Thank you for the further welcomes!
It didn't take 20 years to realise, since leaving Christianity I have always been an Atheist.
The fact is, the Buddha himself was an Atheist and was trying to rid the world of religion (Brahmanism at the time had a hold on society). I began my Zen practice in Australia, where Buddhism is removed from the superstitions of Asia. Living in Japan however, and being in the monastic community, is impossible unless you believe what they tell you to believe. Buddhism is a fixed religion in which you must believe what you are told or you are ostracised and considered an outcast. Do not question the teachers I was told (against what the Buddha himself said).
In Japan Buddhism is nothing more than a money-making business, a funeral business. Monks get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to chant for dead people and then provide a space in the temple grounds for a grave.
(May 17, 2010 at 11:00 am)Saerules Wrote:Jun Wrote:Religion is a crippling of the mind, a placebo to hide away from our ills and suffering.
How very odd... I could swear 'religion' is usually defined otherwise.
This one wonders why it took 20 years of being a Zen monk to come to the conclusion that it was false... perhaps Jun will tell her. I admit interest
Regardless of my passive queries: welcome, I hope you enjoy your time here
It didn't take 20 years to realise, since leaving Christianity I have always been an Atheist.
The fact is, the Buddha himself was an Atheist and was trying to rid the world of religion (Brahmanism at the time had a hold on society). I began my Zen practice in Australia, where Buddhism is removed from the superstitions of Asia. Living in Japan however, and being in the monastic community, is impossible unless you believe what they tell you to believe. Buddhism is a fixed religion in which you must believe what you are told or you are ostracised and considered an outcast. Do not question the teachers I was told (against what the Buddha himself said).
In Japan Buddhism is nothing more than a money-making business, a funeral business. Monks get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to chant for dead people and then provide a space in the temple grounds for a grave.
