I like how by a good deal of research and study people mean they read the wikipedia article on it.

(December 18, 2014 at 1:42 am)roaster Wrote: A lot of folks here post about not liking the karma concept, I guess I drew the idea of karma as a scientific principle much like cause and effect. Its an easy idea to understand, if I act in a good way towards people its likely to have the effect of having them reciprocate.

Karma is a supernatural concept. There's about as much science in it as there is in any other religious idea.
The original concept, as I understand it, was that good and evil existed in equal amounts and intensities. If you did something good, shit happened elsewhere (maybe even to you) to "restore the balance" or some other crap like that.
The current idea is that if you do good, good stuff happens to you. This, however, has several assumptions, namely absolute morality and the idea that, somehow, the Universe as a whole gives a shit. This is not a "selfless" type of quid pro quo. This is something like "You helped that old lady cross the street" leading to "You won the lottery".
The current concept of karma also has the connotation that, whatever bad things happen to you, you and you alone were directly responsible for them.

Isn't the dalai llama a living god/god king who thinks the world owes him a living because he's supposedly holy?

So much for buddhism being atheist. It's the same bullshit as all the other religions.

(December 18, 2014 at 6:23 am)jesus_wept Wrote: Isn't the dalai llama a living god/god king who thinks the world owes him a living because he's supposedly holy?

So much for buddhism being atheist. It's the same bullshit as all the other religions.

*sigh*...
Buddhism, like every single thing you can imagine that involves people who aren't brain-dead, has many PoV's (the religion-specific term is "denomination"). Yes, some worship their leaders as gods. Those are a minority. Buddhism, in its original and most common state, is atheistic in nature. It has no gods, but it does have supernatural elements, hence being an atheistic religion.

I know nothing about Buddhism but I don't see anything wrong with taking a few concepts from religion that you like and applying them to your life. The Dali Lama has a facebook page and I sometimes read his comments. He sounds sort of Jesusy to me but that is fine. As long as I know that he is just a human being with biases and the ability to be wrong just like me, I'm fine. To be honest, I like George Takei's facebook post better

Atheists are in a unique position. We can stand back and see the entire picture in a way that most religious people can't. Most religions have some positive values along with the negative ones. Because Atheists don't believe that there is anything holy in Jesus or Buddha's words, we can take what we like and ignore the rest. Religious people, especially if they are conservative, have to accept both the bad and good as being inspired by god. I can, acknowledge that treating others like I want to be treated is a pretty good rule and ignore the parts about keeping slaves.

(December 18, 2014 at 6:23 am)jesus_wept Wrote: Isn't the dalai llama a living god/god king who thinks the world owes him a living because he's supposedly holy?

So much for buddhism being atheist. It's the same bullshit as all the other religions.

Not exactly, he's a reincarnation of the Llama's, the first of which was an adviser and probably appointed by a direct descendant of Kublai Khan. It almost seems like a joke that people take stuff like this seriously, much less thinks that he gives him the right to rule over a country like Tibet.

Buddhism is Atheist only in the most technical of senses that they don't believe in a God. It's hardly Atheist in the way that we think of it though, which is really Naturalism, that nothing supernatural exists. There is tons of supernatural garbage in Buddhism. Most people who say "Buddhism is Atheist" are just making flimsy excuses for why they like something just because it's foreign and trendy.

(December 18, 2014 at 6:23 am)jesus_wept Wrote: Isn't the dalai llama a living god/god king who thinks the world owes him a living because he's supposedly holy?

So much for buddhism being atheist. It's the same bullshit as all the other religions.

He is a self realization of the living God, or Buddha, he doesn't see himself above others, in fact he see's everyone as One in Consciousness, or Buddha hood. Those who are not yet self realized, look up to him as a compassionate being who wants to see all self realized. When one is Enlightened, one then through compassion tries to point the way so others can become Enlightened. Its no different than someone who is an expert at whatever, and becomes a teacher, who teaches those who also want to be Enlightened in that particular subject.

Its kind of funny watching atheists defending a privileged freeloader's right to "teach" woo.

Buddhism is a faith which teaches the credulous to believe nonsense without evidence, if that's atheism then fine. But I call it bullshit.

I don't think Zen has any wooey bits. But there is the idea that there is a piercing insight to be had. I think they happen to be right about that but even that isn't very wooey. It just has to do with cleaning out the space where you experience stuff and escaping the narration of your experience. Much more to do with escaping the power of language than with embracing the power of any gods.

(December 19, 2014 at 5:28 am)jesus_wept Wrote: Its kind of funny watching atheists defending a privileged freeloader's right to "teach" woo.

Buddhism is a faith which teaches the credulous to believe nonsense without evidence, if that's atheism then fine. But I call it bullshit.

1. Buddhism worships no gods. They only pay respect to Buddah not in worship neither asking for favors. Buddha isn't god nor claimed to be god.

2. Teachings of Buddhism teaches that wealth is not important as money comes and goes.

3. Buddhism to most people is not a religion but a philosophy. lead a moral life, be mindful and aware of others thoughts and actions, and to develop wisdom and understanding.

4. Buddha knew the power and importance of science and asked his followers to test the teaching rather than accepting his word.

5. The only faith in Buddhism is the initial acceptance of Buddhas teaching.

So yeah i'm going to defend this guy. At least this religion is more loving and peaceful than certain ones.