American Catalysts for Buddhism

Buddhism is described as a natural process of enlightenment. To be able to ignore the little things and tackle only the issue at hand, which is known as the true reality, or the right way. Buddhists believe that life is suffering, and this suffering is caused by our natural desires and cravings.

Hold on, I need to step outside for a cigarette...

To rid ourselves of this suffering, we must eliminate the inherent desires and needs. Buddhists focus on harm minimization, whether it is harm to oneself or another. This is as far as I'm willing to take Buddhism for right now, for I believe in "The Middle Way", which advocates a form of non-extremism. I wouldn't want to sound extremely Buddhist. What I'm going to focus on is how I got to this stage. How can the average American person be part Buddhist?

Take up a dangerous sport, such as football, or skateboarding. Either one will show you about causing pain to oneself, or pain to others. Pain can instill empathy in a person, and it would be rather Buddhist to apply this to all aspects of life. I am a vegetarian, much to my friend's and family's dismay, because I believe the current state of the meat industry hurts the animals. That statement may be painfully obvious to some, and yet most people in America eat meat every day, and some eat it in every meal. The Buddhists are right when they say that cravings cause suffering. Sneak inside a factory farm and you will find suffering. Free-range animals cannot support the current demand of meat in America. Personally, I advocate "The Middle Way"; people should try and cut back meat consumption to once a week. That's a less extreme step towards a Buddhist diet. Buddhists believe that one should discover how the food made it onto the table, or in other words: What gave birth to this meal on my dinner table?

Take up smoking. Never mind, do not take up smoking. Talk to someone who quit smoking after twenty straight years. Cigarettes are known to be more addictive than most other street drugs. They could easily be the most difficult way to learn to deal with cravings. I recently quit smoking; I had my last one in the beginning of this article. I'm hoping that my new Buddhist mentality will get me through the purification process and withdraw. Something tells me that I'm bound to "The Middle Way", which means I'll only smoke half a pack tomorrow.

Take up any instrument, and try to make it as a rock star. You're bound to be broke after a few years. The term "starving musician" did not appear out of nowhere. You could also be a freelance artist that tries to pay the bills with paintings. Many forms of art are not profitable, which makes the artist decide between the love of art and a menial job. Being a guitarist and a freelance recording engineer, I've had my confidence shattered on numerous occasions, and I eventually lost my ego. I learned that honest expression of art is the only way to go, and copying popular art is only being dishonest with oneself. "The Middle Way" in music would mean to learn all genres of music, and embrace it as a creative outlet, rather than a job.

Many people have their own experiences of self enlightenment. My ways might have seemed like the harder ways to learn, but I consider myself blessed because the suffering had to be obvious to me before I was able to understand my own concept of morality. You could always go to war and deal with shooting someone you don't know. Good luck finding "The Middle Way" in that one...