Engaged, contemporary Buddhism
A lot of traditional Buddhism is no use to me because it is laden with Indian tradition, religious concepts and suggests withdrawing from the world to best practice Buddhism. None of these things are practical here and now for me.
It also seems a bit pointless withdrawing into a monastery. Day to day life is what needs the concepts of Buddhism, not living in a castle half way up a mountain. Life is inherently easier there in many ways because you don’t have to deal with the ignorant masses.
Anyway, back to engaged and contemporary Buddhist practice.
- The five precepts in their positive and negative forms make sense
- Don’t harm – Develop loving kindness
- Don’t steal – Develop generosity
- Don’t lie – Develop truthful communication
- Don’t lust after things – Develop contentment
- Don’t cloud your mind – Develop mindfulness
- The idea of using meditation to increase self awareness and mindfulness makes sense. Insight, positive emotion and mindfulness meditations are useful.
- The idea of one lifetime, co-produced karma makes sense – actions have consequences, not directly or caused by some universal score keeping system but as part of a complex system of causes and effects. This encourages personal responsibility. Your actions have effects, even indirectly. This covers action and inaction equally as neatly.
- The centrality of mindfulness and the “middle way” are key. Neither being consumed by something or repressing it, but rather accepting the present moment and letting it go. Not resigning oneself to the situation, as there is still personal responsibility, but accepting that it has arisen for now.
And that’s it really. No gods, metaphysics, mantras, Sanskrit names or arguing about who said what. It’s almost too simple on paper, but fiendishly difficult in practice.
