I am a Buddhist and if anyone wants to question my beliefs then they are welcome to do so...

Welcome Mushin.

seems, being, though, affected

"The illusion we are reborn into" is a delusion because physical rebirth is patently absurd which means the interpretation of the teachings are affected to the extent that impossible drivel can't cut the mustard coloured cow.

hi ekename thanks for replying, been new and still learning so it's nice coming across fellow seekers that you can kick a idea around with. I've never really chatted to others much about there journey's on the spiritual path. Even thou I became a Buddhist at quite a early age over 40 years now, it's only been in the last couple of months that I've actually started talking to fellow Buddhists. Well ekename your the first person I've spoke to on this site and I hope we bump into each other again soon bless you Mushin.

Welcome! If we are born with the causes and conditions to meet with an authentic Buddhist teacher who holds an unbroken lineage of authentic Buddhist teachings, then we should listen to those teachings and reflect on their meaning and then meditate in the way prescribed by that teacher.

We should check our understanding of those teachings, based on the activities of hearing, reflecting and meditating, with our Buddhist teacher. In this way we should be able to progress along the path to the realization that there is no path, enlightenment was here all along.

That's the statement of a true
mystic.

In answer to the original post.Buddhism only practices inward meditation and is therefore biased/unbalanced. There is such a thing as outward meditation also.

菩提本无树，
明镜亦非台。
本来无一物，
何处惹尘埃。
..............................
阿弥陀佛

One can practice inward meditation but one needs to practice outward meditation as well.Just practicing inward meditation dismantles self hence why Buddhism says there is no self.

Your premise is incorrect therefore your conclusion is also incorrect.

My conclusion is not incorrect…Buddhism dismantles self….period.

Not a practice to pursue..You are not consciousness

Welcome back anyway.

No phenomenology of self is dismantled in Buhdism only the Ontology of it.
And even then phenomena are just as legitimate as Ontic states.
While an Ontic state is final and cannot by questioned any further a phenomena is contingent and can be explained by something else that precedes it.

But then again what precedes or proceeds from what is not that important in a 4D spacetime perspective where Causality is itself perceived as a phenomena.
In the end all that we have is PERFECT correlation!

Do you mean like the following?

Jesus and Buddha are both said to have been born of a pure virgin, honoured by heavenly beings at their birth, prayed to by Kings, and loaded with presents, ’ happy is the whole world sing the gods, under the form of young Brahmins at the birth of the child Buddha.

And it is said over and over again in the Chinese books that Buddha was incarnate of the Holy Spirit, and born of a ‘pure virgin’. It is written also in the Lalita Vistara, ‘the legendary biography of Buddha,’ dating from BEFORE the time of Christ, “For he is indeed born who brings salvation, and will establish the world in blessedness. He is born who will darken sun and moon by the splendor of his merits and will put all darkness to flight. The blind see, the deaf hear, the demented are restored to reason.” A. Drews, The Christ Myth, P. 104.

Buddhists (just like Christians) can be incredibly barbaric. Buddhist, acting in the name of Buddhism, have been racist and violent... including the murder of unarmed refugees.

That is what I think about when I read igm's post.

The guy starts a thread out of a benevolent desire to please some posters on another thread. He kindly offered to answer questions about his beliefs re Buddhism. And half the responders jump his case. Odd and sad.

That awfully hypocritical, Edgar.

When someone starts a thread out of a "benevolent desire" to spread the word of Jesus, people jump all over them. The Buddhists are here to spread their religion, same as the Christians. And Buddhism has the same moral failings that Christianity has.

Why should Buddha Thumpers get better treatment than the Bible Bashers?

You forgot to mention the biblical ignorant atheist god bashers.

Speaking for a person trying to do good. He offered to explain after a conversation on another thread. You people treat him like Elmer Gantry or Billy Sunday. I have no use for his religion any more than yours. I never would have read his posts beyond the first few and still haven't.

And how do you treat the Christians here, Edgar?

Maybe "Annointed" can answer that for us.

Buddhism is not a Western religion. It doesn't really fit with our culture. We appropriated it (not that there is anything wrong with that).

But there is a weird fetishism surrounding Buddhism, as if it is the one religion out of all of the world religions that shouldn't be questioned.