What Do People Think Of Buddhists/buddhism?

I dont see anything wrong with it.
I cant stand mainstream religion, like Christianity, Islam, and Judaism
But Buddhism seems to be peaceful, and its more a personal ideology, its not about converting like Christianity and Islam, etc…

I was a practicing Mahayana Buddhist before I became a Christian. I love the philosophies and teachings of mainstream Buddhism, I simply disagree with a few of the doctrines that don’t correlate with my religion. Regardless, the Buddhist religion itself is beautiful.

Buddhism says be empty of self. That’s it. No hope, nothing.
Christianity say be empty of self for the sake of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Great hope.
The difference between Christianity and every other religion is that religion is about how you get to God but Christianity is about how God got to you and He did it by becoming a man and dying for our sins.
There is great evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of his disciples were tortured to death for claiming to have seen him risen from the dead with their own eyes.

We’re alright.
(But the Xians will be miffed when the Rapture comes and *poof*, no more Buddhists!)

I like Buddhists, but reincarnation has as much evidence as ressurection… but at least their philosophies are well-thought out…

well Buddhism is not a religion, it is a philosophy

The Noble Eightfold Path is a wonderful path to follow!

I am not a Buddhist, but I like the Dali Lama because he is a happy guy.

I call myself a Buddhist Christian {{Hugs}}

They seem peaceful. I don’t have a problem with them.

Buddhism makes more sense to me than anything else. It has also changed the way I look at the world and myself, and I have become a much happier person since I began reading about it and implementing aspects of it in my life.
It’s such a beautiful religion, and it brings me a sort of peace that is unparalleled. I’m atheist, but I find myself continually gravitating towards becoming Buddhist. Unfortunately, I live in a very small town, so there are no Buddhists I can talk with about their religion and views on life. Hopefully I will be able to do so once I move away from from.

Umm…like they are very…ummm …”Buddhistic”??!?!?!?! I’m not even sure that’s a word! But as an atheist, what else am I to think of Buddhism?? That it’s oriental?? That’s about it!

I don’t believe you were ever a devout Christian. Maybe a devout Catholic or some other denomination but not Christian. There is a difference.
I Jn 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
(KJV)
The name Buddhism comes from the word “budhi” which means “to wake up.” This philosophy originated in the experience of a man named Siddhata Guatama(Buddha) nearly 2500 years ago in northern India.Buddhism has been compared to the 16th Century Protestant Reformation in that it was an offshoot of Vedantic Hinduism. While there are many forms of Buddhism collectively they are made up of nearly 350 million adherents worldwide (1.8 million in America in 1995 according to the Encyclopedia Britannica 1999 ed.). “Buddhism seems to have arrived in America sometime in the 19th Century. Emerson and Thoreau were touched by it. According to Peter Matthiessen, the first Zen master known in America arrived in the 1890s, and shortly afterward, D. T. Suzuki began a long career of translating texts and writing about Buddhism. Buddhism arrived in this country a second time after a wave of Tibetan lamas (driven out by the Chinese invasion of 1956) arrived in America the 1970s, set up schools and publishing houses, and began teaching on a wide scale.”
While Buddhism teaches morals such as avoiding killing any creature, stealing, adultery, lying, corrupt speech, freed, anger and ignorance it is rooted in the teaching of a man who never claimed to be God (or a god) nor did he claim to be a prophet of God.The question that remains to be answered for 2500 years is “if a man is uncertain of his future can he be trusted with your future?”Buddha was quite uncertain about where he would go when he died and his remains can still be found in Kusinara at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains while in contrast Jesus Christ defeated the grave and can be found in heaven and in your life!
I). Who was Buddha?
Siddhartha Gautama (Gotama) 563 BC-483 BC (debated as to the actual date within 30-40 years)
Buddha was son of Suddhodana a ruler of a district in modern day Nepal. Suddhodana raised Buddha to be a monarch one day.
At age 16 Buddha married Bhaddakaccanna (Yasodara)
At age 29 he saw the “Four Signs” an old man, a sick man, a dead man, and a beggar.This led to his unsatisfaction of life and so he abandoned his wife and son (Rahula) to find the answer to life.
Age 35 sitting under a Bodhi (Bo) tree meditating Buddha experienced the highest degree of “God-consciousness” or called “Nirvana”.He was thereafter known as the “Enlightened One”
Buddha made his 1st proclamation in Isipatana (Near modern Benares north of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh state, northern India,). It was here that he proclaimed the beginning of the “Wheel of Truth”. This was Buddha’s “dharma” (dhamma) or his teaching of the “basic law which upholds the universe”.
Buddha’s teachings were passed orally for nearly 300 years prior to their recording and these were not collected until the 1st century BC (the Pali Cannon).
II). What does Buddhism teach?
A). Buddha’s 3 Basic Laws and 4 Noble Truths
3 Basic Laws (Signata)- these are declared to be characteristic of all compounded things.
ØImpermanence (anicca)- everything changes.Nothing is permanent.
ØUnsatisfactoriness (dukkha)- there is no goodness or beauty.
ØInsubstantiality (anatta)- there is no permanent essence, self or soul (in contrast to the Hindu concept of the soul “atman.”
4 Noble Truths- these are the key to human perfection.
Ø1). There is pain and suffering in life. To exist means there will be suffering, birth is painful and so is death
Ø2). Suffering is caused by desire, craving or lust.
Ø3). Freedom from suffering comes when a person rids himself of all desires. “Enlightened people do not cease to experience the pain of existence. They only stop creating illusions that amplify that pain and cause new suffering”
Ø4). The way out of suffering is through the 8-fold Path.This path is adesigned to develop habits that release one from the suffering caused by ignorance and craving.
The 8 fold path is:
Right Views
Right Intentions
Right Speech
Right Behavior
Right Occupation
Right Effort
Right Contemplation
Right Meditation
This concept of salvation is simply “works-salvation” contrary to “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9 KJV). On Buddha’s deathbed his followers asked who they should follow next and he replied “Be ye a lamp (or island) unto yourselves; work out your own salvation with diligence.”
B). Karma, Samsara and Nirvana
Karma refers to the law of cause and effect in a person’s life.This concept was originated in Hinduism and yet Buddha altered his idea of Karma in that you are what you are in the next life based on what you do in this life until you reach the state of Nirvana breaking the cycle of birth and rebirth.Hinduism supports a caste system in that you cannot progress from one rank to the next.
Samsara is the idea that only feelings, impressions, and the karma that is passed on goes through the birth and rebirth cycle.Buddha did not believe in the soul or permanence thus there is no self to carry into the cycle of life. The new life is similar, but not the same person.
Nirvana is the “blowing out” of existence. It is an eternal state of being where karma and the life cycle stop.It is a place where desire and individual consciousness ends.Buddha described it as “a condition, where there is neither earth nor water, neither air nor light, neither limitless space, nor limitless time, neither any kind of being, neither ideation nor non-ideation, neither this world nor that world. There is neither arising nor passing-away, nor dying, neither caused nor effect, neither change nor standstill.”(Taylor and Offner, The World’s Religions, GrandRapids: InterVarsity, 1975, p177).
C). Meditation and Yoga
The regular practice of meditation is used to cultivate calm and tranquility and to cultivate insight.The “lotus position” is used which is the classic yoga stance and begins with emphasis on concentration in breathing, then body, then mind through the 3 Basic Laws and the 1st two parts of the 8-fold path.
III). What Doesn’t Buddhism Teach?
ØBuddha was not certain of his or your future.
“These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.” (I Jn 5:13 KJV)
ØBuddha did not teach a personal God.
“and ye shall bear the sins of your idols: and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.” (Ezek 23:49 KJV)
ØBuddha always said “come and see.
rather than belief by faith, however, when he died no one could “come and see” but had to put their faith in him.Jesus came and said to believe by faith and then He rose from the dead for all to “come and see”!
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:” (Rom 5:1 KJV)