RE: Help me out here, Ex Buddhists.
April 30, 2015 at 5:14 am
(This post was last modified: April 30, 2015 at 5:17 am by tantric.)
okay. first, we most likely do not at all agree about the structure of reality. i *know* that each instance of reality is a process created by some external source triggering my senses and being chewed up and analyzed by my brain. i know that my senses can be fooled, so i mostly trust in group observation - and the scientific method, but i also know that scientific dogma has changed dramatically many times and will do so again. there is no way for me to objectively evaluate the external source that is triggering my senses - you think when you see the image is the world in front of you, but it's really a very distorted shadow in your head.
in your head, you have a set of rules and assumptions that you use to make sense out of reality and life. for instance, epistemology - how do you recognize truth? for xtians, it's divine relevation, for me and likely you, it's the scientific method. eschatology - there is no afterlife, teleology - do you have a purpose in life? mine is bettering the world. theology - gods are not real things, they are idea things, like 'democracy'. ie, symbols. worshiping gods is useless - they are just attention addicts. it goes on.
when i tally those answers, you have a summary of your comprehensive world view. if the person is christian, you call it religious nonsense. if it's you, well, it's just the truth, isn't that obvious? of course, the christian thinks the same - everyone believes their own religion.
the buddha wanted to know why monks and other such guys seemed happy in a world filled by disease, suffering and death. he investigated. first he threw out deprivation, saying the mind must have its basic needs met to function (buddhists don't fast or such). he tried several other approaches, then said, dammit, i'm gonna sit here under this cotton-pickin tree til i figure it out. and he did. he dharma is a logical analysis of why people lead such unsatisfying lives, filled with suffering (mental, not physical) and how to deal with it. the core of the practice is the idea that what gods the monks were worshipping were irrelevant, at best, and that it is the lifestyle of mindfulness, simple living and food and trying really hard to be a good person. i can't for the life of me find anything you could object to in this.
the fact that buddhists are human and do hate, awful human things isn't surprising. religions get coopted during state formation, to unite tribes that don't share a culture, and thus it becomes a tool of the state. same thing that happened to marxism/leninism and maoism (all state atheists) the buddha didn't really want the church, be he saw that people would just do it anyway after he died, so he laid out some guidelines, most of which were ignored.
in your head, you have a set of rules and assumptions that you use to make sense out of reality and life. for instance, epistemology - how do you recognize truth? for xtians, it's divine relevation, for me and likely you, it's the scientific method. eschatology - there is no afterlife, teleology - do you have a purpose in life? mine is bettering the world. theology - gods are not real things, they are idea things, like 'democracy'. ie, symbols. worshiping gods is useless - they are just attention addicts. it goes on.
when i tally those answers, you have a summary of your comprehensive world view. if the person is christian, you call it religious nonsense. if it's you, well, it's just the truth, isn't that obvious? of course, the christian thinks the same - everyone believes their own religion.
the buddha wanted to know why monks and other such guys seemed happy in a world filled by disease, suffering and death. he investigated. first he threw out deprivation, saying the mind must have its basic needs met to function (buddhists don't fast or such). he tried several other approaches, then said, dammit, i'm gonna sit here under this cotton-pickin tree til i figure it out. and he did. he dharma is a logical analysis of why people lead such unsatisfying lives, filled with suffering (mental, not physical) and how to deal with it. the core of the practice is the idea that what gods the monks were worshipping were irrelevant, at best, and that it is the lifestyle of mindfulness, simple living and food and trying really hard to be a good person. i can't for the life of me find anything you could object to in this.
the fact that buddhists are human and do hate, awful human things isn't surprising. religions get coopted during state formation, to unite tribes that don't share a culture, and thus it becomes a tool of the state. same thing that happened to marxism/leninism and maoism (all state atheists) the buddha didn't really want the church, be he saw that people would just do it anyway after he died, so he laid out some guidelines, most of which were ignored.
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