Essential Factors to Become a Real Buddhist

In my opinion it is not difficult to become a Buddhist for name sake, but to become a real Buddhist in accordance with the Buddha’s teaching is not easy.

There are some necessary factors that a Buddhist can perform as his wish. Firstly, he should take refuge in the Buddha, the Dhamma and the Sangha, because the Buddha is the Fully Enlightened One who has practised himself to find out the way to liberate himself and showed the way to others. The Dhammais his teachings which can help other awake himself and the Sangha is the Holy Order of Monks who has sacrificed themselves to pursue that way of enlightenment or those who has attained the Ariyan fruits.

Secondly, he should preserve the five precepts (pañca-sīla) instructed by the Buddha. These precepts are in fact fundament principles for life aiming at help him to live in any community or any country to be safe and peaceful not only in the present but also for coming lives. The precepts are:

(1) Abstaining from killing any living being.

(2) Abstaining from stealing what is not given

(3) Abstaining from committing sensual misconducts

(4) Abstaining from telling a lie

(5) Abstaining from using intoxicants or drugs.

Thirdly, he should learn to differentiate what is good (kusala) and what is bad (akusala), what he should do and what he should not, how he behaves in relation with others to make life better.

However, for an ideal Buddhist, he should try do other good deeds as charity to the Sangha or the poor or any beneficial works for society. At a deeper practice, he should cultivate loving-kindness (mettā) to all beloved relatives and to some extent to all living beings. He can spread the Dhamma by freely distributing Dhammabooks or tapes of Dhamma preached by other Venerables or directly preach the Dhamma to preserve the Sāsana as long as possible. In addition, he should practice Samatha and Vipassanā meditation to train his mind to become tranquil, calm and to attain Insight to liberate himself from the Samsara in this very life.