Buddhism For Dummies

It’s important to have a correct understanding of a religion before we set out to practice it. If we blindly follow one, there’s a chance that we might become degenerate Bible Taskforce soldiers, and really, nobody wants that. So, to prevent you good people of SpineOnline from ending up one of those crazy cat ladies on TV or one of them whacked-out, overly-religious Jerry Springer guys, I will try to explain the true nature of Buddhism as best I can.

About three thousand years ago, Buddhism was founded and created. Buddha itself is a Sanskrit word that translates to “wisdom” and “enlightenment.” A lot of people think that Buddha is the name of a God. It isn’t. It’s a title. Buddhism itself isn’t so much a practice. It’s an education. It teaches people to be good on the inside, not just act it on the outside.

There are five fundamental evils that Buddhism tries to cleanse from the world. These five things are called the Five Poisons and are greed, anger, ignorance, arrogance and doubt. Apparently, any unhappiness or problem that we have originates from one or more of the Five Poisons.

The main goal of Buddhism is to break though all the superstitions and delusions in people. I keep hearing “the false sense of self” used by the Buddhist pros in my life, but really, from what I gather, it just means any false notion about anything.

Sutras are the recorded teachings of the Buddha. From what I understand, some – most? all? – are written like poems, to be read and sang. Most of them are still in translation. Very few are in English. I happen to know a few verses. The following is chanted when requesting the presence of the holy:

“I welcome and invite you with incense and flowers.”

“I, (your name), as your disciple, request your presence wholeheartedly.”

“The great teacher of the Saha world, Sakyamuni Buddha.”

“Please do as you have vowed to shine your compassionate light upon us, and witness our receiving of the precepts for pity’s sake.”

Repeat three times!

(Taken from the Procedures for Taking Refuge in the Triple Gem and Bestowal of the Five Precepts)

The monks and nuns of Buddhist practice are called “He-Shang” (in Mandarin) and “Si-Hing” (in Cantonese). The Masters of those monks and nuns are called the “Asheli,” but I recommend just calling them “Masters.” The Masters live in Temples or “Way Places,” fully secluded from the world. The big-name ones are sometimes sponsored by local organizations and are put into local made-into-a-place-of-religious-worship homes. The rest of us are just known as “casuals.”

There you are. The very, very basics of Buddhism. No, this blog post isn't a proper definition and viewpoint of what Buddhism is really about, but at least it tries to be conclusive.