one religion sharing the alters of another. People might be born into a Confucian social-order, ponder the meaning of existence in a Taoist retreat, or practice Taoist medicine, and be buried in a Buddhist ceremony. A very rich blend.

Korea and Japan obtained their Buddhist notions from China, and Chinese forms strongly influenced the sort of Buddhism that they adopted. In Korea, Buddhism tends to be strongly influenced by the "Pure Land" school, and the nativistic shamanistic forms that preceded it. A study of Korean witchcraft can be very interesting. In Japan, Buddhism came to challenge Shinto, itself a very sophisticated shamanistic religion. Chan, or Zen, was very successful in gaining a foothold in Japan. There are three major Zen schools, Rinzai and Soto sects have relatively large followings in the West.

Which is "True Buddhism"? Is a "Pure Land Buddhist" a "True" Buddhist, even though their philosophical foundations seem to be very much at odds with what the historical Buddha apparently taught? Is the "Lesser Vessel" really the "True" form of Buddhism? Buddhism is not a single monolithic religion anymore than Christianity is. We Buddhists share many doctrines and religious notions, but we disagree about almost as many others. It is quite true that there have never been any "Buddhist Wars", at least not on the scale of the wars fought by and between the Abrahamic religions. However, there were contending Buddhist sects in Japan who fought one another for power. Some of the most fierce of the samurai were devoted Buddhists, though they fought and killed on behalf of a feudal lord. Korean Buddhists have a prettly long history of violence within and between monastic orders. There were some skirmishes in South East Asia a thousand years ago, and Ashoka established Buddhism in India with a sword in his hand. Buddhist monks burned themselves to death as public means of applying political pressure to the Vietnmase government back in the 60's. Be careful about promoting our religion as being totally without a history of violence and killing, because that isn't exactly right. On the other hand, the scale and frequency of Buddhist violence is minisccule compared with the Abrahamic religions.

I am not quite sure what I mean either - something like if I had to have a label I would probably come closer to Buddhist than anything else I know about.

I am a Buddhist, and not a Buddhist all at once. I also know the sound of one hand clapping, it's castanets. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Wow
Wow. Should I feel ashamed of myself? I live in peace with the noble truths and I try not to break most of the precepts altho I haven't taken any yet. My mum says I should wait til i'm older then I'll be able to be more responsible. Lying is the thing that stops me, so I'm trying to tell the truth as much as possible. But I do meditate.

I dunno...your screen name "why the tree", what does that mean to you?

why the tree
Has it occurred to you why the tree. Why is the tree the most ancient living thing here?

Okay I was kidding. It was random. I thought of it and I just used it. :wink:

Theravada practice --> Arhathood (nirvana) --> (one day) Mahayana practice
Mahayana practice --> Bodhisattva --> Buddhahood (nirvana)

Nope I did not say that Buddhism is violence-free, i'm saying there is no war in the name of Buddhism in history.

I am sometimes.

I think that is odd, too - so don't go there! Lol.

The rest of the time I am a tough-minded materialist.

So it goes...

Is the tree the most ancient living thing here? Oh man...I would walk into that one, but it's too darn easy Right bunny?

You walk into trees?

Only if they are standing still.