Fist, I wouldn't say that the other religions fall short in any absolute way. It is just that Buddhism provided the perfect match for me and is the path I want to follow myself.
In my case the way I got started was because I was staying in a shared house, and one of the other residents was a lady who was planning to become a Buddhist nun. I found out about Buddhism from her, and it was quite different from what I thought it was like before I met an actual Buddhist. Apart from anything else, for her it was a joyful happy religion, which I had never expected.
Before then I'd already started to think in terms of past and future lives through another friend who was influenced by theosophy I think (Rudolf Steiner's ideas). Which are not really that much like the Buddhist ideas, is more of an "onward and upward" view of rebirth which Buddhists don't have. But it got me thinking.
Before then I'd been Christian and with both parents missionaries when I was born, and my father especially quite an academic in his interests in theology - many books filling the house.
These interested me as a child so I'd read a lot of theology and things like the problem of evil, many things like that - just dissolve away and are not a thing you even think about when you approach the same things as a Buddhist. So that also appealed to me enormously. Lots of things that used to be great puzzles and matter for endless debate were no longer an issue at all.
So - was the basic simplicity of the teaching - though it gets very elaborate if you want it to be, in some ways at least everything is so much simpler and easier to understand. At least I found it so myself. I know that others find Buddhism hard to understand, even incomprehensible, so I'm not saying it is a match for everyone. But for me it just made so much sense of so many things.
And I was very much one for asking questions. I asked the teachers one question after another, on and on, and they came back with detailed answers and things to think about. And never said that I shouldn't ask a particular question or that I just need to rely on faith. So this approach - you have it in theology also - but in Buddhism - there is nothing at all that you are expected to take on faith as a creed.
You need a kind of a faith that there is something in the teaching on non self that is worth investigating or there wouldn't be any point in following the path. And again if you thought there was no possibility of anything else after this lifetime, again would be very hard to be a Buddhist. But - that's more like - if you have firmly made up your mind that this life is all there is, or that the teachings on non self are just plain wrong, you can't be a Buddhist. But if you have an open mind about this, even with a lot of scepticism but feeling they are worth investigating, you can be a Buddhist.
You don't ever need to say "I believe in ...".
So as someone with a a background in science and philosophy again that's enormously appealing. To have a spiritual path that has no creed you have to affirm.
In my case the way I got started was because I was staying in a shared house, and one of the other residents was a lady who was planning to become a Buddhist nun. I found out about Buddhism from her, and it was quite different from what I thought it was like before I met an actual Buddhist. Apart from anything else, for her it was a joyful happy religion, which I had never expected.
Before then I'd already started to think in terms of past and future lives through another friend who was influenced by theosophy I think (Rudolf Steiner's ideas). Which are not really that much like the Buddhist ideas, is more of an "onward and upward" view of rebirth which Buddhists don't have. But it got me thinking.
Before then I'd been Christian and with both parents missionaries when I was born, and my father especially quite an academic in his interests in theology - many books filling the house.
These interested me as a child so I'd read a lot of theology and things like the problem of evil, many things like that - just dissolve away and are not a thing you even think about when you approach the same things as a Buddhist. So that also appealed to me enormously. Lots of things that used to be great puzzles and matter for endless debate were no longer an issue at all.
So - was the basic simplicity of the teaching - though it gets very elaborate if you want it to be, in some ways at least everything is so much simpler and easier to understand. At least I found it so myself. I know that others find Buddhism hard to understand, even incomprehensible, so I'm not saying it is a match for everyone. But for me it just made so much sense of so many things.
And I was very much one for asking questions. I asked the teachers one question after another, on and on, and they came back with detailed answers and things to think about. And never said that I shouldn't ask a particular question or that I just need to rely on faith. So this approach - you have it in theology also - but in Buddhism - there is nothing at all that you are expected to take on faith as a creed.
You need a kind of a faith that there is something in the teaching on non self that is worth investigating or there wouldn't be any point in following the path. And again if you thought there was no possibility of anything else after this lifetime, again would be very hard to be a Buddhist. But - that's more like - if you have firmly made up your mind that this life is all there is, or that the teachings on non self are just plain wrong, you can't be a Buddhist. But if you have an open mind about this, even with a lot of scepticism but feeling they are worth investigating, you can be a Buddhist.
You don't ever need to say "I believe in ...".
So as someone with a a background in science and philosophy again that's enormously appealing. To have a spiritual path that has no creed you have to affirm.
About the Author
Robert Walker
Writer of articles on Mars and Space issues - Software Developer of Tune Smithy, Bounce Metronome etc.Studied at Wolfson College, Oxford
Lives in Isle of Mull
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