Category: Buddhism

Bowing

Another Buddhist practice is bowing to the Buddha. This is not a slight bow from the waist, but a full prostration. The practitioner’s knees, forearms, and forehead all touch the ground.

Bowing sounds like an easy way to practice Buddhism. Proper bowing, though, requires physical, mental, and spiritual awareness. It is not enough to bow because other people bow, or because you want other people to think well of you because you are devoted.

While you are bowing, your mind can’t wander. You can’t think about getting something to eat as soon as you’re done bowing. You need to focus on bowing, on the Buddha’s teachings, and on the Buddha-nature.

How do you think that bowing in this way could help a student of Buddhism?

The Four Immeasurables

Everyone wants to be happy, but according to Buddhism, there is no such thing as individual happiness. Because all people are interconnected, the happiness of one person depends on the happiness of all people. In order to be happy, all people must develop positive attitudes toward all other people and sentient beings. One way to do this is through the Four Immeasurables.

The Four Immeasurables are four positive states of mind. They are call immeasurable both because they are directed toward an immeasurable number of other beings and because the amount of good karma they create is immeasurable.

The Four Immearusables are loving-kindness, compassion, appreciative joy, and equanimity.

Loving-kindness is the wish that all sentient beings should be happy – not just the people we like, but all people and animals.

Compassion is the wish for all sentient beings to be free from suffering.

Appreciative joy involves rejoicing in the happiness of others, not just our own happiness.

Equanimity calls for regarding all sentient beings as our equals.

How do you think developing the Four Immeasurables can contribute to happiness? Explain.

Bad Habits, Good Habits

The Buddha was a person and not a god. The lesson of his life is that people can live without suffering in a state of happiness. What can a person do to stop his or her suffering?

Like the Buddha, each person has to experiment to find a way to enlightenment. The first step is to identify habits that interfere with happiness and habits that can help lead to enlightenment.

List your own bothersome bad habits. Also list some good habits of yours that might lead to profound happiness.