Entry 8, Buddhist Doctrine

 I have grown up in a Buddhist household. My dad's side, both my grandparents worships and practices the Buddhist religion very often. They would visit temples atleast three times a month, just to give prayers and give thanks to the great things in life. My mom's side, my grandmother owns a temple, everytime we go down to PingTung to visit her before, we would spend a month or so in the temple. This makes my whole family, my mom and my dad, my grandparents and everyone related to me, a pretty superstitious Buddhist. The Buddhist religion in Taiwan practiced by many people, is quite different than the hardcore, intense beliefs and rituals Siddartha performs. All these Buddhist Doctrines are very respectable, these will definitely purify your soul and empty all your thoughts, and achieve the goal of Siddartha, which is to no longer have these urges or desire or opinion, you are no longer yourself. I believe that these doctrines tend to be a little bit too extreme and would not work in societies like today. In our society today, religion doesn't take as big of a role than before, therefore sometimes people would just think you're mad with such extreme beliefs.  Although I am a Buddhist myself, I believe these doctrines are not very practical and I do not believe in it. I don't believe that Life is suffering and I don't believe suffering is always caused by ignorance and attachment. I believe these are just the way some people sees life, but for me, especially in the society today, I would not believe and adapt any of these Doctrines to my life no matter how devoted of a Buddhist I am.