Buddhist or not - poll

General forum on the teachings of all schools of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism. Topics specific to one school are best posted in the appropriate sub-forum.

Am I a Buddhist?

I consider myself a Buddhist.
62
78%
I do not consider myself a Buddhist.
17
22%
 
Total votes: 79

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Josef
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Josef »

I'm a person.
"All phenomena of samsara depend on the mind, so when the essence of mind is purified, samsara is purified. Since the phenomena of nirvana depend on the pristine consciousness of vidyā, because one remains in the immediacy of vidyā, buddhahood arises on its own. All critical points are summarized with those two." - Longchenpa
Rakz
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Rakz »

Buddhist.
Lhasa
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Lhasa »

Kunga Lhadzom wrote:I'm a nudist
:rolling:
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Adamantine
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Adamantine »

buddhist, no way to deny it.
Contentment is the ultimate wealth;
Detachment is the final happiness. ~Sri Saraha
uan
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by uan »

Kunga Lhadzom wrote:I'm a nudist
+1

there should be a like button :twothumbsup:
Huseng
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Huseng »

People tend to identify me as a Buddhist as well. Even if I don't speak to them about it, a lot of my friends in the past just noted, "Jeff is Buddhist."
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Sönam
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Sönam »

I like Buddhists, Dalai Lama is very nice and Nobel Price. I did'nt vote ... I never vote.

Sönam
By understanding everything you perceive from the perspective of the view, you are freed from the constraints of philosophical beliefs.
By understanding that any and all mental activity is meditation, you are freed from arbitrary divisions between formal sessions and postmeditation activity.
- Longchen Rabjam -
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Josef
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Josef »

Huseng wrote:People tend to identify me as a Buddhist as well. Even if I don't speak to them about it, a lot of my friends in the past just noted, "Jeff is Buddhist."
This has been my experience for many years as well.
I no longer use the label because I don't really find it useful and it doesn't describe me accurately at this point anyhow.
"All phenomena of samsara depend on the mind, so when the essence of mind is purified, samsara is purified. Since the phenomena of nirvana depend on the pristine consciousness of vidyā, because one remains in the immediacy of vidyā, buddhahood arises on its own. All critical points are summarized with those two." - Longchenpa
DGA
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by DGA »

The label "Buddhist" is useful for others, particularly people close to me, in some situations. For instance, when I'm preparing for retreat, it's easier to deal with workplace bureaucracy if my boss (who has been very good to me) can say to curious coworkers or others who may not get it, "He's just doing the Buddhist thing for a couple weeks." Expedient.
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Sönam
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Sönam »

I've heard that in certain countries (some states in US?) you can not declare officially that you are Buddhist if you have no asiatic physical origin ...

Sönam
By understanding everything you perceive from the perspective of the view, you are freed from the constraints of philosophical beliefs.
By understanding that any and all mental activity is meditation, you are freed from arbitrary divisions between formal sessions and postmeditation activity.
- Longchen Rabjam -
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Grigoris
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Grigoris »

Josef wrote:I'm a person.
Welcome to the club!
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
rai
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by rai »

gregkavarnos wrote:
Josef wrote:I'm a person.
Welcome to the club!
:rolling:
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conebeckham
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by conebeckham »

Sönam wrote:I've heard that in certain countries (some states in US?) you can not declare officially that you are Buddhist if you have no asiatic physical origin ...

Sönam
I really doubt that, Sonam. Any specific examples?
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
DGA
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by DGA »

I attended a Buddhist funeral service for a person who wasn't Asian at Arlington National Cemetery, which is about as official as you can get in the USandA.

:shrug:
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Josef
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Josef »

gregkavarnos wrote:
Josef wrote:I'm a person.
Welcome to the club!
We love clubs.
"All phenomena of samsara depend on the mind, so when the essence of mind is purified, samsara is purified. Since the phenomena of nirvana depend on the pristine consciousness of vidyā, because one remains in the immediacy of vidyā, buddhahood arises on its own. All critical points are summarized with those two." - Longchenpa
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kalden yungdrung
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by kalden yungdrung »

Tashi delek,

Well i am fine on this Buddhist Forum and thought it would be for Buddhists.

In Bon we have a Buddha who did teached Dzogchen. Because there is spoken of a Buddha, their followers are called Buddhists, without to fall in speculations. They want to become a Buddha, the followers of Buddhas and are called therefore Buddhists.

So that did formed for me the reason to call myself a (Bon) Buddhist.

Many best wishes to the Buddhist Sangha at Dharma Wheel as well the non Buddhist Sangha at Dharma Wheel, or the people for whom Buddhism is not so important for maintaining their point of view. :namaste:

Mutsog Marro
KY
The best meditation is no meditation
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明安 Myoan
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by 明安 Myoan »

I don't call myself a Buddhist, but others do. I'm a "dude fumbling along trying to do his best"-ist :twothumbsup:

C'mon, where's the checkbox for the Middle Way?
Namu Amida Butsu
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Quiet Heart
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Quiet Heart »

:smile:
I didn't vote in the poll because there is no....Well, let me think about that, first....answer to choose.
By which I mean I do consider myself a buddhist...no capital letter on buddhist you see....but I'm not a Buddhist....capital letter there.
Being a (capital letter) Buddhist in my mind means joining an organized formal Buddhist group, but being a (no capital letter) buddhist means not joining such a group.
That's what I am, a buddhist....not associated with any sangha, association, affiliation, etc.
That's why, for me, that poll has no good answer.
:smile:
Shame on you Shakyamuni for setting the precedent of leaving home.
Did you think it was not there--
in your wife's lovely face
in your baby's laughter?
Did you think you had to go elsewhere (simply) to find it?
from - Judyth Collin
The Layman's Lament
From What Book, 1998, p. 52
Edited by Gary Gach
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Bonsai Doug
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Bonsai Doug »

Old joke:

What's the difference between a Buddhist and a non-Buddhist?

The non-Buddhist thinks there's a difference. :namaste:
Now having obtained a precious human body,
I do not have the luxury of remaining on a distracted path.

~ Tibetan Book of the Dead
Nicholas Weeks
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Re: Buddhist or not - poll

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Quiet Heart wrote::smile:
I didn't vote in the poll because there is no....Well, let me think about that, first....answer to choose.
By which I mean I do consider myself a buddhist...no capital letter on buddhist you see....but I'm not a Buddhist....capital letter there.
Being a (capital letter) Buddhist in my mind means joining an organized formal Buddhist group, but being a (no capital letter) buddhist means not joining such a group.
That's what I am, a buddhist....not associated with any sangha, association, affiliation, etc.
That's why, for me, that poll has no good answer.
:smile:
Your considered view is based on capitalization :shrug: - which is one way to look at it. Although I doubt there is such a word as 'buddhist' in any dictionary with a meaning differing from Buddhist.

It is interesting the hoops people jump through to maintain distance from a group or maybe it is to strengthen one's individuality - beats me.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
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