Christian Priest to Atheist to Buddhist

[CapnAwesome]

They can call themselves Buddhist all they want, but if they do not follow the teachings of Buddha, then they are not buddhist. Also remember that Buddhism isn't the issue, humans are. It is not Buddhism that holds anger, it is human nature.

There are those who stray from the teachings of most religions.

The Buddha taught that inner peace was the key to enlightenment. Acceptance of others and so forth. Radicalism is not the buddhist way but that does not mean people who stray from the teachings could not be radical.

It is sad, but by most Buddhists those Buddhists are not considered buddhist :/

The Buddha was just a dude making up stuff and not testing any of his theories. He has no intellectual credibility. All kinds of supernatural nonsense is associated with Buddhism. The main tenants of Buddhism are either outdated morality or supernatural nonsense. You might not believe it, but that doesn't mean that most Buddhists don't. If you don't prescribe to such nonsense what is the point of calling yourself Buddhist?

Also interesting to note that you are bisexual since according to the Dalia Lama

They want me to condone homosexuality. But I am a Buddhist and, for a Buddhist, a relationship between two men is wrong.

http://www.tibet.ca/en/library/wtn/archi...m=5&p=25_1

Your whole other argument of the Buddhists committing atrocities 'not being real Buddhists' is the same copout that Christians and Muslims use. How about the Buddhist Theocracy of Bhutan which makes all kinds of laws specifically persecuting other religions and the ethnic cleansing of Hindus which occurs there? Are you seriously saying that one of the preeminent centers of Buddhist thought in the world are not real Buddhists?

The problem with Buddhism is the same problem that all religions have. Group think and the clergy. The Dalia Lama is only given his political authority because of a story that no adult should believe in the 21st century. Buddhist monks live in elaborate temples with golden Buddhas in the middle of towns where people are starving.

Although you've only given the very basics of what you believe and don't believe in Buddhism, I'd be very curious to here the specific parts of Buddhism that you accept or don't accept.

[Rampant.A.I.]

Rasetsu (am I spelling that right?) might have a sentence or multiple paragraphs to state about Buddhism.

Personally, I have always viewed Buddhism as more contradictory than most religions. For everything that Buddhism usually claims, it tends to always make the opposite claim as well.

It's a Kantian dynamic, IMO. And as much as I hate the "Kantian Triangle" of "Thesis, Antithesis, Synthesis," (because Kant never actually described it as such in any of his works, to my knowledge), there is an element of Hegel's Master-Slave Dialectic that seems to be part of reality.

Atheism only has meaning as a word, because Theism has meaning as a word. It's descriptive because it is opposite to another force, and the characteristic definition only necessary because of the dichotomy. Things are not so simply Black or White, but rather Greyscale, so we have varying gradual degrees from theism to atheism, and wherever the individual aligns themselves on the spectrum is the synthesis of two polar opposites.

A lot of things in life are like that, and Buddhism, particularly Zen buddhism, seems to be aimed at divining truth out of seemingly contradictory ideas -- to the point of absurdity -- as seen in Zen koans, and from Beginner's Mind to Zen Mind, back to Beginner's Mind.

There's a Linji school of buddhism responsible for the "Zen Slap" that was more or less referenced in I Heart Huckabees.

As part of the iconoclastic tradition, Linji Yixuan would instruct a student to meditate. They could be at this for hours, or days, and Linji would run up, and start beating the everloving fuck out of his student with a cane, or a horsetail whip. Most initiates would continue meditating through the beating, which would continue by surprise attack, until the student either took the whip, hit him back, or shouted at him to stop. The point being, that the student had not achieved enlightenment by tuning out the beating, but by responding to stop it, eroding the distinction between the student and the master.

[Angrboda]

There's a Linji school of buddhism responsible for the "Zen Slap" that was more or less referenced in I Heart Huckabees.

As part of the iconoclastic tradition, Linji Yixuan would instruct a student to meditate. They could be at this for hours, or days, and Linji would run up, and start beating the everloving fuck out of his student with a cane, or a horsetail whip. Most initiates would continue meditating through the beating, which would continue by surprise attack, until the student either took the whip, hit him back, or shouted at him to stop. The point being, that the student had not achieved enlightenment by tuning out the beating, but by responding to stop it, eroding the distinction between the student and the master.

"The Master [Linji] saw a monk coming and held his fly whisk straight up. The monk made a low bow, whereupon the Master struck him a blow. The Master saw another monk coming and again held his fly whisk straight up. The monk paid no attention, whereupon the Master struck him a blow as well."

~ Watson, Burton (1999), The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi: A Translation of the Lin-chi lu (referenced on Wikipedia)

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Maybe the muslims simply bring out the worst in people?

Perhaps asking why is a good place to start.

https://www.facebook.com/BuddhistsinBurma

A Buddhist linking to sectarian accounts of the violence in Burma does little to undermine the claim that Buddhists are stirring up sectarian violence.

[Minimalist]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22243438

I don't know... that monk hitting the muslim with a club seems to be falling behind on his "Right Action" classes.

Maybe he's just a slow learner?

[BlackSwordsman]

It might have something to do with the Muslim that raped the buddhist woman.

[Angrboda]

It might have something to do with the Muslim that raped the buddhist woman.

You're not doing yourself any favors.

[Minimalist]

It might have something to do with the Muslim that raped the buddhist woman.

Did Buddha state an exception for that?

Or, is it simply that people who profess to be Buddhists are no more willing to follow such principles when they get pissed off about something than any one else?

That, of course, makes them quite human.

[BlackSwordsman]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22243438

I don't know... that monk hitting the muslim with a club seems to be falling behind on his "Right Action" classes.

Maybe he's just a slow learner?

It might have something to do with the Muslim that raped the buddhist woman.

Did Buddha state an exception for that?

Or, is it simply that people who profess to be Buddhists are no more willing to follow such principles when they get pissed off about something than any one else?

That, of course, makes them quite human.

I am so confused? I don't understand, it sounds as if you feel Buddha was a god of some sort? He was not, he taught about being better, he taught about ending sufferings.

You seem to think the title "Buddhist" makes someone less human or more human when the fact is Buddhism is a way of life for those whom follow his teachings. It doesn't mean you are not human, or you are not prone to everything that happens.

Fact is humans are humans. Being buddhist does not change human nature.

[Rampant.A.I.]

*cough* Shaolin Monks *cough*

[BlackSwordsman]

*cough* Shaolin Monks *cough*

I don't like the Shaolin's they have gone so far off the path on every level.