The Mormon Buddhist

Freedom is the basic desire of man. Whether it be in politics, religion, or love, people want the joy that comes with freedom. We lose freedom when we refuse to accept the reality of the situation that we're in. Real freedom is living life as it is, not as how you are attached to how you want it to be. That's not to say that you can't want things, just don't be attached to them. If you're unhappy with a situation, put in the effect and action to change it. Our happiness is our own responsibility. Others can assist in making us happy, but ultimately it's up to us to get the ball rolling. One thing that I've come to learn is what happiness actually is. Many see money as the ultimate sign of happiness. Granted, it brings a level of comfort, but it in no way guarantees happiness, and in many cases it does the opposite. True happiness is doing what you love because you love doing it. If you love being a McDonald's worker and find unparalleled enjoyment in ...

This week's reading was incredibly short since we just read the "Buddhism: The Path of Enlightenment" booklet and the "Buddhist Symbols" pamphlet. I very much enjoyed the booklet. It put things in such simple terms and I loved them. I especially liked the part where it says Buddhism emphasizes: TRUTH rather than GOD MEDITATION rather than PRAYER ENLIGHTENMENT rather than SALVATION UNIVERSAL LIFE rather than INDIVIDUAL SOUL I also love the Lotus analogy, and it has a more personal meaning for my family. My wife was hospitalized 2 times last year for mental health. The hospital's job isn't to help teach you coping skills, its simply to get you stabilized so you can get those coping skills in therapy and medication. After the first time, she thought medication would take care of it all. When the euphoric stage of getting on medication was over, she still didn't have those skills, which resulted in her needing to go back into the hospital. The 2nd tim...

This week we read all of Gyomay Kubose's " American Buddhism: A New Direction ". It was touched on that it is essential for Buddhism to adapt to the culture that it is in. People have different perspectives, and instead of forcing them to change to their perspective, Buddhism morphs to fit theirs. Its almost like the jar and golf ball story . Buddhism fills in the empty spaces. Another thing that really struck me was the idea that Buddhism can help with mental health. Buddhism offers a way to learn how to deal with the harsh realities of life instead of ignore them. The 4 Noble Truths are commonly referred to a medical diagnosis. They looks at symptoms (there is suffering), find the causes (craving), proscribe a remedy, and give the medicine (8-Fold Path). This is something that has helped me enormously. I suffer from depression, and when I finally decided to start getting help, I felt like there were an infinite number of problems in my life, and I decided to list th...

The CTR shield is a symbol for most Mormons growing up. I definitely agree with it's message to "Choose The Right". The 8-fold Path suggests what we should choose the right in. Many Mormons jokingly take it in a more literal sense when they need to randomly choose something, and pick whichever one is at the most right. I thought it would be fun to change it up a bit and make a "CTM" shield, with CTM standing for "Choose The Middle". Buddha's life is a good example of avoiding extremes. he was born in a life of extreme luxury, and then lived a life of extreme asceticism. He eventually came to realize that enlightenment is found in the middle between these 2 great extremes. He would go on to often call his teachings "The Middle Way".

Stephen Batchelor's "Buddhism Without Beliefs" was like trying to take a drink from a fire hose for me. There were SO many concepts that were being given left and right in such eloquent ways I could barely keep up, let alone think of something to write. I wish we had spent more time reading this book so we could examine what we were learning more thoroughly. I'll try my best to explain what I've gleaned though! The concept of thinking of the 4 Noble Truths as a task list rather than a belief is something that has always come natural to me. I frequently refer to my flowchart that I made, and think about how it applies to my situation. How  am I suffering? What  am I craving? By simply asking these question I've already declawed the suffering I have. Its not a formless monster; it has boundaries and limitations and it is defined and recognized. By doing this, you start to let go of the problem. It almost certainly wasn't as big of a deal as you believed it...

In Buddhism there is a concept known as "buddhadhātu" in Sanskrit, which translates to "Buddha-Nature". This is the belief that all humans have the ability to recognize right from wrong. This is almost a universal believe among religions. The Muslims call it "Taqwa", the Chinese call it "Ren", the Quakers call it "Inner Light", the Freemasons represent it with the square and compass, Mormons call it "The Light of Christ", in everyday language we would simply call it "conscience". Some say that we were created by a god with this sense and some say we evolved it for better survival. Regardless of how we got it, we have it now, and that's what matters. Let's focus on this concept in the Buddhist context for now. Buddhists believe that we inherently have the ability to realize their enlightenment. There are many that believe we are naturally enlightened, and over time we lose sight of that. By following our Bud...