Expert: Bodhicitta - 2/27/2005

Question
Hello my name is Ian Evans and I am a student in a Virtual High School class studying philosophy and religions.  Recently we have been discussing Buddhism and I have gotten interested in it so I was wandering if you could answer some questions about Buddhism I have.

1.  Can you pray to Buddha to solve problems like many Christians do?

2.  We were taught that Buddhist were taught to believe in rebirth and not in reincarnation.  What is the difference between the two?

3.  How does meditation work?

4.  How does karma effect yourself and others around you?

5.  What was Buddha's views on divorce and abortion?

Thank you for reading this.
Ian Evans  

Answer
<<Hello my name is Ian Evans and I am a student in a Virtual High School class studying philosophy and religions. Recently we have been discussing Buddhism and I have gotten interested in it so I was wandering if you could answer some questions about Buddhism I have.
>>
Hi Ian
Thanks for your questions.

<<
1. Can you pray to Buddha to solve problems like many Christians do? >>
Buddha means Awake. It is the true state of the Universe,
of your being and of the beings of others in the Universe.
If you could awaken even a little maybe your wishes
would be more linked with truth, compassion and wisdom.

One is reminded of the phrase "Beware what you wish for it
may come true"...Maybe the Buddhist version would be "When you are close to truth what you wish for does come true".

So if prayer is centring your heart with truth then Buddhists pray. pranidharna is the sanskrit word
for this activity.

<<
2. We were taught that Buddhist were taught to believe in rebirth and not in reincarnation. What is the difference between the two? >>
This is a subtle philosophical argument which is made into
a big deal by some people. It is often held up as one of the big difference between Hinduism and Buddhism.

However subtle philosophical arguments have no place in Buddhism. It is about the direct experience of truth and the methods of realizing truth (meditation) .

You could however say that if reality is like a dream
if you were to awake then would you ask the question
where is the world, where is my past from the dream etc?

You wouldnt because the reality of the dream was empty
and had no substance. So to think you would be born
back into a body in that dream world continuously would be a limited view.So buddhist would probably say a view of reincarnation which is like this - is false.
But to go into all of this would take quite a lot of time.

<<
3. How does meditation work?
>>
There is no word meditation in Sanskrit. There is a word
Bhavana which really means  development which  is usually translated these days as meditation.

The origins of the word meditation in western languages
is however not this meaning at all! so we have the wrong
word (yet again!)

The process of meditation in Buddhism is a way of entering
a real view of your mind and the universe. Awakening.

Meditation works as your mind is fundamentally awake and
the process links into the awake quality of your mind
directly. It is like clouds covering the sky. With meditation you start by finding some breaks in the cloud
and learning the nature of the sky - and you develop
to the point that you realize the sky is actually always there and always was there.

<<
4. How does karma effect yourself and others around you?
>>
Everything  has effect, the whole of the universe
is connected nothing is done with impunity. there is
no jigsaw piece you can take out of the causal network of the universe - leaving a hole.

By awakening we learn the nature of the connections
that link our minds and the universe and how to work
with these. While confused we create confused waves
with everything we do in lifes ocean which trouble us and others later.

<<
5. What was Buddha's views on divorce and abortion?
>>
Buddha didnt seek to create a worldly society with arbitary rules.He asked people to realize they were already awake and had all the love and compassion they needed to live in an enlightened world and to treat each other well.

 Until we do awake he told people to be loving and kind to each other
to the best of our  abilities and to train to awaken.The human life is precious as its the vehicle in which we
might find awakeing. So killing is bad in Buddhism.

However complex situations arise inthe real world. Were the line between life and death is not clear. So Buddhism
does speak a lot about working in these grey areas. At
the end of the day you have to do your best. But you also need to realize that you take responsibility for how you act.

There is space in Buddhism for wisdom and compassion in marriage, divorce and abortion. There is space for consideration and balance for the many sides of these complex issues. there are no absolutes in a confused world.

According to Buddhism we should do their
best to act according to the best understanding of truth,
and helping other beings to find truth.But non of us
are enlightened right? so we do the best we can with this
inspiration and the advice of teachers who we might
consider have more wisdom than we do.


<<
Thank you for reading this.
Ian Evans>>
Pleasure

Bodhicitta