Buddhism

The volunteering projects featured on this page are related to Buddhism.

How does this page work?

This page is new. You might find only a few opportunities. When you see an announcement that interest you, click on the relative link. Then read the project description very carefully and once you want to contact the organization/host look for the “contact details section” at the end of the listing.

What is Buddhism?

It is not easy to put into words what Buddhism is, especially for Westerners who are used to classifying it as a “religion” or a “belief”.

It is not really a religion, nor a philosophy, nor a psychological science, nor a meditation technique, but it has something in common with all these disciplines.

In Buddhism, we find apparently simple concepts and practices, comprehensible to everyone, which however introduce us to a way of seeing human existence and consequently to a way of living it, with the aim of obtaining the cessation of suffering above all through what we could call “pure awareness” that leads to “awakening”.

Understanding Buddhism requires years of practice and study!

An important difference – Being Here and Now

All religions invite us to “look to Heaven” and look up there for answers, divinities, and other various interlocutors. In the Buddhist path, one must look “inside” oneself, because the external world is what our mind makes of it.

“Nothing is really as it seems to us”.

In Buddhism, there are no special revelations, no dogmas, no ideologies, no divinities. Everything starts from empty meditative silence. From the practice comes the experience of awareness, which has nothing transcendent about it, it is the ‘simple’ being here and now.

Buddhism asks people to let go of their questions, worries, illusions, obsessions and existential questions, in order to start awakening their minds with the teaching of Buddha.

What is the cessation of suffering?

It is not a super-power, but a state of mind, guided by understanding, awareness, morality and wisdom, instead of hatred-bravery-delusion.

Through this path, we are no longer slaves to the logic of pleasure-displeasure, success-unsuccess, subject-object, and all the other dualistic schemes, but we will develop the attitude of “neutrality” and “equanimity” which allows us to live what simply happens with conscious tranquillity.

Also, there is NO “one” and “only” Buddhism, there are no absolute values or unquestioned truths, Buddhism is a constant and personal search.

Vipassana Meditation

The most useful and effective BUDDHIST PRACTICE is considered by many to be VIPASSANA MEDITATION. However, it is always important to meditate, letting ourselves inspired by