I'm wanting to look into Buddhism but I can't seem to figure it out. Can someone help?

It is very wonderful that you don't know exactly what the Three Jewels are! Thank you! If you already know, then the Three Jewels are dead. Because you don't know, you can always look into it with humility and curiosity, keeping the Three Jewels alive and relevant.

The meaning of the word 'Buddha' is 'one who is awake'. The root of the word, buddh means to awaken or to perceive. So a Buddha is someone who has awakened out of life's dream, someone who can perceive reality completely.

Perceiving reality doesn't depend on religious belief, so yes, anyone can become a Buddha. But the historical Buddha (the man we refer to as 'Buddha') gave the world many teachings on how to do it. He travelled the path to the peak of the mountain, so to speak, and then he guided others about how to do it. So the Buddha's teaching is very practical. It is not based on groundless belief.

The Buddha's teaching also doesn't address many questions we might have about life or the universe; it only focuses on how to wake up: what is our life problem, and how to we get out of it? Although there are many styles and traditions, and many other awakened beings, the main point is how do you wake up out of your suffering dream?

Some Buddhists follow the historical Buddha; but this is an important point: the body and life story of the man are not the real Buddha. For example, when Buddha was dying, his disciples gathered around him and some were distraught or crying. Buddha chastised them, saying "Don't you know already that this body is not who I really am?"

So although we give great honor and respect to someone who through tremendous effort and sincerity and compassion has overcome his or her self-centered nature and awakened from the dream of life, we don't necessarily worship a person.

What a Buddhist follows is the true Buddha, which is the awakened nature of everything. Most significantly for us, the Buddha is none other than our own true mind, our own true being. This is what we follow. We let go of our small-mindedness and follow our boundless awake and loving nature.

So in this sense, in one sense, Buddha is your own true mind. Dharma is the path to your own mind. And Sangha is the community of beings on the path to their own true mind. You bow and make offerings to your great and pure nature.

The teachings always unfold in the context of the era. Their language will be the language of the current understanding, in both religious and scientific terms. As science wakes up and learns more, so the teaching will have better language, better description. But regardless of how it is described, truth is truth. When you hear a bell ring, the description of it ringing doesn't change its reality. Likewise, there is a clear cause-and-effect relationship between how you use your mind and actions, and the results you get in your life. Very clear, not depending on descriptions; the descriptions just help to flesh out your understanding.

/r/Buddhism Thread