What is a real Buddhist?

[RedLantern]

                         
 A real Buddhist never kills a live being
 A real Buddhist never steals
 A real Buddhist never lies
 A real Buddhist never involves himself in sexual misconduct
 A real Buddhist never intoxicates himself
 Isn't this what people need today?

[eyesoftara]

Well said. If one can hold on to these "don'ts" at least the world would be a better place. However, it must be said that even holding these as vows and never ever commit these "sins" again in this lifetime is not enough, just like a drive who never breaks any traffic law is not necessarily a good driver.
Just not doing the negatives is good, but more importantly on top of it we need to cultivate virtues especially those that actively help others through knowledge on top of the physical help. In other words a real Buddhist needs to practice the path be it the Noble Eightfold path, the 6 perfections or the Three High Trainings or the Three Aspect of the Path. These are the positives that I would focus on.

[pinecone]

What you need to know to become a Buddhist. Siddhartha Gautama, founder of Buddhism and Supreme Buddha of our era, taught that all suffering derives from some sort of desire, whether it be your own or that of those around you. Think about that. How true is that statement? Very true, indeed.  As a preliminary step, being a Buddhist one should always refrain from committing  the five heinous crimes daily i.e. killing living creatures ,  stealing, sexual misconduct,  false speech and  taking intoxicating drugs and liquor.

[Midakpa]

RedLantern has posted the five precepts. Also known as "pancasila" in Pali or "tsultrim" in Tibetan, the five precepts are five moral rules that involve abstaining from killing, stealing, sexual misconduct, lying and intoxicants. The five precepts are taken by laypeople. One who has received the five precepts is called an upasaka (male) and upasika (female).

Does taking the five precepts make one a real Buddhist? Personally, I think so because one is expressing one's commitments to lead a way of life that harms no one and to transform one's life through mindfulness into one of virtue, compassion and wisdom.

The precepts undertaken by a layperson are often the first formal affirmation of a Buddhist. This is often done by repeating the five precepts or the eight precepts after a monk.

[Midakpa]

A Buddhist is one who has taken at least the Refuge Vows and is practising the Refuge Commitments. The Refuge Vows consist of avoiding the Ten Non-Virtuous Actions: 3 of the body (killing, stealing and sexual misconduct), 4 of the speech (lying, divisive speech, harsh words, and idle chatter) and 3 of the mind (covetousness, hatred & malice and wrong views). There are also 12 refuge commitments.

The Five Precepts, also called the Lay Vows can be taken after taking the Refuge vows. The Five Precepts can be refined into the Eight Precepts. These are: (1) abstaining from killing, (2) from stealing, (3) from sexual misconduct, (4) from lying, (5) from the use of intoxicants, (6) from eating after midday, (7) from dancing, singing, music, and use of perfume, cosmetics and adornment etc, ( from the use of luxurious beds and chairs.

The Five Precepts can be taken all at once or any one of the precepts can be taken individually. The precepts can be taken for life or for a certain period of time. The precepts, if taken fully are referred to as the lay ordination or the genyen ordination in Tibetan. It is a formal ordination and the precepts cannot be transgressed.

[dondrup]

If a person practises a path or a philosophy that contains the Four Seals of Dharma, that person can be known as a Buddhist and the path as Buddhism.  The Four Seals of Dharma are:

1) All compounded things are impermanent
2) All emotions are painful
3) All phenomena are empty
4) Nirvana is beyond extremes

"Without these four seals, the Buddhist path would become theistic, religious dogma and its whole purpose would be lost." ~ Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche.

[gbds3jewels]

" A real Buddhist never kills a live being
 A real Buddhist never steals
 A real Buddhist never lies
 A real Buddhist never involves himself in sexual misconduct
 A real Buddhist never intoxicates himself"

If the above is what a real Buddhist is, then majority of he population who called themselves Buddhists are not real Buddhists. A simple on is that many Buddhists are not vegetarian and hence they "kill". I'm quite sure many Buddhists drink alcohol as well.

To my knowledge the 5 conditions listed above are also known as the 5 laymen vows or 5 precepts. Are you saying that unless one takes the 5 precept vows and adhere to it one is not a real Buddhists?

[yontenjamyang]

A real Buddhist is a person who took refuge with the Guru (in the Tibetan tradition) and the 3 Jewels. Along with the refuge, one is given the vows to hold. These vows are guidelines of conduct that one need to keep but because we are not perfect beings we will break this vows daily. However, that is not to say we are evil and are not buddhist when we break these vows. We need to be mindful and take the necessary actions to stop breaking these vows and continuously improve our negative conducts and increasing our virtuous actions daily.

Also, the Guru will prescribe a set of daily prayers (Sadhana or Kangsol) that will include the 7 Limbs prayer within it as a means to purify ones karmas and to accumulate wisdom and merits.

If one keeps the practice as above consistently, I would say they can call themselves real Buddhist on a basic level.

[MoMo]

The thread starter listed the five percepts for laities and a title of “What is a real Buddhist?”.
In my humble opinion to qualify one as a real Buddhist the fundamental criteria would be one should have some basic understanding and believe in “Law of cause and effect” and had develop some insecurity of ones future rebirth in the three lower realms and the suffering that followed as basis.
From these points onward, realizing that reliance on the Three Precious Jewels (Buddha, Dharma, Sangha) could be the solution to it and go for refuge to seek protection.
We worldly beings as mental patient. The Buddha a skillful doctor who can diagnose all ailments. The Dharma was like a potent medicine and Sangha, who guides and nurse the patient.
Hence, the holding of the basic five percepts to prevent laities from committed wrong deeds that accumulate negative karma and encourage to perform actions that are opposite of the five percepts ie. Liberate life, be generous, be truthful, be loyal to one’s partner, be mindful and alert. With all these one is qualified as a real Buddhist on the path of lowest motivation.

[kelly]

A real Buddhist is someone who try their very best to hold their refuge vows , but unfortunately a lot of us who claim themselves as a Buddhist that never hold their vows for example vows of not killing being a vegetarian is important as a true Buddhist because a least we has try to lessen our karma of not killing because inevitable we will kills for instance we might unintentionally step on the ants , so being a vegetarian is to lessen the karma of not killing I guess this is a very basic we can do as a Buddhist .

[Dondrup Shugden]

It is important for a person professing to be a real Buddhist to believe in rebirth and Karma.

From these beliefs, to take refuge with the three jewels and uphold the vows of the 5 percepts.

To meditate, study the Buddhadharma, understand it and now comes the toughest PRACTISE.

This is my humble opinion as to a real buddhist.  There are many other very virtuous people who are not Buddhist but they live their lives benefitting others all the time.  My example is Mother Teresa. A saint of our time.