what is sacred to the Buddhist?
831686
Bodhidharma was asked what is the fundamental principle of Buddhism and he said, "Vast Emptiness with nothing Holy in in."  Buddhism is not a religion!  To worship Buddha is a mistake, unless you are bowing to the Buddha inside, your true self.  Just as in other religions, people make the mistake of making the founder a God, thereby rendering his message meaningless, for no mere mortal could possibly emulate it.  So with religious objects like incense sticks, altars, etc.  Nothing sacred there.  What is sacred cannot be the product of man's thought.
822992
Buddhists don't have their own language ! It's a religion ! Most will bow when meeting another person. Sometimes with the palms of the hands together in front of them. It's a sign of respect for the other person.
549862
I am a Buddhist and I meditate instead of praying.\nI was raised a Christian and also pray sometimes.\nNo they do not have a sacred book.\nNo most Buddhists do not pray.\n\nThere are certain rituals the monks do.\nThere are many books, such as the famous The Way of Zen, that talk about meditation and buddhist teachings.\nBut no sacred book and no sacred being.\nBuddha was a great teacher, but was not a godlike figure like Jesus.\nBuddhism teaches taht we must find our own spiritual path through meditation.\nI realized I was a Buddhist only after 20 years of almost daily meditation. No one told me about it.\nI had read a book called The Book of Secrets, written by a famous Swami, when I was 14. It told of various ways of meditating. It started me on my path.
359295
If you are referring to the Eightfold Path in Buddhism, you simply respect the eight rules. This includes:\n\nRight Livelihood (you should not earn your money as a soldier, weapons-dealer, sex trade worker, drug dealer or butcher)\n\nRight Meditation\n\nRight Thought (keeping the mind clear of negative/hateful/intolerant thoughts)\n\nRight Speech (words that are honest, kind, worthy and nurturing)\n\nRight Conduct (do no harm to others)\n\nRight Mindfulness (i.e. awareness)\n\nRight Effort (effort to putting the other parts of the path into action)\n\nRight Concentration
544199
Buddhism\n1. Life means suffering.\n\n2. The origin of suffering is attachment.\n\n3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.\n\n4. The path to the cessation of suffering.
822554
many buddhists consider jesus to have been a bodhisattva, which means a spiritually enlightened being (no bearing on divinity btw) who makes a conscious choice to stay in the living plane in order to help others.
974104
You are both right.  It all depends on whether or not the practitioner is a believer or an atheist.\n\n If the practitioner believes in the Buddhist deities, then Buddhism is his/her religion. But if the practitioner is an atheist, then Buddhism is his/her philosophy.\n\n Its the same with Judaism. It all depends on whether or not the person is a believer or an atheist there too. If the person believes in God, then Judaism is his/her religion. But, if the person is an atheist, then Judaism is his/her culture.
41039
Buddha or the Bodhidharma (sanskrit) or daruma (Japanese) is the enlightened one.\n\nOne who has attained enlightenment, who has broken through the earthly plane and saw things as they really are.
500737
Buddhism is Not a Religion.\n\nhttp://buddhism.kalachakranet.org/buddha.html#1  <<< who is buddha?\n\nBuddhism is a philosophy of life expounded by Gautama Buddha ("Buddha" means "enlightened one"), who lived and taught in northern India in the 6th Century B.C. The Buddha was not a god and the philosophy of Buddhism does not entail any theistic world-view. The teachings of the Buddha are aimed solely to liberate sentient beings from suffering. \nGautama Buddha taught the four noble truths: that there is suffering, that suffering has a cause, that suffering has an end and that there is a path that leads to the end of suffering. He saw that all phenomena in life are impermanent and that our attachment to the idea of substantial and enduring self is an illusion which is the principle cause of suffering. \nFreedom from self liberates the heart from greed hatred and delusion and opens the mind to wisdom and the heart to kindness and compassion. \n\nif you want to gain more insight into buddhism's wisdom, my advice to you is to find a temple or monastry near you, and ask a buddhist master directly. do not be afraid that they may 'recruit' you into buddhism. no obligation, really. you should have the 'look see' attitude. \nfor people who are new to buddhism, this is an advice: TRY TO BE CRITICAL at everything you see and hear, but do not be afraid to open yourself up, and give new ideas the chance to settle in; in other words, avoid accepting things before you have taken time to 'sit on it' (meditate), and also avoid rejecting things before you 'sat on them'. Especially if we grew up in a different religious tradition, our prejudices often go deeper than we think - be aware of your own mind. \nyou must remember that buddhism can't be told or taught. it has to be experienced.
220447
For the Hindu the Shrine is a site hallowed by venerated objects or images:\nIn Hindu homes a collection of pictures or images are kept in the shrine and this is where a Hindu family comes to pray. \n\nFor the Buddhist, the Shrine is a place at which devotion is paid to a venerated person:\nIn Buddhist homes this is a collection of objects that help to remind one of the Buddha and how to live.  It is a place of meditation, not prayer.
938537
Is nothing sacred anymore!
675511
What is Buddhism really all about?\nSimply speaking, this is to avoid harming others and to help them as much as possible. Another way of expressing this is, Abandon negative action; create perfect virtue; subdue your own mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha. By abandoning negative actions (killing, etc.) and destructive motivations (anger, attachment, close-mindedness, etc.), we stop harming ourselves and others. By creating perfect virtue, we develop beneficial attitudes, like impartial love and compassion, and do actions motivated by these thoughts. By subduing our mind, we cut away all false projections, thus making ourselves calm and peaceful by understanding reality.\n\nThe essence of Buddha’s teachings is also contained in the three principles of the path: definite emergence, the dedicated heart and wisdom realizing emptiness. Initially, we seek definitely to emerge from the confusion of our problems and their causes. Then, we see that other people also have problems, and with love and compassion, we dedicate our heart to becoming a Buddha so that we are capable of helping others extensively. In order to do this, we develop the wisdom understanding the real nature of ourselves and other phenomena.\n\nbrief overview:\nhttp://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/pathmaps.htm\n\nbecome enlightened:\nthe Buddhist teaching is one of being enlightened  now rather than doing anything to become enlightened. The idea that you must do something to become enlightened can only come from wrong understanding. Then enlightenment is merely another condition dependent upon something else - so it is not really enlightenment. It is only a perception of enlightenment. However, I am not talking about any kind of perception but about being alert to the way things are. The present moment is what we can actually observe: we can’t observe tomorrow yet, and we can only remember yesterday. But Buddhist practice is very immediate to the here and now, looking at the way things are.\n\nNow how do we do that? Well, first we have to look at our doubts and fears - because we get so attached to our views and opinions that these take us into doubt about what we are doing. Someone might develop a false confidence believing that they are enlightened. But believing that you are enlightened or believing that you are not enlightened are both delusions. What I am pointing to is being enlightened rather than believing in it. And for this, we need to be open to the way things are.\n\nWe start with the way things are as they happen to be right now - such as the breathing of our bodies. What has that to do with Truth, with enlightenment? Does watching my breath mean that I am enlightened? But the more you try to think about it and figure out what it is, the more uncertain and insecure you’ll feel. All we can do in this conventional form is to let go of delusion. That is the practice of the Four Noble Truths and the development of the Eightfold Path.
177842
Define easy? \n\nBuddhism is very easy to enter into. Read about it, learn about it and then accept it. Then all you need to do is  take refuge in the Three Jewels, The Buddha, The Dharma (The teachings) and The Sangha (the community of people practicing the Dharma.) On traditional Refuge affirmations is:\n\n       Until I attain Enlightenment, \n       I take refuge in the Three Jewels; \n       The Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha.\n\nThen you strive to maintain the Five Precepts or Virtues. (a.k.a. Pancasila) these are:\n\nI undertake the precept to refrain from harming living creatures. (Physical, mental or emotional pain) \nI undertake the precept to refrain from taking that which is not given. \nI undertake the precept to refrain from sexual misconduct. (Doing things that cause physical, emotional or mental harm to anyone)\nI undertake the precept to refrain from incorrect speech. (lying, harsh language, slander, idle chit-chat)\nI undertake the precept to refrain from intoxicants which lead to loss of mindfulness \n\nOnce you take these vows, Presto, you are now a Buddhist. You can do this on your own if there are no ordained Buddhist monks in your aria. It would be preferable to find a Buddhist temple of the teachings you have chosen to follow and take the vows there, but that is up to you.\n\nHow much easier does it get? \n\nI hope this helps.
727290
I hold "Love" sacred. Even though I am usually grumpy I think that this quality is the real root of spirituality and when I have a chance to encounter it or practice it I feel that I am connecting with what is truly sacred. I am not talking about romantic love but something deeper and less conditional, such as charitable love or forgiveness.
205405
The essence of Buddhism is not that difficult to state. To understand, now that's another story.\n\nIn short, the essence is Mindfulness and Compassion. \n\nBuddhists believes that all beings are united and are a part of each other, thus the ego is in fact detrimental to our own happiness since if we embrace the ego, we will unintentional hurt others and if we are a part of one another, then we will in fact be hurting ourselves.\n\nBuddhists also believe that compassion is the key to happiness and that the Buddha Mind, that which we must nurture if we wish to become enlightened, is our natural state.\n\nFore more detail, please read on:\n\nThe Basic  teachings are:\n\nThe Four Nobel Truths:\n1) All worldly life is suffering. Causing us to lead an unsatisfactory, disjointed life.\n2) Suffering is caused by the ego. Things such as attachment and desire are rooted in the ego through ignorance.\n3) There is a way to end suffering. \n4) The way to end suffering is found in the Noble Eightfold Path\n\nThe Noble Eightfold Path: (Divided into three categories)\n>Wisdom\n1) Right Understanding - Looking at the world without attachment and desire, without ego.\n2) Right Thought - Keeping the mind on what is at hand and being resolved on renunciation, freedom from ill will, and on harmlessness.\n\n>Ethical Conduct\n3) Right Speech - Abstaining from lying, divisive, abusive and idle chatter.\n4) Right Action - Abstaining from taking life, stealing and improper sexual activities\n5) Right Livelihood - Doing what is right with ones life.\n\n>Concentration or Mental Development\n6) Right Effort - A persistent desire and an matching endeavor to participate in proper activates the are good and just. \n7) Right Mindfulness - Remaining focused on ones actions, speech, thoughts and lively hood. \n8) Right Concentration - by abandoning all selfishness and adopting a heart of compassion, keeping ones mind on what needs to be do including the helping of others.\n\nOn a more spiritual level, Buddhist generally believe in reincarnation, a cycle of birth, death and rebirth. This is called samsara. When we reach enlightenment, this cycle is broken and we are able to move into the next step of existence, Nirvana. \n\nThere are many schools and sects of Buddhism and some very in practice greatly. However, the underlying principals are virtually identical regardless of the school or tradition of Buddhism. \n\nFor more detailed information, please check out the references I have posted bellow.
891936
Peace that lies beyond words but not beyond the capacity and understanding of any interested person.\n\nLack of peace comes from anger, attachment, an un-loving attitude & not understanding how things actually exist. These three "delusions" or exagerated minds are the basis for the unpeace that fills our lives. [ Buddha often encouraged people to examine your experience and test it yourself to see if this is correct.]\n\nA little bit at a time, through morality, boundless love, meditation & study concerning how things actually exist (shunyata) a buddhist "practitioner" learns to expand the tiny bit of peace that everyone actually has, slowly increasing it to fill their whole awareness. As the peace becomes stronger, other people start to feel it too. At some point the peace becomes permenant, and nothing can shake it from the mind. At that point, there is no longer any ability to think, feel or act in a harmful or non-loving manner toward anyone or anything, even including an insect! This is the goal - permanent peace. \n\n\nOdd fact #1:\nBuddhism (alone among the great traditions of the world) has never incited a religious war, even when & where it has been persecuted. \n\nOdd fact#2:\nThere are no Buddhist missionaries. This is a way of life, not a set of beliefs. What Buddha taught - the end of suffering -  happens from the inside. It cannot be imposed from outside. It only works with willed intent & rests in the mind of the practitioner. So there is no point in trying to convert anyone - it is not, in most senses of the word, a "religion".\n\n;-)
1146482
Nope.  Buddhism teaches peace, tolerance, love, and non violence.