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i think i have a misconception about buddhism
can you be buddhist without being a monk? correct me if i am wrong but buddhism is about letting go of all belongings/attachments/wants
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If everybody who was a Buddhist was a "monk" then the term "monk" in Buddhism wouldn't exist because there would be no specialty to it.
No you don't have to be.
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No, Buddhism isn't about giving up everything.
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Buddhists generally follow Buddha, and his teachings.
The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism:
1- Life is full of suffering
2- Suffering is caused by the desire ot temporary worldly pleasures
3- Suffering can be ended (by ending the desires)
4- End the desires by following the Eightfold Path
This is what Buddha taught. So true Buddhists would technically believe that. But then, there are people who consider themselves "Buddhist", and aren't true to Buddha's teachings.
You can be Buddhist without being a monk.
To be truly Buddhist, and true to Buddha's teachings, you would follow the Four Noble Truths and rid yourself of desires to reach a sort of enlightenment.
Many people would probably consider themselves Buddhist, but still don't follow these teachings. It all depends on your conception of Buddha's teachings.
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Buddhism is a religion....like Catholicism is a religion. If you rephrased your question to Catholics and asked...can you be catholic without being a nun or a priest...and the answer is yes. Monks, like priests and nuns, live very simple lives with the bare necessity. I had a Tibetan Buddhist teacher who was raised Mormon and converted and was my weekly meditation teacher here in SLC, and she owned a house, had a family, had things...but yes, they teach not to be so attached to your belongings. At your local library, checkout cds by Pema Chodron, Jack Kornfield, Jon Kabat or Thich Nhat Hanh (a few Buddhists that come to mind)...to give you a clearer picture of Buddhism.
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Yes you can be a Buddhist without being a monk.
you can be a monastic , monk or nun.
you can be a lay practitioner, just like any other religion
and you can be semi- monastic as well.
While Buddhism is about letting go of attatchment, there is more to it than that, you can have many many things, but not be attatched to them.
At the root of human misery, Buddhism sees three destructive impulses: greed, anger and ignorance, which it terms the "three poisons." These are the essence of all the delusions and negative workings of life that impede the realization of our full potential for happiness and creativity.
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Greetings,
There are many more lay practitioners than there are monastics. Monasticism is not a requirement, and in many ways can be detrimental to one's path.
Letting go should not be taken in such a literal fashion. One can have possessions but not necessarily be attached to them. Letting go refers to not allowing material goods define who you are, which many people do without realization. For instance, if someone broke into your home and stole your property - you would most likely be highly upset if they stole, say, a computer, because it is your computer, and it represents some aspect of you.
Letting go can be extended to jobs, qualities you label yourself as, or even emotions. Material objects are only a small part - taking a vow of poverty has no guarantees.
I hope this helped. If there's any more clarification needed, please message me. Take care.
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Yes and no.
You can be a Buddhist without being a monk. There are MANY Buddhist that are not monks...including myself. In fact, MOST Buddhist are not monks.
While it is true that you could sum up the teachings of the Buddha as "letting go" it does not mean becoming a monk. While it is true that a monastic life is most conducive to 'letting go', it is not the only way. From an more orthodox perspective, according to Nikaya Buddhism, a lay practitioner can achieve enlightenment and be reborn in one of the pure abodes where they are guarantied to reach full enlightenment. More importantly, at least two of the Buddhas lay disciples were permitted to expound on the dharma when the Buddha was not present. So, clearly, monasticism is not a requirement.
Remember, learning to let go includes letting go the idea of letting go. What that means is that while we should NOT be attached to belongings, desires or people, we should not ignore them either. All human beings need food. We MUST eat or we die. It is ok to like our food. It is not so good to crave it. It is ok to like clean air. It is not good to crave it. If is ok to be married, hold a job, have friends and watch a football game. It is not okay to crave these things. As it was explained to me, if you have an itch, you scratch it. If you don't itch, don’t scratch. If you scratch when you don’t have an itch, you have an problem. This is the way of the Buddha. ;-) In other words, Buddhism is not about giving up things, it about letting go of things. In order to let go you must first hold them, right? But letting go does not mean ignoring. This is why we practice.
I hope this helps.
