to Bhudda for the intellectual acheivement
respond yes or no or say more too
What intellectual achievement in particular are you speaking of?
simplifying and understaninding EVERYTHING, but the acheivment part was explaining it clearly.
To be honest, most Americans know next to nothing about Buddha. They think he’s a fat statue in Chinese restaurants. If you ask 20 Americans what they think about the 4 Noble Truths, maybe one will have any idea what you’re talking about.
The ones who do know something about Buddhism (excluding those who have cultural connectons to it) tend to have some respect for it if for no other reason than that they’re self-selected to be curious and open-minded enough to learn anything about it in the first place.
Really? We understand everything? Time to cut the R&D budget.
I don’t think most Americans have a lot of exposure to Buddhism and Diogenes is right that most people think of him as that fat guy at the Chinese restaurant. China certainly has a lot of intellectual, philosophical, political, and religious contributions including legalism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism.
I certainly respect the four noble truths because I can see where they’re coming from but I fundamentally disagree with their solution to this suffering.
#1. We all suffer in life.
You know, I'm kind of ok with this. Gotta take the good with the bad and so long as there's more good than bad then I'm comfortable.
#2. Suffering is caused by desire.
In a broad sense I suppose it is. If I didn't want to date Salma Hayek so badly it wouldn't hurt so much to find out she's with another man.
#3. Suffering can be ended by getting rid of desire.
I suppose it could. However I live in a material world and I don't think I can separate myself from all desire.
#4. Follow the Eight Fold Path to get rid of your desires.
I don’t see any sense in getting rid of all my desires. Even if some of them lead to suffering I am ok with that. Within reason. So while I can understand where the Buddhist mindset is coming from I just don’t agree with it.
Marc
you dont have to get rid of all your desires, but you would if you could,
i think the Buddha discovered that
and i think thats true
can the position
“I would like some desire” be defended, in world where it possible to have none
btw:
it is this world
I’ve been told by an expert in the Pali dialect that both the terms “suffering” and “desire” are oversimplifications of what’s being stated in the 4NT’s. The word that usually gets translated as “suffering” is (so I’ve been told) better translated as “unsatisfactory.” Life isn’t necessarily active suffering, but it never quite satisfies…at least not permanently.
The concept expressed as “desire” is not just about wanting, but really about subjective judgement and discrimination over all. Supposedly, we’re unsatisfied because we divide the world into varying degrees of things we want and things we don’t want. It’s the ego that does that. If you kill the ego, you no longer “suffer” with dissatisfaction.
There is a paradox in this that the only thing that wants to kill the ego is the ego itself. Wanting to be enlightened is still wanting. You can only get it when you stop wanting it.
I was really into Zen meditation at one point, but hardly ever do it anymore. I could sometimes almost get to points that I thought were…I don’t know…breakthroughs, I guess. Sometimes I’d get to a point where I realized (or maybe just thought I realized), that letting go of the ego was really simple. It was all about just opening the hand. I could do it anytime I wanted. I could never quite bring myself to let go of the tether, though. No balls. It felt like it would be a kind of death.
is there a form of zen buddhism ingrained into specifically american culture, almost a pop culture awareness of the meaning if not the substance of the buddha’s work? I have a suspiscion that Diogenes experiences are pretty normal. I would be in the handful that have experienced similiar
there is probably nothing more to say, but if anyone knows any chants or words to repeat this would be cool place to share them
“if you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there”
Moderator’s Note: Edited thread title for clarity.
I took a lot of classes on Eastern religions in college and studied several forms of Buddhism. I took up Zen because it was the most aesthetically attractive to me. It was the cleanest and most minimalistic.
“Every moment is exactly like right now.”
I used to say buddhist saying to myself
i would say to myself or out loud,
buddhists say what?
and you would see most people would either say what or really mean to say what
and this reinforces the view and truth that the perfect world is actually a buddhaverse where all beings are buddhas
/advanced technique
No, because he’s fat and smug!
he is viewed in some regions as thin and humble
he died of food poisoning
My impression of Buddha was that he couldn’t give a rat’s ass about respect. At least I’d respect him more if that was the case.
he respected his own mind - its a very powerful thing
This reminds me of a Mitch Hedberg zinger.
“I played in a death-metal band. People either loved us or hated us… or they thought we were OK.”
The Buddha doesn’t command respect, so the west is not doing anything that would contradict that by not recognizing the Buddha as anything but the Buddha.
The very essence of the Buddha is enlightenment - not respect. If you the OP could be a little more clear on your intentions for this thread it would be appreciated.
I read about Buddhism years ago and found some parts interesting. But I found that the nihilism inherent in it to be quite depressing. The idea that the only way to be content is to seek to end yourself as a conscious entity is as empty and self denying as the idea that accepting any amount of suffering in life to get a better fate in death.
Jonathan
That’s … one possible interpretation of Buddha’s message, I suppose. I would hesitate to call Buddhism inherently nihilistic, myself, but de gustibus, neh?