Okay, so for those of you whom are not aware of Buddhism, there are three main schools of philosophy.

School One: The world has always been. There is no beginning - Atheistic

School Two: a creator created the world - theistic

School Three: Complex school, this one believes that the world never had a beginning but is a continuing cycle of rebirth (life, death, restart) by that I don't mean reincarnation but the cycle of life. It is Atheistic.

I am in the Third School, sorry to bore you.


I was raised christain, I even did a bit of preaching at a church and small community where I lived. I was very very active, not extreme but active.

After events in my life, I started reading the bible, I mean really reading the bible and studying it! ALL OF IT. I hated what I read.

I am Bisexual (I look at it as being able to view things through both sides of the spectrum).

My brother in law is Gay, and I grew up hating gays, again family values. Now after much study and internal conflict with morals and such I realized god is a myth.

I remember finding this video and this guy from MY Christian school who turned atheist said, I wasn't able to find non-biblical sources for a jesus, he never existed. I could not believe it. It was right!

I lost my faith. I became an Atheist. but I was always facinated by the peaceful nature of Buddhists. My friend being from India introduced me to the idea.

I started studying buddhism, and became Buddhist. I don't believe in a god, or a creator. I believe in being "awake".

It simply means to find peace within yourself by being the best you can be.

Karma was tough to understand, reincarnation was tough too, but once I grasped it, it just made sense.

Reincarnation doesn't refer to one being "reborn" it refers to the effect you have on others, and the world around you when you pass. If you live a good life and are a good person you leave a positive effect on those whom you knew (karma: good)

So I am buddhist, I know some of my post do not reflect or show it, but Buddhist can cuss, we can be upset, and we are not perfect, we just try to be better and live better.

But again Buddhists for the most part are Atheists.

Rasetsu (am I spelling that right?) might have a sentence or multiple paragraphs to state about Buddhism.

Personally, I have always viewed Buddhism as more contradictory than most religions. For everything that Buddhism usually claims, it tends to always make the opposite claim as well.

Buddhism is by far the least harmful of the major religions, so I personally can't say anything negative about it's belief system. My only question is why? If you rejected Christianity because of the lack of evidence to support it, haven't you just swapped one unprovable belief for another?

Also, which of your beliefs about being a better person for the benefit of yourself and others, having peace of mind, and being overall-happy cannot be carried out through purely secular means?

Obviously, I'm not trying to pry you away from faith or anything, and I'm sure you get what I'm saying.

(May 8, 2014 at 1:34 am)topher Wrote: Buddhism is by far the least harmful of the major religions, so I personally can't say anything negative about it's belief system. My only question is why? If you rejected Christianity because of the lack of evidence to support it, haven't you just swapped one unprovable belief for another?

Also, which of your beliefs about being a better person for the benefit of yourself and others, having peace of mind, and being overall-happy cannot be carried out through purely secular means?

Obviously, I'm not trying to pry you away from faith or anything, and I'm sure you get what I'm saying.

Unprovable? Buddhism is supportive in science, we do not believe in an afterlife, a god, a creator, or magical power. Just enlightenment by suppressing "suffering" within ourselves

(May 8, 2014 at 3:54 am)BlackSwordsman Wrote: we do not believe in an afterlife

It does believe in reincarnation, which is just as silly as an afterlife. Buddhism cannot abide by nothingness any more than theists, its seems.

(May 8, 2014 at 4:03 am)Kitanetos Wrote:

(May 8, 2014 at 3:54 am)BlackSwordsman Wrote: we do not believe in an afterlife

It does believe in reincarnation, which is just as silly as an afterlife. Buddhism cannot abide by nothingness any more than theists, its seems.

Actually that isn't true Buddhists believe in Rebirth, which is not the same as Reincarnation, the Buddha did not teach of such things as Reincarnation involves a soul, buddhism does not believe in such things.

http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhi...munfaq.htm

http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/reincarnation.htm

There are other places to look this up I am not very good at teaching.

(May 8, 2014 at 1:34 am)topher Wrote: Buddhism is by far the least harmful of the major religions, so I personally can't say anything negative about it's belief system. My only question is why? If you rejected Christianity because of the lack of evidence to support it, haven't you just swapped one unprovable belief for another?

Also, which of your beliefs about being a better person for the benefit of yourself and others, having peace of mind, and being overall-happy cannot be carried out through purely secular means?

Obviously, I'm not trying to pry you away from faith or anything, and I'm sure you get what I'm saying.

By whose standards? Horrors have and continue to be committed in Buddha's name.

(May 8, 2014 at 4:42 am)Hoopington Wrote: By whose standards? Horrors have and continue to be committed in Buddha's name.

Can you give some examples of horrors specifically committed in Buddha's name? Groups of people who identified themselves as Buddhists have committed horrors but were they doing it to impose Buddhism on everyone else or for some other reason?

Buddhism Survived the Khmer Rouge to Give Hope to Cambodia

Quote:Throughout the history of Cambodia, the cultural fabric of popular Buddhist traditions has played a pivotal role in establishing political and moral order, shaping Khmer ethnic and national identity and in nourishing solidarity among Cambodian villagers. Much of Cambodia’s national and cultural identity is engrained in Khmer Buddhism and the sense of peace and camaraderie that comes with it. Under the Khmer Rouge, however, religion and any form of civil society was outlawed.

Was outlawed religion confined to Buddhism?

Khmer Rouge History

Quote:Public schools, pagodas, mosques, churches, universities, shops and government buildings were shut or turned into prisons, stables, reeducation camps and granaries.

This suggests that the Khmer Rouge regime was atheistic but were all the horrors committed in the name of atheism?

From the wikipedia article on the Khymer Rouge

Quote:The Khmer Rouge (/kəˈmɛər ˈruːʒ/; French for "Red Khmers", French pronunciation: ​[kmɛʁ ʁuʒ]; Khmer: ខ្មែរក្រហម Khmer Kraham) was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia.

Ideology

The Khmer Rouge's ideology combined elements of Marxism with an extreme version of Khmer nationalism and xenophobia. It combined an idealization of the Angkor Empire (802–1431), with an existential fear for the existence of the Cambodian state, which had historically been liquidated under Vietnamese and Siamese intervention.[14]

(May 8, 2014 at 7:53 am)Confused Ape Wrote:

(May 8, 2014 at 4:42 am)Hoopington Wrote: By whose standards? Horrors have and continue to be committed in Buddha's name.

Can you give some examples of horrors specifically committed in Buddha's name? Groups of people who identified themselves as Buddhists have committed horrors but were they doing it to impose Buddhism on everyone else or for some other reason?

It's happening now, in Burma, some are calling it an ethnic cleansing of Muslims.... by Buddhist monks.

I don't have the time to look up specific references, but just look into the history between China and Japan, I'd have a read of Zen at War if you're that interested.

Doesn't matter what the religion teaches, people will always find a way to fight and kill for it.

(May 8, 2014 at 9:17 am)Hoopington Wrote:

(May 8, 2014 at 7:53 am)Confused Ape Wrote: Can you give some examples of horrors specifically committed in Buddha's name? Groups of people who identified themselves as Buddhists have committed horrors but were they doing it to impose Buddhism on everyone else or for some other reason?

It's happening now, in Burma, some are calling it an ethnic cleansing of Muslims.... by Buddhist monks.

I don't have the time to look up specific references, but just look into the history between China and Japan, I'd have a read of Zen at War if you're that interested.

Doesn't matter what the religion teaches, people will always find a way to fight and kill for it.

They can call themselves Buddhist all they want, but if they do not follow the teachings of Buddha, then they are not buddhist. Also remember that Buddhism isn't the issue, humans are. It is not Buddhism that holds anger, it is human nature.

There are those who stray from the teachings of most religions.

The Buddha taught that inner peace was the key to enlightenment. Acceptance of others and so forth. Radicalism is not the buddhist way but that does not mean people who stray from the teachings could not be radical.

It is sad, but by most Buddhists those Buddhists are not considered buddhist :/