A word on Buddhism.

Forums: Religion, Buddhism, Indian Religions, Dharmic Religions
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I studied a little about Buddhism. I found it to be fascinating. Siddharta taught that all misery is a product of mans desire. In an effort to expose this problem and provide solutions to it, he formulated the four noble truths,one of which was the noble eightfold path. I won't go into detail because it is lengthy and can be easily found in books or on the internet if anyone is interested.

In an earlier thread, Justin had stated to me that you would be surprised on how much we influence people with our words. That statement reminded me of another man, who I respect very much, and who is Buddhist. He told me and a few others years ago, that he found it to be improper to disrupt the harmony of others.

One of the things that I most admire about this religion, is the thought that they seem to be such a peaceful people. Maybe it is because they are content in what they believe, and respect others right to be content in what they believe.

There probably is no "right" religion. But I'm fairly certain that if one looks hard enough, one may find some rightness in many religions. I know I did.

I have come to believe that there is no real point to be made in undermining ones belief system which may be their foundation. It can only be hurtful. And it is selfish at best.

I am not a Buddhist. (I like blt's too much.)But as for me, this is a religion that provides quite a few possitive common sense ideas in regard to the human condition, and provides some good teachings on how to minimize the miseries that befall us.

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@Elmud,

Elmud wrote:

(I like blt's too much.)

... then you might want to give Stephen Batchelor's "Buddhism Without Beliefs" a try Smile

...

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@Elmud,

I didn't think that dietry restrictions were essential to Buddhist lifestyles.

I think some indian schools of Buddhism might restrict the eating of beef like Hinduism.

But I think the Japanese and Chinese schools don't worry too much about what you eat.

This Wiki page goes into the details:

Buddhist vegetarianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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@Dave Allen,

Buddhism does not have, to my knowledge, a hard, fast rule against eating meat. For example, if a Buddhist is invited to dinner at someone's home and offered a hamburger for the meal, rejecting the burger would be rude: eat the meat.

It seems to me that Buddhist vegetarianism is about what the practitioner decides to eat on his own terms: going to the market and buying steaks would be frowned upon, but accepting generosity from another, even if the generosity is meat, is fine.

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@Dave Allen,

Dave Allen wrote:

I didn't think that dietry restrictions were essential to Buddhist lifestyles.

I think some indian schools of Buddhism might restrict the eating of beef like Hinduism.

But I think the Japanese and Chinese schools don't worry too much about what you eat.

This Wiki page goes into the details:

Buddhist vegetarianism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Siddhartha was from India Dave.

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@Elmud,

Yes, but he was not the only Buddha and a person interested in Buddhism can attend workshops and meetings of Buddhists without obeying the particular strictures Siddhartha followed (in fact I think he changed his own lifestyle from a prince to an aescetic to a compromise before receiving enlightnement).

Buddhist meetings are one of the few religious gatherings I have attended and made a concerted effort to partake in and absorb - and the fact that I ate meat wasn't a barrier either to me or to any of the other participants. It wasn't even raised as an issue or topic of conversation.

I very much doubt you would find meat eating a barrier to attending Buddhist meetings or adopting Buddhist practice unless you were to wish to follow strictures from a particular school.

It is Jains and Hare Krishnas who strictly adhere to vegetarianism and who would probably want initiates to their way of life to take up vegetarianism as soon as they begin to practice it.

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@Elmud,

Elmud wrote:

I studied a little about Buddhism. I found it to be fascinating.

Me too. I think evangelical Christians should study Buddhism and other eastern perspectives instead of sending missionaries.

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@Dichanthelium,

Dichanthelium wrote:

Me too. I think evangelical Christians should study Buddhism and other eastern perspectives instead of sending missionaries.

I think they should still send missionaries, but perhaps bring some invaluable perspective back Smile

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@Elmud,

Elmud wrote:

Siddharta taught that all misery is a product of mans desire.

But a desire is the very force that drives us and motivates us to work, do the things we do and live. Sometimes I wonder if man can really live (to be alive) without desires.

I know the teachings go that you can have desires but the catch is in the end results and results (desire comes true or not) should not matter. But that just isn't logical to me. It denies the cause for a desire in the first place.

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@proV,

proV wrote:

But a desire is the very force that drives us and motivates us to work, do the things we do and live. Sometimes I wonder if man can really live (to be alive) without desires.

Desire is not exactly what the Buddha said. It's a common way to translate tanha, but a more accurate phrase would be something like 'thirst and/or attachment to worldly pleasure'. Tanha can be seen as the opposite of peace of mind or right disposition. Tanha is the opposite of a mind which maintains peace and balance under strain and pressure.

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@Zetherin,

There are many different versions of Buddhism. to truly talk about the subject you almost have to distinguish which flavor much like you do with Catholicism or Lutheranism. There is Theravada, Mahayana, Zen, and Varjrayana (which is based on Mahayana). Not to mention, there is the odd forms of western new age religions with heavy Buddhism influence.

Zetherin wrote:

I think they should still send missionaries, but perhaps bring some invaluable perspective back

They should also allow missionaries in. I know that many Unitarian Universalist churches do exactly that, but very few other church denominations in the U.S. try to educate their followers on other religions.

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@Elmud,

I was actually heavy into buddhism for awhile until I realized that Taoism fit my ideas on life a little closer.

Where Buddhists think that all life is suffering, Taoists think that all life is beauty. Past Taoism, I found myself unclassified and because the agnostic leaning toward atheist tht I am today.

Still, the lessons of these two philosophies have stuck with me and the patients that comes with them has been permanently stuck in my mind.

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@Didymos Thomas,

Didymos Thomas wrote:

Buddhism does not have, to my knowledge, a hard, fast rule against eating meat. For example, if a Buddhist is invited to dinner at someone's home and offered a hamburger for the meal, rejecting the burger would be rude: eat the meat.

It seems to me that Buddhist vegetarianism is about what the practitioner decides to eat on his own terms: going to the market and buying steaks would be frowned upon, but accepting generosity from another, even if the generosity is meat, is fine.

You may be right. I'm old and my memory isn't what it use to be. But, I had to write an essay on the subject awhile back. One of the things I had to address was, " How would your life change if you were to become a Buddhist". I think that dietary restrictions was something I included. Maybe I assumed, because of the teaching of having respect for all living things, that eating meat was restricted. Maybe I thought also that Siddhartha may have had some Hindu influence as well. I studied a little about Hinduism too and now I'm wondering if they had dietary restrictions. Any way, I wanted to thank you for calling me on it if I was ignorant on the subject, in regard to dietary restrictions.

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@Elmud,

Well, you are basically right about the dietary restrictions: one is not supposed to eat meat. But the point that tempers this doctrine is that of moderation. Better to eat a burger and be moderate than refuse the burger and be rude. From what I can tell they do not have dietary restrictions so much as they have found that eating certain foods is, to put it crudely, bad karma. As I recollect, onions are also on that list.

The Buddha's movement was a Hindu reform movement, much like Jesus' message was a reform of Judaism. So yes, the Buddha was immensely influenced by Hinduism, a faith tradition which also has dietary restrictions.

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@Didymos Thomas,

Didymos Thomas wrote:

Better to eat a burger and be moderate than refuse the burger and be rude.

I know some buddhists who would disagree with this point. They would simply explain thank you for offering the food, explain that they are vegetarian and politely decline to eat meat.

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@Thunkd,

Historical records would seem to indicate that the Buddha himself ate meat. That it does not, in fact, appear as though vegetarianism became a significant part of buddhism until at least 500 years after the Buddha's death.

The oldest buddhist texts, and the oldest buddhist school still in existence, considers meat eating to be no big thing; and in the Theravedan texts there is a specific reference to "10 types of meat you should not eat" (including things like bear, hyena, tiger, lion, etc... but pork, chicken, beef, and fish were all allowed), and a text where one of the Buddha's followers tried to get him to impose vegetarianism on the Sangha (spiritual community) but the Buddha explicitly refused. Even monks are ONLY forbidden from eating meat if the creature the meat comes from would be killed specifically for the monks.

Note also that Vajrayana (tibetan buddhism) is meat-eating. Monks in the Mahayana (mostly Chinese) buddhist schools are MOSTLY vegetarians.
But in many other schools, in southeast asia, india, and the himalayas they do eat meat; with the understanding that eating meat is a neutral act, and it is only cruelty if an animal would have to be killed for you personally.

So you can't get very far in buddhism if you eat meat, unless you're talking about people like:
a: The Buddha
b: The Dalai Lama

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A word on Buddhism.

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