Aniconism in Buddhism Puns

Hindu countries like India are full of bigotry, in so many different levels. Hell they even have bigotry based on caste, within the people of the same faith. Similarly, very rarely in the west you see anyone criticizing Buddhist countries like Myanmar for all atrocities it does on the minorities. In fact, platforms like Reddit seem to applaud up whenever Hindus and Buddhists commit atrocities on Muslim minorities in those countries (see India and Myanmar), saying things like, "Yeah, Muslims totally deserve it", not unlike what was said about Jews 100 years ago in Germany.

I think it's because Islam is like a younger brother to Christianity, who got too big and started to compete for the same things over a millennia. No matter how atheistic platforms like Reddit become, the ill feeling and the venom towards Islam, practiced over a thousand years in the west, remain the same.

I'm not saying Islam is perfect, but there is really no balance in the criticism it faces in comparison to other religions.

After some quick math, if I died tomorrow, my expected life would be over 600 years old.

"The big bad wolf!" a goat shouted. "Is meditating!"

"So? Isn't that a good thing? questioned the bear.

"Noooo!" the goat bleated. "It's become aware wolf!"

I've been reading lately about buddhism, but you know, the change of culture and such make them kinda hard for me to understand.

1-Taking the precepts: what does it means? is it like some sort of ceremony and after taking them do you attain new responsibilities? I've heard people say something about them not being like the commandments, but more like guidelines, but then I read about the utmost importance of obeying them, so what is the correct approach? When I was a christian this lead me to a lot of stress and worrying, not the religion's fault but my own, I admit, but can't really stop feeling the same now learning about Buddhism.

2.- Talking about them, I don't think I can go with one, the not to kill one. Just a few moths ago where I live there was an epidemic of dengue fever. you could see the hospitals full of people, people were dying and all that, and now with the coronavirus, if they overlap, people will die by the thousands. the epidemic was controlled after trucks began to spray the city, thus killing the mosquitoes. So this makes me wonder, what is so wrong about taking the lifes of such beings? even if we could force them to extinction and replace them with another specie, wouldn't that be a meritorious act? to destroy the ones who bring so much suffering to pretty much all living beings? I know I am misunderstanding something, so what is it?

3.- How do you choose which branch of buddhism to follow? or you just go for whatever you have closer?

Thanks for any help you may give.

Hello, I want to get into Buddhism. But I do not know where to start. I do currently meditate from time to time. But I would like to learn more about, and see if I can apply it’s concepts into my life. If I can get an online article, or a book to read that can help me start learning it that would be very helpful.

Hi all,

I voluntarily became a Christian at the age of about 23. I always sensed a 'force' surrounding me and felt some sort of 'presence. one day I started talking to my christian friend about God. He got me involved in the Church, learning about Jesus etc. I truly felt that I found some answer. I felt 'in love' and high. 'Drunk on the lord' as people owuld call it.

Over time, I kept finding more and more contradictions in it's teachings. "Relinquish everything to God", "Give it to God", "have faith in god". Most of it was telling me not to think for myself and when things are so bad, you give it to God.

Bother of which I had a severe problem with. Suffering is a driving force with LOADS of information. It's what undeniable begs you to "LOOK AT ME". I found Christianity promoted ignorance. I think the final straw for me was when my group of friends said that being Gay is a sin and god frowns upon it. I'm not gay, but this logic is ridiculous.

Why would an all knowing supreme being give two SHITS about someones sexual orientation?

After that I became atheist for a good while. I even 'graduated' a stem above that and became ignostic (not agnostic). But this sent me into nihilism which is not a fun place to be.

Then I discovered Buddhism after reading"What the buddha taught" by Walpola Rahula and there is not a single thing that didn't click with me. It all made sense. This was it, or as close as it can be.

But what do I miss? The community of the church was amazing. For all it's short coming, there was a tight bond and love. And waking up every Sunday morning to all share a common belief was nice.

Through my journies through atheism, ignosticism and now Buddhism, I have felt alone. Despite being surrounded by friends and having a rich life, I feel lacking in Community. I've attended a fwe buddhist temples but people are not as social. It's more meditation focused than community.

So my question is. Is this normal? Do I need to keep exploring? Is there a rich connecting community within Buddhism that has the same energy as a church?

I'm new to this and want to hear others thoughts and experiences. Cheers!

My professor posed this question to me, but even as a Jew, I could not come up with an answer. What do you think it is? Thanks!

Buddhism has been around for thousands of years. In all this time why haven't more practitioners emulated Buddha's experience of enlightenment?

I understand 'ideologies' isn't the best word, but 'cosmologies' didn't sit right with me, given that the intertwining between the interests of scribes and other learned individuals and the execution of those ideas by Chinese government officials in varying forms.

I can't seem to find any info of him mentioning this topic and so I thought it best to ask the forum, in case I overlooked something. I really did search, but came-up empty so any help is great. The gist of it is that before the Buddha and Mahavira started espousing their interpretations of Dharma, the people before them were avowedly atheist and dominated Northern India's philosophical debates approximately around 600 BCE. The dates are a bit uncertain due to being second-hand from Buddhist and Jain sources on the Materialist traditions of ancient India. They were major influences in Dharmic religious traditions that allowed for what is now called Hindu Atheism, Buddhism being neutral to the question of whether a God exists or not, and Jainism taking an atheistic stance despite believing in other supernatural views. Has Sam spoken about them at all?

I have some paragraphs that I copied from my Kindle onto imgur, if anyone is curious. These are from US Historian Will Durant's work "Our Oriental Heritage" from his personal research into ancient India when he visited the country:

The specific Atheist philosophers by name and a short explanation of their views.

The history and impact of ancient India's atheistic movement: Part 1 and Part 2 (citations in Part 2)

I often read things like "in past lives you've been rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, famous, bad reputation...etc, yet here you are"

My question is: Whats the purpose and benefits of contemplating on this?

Many thanks.

It was an original post by a person who quoted a scripture (not sure if it is) or a Buddhist text/commentary.

The gist of it was, if you find Buddhism (The faith, practice, philosophy, sangha, dharma) in this lifetime, it is such a precious gem, you are so fortunate and you should never take it lightly. You should treasure it.

Please help me find it if you're familiar with it or came across it.

and if it isn’t related, why not?

I posted here a while ago asking for how to start to learn and practice Tibetan Buddhism. The advice you guys gave me was great and I’m very grateful.

There is a Kagyü temple in town and I’m going to go. But in the meanwhile, before I will have a chance to go, I wanted to ask about meditation.

The long story short is I already meditate according to the zen tradition. It is a long story, but, I had a therapist who practiced Zen Buddhism, and that’s who taught me and introduced me to zen. I do t want to get off topic talking about him and why I’m disheartened by zen, but I just bring it up to say meditation is already a part of my life.

Given that I want to take my interest seriously, I was wondering if there is a traditional way to meditate as there is in zen. Do you sit in a particular pose? Do you make a particular mudra with your hands? And also, do you meditate on a particular thing? Or just practice a form of mindfulness of sorts? Having read a bit of Gampopa my sense is, well, sort of but you arrive at mindfulness after reflecting on the four noble truths. Am I right to follow the layout in String of Pearls?

Thank you so much

As a beginner to Buddhism, I notice only a couple of subscribers ever cite the suttas. Are they just not that crucial to Buddhism in general?

For example, whenever a question regarding drug use/meditation comes up, very few people ever cite the actual sutta where I believe Buddha says to avoid intoxicants. Or questions with regards to questions about entertainment, only one or at most two subscribers will ever mention the Talaputa Sutta. Instead there are a lot of personal anecdotes, and IMHO "homespun" wisdom.

Are the suttas fairly unimportant when following the Buddhist path?

This (ex-wife) wants to be a hospice chaplain and part of her progress requires her asking other people about other religions. She asked me "what the Buddhist view about death, dying and the afterlife, and what in your spiritual text support that".

My perspective is that unlike Christianity, there isn't one view we all have to have in common. Some believe in literal rebirth and many levels of heaven and hell based on karma; some suggest that since we have no evidence of an afterlife, it is unskillful to assume we have something waiting after death.

My guess is that (your) view is based on both the tradition you follow as well as the culture your path is in.

If you have a mind to answer, what is your view about death, dying and the afterlife, and what in your spiritual text supports that? And what tradition are you?

There was a text I heard years ago by my prof. He said it was an old text in.Buddhism, and it was basically a very detailed study on consciousness.

He said there would be a breakdown and study of when you start thinkng or when consciousness begins again after you wake up.

I don't remmeber but supposebly this text didn't really get into the religious stuff and more of a study of consciousness and the mind.

It is suppose to be a difficult read and very old. Can anyone suggest what this might be?

I am starting to get back into reading about buddhism and u thiught would take this challenge.

Thanks

I’ve recently gained an extreme interest in exploring Buddhism, and becoming much more spiritual. I’ve come to this group for some advice on where to best start learning more about it. Are there any book, podcast or website recommendations for someone with little knowledge on the subject? I want to ensure that I start learning from a reliable source.

There have been a few posts about Harris and his take on Buddhism in this subreddit but I can't really find any comments that explicitly talk about his version of meditation versus that described within Buddhism.

What i'm interested to know is how his take on meditation is different and similar to that within Buddhism. Not just the method, but about the goal and interpretation of the practice.

Correct me if I'm wrong or misunderstanding: Buddha's philosophy is based on the notion that suffering can be reduced and perhaps eliminated by ridding oneself of the three poisons, shedding attachment and aversion and craving, realizing the emptiness (esp. for Mahayana; sunyata, as I'm sure most of you know), selflessness (anatta), impermanence (anicca), and suffering/dis-ease/unfulfillment (dukkha) inherent to feeling attachment toward phenomena.

The fruit of undertaking this path, the Noble Eightfold Path, based in the Four Noble Truths, is nirvana, of course.

However, Buddhists, as I understand, also believe in karma as the cause of rebirth, rebirth itself being the reason that we are re-integrated into Samsara and suffer again and again and again for countless lifetimes.

It seems to me--and tell me if I'm wrong--that Buddhism is advocating a kind of negative utilitarianism, the notion that reducing suffering should be given priority as a standard of ethics.

But if Buddhists are really serious about ending suffering, wouldn't they advocate ending either (a) ending human life through stopping procreation, a position known as antinatalism (assigns a negative value to birth, since non-existence never hurt anyone and existence always causes some kind of harm), or (b) ending all life entirely, a position known as EFILism, which advocates that all sentient beings suffer and that all sentient life is a curse of suffering which ought to be ended. (The means of doing this are debated, but EFILists range from advocating the mass sterilization of sentient lifeforms to advocating the intentional destruction of the planet in order to prevent future suffering from coming into being.)

It seems to me, that if they (Buddhists) stuck with their emphasis on reducing suffering, they would either be antinatalists or EFILists, if they didn't believe in karma or rebirth. I mean, without rebirth, the afterlife is probably non-existent, and therefore better than existence as far as suffering goes, as far as it seems to me.

I know this is an exceedingly morbid topic, but what are the takes of Buddhists on this issue?

• V. St. Clare

Just found this: https://www.woodenfish.org/hbmlp

Anyone that has experienced this? Is it recommended? I'm always wary of organizations that try to "revive" or "adapt" Buddhism to their wants and needs, which I feel like Humanistic Buddhism might be. Seems like a mild variant though, as it's clearly stated that it's Chan they practice as well in the program. Otherwise it seems like an enriching experience and an opportunity to experience Chinese monastic life for a low cost and in a limited time period.. What are your thoughts?

I was raised as a nichirin Buddhist saying the words nam myoho renge kyo, and my mother and brother both believed it as well. Thankfully the three of us have outgrown it and I am atheist while they are both agnostic. I just wanted to say that nichirin buddhism is no better than radical christianity and is poisoning youth and siphoning money from those who already have so little. They force their members to bring their children and shun them when they dont, beg for donations and say it will make you luckier. They even sell gohonzon alters and those scrolls for ridiculous prices to make money so they can keep themselves fat from other peoples desperation! I dont want to see these wretched thieves get any more followers and havent seen any post here discussing how terrible they truly are.

Any helpful and constructive tip for a beginner?

I am from north east Thailand and would like to do things as close to tradition from that region as possible.

I have started meditating whilst listening to Thai meditating chants only today.

Thank you in advance!

Im pretty certain there is, I just dont know what it is

..... Thus, the phrase "No religion!" is actually Dhamma language of the highest level." Buddhadasa

Just in case anyone was in any doubt, the religion I’m referring to is Christianity.

I live in Lancashire and can only find Kadampa and triratna Buddhist centres in my area. Anyone local know of something smaller out there I am missing? I would really like a local Sangha.

"The big bad wolf!" a goat shouted. "Is meditating!"

"So? Isn't that a good thing? questioned the bear.

"Noooo!" the goat bleated. "It's become aware wolf!"