Another reason Buddhism doesn't get a pass.

[loganonekenobi]

No Buddhism should not get a free pass.  I love zen as it has a positive impact on my health and well being.  I love yoga as it does the same.  

Since i don't have access to navy seal training I learn these things from the books that authors have put out.  

I don't believe the original Buddha wanted to start a religion but naturally the people did.

I don't believe he ever claimed to be THE son of a god or that he did miracles.  However, his people may have to make him seem divine somehow.

Finally the Dali lama once said to some one who was interested in becoming a Buddhist "Don't be a Buddhist. the world doesn't need more Buddhists.  Be compassionate.  The world needs more compassion."

This impressed me because almost every other mainstream religion is more concerned with you/me being in their faith than just being good people. I could not see the Pope saying this. True it by no means makes some one a better person by being "Buddhist".  Still when i hear the Dali lama speak it seems much more aligned with a wold peace attitude.

I don't know a lot about the religion of Buddhism but I do understand it's practical application.

I also feel that the Dali lama would not argue with you on it.  He might agree that everyone should look closely at the actions of themselves and others and determine if they are a positive force on the world or not.

i don't imagine a Christian or Muslim doing the same. Instead they would consult their holly book with out question.

So yea you love a club, so?

Zen Buddhism is no more universal to Buddhists than Tibet Buddhists. Just like Jesus is not a unifying figure to Christians. You have competing sects and different interpretations and different rituals like any other religion. It makes you feel good. Yea so?

"Be more compassionate", ok so how does stating the obvious that all human beings can be capable of require the Dali Lama to tell you? You don't need Buddha or Jesus or Allah or Mo, to say "don't be a dick".

Humans like to think they get their morality from religion, but it is quite the opposite. Our ability to be cruel or compassionate has always been in us. Religion as a human invented construct, is backwards, we project  our own desires into those writings and that is how they continue to be marketed. Then we look for excuses in those writings, but the words themselves are not magic.

There was no Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Hebrew ect ect ect ect 200,000 years ago, much less 4 billion years ago. There will be no religion billion of years from now after our species goes extinct.

All you are saying here is you are stuck on something you find pretty. 

QUOTE "I don't believe the original Buddha wanted to start a religion but naturally the people did."

Despite what most Buddhist claim, there are major discrepancies on the historical "first Buddha" so it depends where in Asia/India you ask that particular historian.

I am sure someone wanted to get attention to some degree, otherwise the movement would not have grown. But Buddhism is hardly even original, it is a spin off of Hinduism. 

It got started like any other religion does. A person, or group of people are not satisfied with the current crop of claims so they co opt older claims and competing surrounding claims to start a new movement. 

The oldest depictions of the alleged first Buddha are rooted in superstition and also on top of that based on the Vedas as well.

I would like to clear up what appears to be a misunderstanding. I was never part of a Buddhist club and in fact I never met another Buddhist until well past my undertaking to meditate. also when i say zen i mean the practice of zazen or sashin which is the meditation part of the religion.
yes Buddhism can be pretty however I use what works for me because it works. If it didn't I wouldn't use it. as far as the history or faith based teachings... not so much they don't work for me.

[The Grand Nudger]

I don't wish to be another Delicate and get banned, For what it's worth, I'm no where near "evil" . Peace and have a nice day

Folks don't get banned for holding or espousing the disgusting tenets of their religious faiths. Take that schtick and stir elsewhere.

[robvalue]

You can be evil all you like as long as you follow the rules.

I don't think you're evil, I just think your logic is out of whack. You seem to pretty much admit that you choose to believe this stuff, rather than actually believing it's literally true. It seems to be an emotional reaction to reality, finding it unnacceptable if it's not accompanied by further explanation. I find it unacceptable too, but I just stop there. The logical conclusions we draw from "karma" are heinous, but you don't draw the same ones as us.

We all have ways of coping, and they don't have to make sense or be "real". I spend a lot of time in imaginary worlds in my head, for example.

[quip]

So why the attack on Buddhism? Because it is also part of one species, one planet and one evolution. It should not be blasphemy or ridicule free either. That religion was born from Hinduism and the Vedas. The legend of the first Buddha was also a magical story where the divine told his mother Queen Maya that she would give birth to a baby who would bring wisdom to the world, he too had a birth that avoided the birth canal. And it is a religion to call it anything less is bullshit to me. It too has moral codes and holy people and competing sects and different interpretations. While some are atheists and call it a philosophy, others hold the superstitions of "nats"(spirits) and Karma and reincarnation.

Buddhism is as much a superstition as any other religion stemming from mythology.

Buddhism holds to no dogma. At it's sustaining core there are two demonstrable truths, a counteragent regarding the first two and a final method to free oneself from them...the rest is philosophy and/or window dressing.
Take it as you wish....Buddhism doesn't care.

[The Grand Nudger]

"Buddhism holds to no dogma"

-proceeds to vaguely refer to buddhist dogma.

Am I missing something?

[quip]

Am I missing something?

Apparently.

[The Grand Nudger]

By all means, elaborate.

[quip]

By all means, elaborate.

For starters, school yourself upon the notion of dogma.

Buddhism is a suggestion not a demand....

[The Grand Nudger]

...okay...

Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted.[1] It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief system, and it cannot be changed or discarded without affecting the very system's paradigm, or the ideology itself. The term can refer to acceptable opinions of philosophers or philosophical schools, public decrees, religion, or issued decisions of political authorities.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma

 At it's sustaining core there are two demonstrable truths, a counteragent regarding the first two and a final method to free oneself from them...the rest is philosophy and/or window dressing.

[quip]

...okay...

Dogma is a belief or set of beliefs that is accepted by the members of a group without being questioned or doubted.[1] It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief system, and it cannot be changed or discarded without affecting the very system's paradigm, or the ideology itself. The term can refer to acceptable opinions of philosophers or philosophical schools, public decrees, religion, or issued decisions of political authorities.[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogma

 At it's sustaining core there are two demonstrable truths, a counteragent regarding the first two and a final method to free oneself from them...the rest is philosophy and/or window dressing.

...and?

No one is forcing you to accept Buddhism via eternal punishment nor accusations of heresy.