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Talk: 20100224-Larry_Rosenberg-IMSRC-the_four_noble_truths_a_vehicle_for_self_discovery_part_iii-8336 Leandra Tejedor.jsonw Start_time: 00:37:18 Display_question: Is there a difference between following the Buddha’s path and being a Buddhist? Keyword_search: Buddha, Buddhist, path, CIMC, Judaism, Catholicism, Christianity, religion, affiliation, identity, guide to living, belonging, attachments, views, opnions, Muslim, Korean Question_content: Questioner: Is there a difference between following the Buddha’s path and being a Buddhist? Larry: It’s what you do in your mind, in other words, if you need it. Look, one time at Cambridge Insight Meditation Center, we give talks on Wednesday evenings, and there are a lot of people come sometimes, and at the end of it, somebody asked me, are you a Buddhist? And this was reported back to me. I got quiet for about five minutes. No, I said, half the group got depressed, because they want me to be a Buddhist so they can become a Buddhist, and they can feel like a Buddhist, and feel good about themselves. The other half of the group, thank God we don't have to get into that religion stuff, because they had just broken from Judaism, Catholicism, Christianity, and they were just happy to just learn about something, that took them somewhere. But then when I went…but I went further with it. I said, for me, this is just me. And I don't try to make anyone be like me, certainly not regarding this. For me, it's not an affiliation, and it's not a personal identity. It's a guide to living. Break_line: Now, I've studied the Buddha’s teachings. I've been… studied with many teachers who have kept this teaching alive. I've done my best to practice it, and to share it with people. If you say, well, that makes you a Buddhist, fine, but I don't walk around thinking of myself as a Buddhist. But some people do, and it really is helpful. It gives a person a sense of belonging. But finally, when you see any identity, the Buddha says, the last attachments to go are views, and opinions, like an identity of who you are. It doesn't mean you can't be a Buddhist, but you understand that there's something even deeper than that. There's something deeper than being a Christian, than being a Muslim, than being whatever, because there's something…it’s the source. And then we humans make up all kinds of stories about everything, and we kill each other over it. This is going to that place where it's the same we're drinking from the same water. If we can only get that, and allow people to express that differently, it might be a different world. But we don't. Do you see the difference? So whatever is okay with you, is fine with me. Whereas my Korean teacher put it, you like, I like. Translated into everyday language now, it’s “whatever.” It goes along with, “love ya.” End_time: 00:39:56
