“That’s not very Buddhist of you” or ” You’re not being very Buddhist-like” or “You’re not acting much like a Buddhist.” These are phrases I hear quite often from people who, themselves aren’t Buddhist and know very little about it. More often than not, these are jabs by people who wish to attempt to point out my failings as a Buddhist, their perceived failings of Buddhism in general, or to simply insinuate that I am a hypocrite for calling myself a Buddhist, but not putting it into practice properly by their standards.

What I have found is that in the majority of these cases, people just don’t understand what they are talking about. They don’t know much about the path, my path, and don’t really care. It’s quite possible they just need to feel superior for a moment.

I took great pleasure a while back in quoting and refuting (basically making fun of) a Christian home school ‘textbook’ that tried to take all the religions of the world, sans their own, and explain why they were, at the least, wrong, and at the most, evil. The facts were wrong. The logic was childish at best, and a publisher should really have been ashamed to put out such a laughable piece of whale feces. But this type of thing is a typical source of so much mis-information about world religions comes from.

Just to set the record straight, I agree with what Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse says in his book ‘What Makes You NOT A Buddhist’. There are four basic things (The Four Seals) that you must accept to be a Buddhist. If you accept these four things, you are a Buddhist. If not, you’re not. The rest of what you think does and does not make a Buddhist are just elements that are part of your path. The Four Seals are:

• Impermanence
• Emotions are pain
• Emptiness
• Nirvana is beyond concepts

There are tons of other concepts within Buddhism, but these four are what we might refer to in the modern vernacular as ‘deal breakers’. If you believe that some things are permanent, always and forever, you are not a Buddhist. If you believe that some emotions are simply pleasurable and don’t ultimately lead to pain, you are not a Buddhist. If you believe that some things exist intrinsically, without causes or conditions, you aren’t a Buddhist. And finally, if you believe that Nirvana, the attainment of enlightenment, exists within any specific time or space, then you are not a Buddhist. All the rest is about path.

“But Lans, what about Karma? You talk about that a lot. How can you be a Buddhist and not believe in Karma? Shouldn’t that be on the list?”

Not really. Karma is something that mot Buddhists believe in, and in most cases, they believe because they, themselves have proved it’s existence to their own satisfaction. But can you be a Buddhist and doubt Karma? Absolutely. From my point of view, karma exists, just like gravity exists. You belief, or lack of belief in it changes nothing. Most of my Christian friends believe gravity exists. (Well, all really) But can you be a Christian and not be sure about gravity? Definitely!

Reincarnation/rebirth is another good example. I know several Buddhists who aren’t seeing the whole rebirth thing just yet. Does it make them not a Buddhist? Not at all.

“OK Lans. According to your list, there is nothing that says I can’t believe in God and be a Buddhist. I could even be a…Christian Buddhist! Work your way outta that one, Dharma dork!”

No need. You are perfectly correct. In fact I know a couple of folks who tend to think of themselves as Christian Buddhists, but to actually satisfy this, you have to give in to a couple of stipulations that come right out of our list. First, to be a Buddhist who believes in God, you must concede that God is impermanent. Just like everything else, his state changes. The God he was in year one, is not the same God he was last week, which isn’t the same God as he is today, which won’t be the same God he is tomorrow. This would inevitably lead to him eventually not being recognizable as what a Christian now refers to as God.

You would also have to concede that God doesn’t exist intrinsically. He is composed of other, smaller things and was formed by causes and conditions. Were it not for the smaller things, causes and conditions, he would not be in the form he currently is. If you can concede that, then you can be a Buddhist who believes in God. No problem.

I don’t feel I should speak for Theistic religions, but I would think that most of them would have issue with these concessions, so I think it would be somewhat difficult to be both a Jew/Christian/Muslim/Hindu/etc… and be a Buddhist too, but you never know. Now lets get back to the original point.

Here are some popular misconceptions that people get about what does and does not make you a Buddhist, all of which have been told to me by non-Buddhists.

• You must believe in karma
• You must be a vegetarian/vegan
• You can’t use pesticides
• You must believe in re-birth
• The Buddha was a God
• Buddhists worship Buddha
• Buddhists must meditate
• Buddhists must be pacifists
• Buddhists can’t be boxers/pugilists
• Buddhists can’t serve in the military
• Buddhists must be member of the Democratic party
• All Buddhists are liberals

I can pretty well assure you that all these are wrong, some more than others.  The key is that we, as Buddhists, must remember what it is that makes us Buddhists. We don’t have to defend ourselves to, or even correct those that make these silly claims, but what we must do is not buy into them. And we have to make sure that people who are legitimately interested in Buddhism, understand what is and is not involved.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 10th, 2009 at 7:52 am and is filed under Buddhism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.