Don’t be a Buddhist, be a Buddha
In the same way that Jesus isn’t the founder of Christianity, Siddhartha isn’t the founder of Buddhism.
Siddhartha never wrote scripture, his most devoted disciple, Ananda, did all the writings. Then, people turned Siddhartha’s teachings & created a religion out of it. Just like Christianity & Daoism.
The story behind Siddhartha Guatama, greatly known as the “Buddha”, has been blemished with the fancy desire to make Siddhartha’s life a miracle.
His mother, Maya, conceived him when she dreamed that a white elephant entered her right side... She gave birth to him in a standing position while grasping a tree in a garden... The child emerged from Maya’s right side fully formed and proceeded to take seven steps.
The same way they try to make Jesus look as if his birth was a miracle, by saying the Virgin Mary was conceived by the “Holy Spirit” (or Ghost); Now, they want to make the birth of the “Buddha” a unique divine intervention.
If one is to truly to follow the teachings of Siddhartha, then you can not be a Buddhist of any kind, or any ‘ism’ of religion. For, Siddhartha’s whole goal is to guide you towards enlightenment.
Enlightenment, itself, can be very difficult to understand, especially because you cannot understand it through words; it can only be understood by experience, & the enlightenment experience requires you to be in a state of no-mind. For many people it is very difficult to disidentify from the mind & body, because for most of your life you have been identifying yourself as the mind & body.
So, you see, if you are to be in a state of no-mind then you cannot be anything that is from the mind. You cannot say, “I am a buddhist,” because the moment you say ‘I’ you are already making something up from the mind. However, when a “Guru” says ‘I’, they say it because they have to use words to help point to something in order for people to be guided.
Nevertheless, Siddhartha had a great lesson where he would hold a lotus flower & would stay silent. In this lesson Siddhartha is pointing at the silence because the truth cannot be said in words, the truth is there in the silence. & this is the most difficult task, silencing the mind.
For enlightenment, different people must go about in different paths to reach enlightenment. Not all minds are the same; that is why a zen monk may talk or stay silent, or hit you; it depends on which mind he is working on.
Siddhartha wants you to become enlightened. He does not want you to identify with anything, he wants you to awaken, to be a buddha; & in order for you to awaken you must have a total let go of the ego, of identities, of the mind.
It is said that one day a Zen master was on his deathbed & called his most devoted disciple. He told his disciple, “Before I die, I want you to have this book. I have written all that I know & the greatest secrets towards enlightenment. Take care of this book with great care so others may be awakened.”
The master passed the book to his disciple & as soon as the disciple took hold of the book he through it in the fire that was lit beside the bed. The master sat up & yelled, “What are you doing?!” The disciple fired back, “What are you doing?!” The master sat back on his bed & said, “Good. You are ready.”
Why be a buddhist when you can be a buddha.
