# Buddhism is little more than Nihilism **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 19, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177 "2018-07-19T00:51:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/141 "2019-08-10T09:47:36Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > It was the man in the article that I read it from. The thing is that I lack the knowledge to reject this because there is some truth to it, which makes it harder to reject. I can throw out Christianity because it’s utter nonsense. BUddhism just seems a little more thoughtful than that though and he does explain what he means in the article. The article you just linked to? Your point in this thread is that Buddhism is little more than nihilism. You seem to be making this argument: if a guy had “true essence”, he could avoid nihilism; but if he doesn’t, he can’t; and he can have “true essence” if he isn’t dependent on other stuff, but he can’t if he is; thus, nihilism. I don’t see where The Man In The Article says that having “true essence” would let one avoid nihilism. I also don’t see where he says that you can have “true essence” if you pass the depend-on-other-stuff test. (As it happens, I don’t see him using the phrase “true essence”; I just see you stating it.) But let’s say you’re right about him saying that, and let’s also say you’re right not to reject what he’s saying. The Man In The Article also says that his approach _“is invigorating and endlessly rewarding.”_ If you sign on for the rest of what he’s saying, do you stop short of that line or do you keep nodding right there? _“These projections are handy when we want to ask for some cinnamon on our cappuccino,”_ says The Man In The Article; do you believe that, too? That some things are, as he puts it, handy? That he still, for some reason, drinks stuff; and, for some reason, prefers some drinks over other drinks? That he still acts like a guy who sure does want stuff? Do you believe The Man In The Article is right about that? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2019, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/142 "2019-08-10T14:42:19Z")
I’m starting with the man in the article–I’m asking him to change his ways. And no message could have been any clearer: if you want to make the world a better place take a look at _yourself_, and then make a change. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/143 "2019-08-11T17:04:07Z")
Because for me there is this compulsive addiction to Buddhism. It’s like I can’t say no. No matter what the article says I feel compelled to read it, even one like this: [https://www.lionsroar.com/booooring-september-2012/](https://www.lionsroar.com/booooring-september-2012/) ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/144 "2019-08-11T17:12:13Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Because for me there is this compulsive addiction to Buddhism. It’s like I can’t say no. No matter what the article says I feel compelled to read it, even one like this: [https://www.lionsroar.com/booooring-september-2012/](https://www.lionsroar.com/booooring-september-2012/) Seek professional help to break the obsessive cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/145 "2019-08-11T18:43:29Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Seek professional help to break the obsessive cycle. Doesn’t work because the problem is the content of the articles. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/146 "2019-08-11T20:04:29Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Doesn’t work because the problem is the content of the articles. I’m gonna break my rule and respond to you directly just this once Doesn’t it bother you that you are literally the only person in the world who responds to the articles like this? Some people find Buddhism compelling and rewarding and they go on about their lives. Some people do not so they ignore it and go on about their lives. You are the only person on this planet who obsesses like this. The problem is NOT the content of the articles. The problem is YOU, and your broken brain, and no one on this board can fix that. All the people on this board can do–and sadly are doing–is enable your disorder by pretending you are engaged in serious debate. Please seek professional help. There are medicines and behavioral therapies that can help you. This board cannot. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/147 "2019-08-11T20:25:55Z")
Like in the one about boredom where it makes it sound like being bored is a bad thing as so is wanting new experiences ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/148 "2019-08-11T21:18:59Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I’m gonna break my rule and respond to you directly just this once > > Doesn’t it bother you that you are literally the only person in the world who responds to the articles like this? Some people find Buddhism compelling and rewarding and they go on about their lives. Some people do not so they ignore it and go on about their lives. You are the only person on this planet who obsesses like this. The problem is NOT the content of the articles. The problem is YOU, and your broken brain, and no one on this board can fix that. All the people on this board can do–and sadly are doing–is enable your disorder by pretending you are engaged in serious debate. > > Please seek professional help. There are medicines and behavioral therapies that can help you. This board cannot. The problem is the content because it’s saying I’m living my life wrong, especially when I say I am bored. It’s the content that causes me issues but people don’t address it and so it stays in my head as a reminder of what I’m doing wrong ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/149 "2019-08-11T21:30:07Z")
Dude, that is textbook obsessive behavior. You are living your life wrong, because you are not getting treated for that. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/150 "2019-08-11T23:26:42Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Dude, that is textbook obsessive behavior. > > You are living your life wrong, because you are not getting treated for that. There is no treatment for the content of the articles besides a good counterpoint, which I don’t have. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2019, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/151 "2019-08-11T23:33:22Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > There is no treatment for the content of the articles besides a good counterpoint, which I don’t have. I give up. You do you. Rule back in effect. One parting thought: Again, why are you the only person anywhere who responds to these articles like this? Ponder that and perhaps enlightenment will follow. But I’m out. ---
**Author:** ![Machinaforce](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/aeb1de/32.png) [@Machinaforce](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machinaforce)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/152 "2019-08-12T02:31:57Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I give up. You do you. Rule back in effect. > > One parting thought: Again, why are you the only person anywhere who responds to these articles like this? Ponder that and perhaps enlightenment will follow. > > But I’m out. Because you aren’t addressing the points being made by the articles. It’s different than other religions which I can just ignore, like Christianity is pretty easy. But Buddhism just seems to be different from the rest of them which is why therapy doesn’t work. This isn’t like depression or anything else that doesn’t make a logical or reasoned point. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/153 "2019-08-12T13:32:01Z")
Buddhism is man made bullshit, just like any religion/philosophy when taken to extremes. Use what gives you comfort (and doesn’t hurt others) and discard what gives you anxiety and unresolvable internal conflict. Now stop washing your bowl and seek professional therapy for your obsessive behavior. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/154 "2019-08-12T22:07:12Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > It’s hard not to when much of what they say has a truth that I cannot argue against and that no one I talk to seems to be able to either so they just hand wave it. I suggest you keep this Koan in mind: Buddhism looks like pure Bullshit. Buddhism is not pure Bullshit. Now, this is a very modern Koan (I wrote it) but the wisdom is timeless.\* \*Half-joking here (or some other fraction). I don’t believe this is any great piece of wisdom. It’s not even as pithy as it wishes it could be. Still, it may have some value to the OP. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/155 "2019-08-12T22:18:04Z")
> [@Machinaforce](#): > > Because you aren’t addressing the points being made by the articles. It’s different than other religions which I can just ignore, like Christianity is pretty easy. But Buddhism just seems to be different from the rest of them which is why therapy doesn’t work. This isn’t like depression or anything else that doesn’t make a logical or reasoned point. I’ve shown you dozens of times that Buddhism doesn’t make a logical or reasoned point either. The problem is NOT that Buddhism has some kind of grounding in rationality or fact. It demonstrably doesn’t. At all. Your refusal to accept that isn’t because there’s something there. It’s because you are obsessed with _imagining_ that there’s something there. Even while _at the same time_ you admit that it’s gibberish. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2019, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/156 "2019-08-12T23:18:00Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Now, this is a very modern Koan (I wrote it) but the wisdom is timeless. That one leaves me cold. It is an ice cream koan. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/157 "2019-08-13T01:31:50Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > That one leaves me cold. It is an ice cream koan. Since it’s designed to get **Machinaforce** back on the right track, you could say it’s a traffic koan. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/158 "2019-08-13T16:36:16Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > Since it’s designed to get **Machinaforce** back on the right track, you could say it’s a traffic koan. It says that Buddhism is _not_ pure bullshit, so I don’t see how it’s supposed to get him on track. **MachinaForce** is irresistibly attracted to Buddhism (more specifically, cheap hacky pop Buddhism), and gets no meaning _at all_ from it. Everything just confounds and confuses him; he takes it in the form that best feeds his depression and anxiety, _not_ how the authors intended it to mean. Even if Buddhism actually had some truth behind it (which it quite certainly doesn’t, at the metaphysical level), nothing that **MachinaForce** gets out of it does. I think we can _all_ agree that when _he_ looks at Buddhism, what he sees is bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/159 "2019-08-13T16:50:43Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Now, now. That’s not the way. > > Better to accept his ignorance at face value and realize it doesn’t diminish us. Perhaps he can learn. > > Or, in short, machinaforce, you clearly don’t understand buddhism, or, indeed, religion as a whole in any aspect. But you can _educate yourself **should you wish to do so.** _ I get the impression that his entire posting history can be read as a metaphorical scream, imploring us to persuade him to wish to so do. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177/160 "2019-08-13T16:55:51Z")
Traffic cone. It’s a joke. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/buddhism-is-little-more-than-nihilism/818177.md?page=9)