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That was not my question.
Guidelines are for those who want to follow Buddha, follow the sangha, follow the Dharma, they do it out of conviction and reverence of his teachings, they do not have to be commanded like cattle, they do it because they believe in his teachings.
So what makes one a Buddhist and one not a Buddhist?
"Guidelines" are not "commandments".
We have no god to answer to if we don't follow the guidelines.
making a list of items is easy. calling them whatever word you want to call them is easy. playing with words and definitions is easy.
but putting them into practice day in and day out, in every place in a person's life, is difficult. they ARE hard to follow. it IS rigorous and exacting.
of course it's easy if a person doesn't seek to actually put them into practice.
The part that observes or aware can only observe what is within it's own consciousness.
What is aware and illuminates your Consciousness is everywhere, it is within and without, limitless, transcending. And that is you true essence. There is nothing else.
That was not my question.
Guidelines are for those who want to follow Buddha, follow the sangha, follow the Dharma, they do it out of conviction and reverence of his teachings, they do not have to be commanded like cattle, they do it because they believe in his teachings.
So what makes one a Buddhist and one not a Buddhist?
I asked a Theravada Thai monk that one time. And here was his answer, verbatim: "If you think like a Buddhist and act like a Buddhist, then you are a Buddhist".
I asked a Theravada Thai monk that one time. And here was his answer, verbatim: "If you think like a Buddhist and act like a Buddhist, then you are a Buddhist".
and if someone dismisses the list (Noble truths; Eightfold path) as trite platitudes? as cliches? as unattainable?
what then?
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 07-04-2022 at 12:35 PM..
I asked a Theravada Thai monk that one time. And here was his answer, verbatim: "If you think like a Buddhist and act like a Buddhist, then you are a Buddhist".
Nice and easy peasy. So how does one think like a Buddhist, and act like a Buddhist if one chooses not to follow Buddha’s guideline? Did you ask the Monk if he followed the guidelines? What did he do, how did he act, what changed because he followed the guidelines?
making a list of items is easy. calling them whatever word you want to call them is easy. playing with words and definitions is easy.
but putting them into practice day in and day out, in every place in a person's life, is difficult.
they ARE hard to follow.
of course it's easy if a person doesn't seek to actually put them into practice.
and it's also easy for a person who has only read about Buddhism to sit back and critique Buddhism and Buddhists.
Nice and easy peasy. So how does one think like a Buddhist, and act like a Buddhist if one chooses not to follow Buddha’s guideline? Did you ask the Monk if he followed the guidelines? What did he do, how did he act, what changed because he followed the guidelines?
He was an ordained, senior monk. Lay people do not interrogate monks.
He was an ordained, senior monk. Lay people do not interrogate monks.
He would have answered you if you had asked with respect and due reverence. Can you do that?
So you dont how a Buddhist thinks or acts because you did not ask him. Since you dont know you cannot be one.
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