I didn't know much about religion before, but I was most impressed by four words: escape from reality. It is generally believed that Buddhism is negative. Lin Yutang said that Buddhism is to escape from life, Confucianism is to face life squarely, and Taoism is to simplify life. When I first came into contact with Buddhism, I saw several positive thoughts in Buddhist philosophy.
First, Buddhism especially emphasizes its own efforts, which is one of the main characteristics that distinguish Buddhism from other religions. For example, other religions believe that fate is determined by an external dominant god or some mysterious force, while Buddhism believes that fate is the law of life development, and the force that determines this law is still on ourselves. Fate embodies the cause and effect of life discovery and is the result of different thoughts and actions. What kind of behavior will lead to what kind of fate. These behaviors include body, mouth and mind. Among them, your career is what you do, your mouth is what you say, and your heart is what you think. Why? Do one thing too much and think too much, so that it becomes a habit; Once the habit is fixed, it will gradually become our character; Personality will gradually develop into our personality and our quality of life, which determines the different directions of fate. So fate is not a gift from heaven, not an accidental opportunity, but determined by our own behavior, which Buddhism calls "karma". How can we change our destiny or make it develop in a good direction? Now is the accumulation of the past, and the future comes from the accumulation of the present, so we should focus on the present, practice hard, change passivity into initiative, selectively strengthen some positive psychology, dilute and gradually eradicate some negative psychology, change behavior, habits and personality, and thus change our destiny.
Second, Buddhism believes that life is bitter, that is, suffering is the essence of life, and happiness is only the relief of pain. In reality, no happiness is essential, and any happiness has some kind of pain. How much pain, how much happiness, how much pain is relieved. The root of the bitterness of life is that people have too many desires and troubles. Buddhism believes that only by demonstrating the truth of life and eliminating the inner malignant needs and troubles can we fundamentally turn confusion into enlightenment, solve the pain from the source and realize a free life. To know the truth of life, we must "take ourselves as a boat and take the law as a boat", that is, we must rely on our own efforts to convert to "Buddhism, Dharma and Monk". Buddhism is an example for us to improve our lives, Buddhism is a way to know the truth of life, and monks are teachers who guide us to use the methods. Therefore, Buddhism's understanding of suffering is not a passive acceptance, but a face-up to reality and a thorough way out. This understanding of suffering is a positive attitude towards life, not a negative mentality of escaping from reality.
Third, the educational goal of Buddhism is to make people become saints through the unique educational methods of Buddhism. Including three goals, the first goal is to cultivate people with good physical and mental health and noble morality through the education of man and nature; The intermediate goal is to create a liberated saint through listening and listening education, which is what Buddhism calls arhat; The advanced goal is to cultivate Buddha's self-awareness and perfect behavior through the education of Bodhisattva. The ability to reach the truth of the universe needed to become a Buddha is inherent in all beings. It is only necessary to develop through practice, and then pull out the desire for bitterness and joy for all beings and put it into practice, and they will become bodhisattvas. Encourage everyone to work towards the highest goal and benefit others.
Finally, religion is actually a kind of culture, which contains many contents. Of course, Buddhism is extensive and profound, and I only know a little about it now. The above three points are my initial understanding of Buddhism. Later, with the deepening of understanding, we may have more, deeper or different understanding of Buddhism.