I've been doing martial arts since I was 7 so I've always had a big interest in Eastern culture and religion. I've done readings on most of the influential Eastern philosophies and I've always been intrigued by Buddhism. I can't very well up and change religions (so much for faith, huh?) but I would like to incorporate Buddhist teachings into my life and see where I'll go from there.

This summer I hope to be working away from civilization for 4 months, which I figure is the perfect opportunity to figure out what I want, maybe I'll chose to devote myself to Buddhism, who knows.

In the mean time, any Buddhists or anyone knowledgeable in eastern religions, please share with me what you think.

You might disagree with this, but Christianity is Buddhism, Buddhism is Taoism, Taoism is Shintoism, Shintoism is Hinduism, Hinduism is Islam, Islam is Judaism, Judaism is Pantheism, Pantheism is Christianity.

They all teach the same thing: Love life...all of it. Even the shit you think is wrong or sick...love it. Love everything...the murderer to the saint, love it all. Birth to death, love it all. Have some love and you're gravy.

You might disagree with this, but Christianity is Buddhism, Buddhism is Taoism, Taoism is Shintoism, Shintoism is Hinduism, Hinduism is Islam, Islam is Judaism, Judaism is Pantheism, Pantheism is Christianity.

They all teach the same thing: Love life...all of it. Even the shit you think is wrong or sick...love it. Love everything...the murderer to the saint, love it all. Birth to death, love it all. Have some love and you're gravy.

That's either the most profound or the most glib interpretation I've ever heard, and it doesn't really strike me as profound...

http://sacred-texts.com/bud/

so, what kind of martial arts do you practice?

to me, saying you want to explore buddhism is saying two things.

One thing is you'd like to intellectually analyze the teachings, understand them in your mind, follow the "noble path" and the rules and guidelines, to see where it leads you, perhaps to a realization called "enlightenment" that supposedly is the end all highest profound experience one can have. Maybe perhaps by eating no animals and getting right diet and exercise this can happen. If not enlightenment, this certainly will make you feel better, I mean, just look how terrible America is based on it's diet/exercise.

The other thing you're saying is you'd like to explore meditation. Perhaps to lead you to the same place. The difference being this is actually an experiment you must play with and is not intellectually understood. "watch your breath". "visualize". "shamanic drumming". Well, they may be different things to some, but to me, anything geared to completely still the mind is meditation. You could also call it tantra. A good book on meditation techniques is "the book of secrets" by osho. I believed he is a highly realized man with much to offer the world even though he has passed away, his message to me has just been born.

Anyways I've heard of two kinds of enlightenment, sudden, and gradual. I've come to accept that being in a perfect state of meditation for maybe a long amount of hours at a time can push one towards this sudden enlightenment, as opposed to an everyday routine session that maybe will take a month or something. I'm not claiming to be any master, don't take my word for all of it.

I do know that "rhythmic breathing" that is, controlling your breath with your full attention to a rhythm say, your heartbeat, your pulse, a drum, someone else's breath, some other kind of repetitive sound; for a long amount of time, can rest your body and restore energy you may have not felt for YEARS and at the same time keep you concentrated and your mind cannot wander. That to me, is perfect concentration, and extended for a long amount of time, like an entire night will NOT make you tired but make you in a higher state of awareness. If youre going to be alone out there, you could use your pulse or heartbeat, and there is a specific timing the yogis like to use, if you do some research you'll find more. I also put a thread in headshrinkers.

Another good method is stilling the eyes on an object. When the eyes are still there truly is no thought. I have had some strange things happen from doing this a lot though. Things like really zoning into another mushroom-trip like reality when my friends were around even, etc.

Visualization is another one, to keep an object fixed in your mind to keep your thoughts from running the show.

The whole point of meditation is to stay present, and the mind is never present, it is always running in different directions. So whatever method you try, just understand that it's purpose is to make you more aware, alert, and observant of the universe and everything around you. This they say, can bring about higher understanding of who you are and what all of this is.

So to me you can call yourself a religion or say youre into this or that. But when it comes to buddhism, youre talking meditation, and that's something you have to do understand, rather than believe. It's something very profound and extremely difficult to talk about. People think they really understand it and they dont. To keep returning to some heightened awareness one needs to keep practicing or it will go away if you just live in distraction again. Whatever method works to keep you present, go with it, go all the way, for hours at a time, for days at a time, with no expectation, but just to keep your mind absolutely shut out. I dont mean silenced, I mean completely not there, like how you look at the sunset "breathlessly" or how you dance wildly. You could call that meditation too, I guess.