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?
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.
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/
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.