It's Buddha, Stupid!

Over the past month, I've become engrossed in Buddhism. I used to consider myself non-doctrinal, a non-practitioner of any specific religion. However, the more I thought about it, I realized if I wanted to have anything resembling a real spiritual practice, I'd have to choose a single practice and work with it as a main framework to embellish with other faiths.

I guess I've chosen Buddhism. Hinduism comes in close second, but I just like the general flavor of Buddhism. Christianity's cool too, but it just doesn't have the user manual feel that Buddhism has. No "Four Noble Truths" or "Eightfold Path." In effect, the Bible is a lot harder to learn from than Buddhist doctrine. All that Jesus really left us with was, "Love thy neighbor as thyself, and love God." Admittedly, that's a lot, but I'm a details person. Details, Jesus, details! So, Buddha wins this one, though Jesus definitely wins the selfless award of the past two millenia.

Another thing about Buddhism that I love is the science-iness of it. No matter what a certain English teacher says, not all religions are based on faith. Buddhism gives you a practice and says, "See what happens." If you experience not-self, or impermanence, or the pervasiveness of dukkha, that's fine. If you don't, then use what you've found to learn more about reality and share it with your community. Buddhism may not be a materialistic science, but none of the sciences really are, other than physics. Buddhism is one of the best introspective sciences.

I realize that calling myself a Buddhist is kind of a lie. I guess I shouldn't call myself that unless I really take refuge officially. Unfortunately, Buddhism isn't really prevalent in Pennsylvania. It's apparently all over the place in New York and New England. But not here in PA. Sigh. Though, in Buddhism, taking refuge isn't quite as important as say, getting baptized in Christianity is.

I'll just continue on my own personal path. I've been meditating for a little over three months consistently. I've been working on looking at my thoughts as they are: empty. And I've been trying, despite several clever attempts of my ego to stop me, to be more compassionate. I don't know how well these things have been working, but I definitely have been noticing changes over the past week. While sitting in meditation, even though I'm sick, I've felt the urge and ability to stay past my normal 10 minute mark. While listening to things that normally annoy me (like NASCAR¹), I find myself laughing at the anger as it arises. And while approaching strangers, I find myself realizing it's always better to meet them with a smile and a greeting than with a downturned gaze.

I'm glad I found Buddhism. I'm glad I live today, in a world that allows cultures to collide and cocreate. I'm glad life is all finally starting to make sense.

And now, that stereotypical phrase that I've beaten to death:

Namaste.

¹ Let me state that I have nothing against NASCAR, per se. It's just, during NASCAR season, it's the only thing on in my house. Nearly 24/7. Whenever I go downstairs, I'm assaulted by a race, or a documentary of a race that happened last week, or a show about a race about to happen. Everything in moderation. Even NASCAR.