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Buddhists Really Are Happier
bjornte writes "For anyone that wonders what Richard Gere is up to, the BBC explains: 'Scientists say they have evidence to show that Buddhists really are happier and calmer than other people. Tests carried out in the United States reveal that areas of their brain associated with good mood and positive feelings are more active.' So, if you're suffering from the ongoing IT slump..."
No worship of gods and deities indeed, but worship of budda.
Not worship, but reverence. The Buddha is not considered a deity like Christ, or someone with a direct line to God like Mohammed, but rather a regular guy who thought real hard about What It's All About and came up with an interesting insight, for which his followers are grateful.
In Buddhism, Karma is not seen as a physical or metaphysical force that forces you to pay back your evil deeds, but rather as a psychological principle.
I could go on for a while about this, but I'll try to keep it short.
Ideally, once an action has happened, it is gone. Our mind, however, likes to hold on to what was and will not let go. Since the past is already gone, it is not a good place for the mind to dwell. Your karma is the part of you that holds onto the past and measure the present in terms of the past. If you measure the present in terms of the past, then you see more of what was than what is. A buddhist strives to see things as they are in the present (this is what meditation teaches) No buddhist claims that they will ever be free of karma, of their attachment to the past, but if they could be, they would be "enlightened."
A quick example: Let's say that you spent the past two years building your own house by hand. On the night that you move into the house, it burns down. If you hold on to the past and your memories of what was, then you will suffer at the thought of loss and the "wasted" time you spent building the house. If you see things as they are, then you will be happy that you are alive and start planning for a new place to live and perhaps rebuilding the house.
"My religion is to live --and die-- without regret." -- Milarepa
(Much of the following comes from The Shambala Dictionary of Buddhism and Zen).
Mahayana Buddhism...contains a diversity of mystical, magical beliefs
Mystical, perhaps, but I wouldn't call them magical beliefs. Theravada (the only surviving school of the Hinayana, or "Lesser Vehicle" branch of Buddhism), emphasizes the liberation of the individual. The ideal figure of Theravada is the arhat, a person who has achieved true enlightenment through his own efforts and whose existence will be extinguished following this life, i.e., no more reincarnations.
Mahayana buddhists, in contrast, seek to attain enlightenment for the sake of the welfare of all beings. Their ideal figure is the bodhisattva, a person who has achieved perfect wisdom but renounces complete entry into nirvana until all beings are enlightened. Some of these bodhisattvas are considered to be "transcendent beings" who appear in various forms to lead others to wisdom. That's pretty mystical, but no supernatural powers (loaves and fishes, anyone?) are attributed to bodhisattvas.
Now Tibetan buddhists, they have magic and deities out the wazoo. A truly interesting and baroque variant.
the original post...glossed over the diversity of beliefs regarding the Buddha and the mystical nature, including worship, contained in many of them.
Guilty as charged. I was trying to address the original generalization, but fell short. I'm most familiar with Zen buddhism, which definitely does not worship the Buddha. It's not even a religion, really.
The clearest explanation of the core concepts of Buddhism I've run across is What the Buddha Taught by Walpola Rahula.