The Mormon Buddhist

One of my fellow students at Bright Dawn made a great observation today. She said that skepticism is more often than not frowned upon. Whether it be in religion, conversations, relationships, politics, or anything else, skepticism gets a bad rap. I think it gets a bad rap because it is essentially a challenge. You are challenging a person's belief on some level, and that makes them feel threatened. However, from your end, you are just following the first part of the 8-Fold Path: Understanding. You need to ask questions in order to learn, grow, and have a better understanding. In this way, skepticism isn't only healthy, it's essential to becoming the best you that you can be.

There were 3 things that stood out to me in my reading this week. I read this chapter in 2 sittings, and in both sittings these stood out to me: The foundations of Buddhism are the Seals of the Law, Law of Dependent Origin, and the 4 Noble Truths. For something that made such a bold claim as to the foundations of Buddhism, it deserved to be examined. The Seals of the Law Also known as the 4 Dharma Seals, they are said to reflect true Buddhism. Any teaching that has these can be considered part of Buddhism. The 4 seals are as follows: All things are impermanent All existence is suffering All phenomena are empty Enlightenment is peace The first seal, all things are impermanent, is fairly self-explanatory. Anything that is assembled will, sooner or later, come apart. Whether it be a sand castle, a cloud, a person, a planet, or a star, everything will come to an end. The second seal is something that many people have a difficult time understanding. I know I did. However, it is ...