Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Booklet 2: The Fundamental Concepts of Humanistic Buddhism

We know that the founder of Buddhism, Sakyamuni Buddha, is the Buddha of our world. He was born into this world; he cultivated his spiritual development, attained enlightenment, and shared with others the deep truths he had realized in this world. The human world was emphasized in everything he did. Why did the Buddha not achieve Buddhahood in one of the other five realms? Why did he not attain enlightenment in one of the other ten dharma worlds? Why did he, instead, attain complete awakening as a human being? Taking this question one step further, why did the Buddha not attain enlightenment in a past or future [kalpa]? Why did he choose our saha world and our present [kalpa]? There can only be one reason: the Buddha wanted the teachings of Buddhism to be relevant to the human world. The Buddhism that the Buddha gave us is humanistic, and Humanistic Buddhism is the integrating of our spiritual practice into all aspects of our daily lives. Humanistic Buddhism has the following six characteristics.

This is our Hsi Lai Friends Study Group topic for this month. Please study the booklet at the Buddha's Light Publishing link below. Add your comments to the blog.

Read more link: http://www.blpusa.com/bies02.html

1 comments:

Alex said...

This booklet affirms to me that humanistic Buddhism is the path to follow in my daily life. The Six Paramitas (giving, upholding precepts, patience, diligence, concentration, and wisdom) and the Four Means of Embracing (giving, amiable speech, conduct beneficial to others, and cooperation) is absolutely essential in daily life if we are not to waste our lives.

Although Master Hsing Yun is perhaps too kind to Americans in the booklet it does make me
better appreciate many of the qualities of many people here in the West. The section on Four Immeasurable States of Mind (Loving kindness, compassion, joy, and equanimity) reminded me of an article that I saw on Jane Goodall (http://www.janegoodall.org/) in
connection with her 75th Birthday.
Although not a Buddhist, she definitely has displayed these four states of mind in her
lifelong work to understand and save chimpanzees and apes in Africa. Jane, I pray for you and the safety of the chimps.

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