Buddhism is both a religion and a way of life. This is coming from a Buddhist such as myself. But it does tend to act as a philosophy as well. What Buddhism as a way of life means is to use logic and rationale along with taking all things into moderation. It's a faith that depends on the use of logic and rationale, in short using discipline and inner thinking.

If someone is angry at you for some reason, you don't get angry back at the person. Instead, you do the logical thing and figure out why that person is angry at you. Was it something you did wrong? If it is the case, then you should rectify the situation, apologize, and make peace. But if it's something you're not going to apologize for, explain why you're not apologizing, and hope that the person angry will understand.

However, if it's something you didn't even do, you have to think about what happened to make that person mad. Perhaps the one angry mistook you for another person that made him/her angry. Basically ask what happened in the first place to make that person angry at you.

By all means, there's nothing wrong with being angry on your part. Buddhism encourages to you to find out what made you angry in the first place. If your lover cheated on you, by all means, be angry. Anger is a natural human emotion. Buddhism teaches you to embrace it but not dwell on it. Embrace all of your good emotions and embrace all of your bad emotions as well to keep a balance.

It's not good to focus on just your good emotions and suppress all of your bad emotions, that's going to damage and probably destroy you from the inside out. That's one extreme. Also, you shouldn't focus on your bad emotions and suppress your good emotions, that's tipping to the other extreme. Keep things in moderation. Don't veer towards one extreme nor to the other extreme, walk the middle path as what Buddha instructs us to do.

You can enjoy sex, but keep it in moderation. You can enjoy eating sweets, but keep that in moderation. You can consume alcohol, but keep it in moderation. You can play videogames, keep that in moderation. You can watch the news, keep the news in moderation. You can practice religion, but keep that in moderation; that includes Buddhism, practice it in moderation.

In politics, keep everything in moderation such as political views. When it comes to conflicts, use diplomacy first and then military intervention should it fail. Basically, talk things out instead of entering with guns blazing left and right.

In short, live a balanced life and take everything in moderation. That's basically Buddhism as a way of life. If something puzzles you, find the answers to that puzzle. It's a faith and way of life that revolves around science and logic. In short, Buddhism takes over where science ends.

As long as you take things in moderation and not veering towards one extreme to another, thinking things through, and living a good life, you're living like a Buddhist. It's the Buddhist way of life.

Learn more about this author, Can Tran.
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