How do you explain Buddhism to your friends? Part 1

I usually shy away from the topic of religion when in a conversation (at least I’d like to think so.) But every once in a while, I come across people who are open enough to answer questions about their religion and honest enough to admit that they do not know all the answers.

It’s at times like this that I felt obliged to respond in kind when asked about my religion: Buddhism. But explaining about one’s religion can be a real challenge. At first glance, all religions are about doing good. But when we look further, our reasoning could not be more different. Dharmic and Tao religions come from very different perspectives, and therefore can be confusing at times to if you are from an Abrahamic religion.

I can’t say for other religions, but Buddhism can be quite confusing, even for me in my earlier years. Depending on the cultural background, you’ll come upon very different Buddhist practices, all centered around a similar statue (if there is one. Some schools do not have statues, as were the earlier schools which favours aniconism.)

Hence, I write this post to outline what Buddhism means to me, for the benefit of my non-Buddhist friends to understand. This is not about whose religion is better; I intend to only focus on the fundamental difference in the religious concepts. And I’ll base my article largely on the earlier Buddhist schools, and a bit of Zen and Tibetan. Oh, and I’m no expert on religions so please do point out to me if I’ve made any factual errors.

So let’s start with the question of worship. Who do we worship? Elvis Presley. No, just kidding. The truth is that we do not worship, not in the religious sense, anyway. What about the historical Sakyamuni Buddha? Actually, the Buddha was the founder of the Buddhist practice, and he taught for the rest of his life to others. Hence, he is revered as the teacher. In a way, the Buddha is also considered a historical proof that humans can transcend suffering through effort. Therefore, when a Buddhist bow/hold their hands together/prostrate, they do this to remind themselves of their potential of awakening.

(Extra bit: “Buddha” has no mystical meaning to it – it plainly means “awaken”. Nothing to do with psychic powers, no fire-breathing, no floating in the air, etc.)

This can differ quite a bit to Abrahamic religions, where the purpose of life is to believe/submit to God. You may then wonder, what does a Buddhist do? We strive to understand the nature of suffering, or in a broader sense the nature of existence. The point that we are coming from is that by understanding the nature of suffering, we can then strive to free ourselves from it. By definition, the one who is capable of transcending suffering is “awakened”, and can be called a “Buddha”.

If you’re wondering whether if there’s anyone who is “awakened”, you’re on the right track: the truth is, many have “awakened” throughout history. We call them “Savaka-Buddha”, meaning awakened disciples. The word “Savaka” means “listener” or “disciple”. Through arguably, awakening seems to be something that happens much more often in the past (where it’s common to read about monks rejoicing that their fellow monk who has just attained enlightenment.)

That’s all fine and good – but what about God? Does God exist in the Buddhist mythology? There’s really no easy answer to this: most Buddhists may come across to you as being somewhat agnostic, but the Buddhist mythology does speak of  31 planes of existence where 26 realms of existence belong to what could be the equivalent counterpart to heaven. But I really do not know much about them. The truth is, very little emphasis is put on the heavens – ironically, the human realm is considered the most conducive for spiritual growth as “the beings are not overwhelmed with suffering (compared to hell), and not overwhelmed with pleasure (compared to heavenly realms.”

I hope I’ve gotten you interested. It certainly got me interested when I first came across this. All through my childhood I’ve been fed with the idea that heaven is awesome, but here’s a man who says that the human realm is way better.

(To be continued.)