Buddhist Belief — Why Am I Writing About It?
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” ~~~ Buddha
My name is Ron and even though I live as close as I can to a Buddhist lifestyle, I can’t really lay claim to being a Buddhist. Sure, I understand Buddhist beliefs. I need to have some understanding of these teachings in order to live a Buddhist lifestyle.
Before we embark on my journey into Buddhism, let me tell you why I’ve started this blog and why I feel a need to write about Buddhist Belief.
Many years ago, I grew up as a young boy living on the streets of Detroit. This sounds pretty awful when you look at how the streets are today in large cities, but when I was growing up, it wasn’t as bad as it is these days. The primary reason was that kids didn’t have guns back then like they do now — that is one of the major differences. I was on the streets because I needed to get away from a home where my father believed that kids needed to be beaten regularly, no matter how hard they tried, they were just bad. I was also made to go to work in a bowling alley setting pins when I was eight years old because we needed the money. That was hard work for a little kid. However, there was a good side to that — I learned to earn money very young. That ability helped me to survive the rest of my youthful days and nights as a street kid.
While working there, I got to know other kids my age, and a little older, who were members of some of the local street gangs. I soon learned that if a guy wanted to get along with these gang members, he’d better learn everything there was to learn about how to street fight and he’d also better become a member of one the gangs.
To get to the point, and to keep this blog post from getting too long, I did learn, early in my life, that using violence, (obviously not a Buddhist belief), seemed to be the best way to survive if I needed to live on the streets. By the time I was eleven years old, I was full-time homeless.
This life of violence eventually led to some serious trouble that landed me in the Navy when I was 17 years old. It was a matter of either join the Navy or go to prison when I turned 18. This was during the Korean war. Thankfully, my father signed the papers for me to go into the Navy.
One of the major things I learned while serving in that war was that violence was not the way to solve problems. How I learned that is for another post to this blog later on. For today, the primary point is that near the end of the Korean War I became a pacifist, and began to seek ways to be a more peaceful person and to advocate for peace — all kinds of peace — peace within — peace without — peace in this world — peace for all beings.
The decision to become a pacifist eventually led me to reading some books about Buddhism. Was Buddhism a philosophy? Was it a religion? To this day, I still don’t feel I have an answer to those questions — but I did learn that if you follow Buddhists beliefs and teachings, you have a much better chance of finding inner peace.
“You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection.”
~~~ Buddha
Shanti … (A sanscrit word meaning, “Let there be Peace. Peace, beautiful Peace. Peace within, Peace without. Peace in this world. Peace for all beings.”)
“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”
~~~ Buddha
~~~ Ron
http://www.theleaderinside.com
http://www.wecould2.com
http://www.buddhistbelief.com
Tags: Buddhism, Buddhist Belief, Meditation, Peace