Can I Be A Buddhist Without A Buddhist Temple? (quote, believe, philosophy)
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I have learned a lot from Youtube. I was born in Buddhist family, grew up with Buddhist religion or whatever I was told from grand parents, parents. However, I recently have learned and discovered Buddhism is more philosophy, practical living way more than religion. We do not have a temple nearby, but luckily, we have too many lessons from our monks uploaded in Youtube, and reading from many websites in my native language. Buddhists have community in Facebook too with members from around the world and sometimes I see they offer free Buddhist books there.
Buddhism is not a religion. It's teaching. It's a Way for those that want to follow. Has no gods and buddha is simply a name for a progressed human. That's why I normally refer to Him as Lord Siddhartha or Gautama.
You can accomplish EVERYTHING in His teaching by YOUR thinking and meditation, just like He did. No temple or else is needed.
If you are interested in practicing esoteric Buddhism, no temple is necessary. Pick a school (Theravada, Tibetan, Zen, etc) and meditate within their tradition. Meditation is the defining practice, and the basics are remarkably similar in all traditions.
Youtube is an excellent source, as is your local bookstore. Eventually you may want to consult with a teacher, but beginner meditators can go a long way without doing so. There are many, many excellent books, but they are useful mostly for learning basic teachings (e.g., Four Noble Truths, etc) and choosing what tradition to align yourself to. Spending your time reading or watching videos instead of meditating is missing the boat.
I believe the most effective approach to practice Buddhism is to view it as a generic problem solving techniques for life's major and minor psychological issues.
Note his link; https://www.city-data.com/forum/buddh...m-solving.html
In this manner it will prevent one from veering toward Buddhism with heavy emotional attachments like what is happening with believers of other religions.
Once we understand the principle of problem-solving and incorporate the main principles and teachings of Buddhism into it, then it would be effective to practice Buddhism.
As mentioned by others, it is now easy to learn Buddhism from the internet and thus no need for a temple.
Participating in a specialize Buddhist forum would be very helpful.
e.g. Dhamma Wheel - Index page
Enrolling in various short courses [meditation, mindfulness, etc.] by Buddhist organizations would also be helpful.
I got back into my Buddhist practice at the start of the year, starting with a dharma talk from Rodney Smith, who runs the Seattle Insight Meditation Society. One of his main points, which I agree with, is that to have a successful practice, it's best to have a sangha -- that is, a community of fellow Buddhists you can belong to. That's why when you become a Buddhist, you take refuge in three things: the Buddha, the dharma (teachings), and the sangha. They can support you when you feel stuck or frustrated, and they can help you strengthen your own practice.
I know, because I've been an on-again, off-again Buddhist for about 15 years, and I think one of the reasons it's been hard for me to stick with it is I have no Buddhist friends. My wife is supportive of my practice, but she doesn't share it. And it's hard to stay focused when you have no support network.
That said, finding an online community of people you can talk to and work with is better than nothing at all. You might want to try a couple of message boards I know of: http://dharmawheel.net and http://newbuddhist.com. The latter one is a great place to ask questions and learn.
Looking at your location, I wonder if this group may be near you. Insight Meditation groups make for great communities where you can meditate and listen to inspiring dharma talks.
Some great books for beginners, off the top of my head:
Buddhism Plain and Simple, by Steve Hagen
What the Buddha Taught, by Walpola Rahula
The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching, by Thich Nhat Hanh
Mindfulness in Plain English, by Bhante Henepola Gunaratana
Buddha, by Karen Armstrong
Steve Hagen's book is my favorite. It helped illuminate a lot of things for me when I was learning.
All this said, if you can't find a Buddhist group to meet with, it's not the end of the world. When you get down to it, Buddhism is about (in the Buddha's own words) embracing what is good, rejecting what is bad, and purifying the mind. Do your best to focus on the Four Noble Truths and the Eightfold Path, keep to the Five Precepts, and reject the Three Poisons (hatred, greed, and ignorance). Where you go beyond that is largely a matter of what "style" of Buddhism feels most comfortable to you. Buddhism can be approached as a complex religion (as it is in many of the places it's practiced in Asia), or it can be boiled down to a sort of psychology that incorporates meditation (as it's often approached in the West).
I really like the ideas of Buddhism, but where I live there is NO temple to go to.
So can one still be a Buddhist even without a temple?
And can anyone suggest a good book for someone, like myself, who is interested into it, like an introduction to it or DVD??
There are some free courses in Coursera.org about Buddhism, History, Psychology, and Meditation but you really have to dig around in them to find out about things/aspects that you are interested in. Here should be featured a preview of on course of Buddhism and Psychology: https://www.coursera.org/learn/scien...eightfold-path
There are also many free phone or web apps that let you have access to ancient and modern Buddhist literature even fundamentally spiritual writings or quotes.
Most introductions to Buddhism try to incorporate it's outflow from Ancient Indian thought and it's largely recognized founder Siddhartha Gautama, but I believe both aspects are ultimately extrinsic to what Buddhism really is or should be. Getting down to the meat of the timeless philosophies, present ideals, and practice has always been my favorite. The idea is often basically just goodness without the emotional/abusive trappings that other religions offer up, maintaining a moderate and wise agnosticism about unperceivable possibilities, and guarding against unnecessary/harmful desires, views, etc.
Last edited by LuminousTruth; 02-13-2016 at 02:06 AM..
I really like the ideas of Buddhism, but where I live there is NO temple to go to.
So can one still be a Buddhist even without a temple?
And can anyone suggest a good book for someone, like myself, who is interested into it, like an introduction to it or DVD??
Yes. Buddhism doesn't need a temple. It doesn't even need books except for learning (in fact there's a Buddhist, Zen I think, story about a disciple burning the scripture). Read up about itinerant monks in Buddhism.
Basically, you just need to practice the truth of your religion outside. The Christians have a similar saying "the day is coming when true worshippers will worship neither in the temple nor in the mountains but in spirit and in truth." The main advantage of a temple is that you can gather with other people. But like yesterday, I just read the scripture, and then went out to celebrate Valentine's day.
Yes, the true Temple is the Temple of the Minds. The true Buddhism is the Buddhism of Full Life.
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