Important! I’m writing here about Buddhism not as a religion, but still — Buddhism is older than Christianity and Islam, which means it contains even more traditions, schools, directions, teachings — many of them deeply interwoven with cultural specifics of different countries. So the term “Buddhism” can sometimes include rather strange things that have little to do with what the Buddha actually taught. Many terms have also changed meaning. For example, “Tantra” nowadays has some kind of sexual connotation in society, right? Exactly. Here, I try to mention only those teachings that have come to us through unbroken lines of transmission over dozens of generations. This is the authentic lineage, basically. No modern remake.
AT THE VERY END OF THIS POST, I GIVE A LIST OF KEYWORDS AND PHRASES YOU CAN GOOGLE TO FIND MORE USEFUL INFORMATION.
So, why do I personally like Buddhism? There are many reasons, but here are a couple:
- Since I started writing this post in March 2022, I’ll begin with the most relevant for me now. In Buddhism, you develop towards unconditional love FOR ALL (Bodhicitta). For everyone — even animals (hence vegetarianism), and even for yourself (hence meditation and yoga)! For people of all races, religions, nationalities, and skin colors. Here we practice Ahimsa — the principle of non-violence. In this system (which, for me, is primarily a system based on logic), there’s no division into “wrong” groups that need to be destroyed or something like that.
So, you learn not to harm anyone, regardless of their political views, etc., and you try to help them. There are no concepts like liberation war, holy war, or anything like that, because any conflict is bad, and revenge is even worse — because you don’t understand where the world comes from, and that means you’re planting seeds for a new, even more horrible war.
2. Buddhism does not require belief — let alone blind faith. On the contrary, the search for answers, analysis, reflection, meditation, logic, debate — all of it is encouraged in order to reach the truth.
In these teachings, it is logically proven that your world comes from you — it is formed from your past thoughts, words, and actions towards other living beings. That’s your karma. What you sow, you reap — you plant a tiny seed, and a big tree grows; you always receive more than you gave. And here, you’re not expected to believe — everything is explained first by logic, and second — by practice (I’m not linking to any specific practice, so that interested people can Google results of the 4 Steps beyond my little blog).
Therefore — when you take revenge, you plant new seeds. You’re creating causes to see more conflict and war in your life, because today’s conflict is a result of your past words, thoughts, and actions. That’s probably why Jesus said not to respond with violence (remember “turn the other cheek”?). Because if someone hit you — it’s the fruit of your past actions. And if you hit back — you’re planting seeds to be hit again in the future. So any conflict is not just a dead end — it’s much worse. It can be a pit. A hell.
Above, I linked twice to a simple, clear, and logically structured explanation of Emptiness using the example of an ordinary pen. In just a few minutes, Geshe Michael Roach proves (not asks to believe) that the world comes from us, and that everything in our life — every event, person, and phenomenon — is a result of our past thoughts, words, and actions toward others. And it becomes clear what to do to avoid suffering and be happy.
This was my deeply personal and subjective opinion on recent events and my personal attitude toward Buddhism. There’s no need here to discuss the differences between Abhidharma and Madhyamika Prasangika, Svatantrika, or Sautrantika schools, or the Mahayana and Hinayana traditions. The main point is: the world literally comes from us. It is the consequence of our thoughts, words, and actions toward others. That’s it.
May peace and love reign everywhere!
Website about Geshe Michael Roach – https://geshemichaelroach.info/
P.S. KEYWORDS AND PHRASES YOU CAN GOOGLE TO FIND MORE USEFUL INFORMATION:
- Michael Roach – pen and emptiness, 4 steps
- DCI (Diamond Cutter Institute) events
- Asian Classics Institute courses, for example – Russian site Classic Wisdom Academy
- Yoga Studies Institute – in Russian: YouTube channel Pranamove
- Books: “The Diamond Cutter”, “Karmic Management”, “How Yoga Works”
