Buddhism doesn't ask you to be a monk!

Buddhism doesn't ask you to be a monk. It clearly offers different set of moral conducts for different persons. For ordinary lay people there are five precepts, for the ardent devotees there are eight precepts, for the novice monks there are ten precepts and for fully ordained monks there are 227 precepts. 

Well these precepts are somewhat like a doctor's prescription, don't eat cholesterol food, don't drink, don't smoke and so on. Likewise, Buddha prescribed these things for our sake as a safeguard. If we violate any of these rules, we will be the sufferer one day in this very life and eventually in after life.

I think most of the people think that to follow Buddhism, you will need to shave your head, get a yellow robe and meditate under a tree. Well, that's not absolutely true. During Buddha's time, there were millions of devotees who were not monks but ordinary lay people. If you think that you are all right with your ordinary possessions and you are happy, then fine, you don't need to be a bald head wearing some yellow robes. That's perfect because you can still follow the five precepts. And hypothetically the other thing is, if everyone becomes a monk, then who would serve them food, clothes, medicine and other amenities. So if you don't wish, then don't. 

However, sometimes some uneasiness arises within your mind. Your heart shakes by the death of your close person. You fear that someday you will depart from your close ones. When things go wrong, you become depressed and sad. I can tell, you are experiencing the truth, that everyone in one's life time will have to face it. So now if you want to make an end of it, then go ahead, perhaps now is the time to be a bald head wearing yellow robes, yeah.

Is Buddhism a religion?

We often face a question whether buddhism is a relgion or philosophy. Before going into it, we should better be clear about religion. What is a relgion, anyway?

As we see the world religions except Buddhism, we see that there is a belief that this world is created by an Almighty God and He is the ultimate creator. What we should do is to please Him. That's what the other religions teach us. And in fact, there is no logical proof of this belief and very often this religions contradict to science. Since there is no convincing proof for the beliefs like science has, so we can say that religion is merely a blind faith. But science alone cannot satisfy the human needs. It only provides solutions to physical world. The human mind needs something to fight back against fear, hatred, jealousy, depression and other mental defilement. That's what religion is providing. It is consolating the human mind that don't worry. Just pray to the Almighty God, He will take care of your problems, fears, depressions. When human mind finds someone as a reliever for his anxieties and worries, he becomes much more calm and satisfied. That's the mechanism of a religion. 

But in that case Buddhism is an outcast. In fact we cannot call it as a religion. Because it doesn't compel us to pray to Almighty God. Actually there is no notion of Almighty God in Buddhism. This is what makes the Buddhism outstanding. In fact the originator of Buddhism, the Buddha never called his doctrine as Buddhism. Rather He called it the Dhamma. Dhamma means nature, characteristic. It's the nature of every human being. Nature of every living thing. Nature of everything in this universe. Like Newton's law of Gravitation, that is applicable to everything. It's universal. Thus Buddha revealed the actual law of nature or the nature of the universe. He says that every action has its own fruit and the doer must receive the fruit of what he has done. Action and reaction. Sounds familiar to Newton's third law that says every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In fact, it is the real law of nature. 

So what have we seen? We have seen that Buddhism is not a religion, it's just like other scientific laws that reveals the nature of everything in this universe. And very amazing is that it is not bound to physical world like the present science, rather it exceeds beyond the physical world to the deep of the human mind and revealed its secrets. 

So Buddhism isn't a religion. It's nature!

Spread Buddhism to the whole world!

I have been reading a book titled "Fundamentals of Buddhism" by Peter D. Santina which seems really awesome to me. The more I am reading it, the more I am being amazed by its rational presentation of various aspects regarding Buddhism. It is known to all that Buddhism was based in south asia and it has spreaded to other continents just recently. Today, more and more people are being interested in its peaceful nature. Nevertheless, it is certain that if Buddhism is to continue to exercise a positive influence upon present and future generations, it cannot remain content with the achievements of the past and present. The book emphasizes that the religious and moral values of Buddhism which have proved so useful to past generations must be transmitted to men and women living in a rapidly changing world. In order to accomplish it, it is important that the teachings of Buddha be made available to the largest number of people.

I totally agree with this concept. To spread Buddhism to all classes of people around the world, we must arrange this type of public demonstrations on Buddhism. We should also arrange debate and discussions on Buddhism in various institutions to raise more awareness on it. The more we will discuss it, debate on it, arrange open discussion on it, the more it will spread to ordinary people of various countries.