Buddhism: Overgeneralizations and Shortcomings

[Scepcop]

[NinjaPuppy]

I started to read this and noticed that there is another religious reference to "40 days", so I Googled. Here's what I found:

http://www.creation-answers.com/forty.htm and http://www.40day.com/40_in_the_bible.html

Relgion sure does like that 40 days thing.

[ProfWag]

Personally, I couldn't give a Texas sized poop what religion somebody wants to believe AS LONG AS they don't tread on my territory. I don't tell people they are idiots for believing in an invisible, deep voiced, bearded man so I would hope they don't tell me I'm an idiot for not believing in that.

[ciscop]

yep..
i dont care about buddhism either

religion is totally bunk
so good luck debunking every one of them

next one go for the Mormons, they are an easy target wu
and they are fun as hell

[Scepcop]

[Kevin Kane]

Speaking politically, I think many Westerners have a false perspective of Buddhism.They see buddhism as non-violent, which they assume to mean good. This is not always the case.

-Many westerners have a wary view of the Chinese, or at least, the government of China. But they fail to recognize Buddhist principles are deeply embeded in governance principles of the Chinese government.

-The buddhist-centric war against hindu Tamils in Sri Lanka was very violent. And it borders on genocide or ethnic cleansing.

-The recent ethnic cleansing of 1000's of hindus from Bhutan was non-violent.
Non-violent intimidation.
Non-violent harrassment.
Non-violent oppression and suppression.
Non-violent castigation, isolation and disempowerment.
Non-violent violations of rights.

-And while hinduism is legal in Bhutan, all other religions are illegal. This is well known, despite mild government claims to opposite. Bhutun loves the Dalai Lama and regard him as Catholics do the Pope. Similar forms of non-violence .. and violence .. occur in Tibet against non-buddhists, and even against alternate (chinese-infliuenced) buddhists banned by the insanely compassionate Dalai Lama.

Tibetan buddhists are seeking ethnic cleansing. Make no mistake about it.

[Kevin Kane]

Oh, and this:

Living Buddhas must get government permission before they can reincarnate:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 194682.ece

[Scepcop]

Just because some PEOPLE who call themselves Buddhist act violently does not mean the religion itself is violent.

There is nothing in Buddhist canon or scripture that advocates violence, at least in the original versions. On the other hand, many parts of the Bible and Koran do advocate violence, killing, conquering and glorify it.

You have to take all that into consideration.

[Kevin Kane]

I think a distinction should be made between an individual belief system, which you are addressing, and how that belief system plays out in a social and political context.

Islam actually is a pretty peaceful religion, compared to an anarchistic society without rules, or even modern christian societies. Sufi islam has been the main belief system in most of North Africa for many decades, centuries. Only now with a radical version of islam do we start to see the violence we see in Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria. Don't blame it on Sufi islam.

[Scepcop]

[ProfWag]

[NinjaPuppy]

[NinjaPuppy]

I found this quote too: "Money won't buy happiness, but it will pay the salaries of a large research staff to study the problem."

[ProfWag]

[NinjaPuppy]

IMO, Tom Cruise is a dipwad and a rather poor example for you to throw into this topic. Perhaps someone who is wealthy and not quite such a public figure might be better. How about Warren Buffett? He's got a few bucks and I doubt he gets stormed by adoring fans at his local buffet.

Actually, I doubt he would patronize a buffet simple to avoid the tabloid headlines, "Buffett Buffet".