英文版《佛教简介》Introduction-to-Buddhism.pdfVIP

Introduction to Buddhism Dr. Martin Verhoeven, a professor at Dharma Realm Buddhist University, introducing Buddhism to college students and young professionals. Table of Contents  Buddhism in America  Looking at the Non-Institutional Perspective of Buddhism  Anyone Can Become a Buddha  Buddha’s Realizations: Our Buddha Nature and Our Attachments  The Focus of Buddhism on Practice  Three Aspects of “Buddha”: Awakened, Awakening, Awaken Others  How the Buddha Got Started: Engaging Reality  The Heart and Core of Buddhism: Do It Yourself Inquiry  Final Dharma?  In Conclusion: Engage the Dharma Buddhism in America Historically, Buddhism in the United States is a new phenomenon. The traditional form of religion in United States, Christianity, is usually divided among theological lines such as Catholic and Protestant. However, Buddhism is usually divided among geographical lines, manifesting in relationship to the indigenous culture. Historically it is introduced to a relatively homogeneous population, China, Japan for Mahayana and the Southeastern Asian like Vietnam and Thailand for Theravada tradition. One of the reasons that Buddhism has been able to move around is because it’s so flexible. It’s able to mix and adapt to different cultures. In China it’s able to mix with Taoism and Confucianism. In Japan it’s able to take Shintoism and mix it together. In India it’s able to mix a lot of things together ever since the beginning. What’s happening in America– well, there could be a whole discussion on this. What we see now is the marketing aspect or the “for sale” aspect – with Buddhism entering the market. My mother is always clipping out ads to send me package programs like a three- day course in instant enlightenment. ‘It’s only $99.99!’ they say.