RE: Late introduction
April 26, 2015 at 1:39 pm
(This post was last modified: April 26, 2015 at 1:54 pm by Razzle.)
Thanks for the warm welcomes! I'm glad you're happy to have me. 
Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism all have their higher teachings that monastics learn about on the one hand, and on the other hand the populist teachings about superstition, getting yourself merit for the next life, magic tricks, and/or worshipping deities. This is very much like the difference between mainstream Christianity and Christian Mysticism, and mainstream Islam and Sufism (many Christian mystics and Sufi Muslims have essentially the same non-dualistic philosophy I'm talking about, or something at least closer to non-dualism than to the mainstream of their religion). The higher teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism aren't huge stretches of interpretation of the texts, and their proponents aren't heretics for believing them, whereas Christian mystics and Sufis have to be very careful to use ambiguous language to outsiders if they don't want to be denounced by the majority or even put to death for blasphemy. In the West, we tend to see East Asian religions as far more sophisticated than the Abrahamic religions (I don't call them "Western religions" because I maintain that the West is natively and culturally pagan as is almost everywhere on Earth, and pointing out Judeo-Christianity is foreign and Middle Eastern pisses off jingoistic conservative Christians
). The difference really is that the sophisticated philosophies of the West have been suppressed throughout history by religious oppression, and only the superstitious and inerrancy-based versions of these religions have been officially sanctioned, legal and open to anyone who really wanted to find out about them.
When anyone wants to know roughly what general flavour of Buddhism I'm into, I direct them to one of my favourite people I've never met, Alan Watts, RIP. I love listening to his lectures. Here he is explaining the understanding of Buddhist rebirth and Hindu reincarnation, and the meaning of "ending the cycle of rebirth" (a metaphor for the cessation of the illusion that our consciousness is a continuous entity passing through time instead of a stream of always new and separate moments of awareness), that at least some high ranking Buddhists and Hindus have written about for thousands of years, but are unfortunately rare among the laity of Hindu and Buddhist communities. This is one of the best brief explanations I've heard of non-dual/monistic/Buddhist/Advaita/whatever philosophy, which is very hard to articulate and very easy to make sound like New Age woo (not least because many New Agers have adopted the same philosophy, tried to bring quantum physics into it when they they don't understand that subject, and attached their own brand of woo to it).
I haven't heard of that, I was born in the late 80s. Raz is a diminutive form of my real name, and Razzle is just me being cute.
-Raz
(April 25, 2015 at 11:42 am)Aoi Magi Wrote: Buddhism? yeh it's cool without the woo (not that there is too much of it, but the woo isn't non-existent either) and I feel it is very practical and realistic in it's philosophy.
BTW, WELCOME it is great to have you among us.
(April 25, 2015 at 6:55 pm)AFTT47 Wrote: Welcome! I investigated Buddhism myself in the past but it wasn't my cup of tea. It certainly the least baggage of any of the major religions and perhaps the most useful. teachings.
Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism all have their higher teachings that monastics learn about on the one hand, and on the other hand the populist teachings about superstition, getting yourself merit for the next life, magic tricks, and/or worshipping deities. This is very much like the difference between mainstream Christianity and Christian Mysticism, and mainstream Islam and Sufism (many Christian mystics and Sufi Muslims have essentially the same non-dualistic philosophy I'm talking about, or something at least closer to non-dualism than to the mainstream of their religion). The higher teachings of Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism aren't huge stretches of interpretation of the texts, and their proponents aren't heretics for believing them, whereas Christian mystics and Sufis have to be very careful to use ambiguous language to outsiders if they don't want to be denounced by the majority or even put to death for blasphemy. In the West, we tend to see East Asian religions as far more sophisticated than the Abrahamic religions (I don't call them "Western religions" because I maintain that the West is natively and culturally pagan as is almost everywhere on Earth, and pointing out Judeo-Christianity is foreign and Middle Eastern pisses off jingoistic conservative Christians
). The difference really is that the sophisticated philosophies of the West have been suppressed throughout history by religious oppression, and only the superstitious and inerrancy-based versions of these religions have been officially sanctioned, legal and open to anyone who really wanted to find out about them.When anyone wants to know roughly what general flavour of Buddhism I'm into, I direct them to one of my favourite people I've never met, Alan Watts, RIP. I love listening to his lectures. Here he is explaining the understanding of Buddhist rebirth and Hindu reincarnation, and the meaning of "ending the cycle of rebirth" (a metaphor for the cessation of the illusion that our consciousness is a continuous entity passing through time instead of a stream of always new and separate moments of awareness), that at least some high ranking Buddhists and Hindus have written about for thousands of years, but are unfortunately rare among the laity of Hindu and Buddhist communities. This is one of the best brief explanations I've heard of non-dual/monistic/Buddhist/Advaita/whatever philosophy, which is very hard to articulate and very easy to make sound like New Age woo (not least because many New Agers have adopted the same philosophy, tried to bring quantum physics into it when they they don't understand that subject, and attached their own brand of woo to it).
(April 25, 2015 at 12:42 pm)downbeatplumb Wrote: Hello to you. Did you name yourself after an interesting British Magazine from the 1980s?
I haven't heard of that, I was born in the late 80s. Raz is a diminutive form of my real name, and Razzle is just me being cute.
-Raz
"Faith is a state of openness or trust. To have faith is like when you trust yourself to the water. You don't grab hold of the water when you swim, because if you do you will become stiff and tight in the water, and sink. You have to relax, and the attitude of faith is the very opposite of clinging, and holding on. In other words, a person who is fanatic in matters of religion, and clings to certain ideas about the nature of God and the universe becomes a person who has no faith at all. Instead they are holding tight. But the attitude of faith is to let go, and become open to truth, whatever it might turn out to be."
Alan Watts
Alan Watts
