Buddhism at odds with Abrahamic religions.

Yeah, the whole slaying of babies and injunctions to genocide, witch-killing, and murdering of homosexuals has merit and value. What's that? You didn't even know that stuff was in there? Why am I not surprised?

The reason religion is a problem is because God is conceptualized as the ultimate authority, and as such any evil or injustice is permissible. And the bible--as well as the Quran--is full of such evils and injustices.

 

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First off, I've read the bible and don't jump to any assumptions or you might make a fool of yourself. I said it had SOME merits, I didn't say that the entire book did. I don't find anything wrong with Commandments 10-5. I don't have any problem the islamic idea that your life's worth is based on good acts (but we can disagree on what would be considered good acts). These are things that I would consider to have value. There are good and bad sects of every religion, but it is really easy to focus on the negatives and neglect the positives. I'm not sure why I'm defending religion because I'm atheist (playing the devils advocate I guess), but I am against intolerant atheist fundies just as much as religious fundies.

 

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Naw, my problem is with idiots that call my "unlisted" home phone that is also registered on the national "do not call" list and bother me with any crap. If it is family, friends or a neighbor, an emergency or something along those lines, that is what I have the phone for. NOT as a means to violate my privacy.

Religion is fine as long as you treat it like swinging your hands. It is your right to swing your hands, that right ends at my nose. It is your right to practice your religion, that right ends at my ears. To wit: I do not want to hear about somebody's god(s), pas de proselytizing.

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What do you guys think of this?

The Dark Side of Buddhism

 

Buddha said once "do not follow me but follow where your heart leads you. " If that was to another religion then the Buddha was happy you found what truely made you happy.

 

The Dark Side of Buddhism

Perhaps, he understood that if everyone followed him, it would lead to human extinction. Someone has to suffer i.e., sexual reproduction is necessary, right?

"'Worthless man, [sexual intercourse] is unseemly, out of line, unsuitable, and unworthy of a contemplative; improper and not to be done... Haven't I taught the Dhamma in many ways for the sake of dispassion and not for passion; for unfettering and not for fettering; for freedom from clinging and not for clinging? Yet here, while I have taught the Dhamma for dispassion, you set your heart on passion; while I have taught the Dhamma for unfettering, you set your heart on being fettered; while I have taught the Dhamma for freedom from clinging, you set your heart on clinging.

"'Worthless man, haven't I taught the Dhamma in many ways for the fading of passion, the sobering of intoxication, the subduing of thirst, the destruction of attachment, the severing of the round, the ending of craving, dispassion, cessation, unbinding? Haven't I in many ways advocated abandoning sensual pleasures, comprehending sensual perceptions, subduing sensual thirst, destroying sensual thoughts, calming sensual fevers? Worthless man, it would be better that your penis be stuck into the mouth of a poisonous snake than into a woman's vagina. It would be better that your penis be stuck into the mouth of a black viper than into a woman's vagina. It would be better that your penis be stuck into a pit of burning embers, blazing and glowing, than into a woman's vagina. Why is that? For that reason you would undergo death or death-like suffering, but you would not on that account, at the break-up of the body, after death, fall into deprivation, the bad destination, the abyss, hell. But for this reason you would, at the break-up of the body, after death, fall into deprivation, the bad destination, the abyss, hell...

"'Worthless man, this neither inspires faith in the faithless nor increases the faithful. Rather, it inspires lack of faith in the faithless and wavering in some of the faithful.'"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism_and_sexuality

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Buddhism

 

That is why he was always telling people to believe in themselves and not him.

 

Can you actually cite a source where the Buddha said so?

 

Hasn't been cleaned up yet, I note.

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BTW, Buddha had a wife and a child.

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Buddhism in a nutshell: Empty-headedness and semen retention.

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“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.”

“It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.”

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...yoCoBw&usg=AFQjCNEc4aL5o-hBcHBIgdMb5rtkS4roWg

 

That is your opinion, I disagree because Buddha isn't a religion but only a way to think. If other religions say the same or similar things then why not castigate them as well?

 

It appears to me that all religions receive equal castigation around here.

 

Castigate, hell, I was going to say castrate but they already do this to themselves to reach nirvana.

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Earlier Pali Buddhism is a tremendously sophisticated spiritual psychology. And as time went on, that evolved into a fully-formed Buddhist philosophy, with ontology, epistemology, logic and the rest of it. Actually, a better phrase would be Buddhist philosophies (plural), since Buddhists didn't always agree with each other and there were plenty of philosophical controversies over the years.

As an example, here's the SEP article on Dharmakirti, one of the more prominent Indian Buddhist philosophers. Whether one agrees or disagrees with his highly technical views, they are anything but "empty headed".

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dharmakiirti/

Buddhist meditation isn't about empty-headedness either. The goal in Buddhist meditation isn't to wipe one's consciousness clean of all phenomenal content. (That's more of a yogic idea, I think.) Buddhist meditation is more about what's termed 'mindfulness', internal observation, observing how one's various affective states rise and subside.

Finally sex. The things you quoted were taken from the Buddhist vinaya, the rule for monks. They aren't intended as rules for laypeople and householders, who are perfectly free to engage in sex, provided that it isn't sexual misconduct like rape or child-molesting. Monks subject themselves to a much more stringent discipline. The intent isn't simply discipline for discipline's sake, but rather it's part of a project to break the dependency that most people have on acquiring things or stimulating themselves sensually in order to feel fleeting happiness, before the endless chase begins all over again.

 

No, the problem is religion. Darwin never inspired the Hitler, since Hitlerian race theory was based on pseudoscience, not evolution by natural selection, and no peer review was allowed. The Bible is not only a piece of literature that people could do with what they will, it's also considered the inerrant word of the creator of the universe, and could not be questioned openly until relatively recently, when the political power of the church diminished.

 

*cough* ullshit! What, do you think that rationality and mindfulness go hand in hand, or that Buddhism deserves more respect because it's godless? :bugeye:

“Buddhists accept the existence of beings in higher realms, known as devas, but they, like humans, are said to be suffering in samsara, and are not necessarily wiser than we are. In fact, the Buddha is often portrayed as a teacher of the gods, and superior to them.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Buddhism

 

I'd like to see an actual Buddhis source, not second-hand and third-hand quotes and, especially, misquotes.

 

I wonder where this negative popular image of Buddhism came from, how come it developed.

 

I wouldn't say it’s popular but the Dalai Lama has been trying to create an alliance between Buddhism and science. Maybe it’s because of the shit that the Dalai Lama has been sayin’. However, it’s no secret that Buddhists still cling to weird metaphysical bullshit derived from the Solomon of India.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iddhi

http://atheism.about.com/b/2009/05/28/whats-wrong-with-buddhism.htm