What do you know about Buddhism?

[Desert Strawberry]

Usually, when I tell someone we're Buddhist, i get this kind of response :huh:.

It makes me wonder if the average person knows much, or anything about Buddhism.

I grew up around it, but I live somewhere else, and I'm wondering how much the average person might know about it.

 

FWIW, I am not easily offended. I'd love honest opinions, whatever they might be.

[Night Elf]

I don't know much. When I hear the term, I think of a religion that focuses on the inner-self rather than an outer deity like Christianity or Judaism. I think of the idea of karma, and living a lifestyle of being careful to do things that you wouldn't mind happening to you. I'm not saying it's only about actions though. I guess it's more like the golden rule of do unto others thing.

[Nestof3]

I read Siddhartha a couple of times, and I've read picture books about it to my boys, but that's pretty much it.

 

Oh, and I took a course in college called Religion and Culture in India.

[Jenny in Florida]

It makes me wonder if the average person knows much, or anything about Buddhism.

 

I know about the eight-fold path. I know the basic story of the Buddha's life. I understand a little bit about meditation. I can name a couple of the sacred books. I know what a bodhisattva is.

 

That's pretty much it, and I would like to think most people would know about as much? I don't consider myself especially well read on the topic.

 

[My daughter corrects me. She says she thinks most people wouldn't know much at all.]

[Laura Corin]

I know a little about the life of Siddharta. I believe that Buddhism concentrates on a personal search to abandon desire, which causes pain; the end of life leads to reincarnation for most; strict Buddhists are vegetarian. I've visited a lot of Buddhist temples in China, but Chinese Buddhism tends to get rather mixed up with folk religion and Daoism.

 

Laura

[DawnM]

I am not an expert but I have visited a few Buddhist Temples and have spent time in Asian countries where the primary religion is Buddhism.

 

I know the basics of the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, Karma and Reincarnation. I have studied a bit about Buddha's life.

 

Dawn

[Parrothead]

I know about the eight-fold path. I know the basic story of the Buddha's life. I understand a little bit about meditation. I can name a couple of the sacred books. I know what a bodhisattva is.

 

 

About this much except I can't name any of the sacred books.

[WiseOwlKnits]

Usually, when I tell someone we're Buddhist, i get this kind of response :huh:.

It makes me wonder if the average person knows much, or anything about Buddhism.

I grew up around it, but I live somewhere else, and I'm wondering how much the average person might know about it.

 

FWIW, I am not easily offended. I'd love honest opinions, whatever they might be.

 

I know a fair amount, but only because I have a close friend who is Buddhist. When I met her in college, I didn't know anything about it. :)

[tntgoodwin]

I was studying for a CLEP (or was it a DANTES...)- (Intro to World Religions), and discovered it was the Eastern faiths I knew the least about. So, I learned what I could about Buddhism (among others), from the internet. I am glad I did, I ended up getting an 89% on the test (65% is passing) after two nights of learning. So I just have a brief idea of the basics.

[Ester Maria]

They tend to be rather calm, which has a soothing effect on temperaments like mine. :tongue_smilie:

 

On a more serious note, I know what might be called "encyclopaedia entry basics" - if given a short factual test about the basics, I would probably pass it, but I do not know much (or anything) past that.

[Homeschooling Again]

What I would like to know is what a Buddhist would like others to know about her religion. :bigear:

[Aquinas Academy]

I am not an expert but I have visited a few Buddhist Temples and have spent time in Asian countries where the primary religion is Buddhism.

 

I know the basics of the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, Karma and Reincarnation. I have studied a bit about Buddha's life.

 

Dawn

This is what I know too. I don't feel I know as much as I should given that one of my brothers was Buddhist for six or seven years. I went to a temple with him a couple times and read up on the basics of Buddhism, but I was more focused on learning about Christianity than Buddhism at the time. :)

[Sevilla]

If I met you and you told me you were buddhist, I would wonder if you meant actual buddhism in the Eastern tradition (and which version), or the trendy American version that seems to mean you do some meditation but don't really study/do much beyond that.

 

I would assume that you do meditation and probably want to leave a peaceful/low-conflict life.

[ktgrok]

Usually, when I tell someone we're Buddhist, i get this kind of response :huh:.

It makes me wonder if the average person knows much, or anything about Buddhism.

I grew up around it, but I live somewhere else, and I'm wondering how much the average person might know about it.

 

FWIW, I am not easily offended. I'd love honest opinions, whatever they might be.

 

I know quite a bit, but I have more than the average person's exposure. I was a religion major in college and took a class on Buddhism. I also have an ex huband that converted to Buddhism right before we got married. I'll be totally honest, it was my least favorite religion class. I think I'm too steeped in western thought to really enjoy it. Most of the articles I had to read made my head hurt. I understand the basics just fine, but reading Buddhist philosophy is not fun for me. I also don't agree with much of it, and as a mother/wife didn't really like the story of the Buddha going off and leaving behind is family. Take this in the proper context though....I was married to a buddhist who was the laziest man alive, and had already emotionally abandoned me and our child. So it hit a bit too close to home, and I know that my feelings are really not rational at all.

 

I have met and liked other Buddhists. I even attended my ex husband's ceremony where he took certain vows (despite him not attending my confirmation into the Catholic Church). But the whole thing left a bad taste in my mouth. He took the idea of 'don't get attached to things" to mean "don't bother to earn anything, or do anything, or take care of people." Again, i know he isn't typical. I'm working on getting rid of the bad associations I have, but I'm afraid my opinion will always be a bit tainted by my exposure through him.

[elizabeth]

Far more than the average as I work with a Buddhist and lived with several in a dormitory for undergraduate school. Having studied philosophy for many years and tutored for more, it is one of my favorite paradigms for metaphysics and epistemology. I also have done quite a bit of reading on the subject as it is mandatory for Living Religions of the World at our house. The basics absolutely and quite a bit about Tibetan Buddhism. However I must admit my favorite part of choosing topics to cover for next year was watching the film , Unmistaken Child.

http://www.unmistakenchild.com/film.php Amazing and simply a beautifully told visual explanation of being Buddhist. Not reading about it or contemplating it but the state of being Buddhist. It is a wonderful film for any age as well.

[Firefly]

Quite a bit; my sister is a Buddhist. :)

[missiemick]

I know almost nothing -- so, I'd be one of those people.

[ereks mom]

Usually, when I tell someone we're Buddhist, i get this kind of response :huh:.

It makes me wonder if the average person knows much, or anything about Buddhism.

I grew up around it, but I live somewhere else, and I'm wondering how much the average person might know about it.

 

FWIW, I am not easily offended. I'd love honest opinions, whatever they might be.

 

As a religion major in college, I studied the basic beliefs of various world religions, and I've also studied them again with my children. Most of my study has been of the comparative religion sort: how various religions, sects, and belief systems differ from (and within) mainstream Christianity.

 

I know that there are multiple branches/sects of Buddhism. I'm familiar with The Noble Eight-Fold Path, the Four Noble Truths, and The Middle Way. I've briefly studied the life of Siddhartha Gautama and some of the basic concepts of Buddhism: karma, rebirth, and enlightenment/nirvana.

 

There you have it, and it's really not much. :)

[nono]

I also don't agree with much of it, and as a mother/wife didn't really like the story of the Buddha going off and leaving behind is family.

 

This made me :) on Father's Day. My Dad (deceased), a lifelong RC, used to rail about how was it OK for for the Apostles to leave their families. Drove him up a wall.

 

Thanks for the memory.

 

To the OP, my dh is Taoist with some Buddhist underpinnings. He wasa born in Asia.

[Joanne]

The general life story of the Buddha, the 8 Fold Path, the 5 Precepts, The Noble Truths (about suffering), Karma, and that there are 2 general "kinds".

 

I am not familiar with the writings or texts.

[eternalknot]

If I met you and you told me you were buddhist, I would wonder if you meant actual buddhism in the Eastern tradition (and which version), or the trendy American version that seems to mean you do some meditation but don't really study/do much beyond that.

 

I would assume that you do meditation and probably want to leave a peaceful/low-conflict life.

 

:iagree: This tends to be my gut reaction, too. I'm not proud of it, but there it is.

 

Buddhism is as broad as is Christianity; there are so many different sects and interpretations, yet the Western idea tends to offer/present it as one broad yet specific school. A lot of the time, anyhow, and so it seems - to me.

 

I grew up in a strict Buddhist home, in a largely Buddhist community. I haven't formally studied it as an academic, but I know what I grew up learning and living (cultural aspects and traditions, especially those unique to my ethnicity and nationality).

[emeraldjoy]

I am not an expert but I have visited a few Buddhist Temples and have spent time in Asian countries where the primary religion is Buddhism.

 

I know the basics of the Eightfold Path, the Four Noble Truths, Karma and Reincarnation. I have studied a bit about Buddha's life.

 

Dawn

 

Pretty much my story.

My experience mainly in thailand and Cambodia. What I had "studied" and what I saw in real life did not always match up though.

I saw a lot of things that were hard and did not make much sense.

 

I remember learning that Buddhism is not really even considered a religion, in the traditional sense of the word, but more of a way, a sense of being. I remember feeling very much that was the case in SE Asia. It was definitely not the go to church once a week sort of deal, it was a part of every.single. aspect of life including all the biggies (weddings, funerals, children etc) and the not so biggies (driving, apartment shopping, farming).

Also, as someone else mentioned (probably the reason for the on paper not making much sense in real life situation) there was a lot of animistic, very ancient traditions that were mixed in.

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[Rosie_0801]

Well I've read 'Buddhism for Dummies' but I pretty much stopped there. Someone recommended 'Buddhism for Mothers' audiobook to me, and in an attempt at open-mindedness, I did try it. Hubby told me to turn it off, though, because I was shouting at it before the narrator had finished chapter one. :o Buddhism is not good for Rosies, apparently.

 

So I'm familiar with the Buddha's life story, the 8 Fold Path and the Noble Truths. I'm aware of a few different sects and like the variety in statue representations. I have every intention of providing instruction to my children on those things at least. I have a new Buddhist buddy, so I shall be interested in what she says when the conversation eventually turns to religion. All she's said so far is they worship in the evenings.

 

Rosie

[Greenmama2]

I know about the eight-fold path. I know the basic story of the Buddha's life. I understand a little bit about meditation. I can name a couple of the sacred books. I know what a bodhisattva is.

 

That's pretty much it, and I would like to think most people would know about as much? I don't consider myself especially well read on the topic.

corral.]

I'm a Buddhist. I live in Australia. I don't know any non-Buddhists who know what a boddhisattva is and have to say I imagine the USA would be similar.

OP, we find most people don't know very much at all. But then, I don't claim to know much either ;) It doesn't help that the different forms of Buddhism can be so wildly different in practice. We follow a Tibetan tradition in which practice can be quite active so when I told a Christian friend DH would be at our meditation centre all day she assumed he would be staring at the wall Zen style for all that time.

[Ravin]

I have an idea of the basic tenets. I read a few books I bought when I visited Thailand, and helped paint a wat as part of a community relations project my ship did. The monks gave us little Buddha figurines. I still have mine. Oh, I've also read a few of the Dalai Lama's books.

 

I suppose if it came up in conversation I'd ask you what sort of Buddhist you were. DH's drawn on Buddhism a good deal for his life philosophy, but he's not religious, if that makes any sense.

[Peela]

I think it depends on your sub culture and where you live. It seems to be that the U.S. has a very strong Christian and especially fundamentalist Christian emphasis, and those people probably aren't exposed to much Buddhism. In country Australia people probably arent exposed much either- but in the cities I think it is more common.

 

I have been around Buddhism my whole adult life but i live in a very alternative subculture- not specifically Buddhist, but definitely alternate to mainstream and inclusive of Buddhism. Most of my friends are very familiar with Buddhism (and went to see the Dalai Lama yesterday, who was here.)

I also find that Buddhism has infiltrated mainstream society to a huge extent- although that doesn't mean the average person knows a lot- but they at least feel familiar. We have a neighbour who has a huge statue of a buddha head in his front yard and he is not Buddhist at all- he is a gambler and he believes Buddhas bring good luck! But it is kind of cool to live behind it- we have several buddha statues in our home.

I notice Buddha statues everywhere in shops nowadays.

 

Doesnt mean people are familiar with the teachings, I guess, but it is the fastest growing religion in Australia, according the census result.

[Pamela H in Texas]

It was part of two classes I took. The first time, my head was swimming and I didn't really care. The second time, my interest was piqued and I chose to learn more. I probably know more than average, but not particularly much.

[SailorMom]

I've made it a point to learn about most religions - partially in my path of "seeking" but also because I think there is something (sometimes a lot!) to learn from every culture's beliefs.

I know quite a lot- but don't "understand" everything on the level of someone who lives it. It's more academic knowledge than understanding.

[twoforjoy]

A bit. I've read some books about Buddhism, and we used to go to a UU church where there were a good number of Buddhists.

 

But, my DH works in a lab with several Buddhist women from Taiwan, and it seems like Buddhism in practice, especially as practiced by people from Asian countries, is quite a bit different from Buddhism as generally practiced by Americans and that I read about. So I'd say I probably know very little.