What is a Buddhist?

[Jakudo]

On a lighter note, once when discussing Buddhism in a Christian Country with a Muslin friend, he coined the term Jew-ddhist to describe me. My mother is Jewish.

We laughed hysterically.

Gassho,

JC

Oh, thanks for this John, I almost peed myself! Galen there was no sarcasm or irony intended. I has a vision of siting in an AA sort of meeting and standing up and saying that.

[galen]

Oh, thanks for this John, I almost peed myself! Galen there was no sarcasm or irony intended. I has a vision of siting in an AA sort of meeting and standing up and saying that.

Well done Shawn .


Gassho

[Nengyo]

It feels a little lonely, though, knowing that most of those who know I'm Buddhist take my Buddhism to mean that I am on some hippie-dippie New Age trip.

One of my main worries when I first went to a zendo, was that it would be full of new age hippies trying to learn how to levitate who would be appalled at my scientific leanings. Fortunately, it turns out that most followers of zen are too busy sitting to worry about crystal power or levitation and seem to have a similar naturalistic outlook even if they are not necessarily into science.

Of course, the few friends I have told all assume the same thing. They are like; Oh, you worship Buddha, smoke weed, and hang peace signs all over your house now? I'm like, yeah that's pretty much it. I guess they will figure out the quite unexciting truth sooner or later.

[Daitetsu]

Another classic: "So you believe you will be reborn as a cow or an ant someday?"

When I performed the Chinese Tea Ceremony (which is unspectacular compared to the Japanese Tea Ceremony and has its roots in Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism) for a friend - he started to mock by chanting "Om" all of a sudden. He did it a second time, but when I just said "There is no chanting or anything else required to do by guests, but you can continue if you want", he let it be.
After some time he pretty much "understood" the sense of it.
And at the end of the evening - after we watched a movie - he actually said: "Well, I must admit, at the beginning I was not used to all this and I would never have the patience for performing it myself, but actually I liked it somehow. You can invite me again for this if you want."

Anyway, all this showed me that there are so many prejudices involved, and saying that I am a Zen Buddhist (am I?) would actually mean a lot of questions and explanations - but since I can be quite a lazy bum, I prefer to say nothing.

Gassho,

Timo

[Shokai]

We'll probably all come back as goats

[Myozan Kodo]

Hi,
I believe the Dalai Lama is a Buddhist. I read that somewhere.
Gassho
Myozan

[galen]

We'll probably all come back as goats

I'll take it! No delusions .

BaaaaaaaaaaaBaaaa!


Gassho

[Daitetsu]

Hi,
I believe the Dalai Lama is a Buddhist. I read that somewhere.
Gassho
Myozan

Hi Myozan,

Don't believe everything you read - it might be just a rumor.

I don't believe in "coming back", but just for kicks: I think I'd like to be a cat lying in front of a warm fireplace with no other worries than purring, sleeping, stretching, eating, relaxing...
Ah, where are my cats, I feel the sudden urge to hug them right now...

Gassho,

Timo

[galen]

Hi,
I believe the Dalai Lama is a Buddhist. I read that somewhere.
Gassho
Myozan

Whats a Dalai Lama?

Its sounds like a fancy Spanish sports car or a high-breed lama .



Gassho

[Dokan]

Whats a Dalai Lama?

Isn't that the spiritual leader of a extra terrestrial race?



Gassho

Dokan

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

[Shonin]

LOL Amelia. One Halloween I requested off and a coworker who had no idea what shamanism was then asks, " Does that mean you dress like an indian for Halloween?" ...and he was dead serious with a confused look.

[Shonin]

Dokan! hahahahahahaahhaah! NICE!

[Heishu]

Hi Myozan,

Don't believe everything you read - it might be just a rumor.

I don't believe in "coming back", but just for kicks: I think I'd like to be a cat lying in front of a warm fireplace with no other worries than purring, sleeping, stretching, eating, relaxing...
Ah, where are my cats, I feel the sudden urge to hug them right now...

Gassho,

Timo

I mostly agree about coming back as a cat but dang having to hack up hairballs all the time.

Gassho
Alan

[Daitetsu]

I mostly agree about coming back as a cat but dang having to hack up hairballs all the time.

Gassho
Alan

Ouch - forgot that. And then there is that castration thing...
On the other hand, cats have 9 lives (interestingly, in Germany we say they have 7 lives) - who can beat that?

OK, enough OT from my side...

Gassho,

Timo

[disastermouse]

Can someone explain the draw of Zen to someone who found relevance in Wicca? They are so different and one usually isn't born into Wicca....so how do you bridge the gap between Wicca and Zen?

This is meant to be a respectful question, in case that isn't evident.

Gassho,

Chet