What is Buddhism?

As I start to walk down the path of the Dharma, one thing that I keep stumbling over is how do I define Buddhism, or how I can answer the question "What is Buddhism?" At this early stage in my study of Buddhism this is the answer that I've come to understand.

Buddhism is a way of organizing your mind and changing the way you view the world and life in an attempt to find true happiness, true peace or enlightenment. The Dharma (the Buddha's teachings) provides a framework for us to use in approaching life so that we may be truly happy.

One of the ways that Buddhism is very different from most religions and why some Buddhists don't consider Buddhism to be a "religion" per say is that there is no "God" that is worshiped. The Buddha was a man who attained enlightenment or true happiness, he was not a God. He himself did not want to be worshiped and even instructed his students not to make any statues or images of his likeness because he did not want his followers worshiping him. However, as Buddhism spread across Asia it became mixed with those countries native religions and as a result some schools of Buddhism have adopted deities which are worshiped. However, deity worship is not part of the core structure of Buddhism and in my understanding was not a part of the Buddha's original teachings.

There are two main tenants that all schools of Buddhism share and are what the Buddha stressed in his teachings. Those are The Four Noble Truths and The Eight Fold Path. I will elaborate upon these in further posts.

Several key concepts that are stressed in Buddhism are Loving Kindness, Compassion, Mindfulness, Karma, and the connection of all things or Inter-dependance.

Right now I am most influenced by the Vipassana tradition of Buddhism, and have been listening mainly to dharma talks by Gil Fronsdal. I've done a fair bit of reading on other Buddhist traditions and find them all very facinating, but Mr. Fronsdal's talks have resonated within me the most. Naturally most of my comments about Buddhism at this point in my development will be colored by Mr. Fronsdal's interpretation of Buddhsim.