(November 27, 2016 at 11:15 pm)Aegon Wrote:(November 27, 2016 at 9:17 pm)Emjay Wrote: If that's the case then imo they're only superficially Buddhists or Buddhism is the lesser influence in some hybrid ideology. Nothing about Buddhism teaches that violence is acceptable, and meditation practice is all about 'not-attachment' to conscious states such as anger... the main cause of violence. Buddhists are fallible just like everyone else but the aim is non-attachment. That said, I don't know anything about how Buddhism is practiced in a religious context. In the western world people who are interested in it basically have to go all in, learning about it and practicing it as a monk would. But in foreign climes if it's the case that there are followers that defer to the monks and basically treat monasteries as churches to go to for guidance, then it might make more sense. In other words, I don't know to what extent the - for want of a better word - peasants in poor Buddhist countries practice the teachings of Buddhism. A monk living in a monastery has time and a peaceful environment to practice meditation all day long if they want, but not everybody has that luxury. So basically what I'm saying is if these mobs you speak of treat Buddhist monks as a higher authority to refer to, but do not actually meditate themselves in the sense of aiming to attain Nirvana... the state of complete non-attachment, then I could understand them not fully understanding the Buddhist message, but if they do meditate and practice it as monks would, I can't see any way that they could consider mob violence acceptable.
Christians and Muslims justify the violence in their respective religions using similar arguments.
Yes, I've realised that point during this discussion; that Buddhism is no different in the divisions it can cause, and the 'No True x' defences it can foster, and which I've just done... all of which can lead to the shit we see in the world. So I apologise; I should not defend it, I should just keep it to myself. It's available to anyone who wants to learn about it but being defensive or evangelical about it is not helpful.
