More about the Buddhist Religion
There is no god or gods to worship in Buddhism, which makes it different from other religions.
Buddhist Ideas
Buddha was a human being who is now dead – not a god to be worshipped. But he is someone whom Buddhists seek to copy. Statues of Buddha are used to inspire religious feeling, just as Christianity uses stained glass windows or organ music for this purpose. But statues of Buddha are not worshipped, though they are treated with great respect.
Buddhism is not only about reaching Enlightenment. Everyone, whether Buddhist or not, could make some degree of progress towards Buddha’s understanding and attitudes, even if not reaching Enlightenment. Buddhist teachers say that, deep down, everyone has the same inner nature as Buddha, just as, however cloudy the sky, the sun is always there behind the clouds. The Buddhist religion is a method for getting those clouds to part and letting your own ‘Buddha nature’ shine through. For some people, this may happen only now and then. For others, it may happen more and more often. Some people may even reach Enlightenment and the clouds disappear for good.
Many people besides Buddha have reached Enlightenment. In some Buddhist temples, as well as a large Buddha statue, you see rows and rows of tiny Buddhas. This is to show all the other people who have reached Enlightenment or will do so in the future.
The whole point of Buddhism is that ordinary people can get close to Buddha’s understanding of life. Some people can do this without ever hearing any Buddhist teachings. Buddha himself reached Enlightenment before there were any Buddhist teachings to help him. But Buddhist teachings make it much easier through showing a tried and tested path towards reaching this understanding.
People can follow Buddhist teachings either in ordinary life or, less common, by becoming monks or nuns who concentrate full-time on following Buddhist teachings without distractions. Sometimes people become Buddhist monks or nuns only for a while, then return to ordinary jobs to put into practice what they have learned.
A common symbol in Buddhism is the Lotus Flower, which is like a water-lily. This is because the Lotus grows out of very muddy water, yet becomes a beautiful flower. This illustrates how our mind can change from being very confused to becoming wise and understanding like that of Buddha.
There are around 350 million Buddhists in the world today, mainly in East Asia.
Continue reading: the Noble Eightfold Path