Me & Religion

Hm...after nearly 2 decades, I truly feel the need to know more about my religion aka Buddhism...Took me a while to realize that it's not just a set of teachings etc, it provided me with answers when I needed them most...

I've never had formal religious education. My earliest memory of knowing my religion was when I was browsing through my report card as a child & saw that under Religion/Agama was the word "Buddhism". I asked Dad what it was, & he just said that that's my religion. So then I began to learn the difference of Buddha & Buddhism so that I'd write the correct thing when I filled forms by myself.

Time to appreciate the simple beauty of life
I wondered if Buddhism was the same as other religions like Christianity & Islam where they worship God & sometimes have such defined boundaries/rules. I wondered what was the structure of the religion & somehow never took the time to really figure out. Mom & Dad never pressured to send me to the temple to study; neither was I that enthusiastic about it...

Then when I arrived at uni, it made me realize there was a lot I didn't know so I started reading it up online (har har)...I found that I took the word "Buddhism" for granted & I ought to start learning a bit about it now.

How insignificant we are as materialistic beings...
Emo, much? Never intended it to be so, just having a humbling moment...If anything, Buddhism is a practical religion, we don't dwell on theology or a deity etc. The world changes, & we are bound to be disappointed; from disappointment we feel anger, hurt & other negative emotions. In Buddhism we accept that things like this happen & we have to learn not to let it affect us, to avoid negative actions that harms not only us but other people.

Still so many questions but I feel I can find the answers
I find that this will help me attain that maturity I sorely lack sometimes & definitely make me a better person. I am no hypocrite: don't expect me to go vegetarian/anti-beef/meditating (tried that, sorry Al, I just can't do it haha)...but I will try my best to give more in life & be better.

Comments

aMMerZ said…
~Rowies~
~Religion facts is too wider too explore, it's time to see rowieSS with "Dalai-lama" suite..hehe~lala..
Rowan said…
A life-long learning process, I only hope to do my best :)
Anonymous said…
i dnt get it..
wat hypocrite gotta do wth bein vege n anti-beef??

thi_gotcha87
Rowan said…
If I'm not mistaken, you don't kill animals as a Buddhist, means you go vegetarian. I am not capable of that :p
CDanvers said…
actually, many of today's high ranking monks are very much critical of dalai lama. many say he's not supposed to get involved in politics. and fyi, there are many buddist sects out there such as zen, pure land, tien tai, nichiren and tibetan buddhism just to name a few. if you go to http://www.religionfacts.com/buddhism/sects.htm, it says buddhism can be subdivided into three major branches, theravada, mahayana, and vajrayana. honestly, i never knew it's subdivided into 3. what i knew back then was it's subdivided into only theravada and mahayana. never had anyone here in malaysia mentioned about vajrayana probably because many are critical of the way those who embrace the vajrayana's way of life.

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