New member

[KittyAnn]

Hello Curiosne, I'm a new here as you are, but I'm sure we are quite different new members here ..and it's great! .... and btw were you born as a Buddhist?

[KittyAnn]

"... and btw were you born as a Buddhist?"

of course stupid question ....were you born as Buddhist? Nobody borns as ...Buddhist, Christian, Jew...and blah, blah... usually others decide for us in that moment of life, you know what i mean..... but anyway ..were you a buddhist since birth...?

[curiosne]

"... and btw were you born as a Buddhist?"

of course stupid question ....were you born as Buddhist? Nobody borns as ...Buddhist, Christian, Jew...and blah, blah... usually others decide for us in that moment of life, you know what i mean..... but anyway ..were you a buddhist since birth...?

Hi KittyAnn, correct, I was raised as a Buddhist.

[KittyAnn]

"... and btw were you born as a Buddhist?"

of course stupid question ....were you born as Buddhist? Nobody borns as ...Buddhist, Christian, Jew...and blah, blah... usually others decide for us in that moment of life, you know what i mean..... but anyway ..were you a buddhist since birth...?

Thank u..., but can I ask a quick question?
... is it difficult to growing up as a Buddhist, or rather fun for a child, ....in this period of life?

[curiosne]

Thank u..., but can I ask a quick question?
... is it difficult to growing up as a Buddhist, or rather fun for a child, ....in this period of life?

It was very confusing and a bit depressing. For instance, Buddhists pretty much just focus on dying in a manner that will enable them to reach Nirvana.

The manner of dying that they try to achieve is through meditation throughout their life so that their thoughts can be controlled at the time of death to prevent Samsara (the never ending cycle of birth and death).

So through meditation, this is what they try to control:
-  Restrict the want (desire) of pleasure as we will never satisfy our desires.
-  Time is fleeting, so recognise that as time progresses onwards, we are dying. We need to attain enlightenment before we die to reach nirvana.
-  When we die, we cannot have any emotional attachments to this earthly plane so meditating will enable us to severe our attachments to this world.

With the above ideas, it kind of felt like a death cult. There are other values that Buddhism espouses like compassion, mindfulness which are all great but ultimately the end goal was to achieve dying in a particular way which affected me the most (in a negative way). So yeah, it was a bit difficult to grow up as a Buddhist.

[Dave B]

Mornin all!

I'm, obviously, one of the millions of Daves inhabiting this sorry world, but trying to make the most of it. Trouble is, being in my seventh decade, I saw seen it since WW2's immediate legacy, through service in the RAF during the Cold War to our present not-too-happy situation. But never mind that!

I decided I was not a religious person around the age of ten, after being "expelled" ftom my fifth Sunday school for asking the wrong kind of questions and not accepting the answers without wanting to debate them. I "discovered" humanism after seeing a notice at a local meeting hall but was considered too young, at twelve, to join that group. Basically I am still a humanist.

I am a, happily, retired Jack-of-all-trades research and development lab tech - except I miss having access to all thst machining and welding kit. I live in Gloucestshire and have been involved with local archaeology and historical research over the years. Less active in all fields these days though due yo cardiac problems, including being slightly cyborg with a pacemaker/defibrillator now built in. Not always as mobile as I would like to be.

I am a fan of how langusge and words are used and what they really say (that we would often rather they did not!), so it is no surprise that Ben Jonson's, "Language best shows a nan, speak that I might know you", is high amongst my favourite quotes.

The other thing if note is that I use a tablet and am god at typoing with on-screen keyboards (read that carefully, it was deliberate for a change)! Please pre-pardon me for any strange words, I do edit but still miss some, or am in a hurry. Tupicalou, st wirde, mu typong id loke thid.

[c172]

Welcome, Dave! I liked the thread you posted about the "Dave phenomenon"!

I wonder if staff can break this post off into its own thread. Easier for both you and us if you don't have to share a thread with the OP, methinks.

Welcome to the OP, too!

[KittyAnn]

Thank u..., but can I ask a quick question?
... is it difficult to growing up as a Buddhist, or rather fun for a child, ....in this period of life?

It was very confusing and a bit depressing. For instance, Buddhists pretty much just focus on dying in a manner that will enable them to reach Nirvana.

The manner of dying that they try to achieve is through meditation throughout their life so that their thoughts can be controlled at the time of death to prevent Samsara (the never ending cycle of birth and death).

So through meditation, this is what they try to control:
-  Restrict the want (desire) of pleasure as we will never satisfy our desires.
-  Time is fleeting, so recognise that as time progresses onwards, we are dying. We need to attain enlightenment before we die to reach nirvana.
-  When we die, we cannot have any emotional attachments to this earthly plane so meditating will enable us to severe our attachments to this world.

With the above ideas, it kind of felt like a death cult. There are other values that Buddhism espouses like compassion, mindfulness which are all great but ultimately the end goal was to achieve dying in a particular way which affected me the most (in a negative way). So yeah, it was a bit difficult to grow up as a Buddhist.

Yeah, all these stuffs... sound a bit gloomy, of course as you said .. the compassion and mindfulness are really a positive value, but anyway thinking still about death, about dying...  especially for kids, who are the life in themselves... is not easy.
besides ...thank you for a very full reply 
...and nice to meet you

[Joods]

Welcome to the forum! I'm really getting a good education about Buddhism from you. We get so bombarded by Islam and Christianity here that we don't get to hear from anyone else as much.

I know you're an atheist now, but thank you for taking the time to explain things.