Expert: Justin Choo - 4/4/2005

Question
What is bhuddism?

Answer
Hi Bob,

Thank you for asking me.

Buddhism is the name given to the teachings of the Buddha.
What did he teach?  He taught us to use our human intelligence to see the world as it really is.  He taught us to be masters of ourselves.  He taught us to be free from dogmas and commandments. So long as we are fearful of something or someone we are not free.  We cannot have peace of mind if we are fearful.

He taught us how to have peace within ourselves.  If we do not understand the true nature of the world and this life, we will never experience peace within ourselves.

The Buddha discovered the way to peace and happiness through realizing the true nature of life and this universe. It was more than 2500 years ago in northern India where the Buddha through harnessing the power of his mind realized that if man were to be free of greed, hatred and delusion, he had to look inwards into his mind, and start cleansing his inner defilements. If one reduces one's defilements, one would experience peace and happiness. He discovered that the whole world had certain characteristics and that life continued to exist because of certain causes. This world is very unsatisfactory, because we cannot be fully satisfied in life and that nothing is permanent. He also pointed out that because of our craving for permanent and complete satisfaction, we were always miserable.

The most salient aspect of Buddhism is FREEDOM in its practice. The Buddha encouraged his followers to use their common sense and human intelligence to analyze his teachings before accepting them. He pointed out that there was no super agent who controlled us, punished us and rewarded us. We are not puppets on the strings; and there is no puppeteer up above to manipulate us. The natural law of cause and effect rules the world. No matter who you are and where you are, or what you believe, this universal LAW rules supreme. There is no escape. It is perfectly impartial. In simple language, good begets good; evil begets evil.

So,in Buddhism there is no dogma and no commandment. There is only the guidelines and noble precepts which the Buddha advised us to follow. As diligent Buddhists we use certain precepts to guide our lives. These are the 5 precepts: to refrain from killing, to refrain from stealing, to refrain from committing sexual misconduct, to refrain from telling lies, and to refrain from taking intoxicating substances.

Buddhist teachings are like air. They are free, and non discriminating. If you think it benefits you, then please breathe the air. If you choose otherwise, then it's up to you. This is the "religion" of Buddhism....Truth, Peace, Harmlessness, and Freedom.

You may wish to surf the following websites for more in-depth information on Buddhism:-

www.ksridhammananda.com
Venerable K. Sri Dhammananda is my revered teacher. His writings have benefitted countless people throughout the world.

geocities.com/wave_books
You can obtain excellent publications from them.

www.buddhanet.net
www.dharmanet.org
www.nibbana.com
www.triplegem.net
buddhism.about.com

I hope you would come back and ask me more questions once you have surfed through the above sites, and after reading more Buddhist books. I am here to share with you whatever you may want to know. I have one respondent who have visited me 7 times to date. Hope to hear from you again.

Smile from justinchoo :-)