Questions about Buddhism, ask them here.

[dyanaprajna2011]

If anyone has any questions about Buddhism, post them here, and I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

[Baz]

I subscribe to being a panentheist as well, not that I think that categorising certain aspects of people’s beliefs covers a lot of ground. Given that every single person on the planet is different with different points of view and life experiences, it’s a miracle anybody can agree about anything.

I think there are probably a lot of ideas in Buddhism that I could relate to but whenever I try to read up about it, I can’t get past the doom and gloom feeling.
I do meditate (Never enough) and find it very refreshing but can’t find the shallow end of Buddhism.
Is there one?
Any advice?

[Divine Insight]

I do meditate (Never enough) and find it very refreshing but can’t find the shallow end of Buddhism.
Is there one?
Any advice?

I don't know about advice. All I can do is share what works for me, whether or not it will do anything for you is an entirely different matter.

To begin with I never truly became a "Buddhist". In other words, I never adopted Buddhism as an "official religion" for lack of a better description. However, I did study many aspects of Buddhism for a very long time. I had realized the folly of the Abrahamic religions by the time I was in my early 20's. This was at the end of the 60's. So by the 70's I was already looking into the Eastern Mystical philosophies.

I wasn't searching for a new "religion", I was simply looking to see how other people were thinking about these things. Specially to see if anyone else had the same basic intuitive feelings that I had as a young child. The Eastern mystical views were certainly more in harmony with my way of thinking about God than anything I saw in the Abrahamic religions. So naturally I studied it in some depth to see what people were thinking.

Early on I read a lot of books by Allan Watts. Probably ever book he wrote, and that would be a lot. I must have had at least 25 of his books. I enjoyed his views very much, and I was also practicing Yoga at the time.

One of the things that Allan Watts said in one of his books struck me as being so wise that I immediately took his advice. He described a Buddhist monk who was attempting to become "enlightened", and the monk was sitting around meditating, fasting, and trying very hard to become uninvolved with everyday life. He even had a drawing in his book of a Buddhist monk sitting in the lotus position mediating with spider webs connecting between the monk and the monastery walls. The point being that the monk had become so involved with mediation that he basically became a slave to it, and it had become his whole life.

Allan then explained that once we read a book or understand a concept, or mediate on something to sufficiently grasp an understanding of it, we need to free ourselves from it. To remain attached to is it a huge mistake. And that includes becoming attached to something like Buddhism.

Having read and understood 25 of his books, I gave them all away and changed my direction in life. At the time is was a very freeing experience and it was actually a good thing because it led to many great things. Still, I wish I had stuck those books in a box somewhere I'd like to have them today. They would be fun to re-read if only to remind me of my life in the 70's. I had some great times back then.

Anyway, to become burdened by any spiritual philosophy misses the point of Buddhism. Monk's that become dedicated to avoiding life probably miss the point as well.

One thing that Siddhartha taught was to gravitate to what calls to you. And more recently I was watching videos by Deepak Chopra where he too was suggesting that a person should follow what calls to them. It doesn't matter what it is, it could be one of the Abrahamic religions, it could be Hinduism, or some form of Buddhism, or even an atheistic view of life in the form of simply standing in awe of the universe in which we live. The most important thing is to follow what calls to you.

For me, that led me to looking into Wicca, and European Faery Lore. I've found what I was seeking there. And now I'm happy.

Actually I was happy before this, but now I'm happier.

I think true freedom is to simply give yourself permission to embrace whatever feels right for you, whatever it might be. Don't fight against what calls to you because of what other people might think. Just embrace what feels right for you, and that's the answer. Whatever it might be. Including a secular atheistic view of life, if that's what calls to you.

But if that doesn't quite hit the spot, then find out what does.

And when you find what works for you, embrace it with all your heart, mind and spirit, and you'll be home.

That's my "advice".

[ndf8th]

Allan then explained that once we read a book or understand a concept, or mediate on something to sufficiently grasp an understanding of it, we need to free ourselves from it. To remain attached to is it a huge mistake. And that includes becoming attached to something like Buddhism.

I maybe can relate to that approach. But maybe I am too rigid
in my interpretation. To keep the "formula" in the "Four Noble Truth"
seems to me to be the Monk having Cob web all over him.

Why attach to Buddha in such a rigid way that one use words that are
some 2000 years old. I mean read somebody like Einstein from only
75 years back and one realize that it is better to stay at present and
not to be stuck in the time of Buddha.

I apology for taking your text there and making my own interpretation of it.