Five Misconceptions About Buddhism
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- Опубликовано: 13 июл 2024
- There are many mistaken beliefs and views about Buddhism by beginners and Westerners. Let's take a look at five of the most common ones and a brief explanation of them! Learn more in my article: alanpeto.com/buddhism/buddhis... or just head to my website at alanpeto.com and you'll see the article linked there.
Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:07 Buddhism is All About Suffering (Dukkha)
2:30 All Buddhists Meditate
5:40 Buddhists Believe in Reincarnation
10:02 Buddhism is Only for Monks and Nuns
15:23 Buddhism is Not a Religion- It is a Way of Life / Philosophy
23:53 Questions
Contact Alan: alanpeto.com/contact
Video Disclaimer: alanpeto.com/legal/video-disc...
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Dear Alan,
Could you please make a video about the difference between reincarnation and rebirth. I do not understand these concepts, and I would be grateful if you elaborate a bit more on the similarities and differences.
I have one! ruclips.net/video/sYmp3LjvSFE/видео.htmlfeature=shared
Thank you for all of the informative videos!
Excellent video, please do more
Great videos. Thanks heaps. Namo Amitabha Buddha.🙏🙏🙏
A wonderful explanation. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
Very interesting stuff. I'm new to your channel and will have to check out more of your videos.
Sounds good Brendan! Let me know if you have any questions.
Thank You !!!
Alan, all of your videos are excellent. But please, please, please turn up the volume of your mike. With every video I am forced to wear headphones in order to hear you. Oftentimes doing so is inconvenient or impossible. So more volume please!
Thank you! Very interesting! It comes over loud on my computer or phone, but I will be sure to double-check for the next video. Are your computer/phone volume and the volume on the video itself on high?
I really love your videos. I feel you're the first buddhist that explains buddhism the way I see it. Thank you for all this, it contributes to my path.
Thanks Julie! Appreciate the kind words :) Please be sure to check out my website for more resources if you haven't already!
Hi Alan, many thanks for sharing this. What are your views on Secular Buddhism? Is it considered a school or tradition? Would be good to see a video on the topic.
Thanks, John! Very good question, and perhaps more than just a reply could answer! I will make a note that you'd like to see a video (appreciate the suggestion!). In short, most Buddhists do not consider "secular" Buddhism to actually be part of the Buddhist religion because it strips away many-core Buddhist teachings (often arguing things such as it is 'cultural', 'superstitious', or 'misunderstood' by the hundreds of millions of Buddhists). While there are absolutely no concerns with anyone using what they learn in Buddhism, to be a Buddhist is to put faith in the Buddha's teachings. While it is true that Buddhism adapts to cultures, it is also true that the heart or core of Buddhism remains the same. So, while this is very much a hot topic (mostly only in Western countries), any exposure to the Buddha's teachings and the path is good. It's just most Buddhists look at 'secular Buddhism' as not Buddhism because it's trying to turn Buddhism into something that's palatable to their beliefs and way of life. I think the two biggest takeaways I would tell any Westerner is that, yes, some things will be cultural and be unusual to you! But if you just stop fighting trying to be 'right' or 'intellectual', you'll discover that these cultural practices actually are fairly ingenious ways to practice and learn Buddhism. I've been surprised on more than one occasion with things I scoffed at in the beginning are now something I look forward to. And the second is that it doesn't all need to make sense or have an explanation right away for you. Westerners may often want "immediate" results (which also encompasses "within this lifetime"), which is not much of a concern with the half-billion Buddhists around the world. Buddhism is complex, no doubt, that the Buddha himself even doubted for a minute if he would even teach it! This is why we have to pay attention to Buddhism which has been around and developing over the past 2,600 years. It's only been in the Western conscious perhaps for just a few decades. We have a lot to learn ;) Here's more: alanpeto.com/buddhism/buddhism-religion-philosophy/
@@AlanPeto Thank you! Here in the hardheaded, secularizing West, these things really need to be said again and again--gently, patiently, and firmly--which is your cultivated manner. I am a Western Hindu convert, 30+ years. We have similar a dynamic with our traditions coming to the West. Attempts to strip away as "non-essential and superstitious" what people have practiced for centuries or millennia.
Not saying that inherited traditions should not be critically examined and adjusted, because that is a necessary process. But often these reductive "modernizing" translations can be so arrogant, with several unexamined presumptions about the inherent superiority of "the Western mind". Worst of all, these modernizing attempts can be so ignorant! They can turn the received religion into yet another method of self-aggrandizement and denial of the fundamental human situation. Fact is, there is far more to reality and consciousness than the "secularizers" understand or acknowledge.
PS: I am so grateful I found your spiritually BEAUTIFUL channel. It makes a lot of sense, and much of it (both theoretically and practically) is applicable to my tradition also.
How to abandon ego and ambition before it devours the mind soul or anything that should not be destroyed?
Hi Mateusz! That would be the way the Buddha taught: the Noble Eightfold Path (and the ways the different traditions follow it). By continuous Buddhist practice (wisdom, morality/conduct, concentration) one can break down the belief in an unchanging, independent, everlasting 'self' and awaken to their true nature: Nirvana. For a quick start, here's my video on that: ruclips.net/video/89gM2g0KOYU/видео.html
I would disagree with your position on reincarnation.
The i, me, and mine exists. They are samsaric (cyclic and imperfect). They have a beginning and an end. They are, born/reborn, fade/changing, and can die.
But in order for their existence to end completely and thus breaking the imperfect cycles of samsara. This requires wisdom, morality, and concentration/will-power.
Thanks for your feedback. The "I, me, mine" does not exist as a permanent, unchanging, and independent self according to The Buddha. The idea we have of this c "self" we have now is the fundamental issue The Buddha taught. ruclips.net/video/sYmp3LjvSFE/видео.htmlfeature=shared
I don't distinguish between reincarnation and rebirth. This is a Western approach that trys to be so percise that it really misses the point.
Not necessarily. When things are translated, there needs to be a distinguishment if there would be a fundamental confusion or misunderstanding. If you ask any Westerner what "reincarnation" means, it often defaults to the Hinduism version - a permanent, unchanging, and independent "self" (like a soul) transmigrates into a new body. The Buddha fundamentally rejected that premise. This is why "rebirth" is often used to distinguish for Westerners the fundamental difference between the two to prevent a misunderstanding in the Western understanding of what reincarnation means. While you are correct in the way it is understood at a deeper level, we have to take in account the audience so the correct understanding is relayed. For a Westerner to hear reincarnation, and think a permanent soul exists and they just go into a new body, would set them on the wrong path in Buddhism.
@@AlanPeto no, i don't know any westerner that thinks of them self as permanent, unchanging, and not influenced by causality.
Almost everyone does, even non-Westerners. We all believe in an "I", "me", "self". There is at least something small that we believe is permanent and unchanging in ourselves. For others, it goes deeper to believe they have a permanent and unchanging self or soul altogether. I do understand your concern, however, rebirth is widely used to help separate a Westerners view of the word reincarnation which is commonly associated with a belief in a permanent and unchanging self or soul that goes into a new body/existence.