Sigh, my gf is now bhuddist...

Vegetarian said:
Im going to offend a lot of bhuddist's here, but I find bhuddism one of the worst - it makes people very self-centred and selfish - all they care about is themselfs!
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I think I see where you are going with this but let me put my own spin on it...

In the act of becoming selfless to attain enlightenment you implicitly become selfish.

What I mean by this is you concentrate so hard on trying to achieve enlightenment (or whatever religious task you are trying to undertake) that you ignore the feelings and people around you thus becoming selfish and defeating the whole idea...

I think Bill and Ted said it best "Be excellent to each other, and party on dudes"

Just my opinion though so don’t pay any attention to me.
 
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Vegetarian said:
I'm going to offend a lot of bhuddist's here, but I find bhuddism one of the worst - it makes people very self-centred and selfish - all they care about is themselfs!
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I'm not sure you could be any further off the mark.

Buddhism is all about the control of the self-centred and selfish side of your mind.

It teaches you to loose your ego and see the truth of the way the world really works. It gets you to loose the jaded human perceptions which makes us feel separate from the world and through meditation makes you realise that everything is part of everything and the idea of the self is actually an illusion.
 
J.T said:
In the act of becoming selfless to attain enlightenment you implicitly become selfish.
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Actually, the entire idea - certainly in the Mahayana and Vajrayana - is to "achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings". Selfishness isn't so much a side effect as selflessness.

MookJong said:
makes you realise that everything is part of everything and the idea of the self is actually an illusion.
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See Dharmakaya and, most appropriately, "Tayata om gate, gate, paragate, para sam gate bodhi svaha!". Or, "Form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Thought, feeling, consciousness itself are the same as this."

EDIT: For those who actually care, it's not just illusory (delusive, really) but that all matter exists only in reliance on its constituent parts. No independent egotistical self or I exists outside of this deluded perception. In fact, if you were to look, you would find it impossible to find or label this 'I' outside of its constituent parts. You are emptiness, and the world is basically a manifestation of the delusive nature of the consciousnesses inside Samsara (the world of suffering). This ties in quite nicely with certain Spiritualist teachings.

As a side note, Buddhism's theories on the nature of the universe are only recently (the last 20 or so years) being proven correct in the finest detail by quantum physics. Quite good for something written over 2,500 years ago when Western man was still in nappies ;)
 
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Rainmaker said:
Actually, the entire idea - certainly in the Mahayana and Vajrayana - is to "achieve enlightenment for the sake of all sentient beings". Selfishness isn't so much a side effect as selflessness.
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In the end maybe, but on the way there you ignore those around you in favour of your goal.

All the time you spend pondering the universe could be spent helping others, all the time spent meditating and thinking about how everything is connected could instead be spent contributing towards mankind and the universe.

It's not about the destination, it’s about what you do on the way there...

in what you are saying if there is no self there is no others, and if that’s the case there is no point...

Again this is just my waffle so please ignore me, many do... :)
 
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J.T said:
In the end maybe, but on the way there you ignore those around you in favour of your goal.

All the time you spend pondering the universe could be spent helping others, all the time spent meditating and thinking about how everything is connected could instead be spent contributing towards mankind and the universe.

It's not about the destination, it’s about what you do on the way there...

Again this is just my waffle so please ignore me, many do... :)
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Actually I understand entirely where your viewpoint originates. However, you should remember that there are, after all, 24 hours in a day (allegedly ;)). Nobody spends 24 hours a day meditating, and in fact if you look at Buddhists in general you'll find a great deal of charity work, and "Bodhichitta in action". It's a corner stone of the Buddhist way of life, even for those in the ordained Sangha (monks/nuns/lamas etc).

As for:

"It's not about the destination, it’s about what you do on the way there..."

I agree wholeheartedly... to a point :D From my perspective what you say is a paradox because it's at once true, but at the same time what you do also affects when and how you reach that destination ;) EDIT: By this I mean that your statement (if taken to its literal conclusion) asserts that one would arrive at the same final end point no matter what, and by default. My viewpoint is that in order to reach that end point you'd have to have carried out certain personal development else you wouldn't have arrived there to begin with.
 
Rainmaker said:
Actually I understand entirely where your viewpoint originates. However, you should remember that there are, after all, 24 hours in a day (allegedly ;)). Nobody spends 24 hours a day meditating, and in fact if you look at Buddhists in general you'll find a great deal of charity work, and "Bodhichitta in action". It's a corner stone of the Buddhist way of life, even for those in the ordained Sangha (monks/nuns/lamas etc).

As for:

"It's not about the destination, it’s about what you do on the way there..."

I agree wholeheartedly... to a point :D From my perspective what you say is a paradox because it's at once true, but at the same time what you do also affects when and how you reach that destination ;)
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I agree in a way, but seeing as the end of the journey is the same for us all, the things we do while on it can never truly effect the outcome (or indeed the destination) but can affect the world around you which will carry on long after the journey is over.

Going to leave it there for now, thank you for the well thought out and rather good replies for a GD thread, you have given me more to ponder. :)
 
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That yogic flying is funny though ain't it. Especially when they do it in formation. Formation yogic flying. Makes me laugh anyway.

My girlfriend is a bhuddist, or at least I thnk she is. When we first got together she made it clear she wasa bhuddist and what she believed in, but didn't ram it down my throat or anything. But now that I think about it she hasn't overtly mentioned anything religious for years and years. I shall have to ask her about it.
 
Moley said:
Einstein wasn't religious - he was verhmently agnostic.
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Why would an agnostic write things such as:

"I want to know how God created this world. I'm not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details."
 
MookJong said:
I'm not sure you could be any further off the mark.

Buddhism is all about the control of the self-centred and selfish side of your mind.

It teaches you to loose your ego and see the truth of the way the world really works. It gets you to loose the jaded human perceptions which makes us feel separate from the world and through meditation makes you realise that everything is part of everything and the idea of the self is actually an illusion.
Click to expand...

You are correct it teaches about illusions - once you in buddhism you cant see the wood from the trees - lets say heavly deluded. What you think is great and peaceful etc is just your "own" illusion. How you come accross to others is something different.

The thing that Buddhism lacks is LOVE. That is to love who is around you and God.

On a seperate issue... I dont think I have any friends who are Buddhists... I have friends who are athists, muslim, hindi etc and as a christian myself, altho I may not personly agree with their religion we get on great. Buddhists in their nature think they are supriour - lack humillity, that we are flawed even when we do almost everything good. The fact is we are all human, all subject to the same hardships, sufferings, joy, happieness, love... we have just one life to live while we are here and we have to make the best of it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Moley
Einstein wasn't religious - he was verhmently agnostic.

Why would an agnostic write things such as:

"I want to know how God created this world. I'm not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details."
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Einstein also said, "I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene... No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word. No myth is filled with such life."
 
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Nice to see the ocuk members slate a op again because of jumping to conclusions.

All he's saying is that he's fed up of having to hear her go on about her new found religion and he wants her to change the record - sounds more like a rant to me than a request for advice so why everyone is calling him and I quote "pathetic" is beyond me.

Edit - God my spelling and grammar has gone bad lately. I blame OcUK
 
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codec said:
Nice to see the ocuk members slate a op again because of jumping to conclusions.

All he's saying is that he's fed up of having to here her go on about her new found religion and he wants her to change the record - sounds more like a rant to me than a request for advice so why everyone is calling him and I quote "pathetic" is beyond me.
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Well he did call Buddhism BS while demonstrating a lack of understanding so I can see where some people are coming from, but granted some people just seem to mouth off for the sake of it.
 
Vegetarian said:
You are correct it teaches about illusions - once you in buddhism you cant see the wood from the trees - lets say heavly deluded. What you think is great and peaceful etc is just your "own" illusion. How you come accross to others is something different.

The thing that Buddhism lacks is LOVE. That is to love who is around you and God.

On a seperate issue... I dont think I have any friends who are Buddhists... I have friends who are athists, muslim, hindi etc and as a christian myself, altho I may not personly agree with their religion we get on great. Buddhists in their nature think they are supriour - lack humillity, that we are flawed even when we do almost everything good. The fact is we are all human, all subject to the same hardships, sufferings, joy, happieness, love... we have just one life to live while we are here and we have to make the best of it.
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How can you say Buddhism lacks love? You've presumably met a few annoying new-age Buddhist types who you feel fit that profile, and then you've decided its the same for the whole religion? I've met a LOT of Christians who think that they are superior, lack humility and think that I am flawed when I do almost everything good. I'm not going to go out and say Christianity is a religion that lacks love.

I don't know why it's a bad thing to not love God though. You seem so wrapped up in the idea of loving your God that anyone who doesn't love a god is somehow baaad.
 
codec said:
yes shame on him for being frustrated and angry!
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Frustrated and angry? Because his girlfriend has found something she's passionate about, to the point where her head is brimming with ideas and she wants to talk about it all the time? Yeah I can see how that would agitate someone. I for one hope I never find anything I'm so enthusiastic about, or my girlfriend might be so angry that sex would be off the cards! Oh wait, no, she isn't pathetic.

Basically the OP has a clear problem with religion, the fact that his gf has taken one up makes him angry, the fact that she's talking about it makes him double angry, and probably the fact that he's tried to talk her down from it and failed makes him triply angry. It's always possible that the conversation has gone this way:

GF: Lord buddha shows us that-,
OP: Could we talk about something else please?
GF: In attempting to gain enlightenment-,
OP: We've talked about this enough, I'd like to talk about something else
GF: PIG! :mad: NO SEX FOR YOU! RAR!

I suspect it probably went more like

GF: Lord buddha shows us that-,
OP: Religion is a load of *****cks, it's all stupid and unprovable.
GF: These are my beliefs you're spitting on!
OP: They're still stupid even if they're yours.
GF: PIG! :mad: NO SEX FOR YOU! RAR!
 
Skull said:
GF: Lord buddha shows us that-,
OP: Could we talk about something else please?
GF: In attempting to gain enlightenment-,
OP: We've talked about this enough, I'd like to talk about something else
GF: PIG! :mad: NO SEX FOR YOU! RAR!

I suspect it probably went more like

GF: Lord buddha shows us that-,
OP: Religion is a load of *****cks, it's all stupid and unprovable.
GF: These are my beliefs you're spitting on!
OP: They're still stupid even if they're yours.
GF: PIG! :mad: NO SEX FOR YOU! RAR!
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ROFL. Also, this hasn't been said so...

TTIUWP.
 
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