buddhism~

[Reflection]

Originally Posted by Aqua.

but ppl criticize death note based on it's fangirls going "ERU KAWAII DESUU!!! MISAMISA TO ERUU CHAAAAN.RAITO KUUUN SEKUSHI!! wwwww"
rg

yes, cause those people are stupid! D:

just because people do it, doesn't mean its right </33

[Bangkok Superpussy]

Originally Posted by Reflection

Yes, let's all criticize religion based on it's followers.

Well if you're the poster girl for Christianity...

[Reflection]

I love you Sam. I hope you have a wonderful life.

[Ventux]

Originally Posted by Reflection

Yes, let's all criticize religion based on it's followers.

If they represent the majority, absolutely, but I wasn't bashing the religion, I was commenting on the fact that a religious figure's teachings are being diluted by many of his followers, and he is also deified. Not uncommon, to say the least.

[Aqua.]

DONT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER/

WHAT COUNTS IS WHATS IN THE INSIDE!

[Square Ninja]

I don't see how Buddhism encourages suffering more than any other major religion. The only difference I see is that salvation rest entirely upon the individual instead of asking some other force/being for forgiveness (which is ultimately no different than something like Christianity).

[Prajna]

Originally Posted by Ventux

There is a significant difference between outright bashing and criticism. We have stated valid objections about Buddhism. Please don't go the low route and try to demonize us for being honest. As far as I am aware, this is the Discussion forum, not Fanclubs.
Being rational =/= being close-minded. It's the exact opposite, in fact.



Do you worship the Buddha? If not, you're a monotheist. Polytheism is the belief in multiple gods, and the Bible states pretty clearly that God doesn't like that.

Why don't you read the first couple of posts that say "Fuck Buddhism".

See, that is where you are wrong. You do not worship Buddha, you follow his teachings and philosophy. The Gautama believed in peace and oneness and wanted people to experience the same release of happiness and joy as he did. He left his wife and child to create this religion and as you can tell many people follow it. None of you will change my mind about Buddhism and your thoughts and opinions are merely yours alone.

[Chevalier Sombre]

Originally Posted by Prajna

None of you will change my mind about Buddhism and your thoughts and opinions are merely yours alone.

way to be open-minded about the whole thing

[Prajna]

Originally Posted by Chevalier Sombre

way to be open-minded about the whole thing

Don't judge me, friend. I'm more open-minded than you think. Come to me for an intimate conversation anytime. =)

[Ventux]

Originally Posted by Prajna

Why don't you read the first couple of posts that say "Fuck Buddhism".

They posted genuine criticism, their method of doing so doesn't matter. It could be called bashing if the posts had no substance to them, but that is not the case. A two word phrase doesn't magically make their arguments invalid.

You do not worship Buddha, you follow his teachings and philosophy.

Millions of other Buddhists, and the giant golden Buddhist temples and statues, would say otherwise, but the point is that you're not a polytheist if you don't consider the Buddha a deity (just an enlightened mortal), and even if you did, it would go directly against the teachings of Christianity. You only believe in one deity, the Christian God. You could call yourself bireligious or some such.

I'm more open-minded than you think.

I'm curious about what your definition of "open-minded" is.

[Aqua.]

oh yeah eDIT nbmmm

[Hidden]

I like the reservations and criticisms brought up about Buddhism; as Ventux says, it is a religion that is often romanticized, but it certainly hosts a number of problems.

Still, I think some of buddhist thought is worth defending:

Originally Posted by Bangkok Superpussy

Any philosophy that teaches people that suffering is inevitable and okay and that they should be content with abject poverty is evil as far as I'm concerned.

There is a significant distance between the knowledge that suffering is inevitable and being content with abject poverty (though you can arrive at one through the other). But the three encounters that bring the Buddha to this "Noble Truth" are with old age, sickness, and death--surely we can count these as inevitable parts of every person's life, whether in abject poverty or not.

The importance of the Noble Truth of Suffering is not that we should be content with the conditions of this life; rather, we absolutely should not be content, but we won't overcome those conditions with material goods or other worldly changes. We must find another way to put ourselves in the position that the conditions of this world no longer have hold over us.

Originally Posted by Vossler

The Karma thing as well, is nothing to live by, people do bad stuff all the time and never get punished.

Karma in this immediate, personal sense might be a little idealistic, I agree; however, we are left with the inescapable truth that we must live in this world we have a hand in creating. Karma, like fate, seems to have multiple possible meanings, but what makes most sense to me is the idea that we are subject to those same forces we bring into this world. Anyone who deals harm is also subject to harm; this sense of karma may be the very basis to morality.

Originally Posted by Ventux

To be honest, I think it's just a way of keeping people in poverty by causing them to not want to improve their lives.

Buddhism does seem quite suspect, or at least susceptible, as a tool from up high to keep the status quo. But history doesn't seem to play out that way. Rather, the ruling elite of the time believe it to be a threat; it turns out to be one of the most significant, internal social upheavals in India's history.

Originally Posted by Ventux

In the western world, people are born into consumerism and can't possibly practice true Buddhism because that would require a total rejection of their culture.

I'm not sure what culture could really support "true Buddhism" in this sense.

Originally Posted by Bangkok Superpussy

Buddhism does not simply teach that bad people are punished, it teaches that everything wrong with our present lives is a reflection of what we did in these previous lives of ours for which there is no evidence. To be a Buddhist is to believe that reason Cinollex has Asperger Syndrome is because some former version of herself was totally fucked up, and that every problem in your own life is deserved because of who you supposedly once were. What respect does this religion deserve? I'll reiterate my original thesis: Fuck Buddhism and fuck any other belief system that would try to hold people accountable for things they never did.

Fair enough of a complaint, but every religion and every worldview that wants to be applicable in this world has to answer for the fact that people are subject to conditions beyond their (apparent) agency and thus responsibility. Buddhism, in stating that these conditions arise from actions taken in our multiple lives, actually goes a step toward empowering us; not in terms of changing our past/present (no belief system can do that), but in terms of directing our future, even beyond this life.

Of course, all of these beliefs may be manipulated to very different ends than what I have given above.

Originally Posted by Square Ninja

I don't see how Buddhism encourages suffering more than any other major religion. The only difference I see is that salvation rest entirely upon the individual instead of asking some other force/being for forgiveness (which is ultimately no different than something like Christianity).

Possibly. But the progression of thought in Buddhism, from the suffering inherent to existence to the preferability of nonexistence, proceeds rather differently from most other belief systems, and might be the subject of criticism itself.

[Hollow Bastion]

Originally Posted by Ventux

And yet many still worship him like any other deity. Funny how things work out.

Siddhartha did not want to be worshiped as a god. Being in the state of enlightenment does not make one a deity. If anything, Buddhism can be seen as a form of agnosticism, in the sense that actual Buddhism (minus the folk religions that blended into it over time) is not concerned with the question of a deity's existence.


Nevermind also that Eastern thought tends to take a different path from Western thought.

[Square Ninja]

Originally Posted by Hidden

Possibly. But the progression of thought in Buddhism, from the suffering inherent to existence to the preferability of nonexistence, proceeds rather differently from most other belief systems, and might be the subject of criticism itself.

Yeah, but that's the end product. The route through the living realm isn't all that different between the major religions.

[Hidden]

Originally Posted by Square Ninja

Yeah, but that's the end product. The route through the living realm isn't all that different between the major religions.

Perhaps I don't like to think that my existence is one better voided. Certainly this must affect the way I live my life. Judaism and Islam tell me I am chosen, Christianity that I am saved, Hinduism that I am the very stuff of the universe, Buddhism that I am... nothing?