Min Buddhism

Min Buddhism is a micro-religion, it is a minimalist take on Buddhism. It has just one evident truth and one essential dogma.

The One Evident Truth

This can be written various ways:

All phenomena are impermanent.
All sensation is temporary.
No thing lasts.
Change is the only constant.

This is called the evident truth, because it is easy to verify right now. For example, pay close attention to the sensation in your right index finger. Upon close examination it is not a ‘solid’ sensation. It pulses. Blinks in and out of awareness. Each sensation of feeling indicating your finger exists for a moment then dissolves. Your sensation of feeling a body is impermanent, changing from moment to moment. In all your life, you have never sensed a phenomenon that was not temporary.

The One Essential Dogma

This can also be written various ways:

You have free will.
You can make decisions.
You can act.

This is the only article you have to take on faith. Fortunately, this belief is easily strengthened by exercising it. That is, as you practice making decisions you will become more confident in your ability to create change.

How do I practice Min Buddhism?

I recommend meditation. Most traditions do too (so I’m not totally casting them off, you see!) for the simple reason that forcing yourself to sit in a boring and uncomfortable way trivially demonstrates the one essential dogma and greatly boosts your ability to see the one evident truth.

What about everything else?

Everything else that the Buddha taught, flowed from these two statements. Discover them for your own self. You never truly learn anything you don’t experience yourself, so what’s the point of me telling you about enlightenment? If you study the one evident truth using your power of will from the one essential dogma you will arrive at ‘nirvana’ yourself. Anything but the two principles you need is an intellectual distraction.

But if intellectual distraction is what you seek, you can check out this Min Buddhist interpretation of Reincarnation.