Buddhism

A lot of people here aren't the best guides for something as deep as spirituality. You can get the wrong impressions and things will get complex and upsetting.
Stick to your own heart and mind.
If something doesn't feel right to you, it's not. Trust in yourself more than others. It may be a long journey if this is your life's quest to understand more than the average human.

Buddhism is easy. Don't be attached to anything and you'll free yourself from all suffering. This, in most schools of buddhism is dive through mediating and chanting scriptures.

The really interesting thing about Buddhism (at least, some branches of it) is that it's not really a religion, but a spiritual philosophy for life. Believe it or not, I've known many Christian Buddhists and Jewish Buddhists.

The bottom line of Buddhism is to detach yourself from earthly things and you'll find enlightenment. In the Bible, Christ says the same thing, only he, himself, says HE is the "light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12) Elsewhere in the Gospels, a rich man asks Christ how to enter the Kingdom of God, and Jesus says he must "sell all his possessions and follow [Jesus."

That verse can be literal or figurative - will the rich be excluded from the Kingdom? No. Will those who love and lust after money lose this "light?" Yes.

Even some secular/Wicca/pagan hippie folks apply the detachment from earthly possessions.

Of course, taken by itself, Buddhism can be just fine in and of itself. Try reseaching Siddhartha Guatama himself. It's a good starting point.

Buddhism was notable in that it forged an objective, scientific approach to "enlightenment" which is really just the transcendence of human suffering. The Eightfold Path is a set of guidelines that are not at all absolute but more along the lines of an educated suggestion for what is valuable in one's search for transcendence.

This dismissal of dogmatism and the formulation of the "Middle Way" was important for the time because the spiritual leaders in Buddha's day preached a very strict ascetic life where simple necessities like eating were considered impure behaviors. Buddha's contemporaries practiced austere self-mortification which, according to Buddhism, has no scientific benefit.

So basically, Buddha says to not concern yourself with sensual pleasures because that attachment will only cause you suffering, however please eat something when you're hungry and rest when you are tired (I'm sure his stance on things like sex and masturbation were pretty lax as well as long as it didn't become an obsession)

I'm not an expert at all, take what I say with a grain of salt. This is just what I've gathered from reading up on it.

>>18516142

Read/listen to Alan Watts.

If you'd like to actually practice, attend a 10-day vipassana course.

>>18516142
There's sooooo many schools and sects of Buddhism, but really they're all just supplemental material to help further digress upon the core teachings.

>>18516549
I'd recommend what this anon suggested and start with Watts, he's a great speaker and got me into eastern mysticism as a whole, although his field is more of Zen than Buddhism. Of course there's the actual sutras themselves that contain the words of the Buddha, the teachings of the Dalai Lama, countless Buddhist monks, and even Wikipedia articles that explain the topics. If you're not familiar with any sort of esoteric doctrines or anything outside of Abrahamic religions, then it may be confusing at first but you'll grasp it as you study. Also make sure to actually MEDITATE if you really want to understand the teachings thoroughly, it's the difference between reading how to fix a car and actually fixing a car yourself.

To try to briefly explain the entirety of buddhism simply:

We have been born into in a cyclic world of suffering (Saṃsāra) due to our ignorance of reality. Life is fundamentally not satisfying and filled with suffering (Dukkha). The nature of everything is that of emptiness (Śūnyatā). That is to say that everything is temporary and nothing is permanent. Once we attach ourself to these temporary objects of the world, believing them to be permanent, suffering arises. We becomes sad when loved ones die, when we lose our wordly possessions, we fear bodily death, etc. Once we die we'll be once again reincarnated into Saṃsāra based upon our karma, and thus we are trapped in a predicament of endless suffering. However, there is a way out of this cycle. By following the Noble Eightfold Path and realizing the Four Noble Truths we are able to eventually obtain liberation (Nirvana) through eradicating all ignorance.

I skipped over the Anatta doctrine, but that ties in with Śūnyatā ultimately. Of course I'm no master of Buddhism and that's a really short summary, so explore

>>18516369
Sounds like being attached to non-attachment

>>18516992
You begin to get it.

>>18516142

Buddhism is a very big, old religion, with lots of branches that have their unique scriptures, philosophy and practices. It takes a long time to get a comprehensive view of the bigger picture. You have to start somewhere.

Many things aren't what they seem. Most apparent doctrines and ideas are just the starting point for deeper investigation.

It's best to start by looking into what the Buddha said (Pali canon), and then compare what people thought about it.

But most importantly, buddhism is intended as a companion to your meditation practice, and cannot be properly understood without it

>>18516549
Alan Watts and Vipassana have very little to do with Buddhism

Take everything in moderation, even moderation.