Travel tips: Buddhism culture in Asian countries

The Buddhist calendar is currently in the year 2561. Although there is no one collection of Buddhist wisdom, many books have been written by Zen monks,  and spiritual teachers who advocate Gautama’s teachings.  The greatest rules are noted in The Light of Asia and put simply they are: “Right view, right aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right mode of livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right rapture.” (Wadia, 1938; 2000)  Buddhists don't need to convert or accept Buddha as a saviour. The only aim is to “become” by freeing oneself of suffering by through continual seeking of pleasure in sensual but transient things, which feed our consciousness with fiery thoughts. 

Modern day Mindfulness is based on a balanced lifestyle and meditation which are pillars of Buddhism, aiming to raise the self above egoism, delusions and ignorant senses intoxication.  Although, similar to Hinduism, there is a belief in reincarnation until Nirvana is reached, Buddhism does not have the concept of a soul. Buddha believed that when it came to the search of God: We do not know and can never come to know these things. There is no Absolute entity in either the microcosm or macrocosm of our universe that is transcendent. “It was Buddha’s refusal to allow any place for the universal belief in a semi-material Soul in his own System, that is the most striking and perhaps the most original feature of Gautama’s teachings.” (Wadia, 1938; 2000)
 

If ever there was an encompassing philosophy that embraced all of humankind without tales of folklore and hard to believe miracles, this is as close as it gets. “Buddhism demands no implicit faith, and offers no scientific demonstration of its truth. It is a kind of moving drama of the struggle of Truth with Life and of Life with Truth.” (Wadia, 1938; 2000) Buddhism simply believes that ego as the only reality is the root of suffering, and when deeply introspected, the ego is merely an illusion. Reaching blissful Nirvana is to break free of the cause and effect cycle, bringing us to the highest consciousness state which Buddha believed was the natural state of all things. Thus, “Enlightenment is a clear enunciation of the Law of Universal Causation.” (Wadia, 1938; 2000)
 

Western science is currently doing ongoing research on  meditation benefits, and in well practiced gurus, they have detected altered gamma patterns. So, it seems that calming one's mind in a hectic material world can be good for overall well being. However, as beautiful as the philosophy of Buddhism is, and psychologically wise, the idea of complete non-attachment to the physical world cannot be held as an absolute or universal truth. To dettach continually would be a kind of philosophical nihilism.  For all human creation derives from getting involved, innovating and solving many problems of life which many humans suffer from,  

science curing illness as the first example.  But Buddhism can offer relief from monotheistic religions which contradictorily claim that an omnipresent  absolute invented evil and requires human help to conquer it.  So one has to admire  Buddha’s moral grandeur in intellectual enlightenment so long ago, with the idea of achieving ecstatic union with the self, but doing this through annihilation of physical reality does not solve or create solutions for the whole of humanity.  We can however, see the Buddha’s teachings as an incredibly intelligent groundwork towards the idea of a collective consciousness.  

It is interesting to note that the Buddha and Lord Krishna from Hinduism, were both born into royal families. Buddha left his wealth, family, palace and status to wander alone and meditate in a cave before achieving his personal enlightenment. He then went on to share what he had learnt. So, whereas western culture dictates success as going from rags to riches, this eastern philosophy provides us with the opposite. Perhaps this is the attraction among western secular living homo sapiens because it is opposite to our common culture. Buddhism demands no huge sacrifice and yet still embraces and is accessible to all of humanity across any illusory divide, infusing an all-encompassing humanistic spirit.

                                             With thanks to Beliefnet.com