RE: Help me out here, Ex Buddhists.
March 16, 2015 at 7:25 am
(This post was last modified: March 16, 2015 at 7:34 am by Brian37.)
Nirvana is also another superstitious concept. It is nuts to say there is such a thing as a "perfect state". The act of going out of your way to clear your mind, is an act of training. The ability to endure and focus is the same act of training you can find in Navy Seals. There has never been a human being in our evolution that goes their entire lives without stress every second of their lives.
We are not "one" with everything. There is no such thing as a utopia and all religions, god or not, simply have gap filled with antiquated ideas of a "perfect state". Nirvana is simply a watered down more earthy concept. It is merely a temporary version of "heaven" through "meditation". Neither in any case make anyone stress free, or illness free, or death free. They are still excuses to hide behind myths.
Buddhism does not prevent violence because violence is not a matter of religion, it is a matter of human behavior. If Buddhism prevented humans from doing bad things then we should expect to see Buddhist countries lack prisons, but like every country on the face of the planet, they all have prisons.
Point this out and even the Buddhist will pull the same "They aren't doing it right because that is not what Buddha taught". It is the same "No true Scotsman" fallacy all religions pull when you call them out on it.
Only modern evolution and psychiatry and neurology and science explain why we behave the way we do.
"That's not what my religion teaches" is the line all religions pull.
If any one religion were a good explanation to the nature of human behavior, it could be applied universally. The fact is you can find kind motifs and empathy in the writings of all religions. That does not make all religions true. That should tell everyone that our empathy is in our evolution, not the religious clubs humans invent. Violence in the form of war and crime have always existed in every part of our species history and long before even the first written tradition of humans.
Buddha did not invent compassion anymore than Jesus or Allah or Hinduism. Religion merely takes what is in us and turns it into a comic book. Our appeal to empathy as a species unfortunately is clouded by our false perceptions as well and allows us to make excuses to avoid the fact that WE are doing it, not any one person in history, or any one religion in our history.
Says who? Nope, being more earthy does not change the same ignorant past all those myths started in.
There is not one kind act or kind thing said a Buddhist or Hindu has said in the past or could say today that those outside could not say or do. Concepts of kindness are because our species evolved to cooperate. Our empathy needs no antiquated religion to explain it.
You don't need a religion to say "Be kind". "Don't harm other people". Religion takes our human behavior and turns it into a comic book. That gap filling allows us to ignore our clubs do not make us a separate species.
We are not "one" with everything. There is no such thing as a utopia and all religions, god or not, simply have gap filled with antiquated ideas of a "perfect state". Nirvana is simply a watered down more earthy concept. It is merely a temporary version of "heaven" through "meditation". Neither in any case make anyone stress free, or illness free, or death free. They are still excuses to hide behind myths.
Buddhism does not prevent violence because violence is not a matter of religion, it is a matter of human behavior. If Buddhism prevented humans from doing bad things then we should expect to see Buddhist countries lack prisons, but like every country on the face of the planet, they all have prisons.
Point this out and even the Buddhist will pull the same "They aren't doing it right because that is not what Buddha taught". It is the same "No true Scotsman" fallacy all religions pull when you call them out on it.
Only modern evolution and psychiatry and neurology and science explain why we behave the way we do.
"That's not what my religion teaches" is the line all religions pull.
If any one religion were a good explanation to the nature of human behavior, it could be applied universally. The fact is you can find kind motifs and empathy in the writings of all religions. That does not make all religions true. That should tell everyone that our empathy is in our evolution, not the religious clubs humans invent. Violence in the form of war and crime have always existed in every part of our species history and long before even the first written tradition of humans.
Buddha did not invent compassion anymore than Jesus or Allah or Hinduism. Religion merely takes what is in us and turns it into a comic book. Our appeal to empathy as a species unfortunately is clouded by our false perceptions as well and allows us to make excuses to avoid the fact that WE are doing it, not any one person in history, or any one religion in our history.
(March 16, 2015 at 6:59 am)Aoi Magi Wrote: Brian the problem is buddhism and hinduism is mainly philosophical in nature and you cannot debate or argue with them in the same way as you can with an abrahamic religion. They do have religious aspects, but in buddhism it's quite small and is quite confusing. There are multiple buddhas, both good and bad, and they believe humans can become buddha-hood through weird suicide rituals... but those rituals are not really that widespread nor are they forced on followers...
Says who? Nope, being more earthy does not change the same ignorant past all those myths started in.
There is not one kind act or kind thing said a Buddhist or Hindu has said in the past or could say today that those outside could not say or do. Concepts of kindness are because our species evolved to cooperate. Our empathy needs no antiquated religion to explain it.
You don't need a religion to say "Be kind". "Don't harm other people". Religion takes our human behavior and turns it into a comic book. That gap filling allows us to ignore our clubs do not make us a separate species.
