Expert: Judy - 2/3/2010

Question
Hi Judy -
I am studying Japanese Buddhism for a college course and I had a few questions that I would like to ask an expert.  I choose Japanese Buddhism because I am a quarter Japanese and wanted to learn more about the religion of my grandmother's homeland.

1.  What does Buddhism mean to you?

2.  HOw long have you studied Buddhism and, what form of Buddhism - Zen, Pure Land,?

3.  What rituals do you practice?

4.  How long did it take for you to become "Enlightened"?

5.  How does Buddhism affect your everday life? Are their certain diets, certain lifestyles that are not acceptable?

6.  What is the most important thing that I should learn about Buddhism through my research?

7.  What holidays are important to Japanese Buddhists, if they are different from all other Buddhists?

Your help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!
Angelique Paradowski

Answer
1.  Buddhism, to me, means life education, rather than a religion per se.

2.  I have studied Buddhism for 20 years.  I started with Pure Land and then pretty much stay with Zen.  However, every method is correlated.  

3.  I do not practice any rituals at all, but mainly just zazen and full-awareness moment to moment.

4.  I don't consider myself enlightened yet, although there have been times of small and bigger revelations for the past 10 years.

5.  Studying Buddhism helps me to be mindful on everything I am doing, saying, and thinking.  I become more understanding of everything including human psychology and behaviors, which furthers has made me more compassionate.  Buddhism is not much about rituals, rules, or dogma.  There is no certain lifestyle or diet Buddhists have to follow.  Of course there are certain principles that gear people towards better beings and life, but nothing is forceful or mandatory.  

6.  Buddhism is all about MINDFULNESS, INTERDEPENDENCE and INTERRELATION of elements, consciousness (not conscience), and the HERE and NOW.  Thus, again, rituals and rules are not the essence of Buddhism.  Nothings is fixed, so everything has to do with time, space, and condition.

7.  I have no knowledge about what holidays are important to Japanese Buddhists.  Without the fact, I do not think that any holidays are any different from regular days.  Holidays are created by people from different cultures, history, and regions.  People create them to get excitement.  For Japanese Buddhism, I do not believe that Japanese Buddhists need to treat any days special out of the ordinary.