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Buddhism has never been dogmatic, cynical, dictatorial, or monopolistic. Buddhists tenets have never been ambiguous. They never attempt to hoodwink, mislead, inflate or deceive others, or to exert control over others, things or events. Using force or pressure to induce belief is repugnant to the Buddhists and they also don't use high positions to attract converts. Buddhism does not consist of dictatorial religious laws and religious punishment. The Buddhists never had Inquisition, Crusades, or mass killing of any indigenous people in any part of the world, because they were non-believers. People who are jealous of the truth taught by Buddhism say that the ability to remember former lives is the work of the devils. If devils are so capable, they would have finished up all of us on this planet long ago.

 

The early Christians also believed in reincarnation, but later on denied it simply because  a mad wife of an emperor did not believe it. From that moment onward dissent of any kind would be charged as heretics by the church and would result in death. Haven’t you heard of the burning of witches and so on by the church?

 

Buddhists don't pray to the Buddha hoping that He would forgive them for the sins committed during the week and hoping that He would offer  them  rewards. Buddhists prostrate in front of the Buddha statue as a respect because the Buddha is a perfect human being. All over the world personnel from the fighting services and the police pay respect to their superior by standing straight and raising the right hand to the right side of the head to salute the senior. Is this a form of prayer?

When a Buddhist prostrates in front of a monk, he or she benefits by casting away pride and conceit, at least for a short while. They pay respects to the virtuous qualities of the noble Sangha, not to robes or shaven heads.

Buddhism is not about accepting certain tenets or believing a set of claims or principle. It is about knowing, not believing, hoping or wishing. Buddhists don’t believe in reports, traditions, hearsay, or the authority of religious leaders, or texts. They don’t rely on logic, inference, appearance or speculation. They examine and see for themselves. Buddhism begins with facts, and Buddhists know that their suffering and the means to stop it lay within themselves. They don’t blame the governments, or Americans for all their problems.

 

Buddhism is about actual experience and investigating to release pain and vexation, once and for all. The deep-down ache of the heart doesn’t go away. It travels with us life after life. Bad times will come though we spend much time and energy trying to avoid them.

Buddhism teaches us to free ourselves from concepts and dogmas so that we can rejoice in true reality. Life is full of confusion. We are besieged with agitation and worry. We must learn how to relieve ourselves from delusions, attachments and conceits. We crave for pleasant sights, sounds, tastes, smells, contacts, and thought-impressions.

 

Despite the various insults and verbal attacks from non-Buddhists, especially from Asia, Buddhism remains as vital and penetrating as ever, because it doesn’t distinguish between nobles, peasants, learned, the illiterate, the moral and the base.

 

When we are awake, we will not speak or act in a way that can injure us or others. So when we meditate, the intention is to wake up, not to access any occult or supernatural powers. No person’s life, including that of the Buddha’s, is ever, or was ever free of difficulties. Buddhists know that fame, love, money and lack of stress cannot drive away all our troubles.  They know that ups and downs of life will always remain.

 

The Buddha said: ehi-passiko, which in English means come and see.

During the past 2500 years, Buddhism, like other religions, accumulated variety of beliefs, rituals, ceremonies and practices, because of cultural trappings, e.g. clothes, hats, incense, gongs, bells etc. These rituals, ceremonies, prayers, and special outfits are for the less intelligent. They don’t express the essence of what the Buddha taught. Why should you, a non-Buddhist, be offended to see all these?

 

Buddhism is about seeing, not believing. The Buddhists are not dogmatic, arrogant or intolerant. They are not cynical and will never call non-Buddhists the devil worshippers. They have no wish to exert control over others, things, or events etc. You don’t have to believe, you can see it. The Buddhists actually don’t believe anything. They investigate and see for themselves. There is nothing to cover up, and no need to reinterpret the facts introduced 2500 years ago. Buddhists don’t promise to be good, pretend to be virtuous, curry favour  in order to claim a reward at some later date, at a place called heaven which one must die before she or he can drop in there. Buddhism is like a buffet where sizzling foods are provided. All you need to do is to eat and satisfy your hunger. Who else can do that for you?

Buddhism doesn’t consist of dogmas one must blindly believe, creeds that one must accept on good faith, without reason, superstitious rites and ceremonies to be observed for formal religious conversion or entry to the fold, meaningless sacrifices and penances for one’s purification. An almighty creator that is a causeless cosmic force is also foreign to Buddhism. Buddhists know all the natural laws in the universe exist without a lawgiver. The Buddhas are omniscient and therefore there  is nothing for them to learn afresh, but they are definitely not almighty.

Under the pretext of helping to spread Buddhism, some people tell lies to put Buddhism under bad light, not knowing that the Buddha says: come and see. He never said: Come and believe. He did not use hell fires to frighten people, nor did he use other propagandas to hypnotize, blind, deceive or psychologically puzzle others.

We are like worms wriggling in a cess-pit and on the excrement. When a good guy moves us out of the cesspool with good intention, we would be most unhappy and would scramble back to look for the delicacies in the same pool. Just how long does it take us to understand our present environment so that we would make a firm determination to get out of this pool?

Buddhism does not totally deny the existence of a personality. It denies an identical being or a permanent entity. All mental and material phenomena are transient, lacking any permanence, substantiality or essence. Buddhist term for an individual is santati, i.e. a flux or continuity. This santati was not created by an almighty god, and had no perceptible source from the past. The Buddha could not find evidence of any separate persisting thing that had a beginning or end.

The mental stream flows on in accordance with the Kamma which had been accumulated. The mind, which is not permanent goes on, and we need this mind to discover Enlightenment.  We cannot  find  permanent unchanging identity in the psychic process, but only the process of flux and momentary transition or transformation. In Buddhism, when something is devoid of any permanent unchanging element, it is said to be empty. All things are perpetually changing, and are therefore empty.

All the things we see around us are a collection of rapidly moving molecules. These molecules continuously interchange their electrons with other molecules and atoms. All these are constantly changing themselves. So where is this permanent thing which you and I called “self’?

Isn’t it a pity that most westerners still believe that Buddhism is about worshipping Buddha, bowing to a statue and wearing robes or working oneself into a trance? Buddhism accumulated a variety of beliefs, rituals, ceremonies and practices at the countries it was brought to.  Many people consider  those living secular lives are not  practitioners of the Way  because  they say  it is evil living idly without jobs, greatly harming individuals, families, societies, and nations.

 

This is wrong accusation since monks do work seven days a week. They conduct Dhamma talks and help clear your doubts, if you care to approach them. They never charge you a fee and never ask for anything from you. They are not beggars. They only accept whatever you offer to them.

 

A Buddhist monk or nun is not a missionary and they are not trying to convert people. They can’t teach unless they are asked.

 

For the Buddhists, whatever sect you may belong to, just remember if the Four Noble Truths are taught there, it is genuine Buddhism. Even if you don’t reach the Pureland of Amitofu during this life time, you still enjoy the benefits of the Buddhist practice: self-confidence, inward purity, absence of external fear, and mental serenity. With all these crucial qualities in you, Nibbana is only a matter of time, and more practice. The number of rebirths you have to go through is no longer an issue. You will definitely make it.

 

All of us have to take rebirth in cyclic existence. We have suffered enough in the past.  Can anyone say he does not want to die?  Yes, but only verbally. Death will definitely look for him.

 

When you visit a Buddhist Monastery or a Buddhist place of worship, you should be self-restrained, making sure that your behavior is modest, and suitable. Your clothes must conform to the level for visiting highly sacred places which have been glorified by the Buddha.

 

 

Won’t you find out more about this great religion? Don’t you believe heaven is not yet the best? Aren’t you fed up with recurrent wandering? Don’t you want to find a way out of this unsatisfactoriness of  life to achieve  happiness and peace for yourself and all beings?

Buddhist history does not consist of torture, massacres, genocide, boiling and burning people alive, and human sacrifice in satanic rituals.

Buddhists achieve enlightenment by the accumulation of wisdom and merits. They meditate to weaken and abandon greed, hatred and delusion. Wisdom is acquired via practice of prayers, contemplation and meditation. Merit is acquired through good deeds, such as service to others and making offerings. Please note that when you offer, it is not because the Sangha needs it. It is for your own good, to practice generosity.

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Comment by Poh Tiong Ho on July 29, 2014 at 10:39pm

If you wish to view some Buddhist Website photos, please   hit :https://myspace.com/242732440

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