I have never really been religious or believed in god, but I have always wanted to believe that there is something other than the life we live and the world we live in. I do celebrate Christmas and Easter so I suppose I like to be able to pick and choose the parts of religion I agree with, and ignore the parts I dont.
Until recently, I knew very little about Buddhism, and that rather than a religion as such, it is a complete way of life. I began to look into it a little deeper after I began to feel that there was something missing in my life, that I needed direction and guidance, and that I was becoming numb to the many problems in my own life and in the world; choosing to turn off my emotions and feelings just to make life easier.
I began by searching the internet for websites that might teach me just what Buddhism is all about. The one I have found most useful is www.buddhanet.net which contains extensive information and links on Buddhism and includes study courses for students and self learners alike.
From what I have learned so far, the core of being a Buddhist is to live life in a better way. To be kind to other people, not say bad things or have bad thoughts about others, not to hurt or kill other living things, to understand that there will always be suffering and to accept this. Of course there is lots more to it than this, but in todays hostile society we could learn so much from the Buddha.
How often do we have to stand in a queue at the supermarket, while the cashier makes mistake after mistake that means we will be late home and we feel our blood boiling and make a nasty comment to the person next to us or think something bad about the poor cashier? Would it not be better to just accept that we are here, it is taking a bit longer than we thought, so what? In the grand scheme of things, what does an extra couple of minutes mean? Nothing really.
When we hear that someone close to us is ill, we automatically analyse why. Why them? They are such a good person, they have never hurt anyone. What did they do to deserve such a terrible thing? Well they probably didn't do anything to deserve getting ill. No-one does, but its a fact of life, people get ill, people grow old and people will die. But for some reason, as an intelligent species we seem to want to ignore this fact, unable to accept what is completely natural. Buddhism teaches people to embrace this.
Years ago, communities would help each other, neighbours would be best friends, children could play safely outside. Nowadays, everyone is so horrible to one another. Some children carry knives to protect themselves which is causing death in every country in the western world. But why? Why do people seem hate each other? Buddhism teaches people to forgive and be kind to others, and surely this cant be a bad thing. There have been occasions where someone has been run over by a car, and left lying in the road because no-one would help them, cars even driving round them, but not stopping to help. Why? Where have we gone so wrong.
So, although I am still a complete beginner, and I still dont know whether it is right for me, I do feel we could all learn a lot from Buddhism and its teachings, even if we do only pick and choose the bits we like.
