Throughout this book a distinction will be made between Buddha (the life and teachings of Siddhartha Gautama) and Buddhism (the religious institutions that have developed over the past 2,500 years in many different parts of the world). Not all Buddhism is Buddha as these social organizations have migrated and developed over the centuries.

In the West, both Buddha and Buddhism have been an attractive and ever-growing force for both personal growth and social change. You can embrace Buddha without embracing Buddhism. Buddha requires no beliefs, no affiliations and, therefore, no conflict with your own belief system, whether you are devoutly religious or an atheist.

Buddha's teachings are universal, transcending time and culture. If you have a mind, then Buddha is relevant to you. Many of the presentations of Buddhism in the West are more Buddha than Buddhism. For example, you will find mindfulness meditation being taught at major medical centers with no Buddhist context or affiliation.

Are You a Buddhist?

How do you become a Buddhist? What does it mean to be a card-carrying Buddhist? Buddhism represents a great diversity of traditions, so there is no one way to become a Buddhist and perhaps, ironically, no need to become a “Buddhist.” There is a curious situation in America where many teachers teaching Buddhist meditation would not consider themselves “Buddhist,” although they lead lives entirely consistent with the principles and practices of this religion. Buddhism in America has become quite popular and many people might identify themselves as Buddhists.

One prerequisite to identification as a Buddhist would be to take refuge in the Triple Jewel: The Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha. Buddha is not just the historical person of the Buddha, it is what the Buddha represents — the potential for awakening that you have. Taking refuge in Buddha is not idolatry. Buddhists look to the Buddha as a role model, especially in America (although in Asian contexts it can appear that people are really praying to the Buddha as a god by requesting intercessory prayers).

Dharma is the body of teachings that the Buddha taught and also the truths that these teachings point to. Sometimes dharma is translated as “The Way” — the way to live to get beyond suffering.

Sangha is the community of like-minded practitioners on the same path. It is the people you might practice with at a local meditation gathering in your community, such as a Zen temple, and all the people all over the world stretching back in time 2,500 years. Taking refuge is an initiation into an awakened life. It is like getting on a raft that will carry you across the river of samsara (endless suffering).

You can also join a sangha by becoming a monk. Monastic initiation is more involved than lay initiation. Many Americans choose to become a monk or a nun in one of these Asian traditions. To do this, you would have to renounce aspects of your life and take on the monastic vows. In the Zen tradition, you would shave your head and devote yourself to a life of service to your Zen master and your zendo (Zen temple). There is also lay ordination. Initiation into the Triple Jewel is, perhaps, the closest these diverse traditions have to a universal initiation.

For most religions, becoming a member of that religion requires adopting a particular set of beliefs and a corresponding faith in those beliefs. Buddhism is different in this way. There are some core principles that reflect the teachings of the Buddha and you must be on board with these to be considered a “Buddhist,” but these are not articles of faith, like believing in a virgin birth, a creator god, or even an enlightened prophet. They are more practical. Stephen Batchelor suggests there can be “Buddhism without belief” in ideas such as rebirth.

What Makes You Not a Buddhist

Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Rinpoche, author of What Makes You Not a Buddhist, provides four criteria to consider. To be a Buddhist, one must believe in all four of these tenets or seals. These are: 1) all compounded things are impermanent, 2) all emotions are pain, 3) all things have no inherent existence, and 4) nirvana is beyond all concepts.

While these might be considered “beliefs,” each is based on direct experience, the kind of experience that can arise from your practice of meditation. If you meditate, you will notice that things are constantly changing — the quality of your breathing, the energy in your body, and the ceaseless flow of thoughts in your mind. All emotions are pain seems harder to accept; after all, joy is not “painful.”

But this joy won't last (since everything is impermanent) and somewhere in the back of your mind there is the recognition and fear that this experience won't last. Emotions, in this case, might be distinguished from feelings, with emotions being a complex of intense feelings, suffused with thoughts and embedded in a story that eventually has something to do with desire.

“All things have no inherent existence” is the teaching on emptiness, and again is less a belief than an experience that arises in meditation. Nirvana is beyond all concepts can also be experienced in meditation.

So if you like being a Buddhist because of the colorful rituals and the exotic association with Asian cultures, the message of compassion and peace, but don't “get” these four seals, Rinpoche suggests you are not a Buddhist in the important sense of being a Buddhist. In other words, to be a Buddhist is to understand Buddhist psychology — to have a direct experience of what the Buddha discovered and that you can discover if you devote yourself to any of the Buddhist meditation practices.

Devotion

While Westerners may be attracted to the more secular forms and practices of Buddhism, in Asia devotion is a common practice. You may find devotion congenial to your needs or not. In America, the Theravada traditions are the least devotional while the Tibetan practices are the most, with Zen somewhere in between. Buddhism has a long tradition of venerating relics and images of the Buddha, even though he was considered a man and not a god.

In Tibetan Buddhism there is a pantheon of buddhas and bodhisattvas available to respond to prayers. According to Professor Kevin Trainor, the Buddha Amitabha is believed to directly intervene during the process of death and rebirth.

In traditional Buddhist cultures, the line between devotion and metaphor becomes blurred. In the West, you may want to see the Buddha as an exemplar to inspire practice. If you bow to the Buddha at a Zen temple, you are not subjugating yourself to a superior being, but bowing to the divinity that resides within yourself. Buddhists take inspiration from the life and work of the Buddha and also honor the Buddha to accumulate merit.

Devotion also reflects a sense of gratitude for the teachings of the Buddha and the sacrifices he made to bring those teaching to humanity. You can view him in any way that you like, as a role model or a transcendent being. However you regard him, he was one cool dude!