What is essential to Buddhism

[ansuchin]

[Demon of Undoing]

This is as I was thinking; at the root is a bad translation. I will read your links momentarily.

If the original is closer to " existential emptiness" or even as the Tao Te Ching says," discontent", then the formulation is indeed inarguable. " Suffering" is a big word.

You are helpful as always.

[Captain Murphy]

I've been dating a Buddhist for the past 6 months, so I thought I could share a few observations. She is very serious about her faith and her mother is something of a 'guru' for lack of a better term. She believes her mother is very close to completing her journey (ie. escaping the cycle of reincarnation). She believes in good spirits and bad spirits that can assist or hinder a person in life (and some of these spirits specialize in certain kinds of tasks), in the concept of karma, that your past lives affect your wellbeing in the present, and that your actions in the current life will determine what will happen to you in the next. She believes that dreams have meaning and can predict the future. She believes that through prayer, one can communicate with the spiritual realm, and that in order for spirits and souls to hear you, you must recite certain words. I have known other Buddhists and have spent time in places where Buddhism is the prevalent faith. I have also known someone who spent a month at Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. FWIW, my girlfriend is Korean.

There is more to Buddhism that is ritual, rote, superstitious, and arbitrary than Westerners caught up in pop-Buddhism would be comfortable acknowledging.

That said, what is at the core of Buddhism? According to my girlfriend it is very simple: personal responsibility. You have created the reality around you. Only you can bring goodness into your life. And you alone are responsible for achieving (or failing to achieve) spiritual salvation. That is the core. Literally everything that happens to you -- your destiny -- is your own creation and responsibility.

[Mr. Perfect]

[Ibrahim]