Thoughts on Buddhism

[The Grand Nudger]

It's strange then, that the histories of the two religions seem to have so many parallels, don't you think? I would also counter that more people believe that they have received wisdom, comfort, and guidance from christianity than buddhism. I don't think this means that they have, but I don't think people receive those things from buddhism either. I'd credit an altogether different source in both cases. I understand that you don't see any darkness when you look at buddhism (but I do), and I would suggest that it may have more to do with you being a good person than buddhism being a "good religion". That others have identified, or exploited, or developed evils from the fertile soil of faith (including your own) is impossible to ignore. It seems from here that it is obviously there, just not in you. The only explanation you can offer is that they were wayward, it is otherwise unthinkable to you. This is a very common reaction when you present the faithful with a picture of their faith that does not align with their own personal interpretations.

Let me ask you this, if buddhism were all these things you feel that it is, then exactly how did these buddhists go so terribly awry? Why didn't their buddhism shield them from these things? If buddhism were somehow superior to christianity..then how is it that these buddhists ended up behaving in exactly the same manner as christians?

(I notice you haven't touched my mention of Tibet, The Dalai Lama, and his feudal theocracy. Is it that you don't see any evil in this, or that you just can't believe that this was the case? Was this theocracy somehow not a product of buddhism? Just how holy is His Holiness?)