Pray Well With Others
2,136 views · Published 5 March 2018 · 5:03 · Indexed 27 October 2026
Channel: Timber Hawkeye (Buddhist Boot Camp) · 2018 · People & Blogs
Buddhism is not a religion, not all Buddhists are vegetarian, we do not worship false idols, and the Buddha was not a God, the son of God, or even a messenger of God. For additional information about Buddhist Boot Camp, please visit https://BuddhistBootCamp.com If you find value in these podcast episodes, please show your support through Venmo @TimberHawkeye or at https://www.buddhistbootcamp.com/support or with as little as $1/month through https://Patreon.com/BuddhistBootCamp — Thank you for being a Soldier of Peace in the Army of Love. You can also listen on iTunes: http://tinyurl.com/BBCPodcast-Apple SoundCloud: http://tinyurl.com/BBCPodcast-SoundCloud Stitcher: http://tinyurl.com/BBCPodcast-stitcher TuneIn: http://tinyurl.com/BBCPodcast-TuneIn Thich Nhat Hanh wrote a great book that beautifully bridges the gap between Christianity and Buddhis called "Living Buddha Living Christ" and you can get it here: http://amzn.to/2DbUx0s “Buddhism is not a religion; it is a practice (like yoga), which is why it can be practiced by anyone regardless of their religion, race, age, gender, shape, or size. The Buddha was not a God. He never claimed to be a God, the son of God, or even a messenger of God. He was a flawed man just like the rest of us, who simply gained clear perspective of the world through nothing more than human effort. We do not worship false idols or statues, we are merely inspired that someone woke up to our interconnectedness and interdependence to tell us that anyone can be a Buddha, which is just a title that means ‘Awake.’ What the Buddha mastered was his own mind. When we say he reached Nirvana or was ‘enlightened,’ it is something anyone can do. That’s perhaps what is so accessible about it. The actual origin of Buddhism itself is not only secondary but dare I say completely irrelevant. The reason Buddhism isn’t in conflict with organized religion is because it doesn’t busy itself with tales of creation and the universe. Like any philosophy, however, there are now over 800 different schools of Buddhism, perhaps inevitably, and yes, some of them are in direct conflict with one another and even with the Buddha’s teachings, which is why you might find someone who insists that Buddhism IS a religion and even refer to Siddhartha as ‘Lord Buddha.’ But, as the Dalai Lama continually tells us, ‘Do not to try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist, use it to be a better whatever-you-already-are.’ That is to say, be christ-like, for example, rather than Christian. There is no heaven or hell, per se, just action and a subsequent reaction (cause and a subsequent effect). There is no Satan on whom to blame everything negative in the world, but rather a darkness within each of us that can drive us toward greed, hatred, and ignorance. We can overcome the darkness by being a light. Failure to do so would leave us in the dark, so we are essentially responsible for saving ourselves. That’s why there’s no such thing as a ‘Bad Buddhist,’ so to speak; there are no rules to follow, just invitations of things to try. And if they resonate with you and work in your life, then great, but if they do not, then leave them for now. Not all Buddhists are vegetarian just because the first precept invites us to contemplate the suffering caused by the destruction of life and vow to minimize it, just like not all Christians are pacifists, and some are even hunters and carnivores, even though the bible specifically says ‘Thou shall not kill.” Buddhist beliefs themselves are open to change if/when any of them are proven to be untrue. This is why many Christians and Jews practice Buddhism; it actually strengthens their existing faith without requiring them to change their belief in God. Buddhism is made up of many non-Buddhist elements, so it surpasses labels and segregation to be inclusive of everyone. When someone asks me if I’m a Buddhist I don’t quite know how to answer, because I am a lot of things, and not one of them defines me. -Timber Hawkeye”
