Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

August 23, 2016 By Admin

An Alternative to Buddhism as Religion

Alternative to Buddhism as Religion   – Simply put and Clearly Stated

In case you become too serious about yourself in this life, note that there are reportedly 400 trillion subatomic vibrations every second. So be humble! And being humble is something I have had to do regarding my experience with Zen Buddhism as my lovebuddhism_mindfulhappinessreligion. I love Buddhism; I love Zen; I love my Sangha; I respect my teachers; and, I had great difficulty accepting Zen Buddhism as my religion. I have no clear understanding for this other than the strict hierarchy and rich ceremonies reminded my very much of my Catholic upbringing. I also decided against that approach as my religion.

In a distant Taoist way, I feel more “religious” when meditating in the woods – but this deep, personal experience feels more like sacred spirituality to me.  Recently, M. Mcleod in Shambhala Sun wrote about the spiritual value of Buddhism.

Much of this post re-frames and adds to many of his comments.

Fifteen Reasons Why Spiritual Buddhism May be Very Good for YOU:

  1. We do not have to deal with the issue of whether or not there is a God or gods.
  2. We can focus on being a good person and living a good life without greed, envy, hatred, or anger.
  3. We can recognize that there is nothing especially religious about our waking up into a more aware state.
  4. We can accept Buddhist mind training or other forms of mind training as a way to become awake.
  5. We do spiritual Buddhism solely for our self and by our self. There are teachers and the sangha, but YOU do it alone through personal experience in long-term regular practice. It is an internal ting!
  6. We may use our Buddhist spirituality to wake up in experiencing non-material higher reality – a form of ultimate reality.
  7. We never need to simply have faith in Buddhism (unlike many other major religions). The Buddha noted that as we experience Buddhist practices and experiment with it for our self, keep it ONLY if it is working for you.  If it does not help, stop doing it.
  8. We can use skillful means in Buddhist practice, spirituality, and – perhaps even more important – in how we live our life (emotionally regulated, kind, compassionate, awake, present-minded, happy).
  9. We can practice Buddhist spirituality without connection with systems, programs, or institutions.  We are the sole entity of spiritual practice; spirituality is highly personal and internal.
  10. We notice that Buddhist spirituality appears to work for many other people, so why not give it a chance.
  11. We may study various religious doctrines and texts only to find out that many of the key points and recommend/required practices are somewhat similar.  I myself am always amazed at the similarities in what Jesus and Buddha have reportedly “said” to their followers.  There appears to be a spiritual theme in much of it.
  12. We may practice Buddhist spirituality without concern for specific standards and rigidness about “doing it only this way.”  In spiritual practice, the “right way” is the way that works best for the spiritual goals of the person doing it.
  13. We may practice Buddhist spirituality and find our self feeling more closely connected and integrated with others and the earth itself – perhaps even with the universe.
  14. We may come to a realization – a liberation – that Buddhist spiritual practices that are helpful to us represent serious regular practice on a personal level.
  15. We WILL come to understand that Buddhist spiritual practices increase our personal happiness.

For more information refer to Mcleod, M. In  Shambhala Sun (November, 2013), pp. 42-49.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, VermontChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

CLICK HERE  or any image below to Order 

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

MindfulHappiness_Amazon           mindful-happiness_barnes_and_noble

 

Filed Under: Buddhism, Featured, Religion Tagged With: ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, BUDDHISM, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, RELIGION, SHAMBHALA SUN

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

A Tribute to Ram Dass (Richard Alpert) Recently Ram Dass died at his home in Maui. He was 88 years old.  He was born into a well-off Boston family, and enjoyed materialism in his early professional years.  When completing a Ph.D. in Psychology at Stanford University he was still into material things. His spiritual awakening […]

College Students – Mental Health in The US R. Quintiliani, Ph.D., LADC The Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors has released data on the mental health status of American college students.  Two survey between 2016 and 2018 yielded results from as far back as 2014. Here are some selected statistics (rounded): Anxiety 47-61%; […]

Advanced Meditation Practices on Perception As the Sutra story goes, the Buddha instructed Ananda to visit the ailing venerable Girimananda, who was very, very ill.  In an effort to help the ailing man, the Buddha told Ananda to guide him in the Ten Meditation on Perceptions (on sensory input and the objects of mind). According […]

In-Depth Means to Discover and Be Your True Self Henry David Thoreau reminded us that it is not what you look at, but it is what you see that matters. How do you SEE yourself?  John Muir reminded us that the sun shines in us as well as in our souls. Do you find “the […]

Tibetan Tantric Meditation on Selflessness Mahamudra meditations tend to unify emptiness and bliss, and represent many core principles of Tibetan Buddhism. Nagarjuna’s text on The Middle Way played an important and influential role in these practices. Selflessness of persons and selflessness of phenomena are highly represented in noted meditation practices. Therefore,, this can be considered […]

Human Beings Have Trouble BEING Human – Some Sound Advice from Dr Anthony Quintiliani The world today appears to be even more destructive than ever before in human history.  However, historians and violence researchers inform us that we as average persons are safer today than we were in the past.  Finger-tip access to world-wide media […]

The Nine Bow Ritual for Those You Respect Deeply The Nine Bow Ritual is a simple practice of deep respect.  Think of a person, living or not, for whom you have very strong positive feelings.  If you select a person no longer living, you may be surprised at the emotional impact of this ritual. If […]

Mindful Solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux Earth Protectors The Standing Rock Sioux earth protectors are fighting earth destruction, environmental degradation, oil profiteering, and corporate greed.  Yes, I suppose finding huge reserves of crude helps many people become employed in the Dakotas. This is important. But other earth-wise activity (more solar for example) would be far […]

Basics of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction is, perhaps, one of the major contributions to evidence-based mindfulness therapies. Jon Kabat-Zinn’s development of this model of intervention was both timely and exquisite.  In clinical care of psychological and physical problems, these skills and practices are of utmost importance for improving (according to the most recent […]

Mindful Happiness – Brain on Meditation Reports from various MRI and self-report measure studies support the proposition that your brain changes (neuronal plasticity) when you practice meditation on a regular (daily) basis.   The same is likely true when you practice yoga on a regular basis. Here are some noted changes in brain functioning that […]

Intervention Skills to Calm Your Anxiety It is estimated that approximately 40,000,000 American suffer from an anxiety disorders, especially generalize anxiety and panic disorder. Sometimes general “talk therapy” fails to help improve your condition; you may need cognitive-behavioral therapy with research-based mindfulness skills or dialectical behavior therapy.  CBT, MBSR, ACT and DBT are the evidence-based, […]

Mindfulness Skills and Psychotherapy Outcomes There are at least ten good reasons why mindfulness training and regular practice may improve psychotherapy outcomes. These reasons assume the training is presented by a well-trained clinician-mindfulness practitioner. Of course improved outcomes also depend upon the client’s motivation and energy to actually practice mindfulness skills on a regular basis. […]

Loving Kindness Meditation from The Buddha Loving Kindness Meditation (hereafter LKM) is, perhaps, one of the most popular meditation practices in the world. What many practitioners do not know is that one form of it came directly from The Buddha. Along with LKM wisdom we also are guided by the enlightened words of The Dalai […]

Mindfulness, Movement, and Meditation Practices Meditation Master Thich Nhat Hanh offers some of the most helpful mindfulness, movement, and meditation instructions available today.  His themes here are about reducing your suffering, increasing your satisfactions, and expanding your happiness as a result. Please do not note that “I do not have time to do these things!” […]

More on Mindful Breathing Whole-Heart Breathing – I have modified and expanded this great process from Thich Nhat Hanh.  If comfortable close your eyes and simply breathe calming and deeply for a few breaths. Add you personal half smile and allow the soothing (sometimes very subtle) sensation to spread all over your face.  Do not […]

Core Elements in Clinical Supervision In addition to what supervisors bring into group supervision and clinical training, the list below will be used for discussion about YOUR supervisory role. The order of content below is generally random. The content noted applies to clinical supervision; it could also apply to doing effective therapy. The skills and […]

Advanced Meditations – Middle Way -Wisdom Path Between Extremes These meditation practices are advanced, and combine complex ideas from Nagarjuna (Indian Master), T’ong-Kha-Pa (Tibetan Master), and The 14th Dalai Lama (Tenzin Gyatso).  In keeping with the mixed secular nature of my meditation center, I have decided to present these complex ideas with several of my […]

Emptiness – Meditation Practice The Brahma-Viharas (higher abodes) include four powerful meditation practices ( Loving Kindness/Maitri or Metta; Compassion/Karuna; Sympathetic Joy/Mudita; and, Equanimity/Upekkha) that involve boundless radiation outwardly all the way into the infinite universe. These boundless or infinite space meditations, working with deep absorption and projecting kindness outwardly, may lead to positive changes. Experienced […]

Our Brains React to Worry According to research by The American Psychological Association in 2015, some of the core sources of severe stress reaction for Americans are: financial problems, job-related problems, family problems, and health problems.  Our lives are complete only with joy/happiness, suffering and boredom – sometimes referred to as pleasant, unpleasant and neutral […]

What Consciousness Really Is Considering that we have been to the moon and back, and more recently surveyed important moons of Saturn, science is still a very long way from understanding how the human brain works – and even further away from having a clear, agreed-upon interpretation of human consciousness.  Consciousness is the “stuff” of […]

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness