http://online.sfsu.edu/rone/Buddhism/footsteps.htm

Interesting reading.

great link, thank you

Indeed.
A life so simple, yet so hard at the same time. I've always had respect for Buddhism. I've never considered it a "religion" per se, but rather a way of life.
Also, I think the ancient Bagan pagodas that litter Burma's landscape make for one of the most fascinating sights in all the world.

the four noble truths on that site are written all retarded, here are easier ones:

1. life is suffering
2. suffering is bred by desire
3. to curb suffering, you curb desire
4. the path to curb desire is The eightfold path: Right Understanding, Right Thought, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. (thx wiki)

and yeah it's philosophy. many sects pepper in ancient east asian ancestor worship and/or regard buddha as a deity but that isn't needed for the philosophy

while this is all well and good, why are the following necessary? you can live a peaceful compassionate life through secular means, and you don't have to have your sexual desires dictated to you. not to mention that 1, 2, and 4 are nothing new. morality is not derived from doctrine, no matter how old it is. 5 is a benefit health-wise, however some of the most spiritual encounters are achieved through "intoxicants" like psylocibin, DMT, LSD, etc.

1. No killing
2. No stealing
3. No sexual misconduct
4. No lying
5. No intoxicants

FREE YOURSELF.

nothing about sexual desire here.

petrus said it: "desire only fuels the fire"

Itt: Westerners idealizing Buddhism and somehow missing out on its dogma, persecution, 'sins', violence, crusades, etc.

Buddhism is very much a dogmatic religion, just like the rest.

To lazy to find and post links via my phone right now though so my arguments dont count. But, have fun having your entrails ripped out while you are boiled alive by demons when you are reincarnated in one of the many, many Buddhist hells for not following DA RULEZ.


Inb4 more "philosphy not religion" stuff. Christianity is a "philosophy not a religion" if you ignore the religious parts.

Not all sects hold those views. That's like saying all Christians are Roman Catholics and all pagans are Wiccan. Obviously any set of beliefs is interpreted differently over many many years. 2500 years is a long time.

I'm not Buddhist by any means, but respect it a hell of a lot more than any Abrahamic religions.

yeah. it's been used to justify killing, adjusted and morphed as it spread, just like many philosophies and religions. i don't think it can ultimately be classified as a religion. it does not have a creation myth, worship, or prayer, just meditation. i wouldn't say i'm a buddhist, there are truths in it that foster self-awareness, empowerment, and logic in a way that religions avoid.

tully, buddhist hells?? i think you're mixing it with hinduism.

Buddhism most certainly has all of those things, in fact it has multiple varieties of each depending on if we are talking about Mahayana/Therevada, Tibetan, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, etc.

A simple example just off rhe top of my head would be Nichirin Buddhism; entirely forgoing meditation, a usual mainstay of Buddhism of course, in favor of prayer/mantras to achieve satori.


Also there are certainly Buddhist hells. In fact there is an entire genre of artwork dedicated to depicting Buddhist hells.

Again forgive me for being a crap conversationalist right now as I am on my phone.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naraka_(Buddhism)

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer#Buddhism


Sorry that these are from wikipedia, but I have to at least attempt some sources haha.

true true, you know your shit. the demon myths of peoples get blended into it. those are older than man and they stick around. the ancient chinese death practices for example were just added into it and so did their traditional myths. there's plenty of myths and parables in it. i guess prayer/mantra and meditation could almost be the same thing. cut out the myths and sectarian potpourri and there's a nice set of philosophies that are good tools for self-psychology and dropping that ego. it certainly wasn't immune to being warped into a dogma and a tool for control.

I certainly agree but my point is that the same can be said for Christianity. So where is the line drawn?

Just a few parallels would be the reciting of the rosary/Mantra or Lectio Devina/Koan-Zazen. But for some reason people are much more ready to forgive certain religions human-faults and learn from their true ideas than they are others. Certainly the Gospel of Thomas from the Dead Sea Scrolls has Jesus teaching decidily Buddhist-esque philosophy, for example. Or if we are only using cannon Christianity than the "parable of the fig tree" from the Bible rings Zen to my ears.

Boozegood spent so much time overseas that he only follows muhammad.

Psshhh clearly I spend my time over there worshipping the peacock avatar of Lucifer with the Yazidi.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi

Boozegood has spent his time preparing for the coming of Gozer.

Really relevant
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/30/world/asia/b...uddhist-violence/index.html?c=world

Regional Digest
Published on January 7, 2003

COLUMN: REGIONAL DIGEST
Grafton purse-snatching suspect indicted
CAMBRIDGE -- A Grafton man accused of stealing handbags from two women at the Natick Mall has been indicted by a Middlesex County grand jury on unarmed robbery charges.
Scott Willey, 26, with an address that Natick police list as 23 Williams St., North Grafton, will be arraigned in Middlesex Superior Court on two counts of unarmed robbery, larceny over $250, ammunition possession and marijuana (Worcester Telegram & Gazette (MA), 244 words.) Read the complete article ($1.95 per story)

Get a metaphysical room, buttdarts.

haha SERIOUSLY