(April 7, 2015 at 1:51 pm)FatAndFaithless Wrote:(April 7, 2015 at 1:47 pm)emjay Wrote: I'd recommend the book "What The Buddha Taught" by Walpola Sri Rahula. In it it talks about what the Buddha, as a person, taught and there is nothing metaphysical about it. He comes across as an expert in psychology and the ideas make a lot of sense. If I were to follow any 'religion' that would be it but at that point in time it was not a religion, just the teachings of a wise man who never claimed to be anything other than that - he did not believe in any god nor claim to speak for any god.
I'm familiar with the stripped down meditative and contemplation-focused version of Buddhism (Four Noble Truths, Eight-Fold Path and all that), but I wouldn't call that anything 'scientific', nor especially astounding for its time. Additionally, if there's any hint of samsara or karma or anything like that, then any veneer of 'scientific' really goes out the window.
Yes, that was the part I was referring to - the Four Noble Truths etc. Admittedly there is talk of some form of reincarnation even at that stage but it is very different from what later versions of Buddhism teach and has none of the superstitious connotations, nor arbitrary levels of reincarnation in a hierarchy. It is put forward as a logical argument and extension of earlier ideas but still doesn't convince. But the other, earthly stuff is still cool.
