A Religion ; to Discern or to Follow.?

We as kids learnt lots of societal norms good and bad under the influence of a religion. We evaluated the heaven and hell theory to choose the right thing to do.

When growing up as adults we seek the root of a religion, the theories and the ultimate beyond.

Every religion leads to a moderation. The philosophy every religion based on is “moderation”. 

During Christmas we share gifts with the poor, Ramadan ends with gift giving to the less fortunate. That's because we want to share the happiness as well as the wealth under the spirit of the religion.

In Buddhism, the path which leads to the ultimate nirvana is moderation.

Other than realising the facts people always want to follow, worship and chant. That’s how a religion survived all these generations. The stronger the beliefs the more people want to follow it mostly out of the fear. To avoid the hell or to have a better afterlife.

Hinduism has strong beliefs, It survived through generations. Still most of the beliefs remain same.

The countries and cultures root with the religion. For an example In Sri Lanka, the ancient kingdoms were centered by a buddhist temple. People were devoted to the temple and the religion. To teach them the moderation and to familiarise the less literate with the philosophy, buddhist monks used sermons about heaven,hell and afterlife.

The Buddhism which Lord Buddha’s teachings; that’s more than a religion, it’s a philosophy. It's transparent, questionable and address the wit. Lord Buddha wanted people to realise the truth about suffering, life and existence.

The teachings has the main theme of moderation. Moderation ; only consists of 8 main elements; the middle way

-correct vision  (samma ditthi)

-correct thoughts (samma sankappa)

-correct words (samma vacha)

-correct action (samma kammanta)

-correct livelihood  (samma ajiva)

-correct effort (samma vayama)

-correct conscious (samma sati)

 -correct concentration (samma samadhi)

These 8 noble acts lead to a peaceful daily life and ultimately the enlightenment we’ve all been seeking.

I'm a Buddhist but I’m not a devoted to the temple person as the word sounds. If I categorize the certificate I've got, the most of it will go under the category of language and religion. The philosophy; I honour it and I’m still learning it. I like to learn every religion and the cultures built around it.

One day I’d like to search the history of buddhism and the long way it came. We can’t deny the fact that there is a Hinduism influence to the deep corners of buddhism; what now we call “abhidharma”.

If there’s such influence it means that the two religion may have some basic beliefs. Whether it has included in the teachings of the Buddha or it was added along the way.? The history will reveal it.

Finally a little description about the topic a religion is for worshipers and followers, it doesn't matter they understand the core or not. they merely follow it. 
A philosophy is for the understanding, to discuss and realise the core.

Every religion has a philosophy, the matter is we don't get there.
Through a series of posts my aim is to cover the basics of Buddhism. 
The philosophy which I'm currently learning and the religion I got from the descends.

coming up Part 2;  Click here to read the second post.

Related Posts: How much is Too much..?