What does Veeky Forums think about Eastern religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, etc.?

What does Veeky Forums think about Eastern religions like Buddhism, Hinduism, Jainism, etc.?

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Pretty cool but I'm an esoteric Roman Catholic myself.

Bump

They're great.

There are many ways that seem right to a man, but they all end at death.

No eastern mysticism will help you in the afterlife.

It's basically just meditating for pain management and minimizing expectations.

If religion is done right, it actually ends in life. Whether this is a state of nirvana or being one with God is up to interpretation.

Good shit.

Hare Krishnas: you guys are just hippie christians. You choose the most boring god of an amazing roster to worship. You and your religion is lame.

Japan: how many fucking gods do you guys need?

Family is buddhist and we follow the traditional form of buddhism for the southern parts of china.
From practising buddhism for 24 years I do have an uneasy problem with how readily gods are absorbed into buddhism and also how all of the emphasis is on worshipping ancestors and gods rather than personal development as a buddhist.
For my grandmother it's mainly about following tradition and I have a feeling that after she dies the tradition is going to disappear within a generation since she hasn't tried to pass on any of the religion to the younger generation and most of us are agnostic/apathetic.
It is fulfilling but I'm considering dropping it for orthodox Christianity since I find the idea of a transcendental omnipotent and omniscient god to be far more convincing than buddhism.

I would love to understand if Buddhism is or is not a religion. Everybody says it isn't, it's an way of life or whatever, but you have a god, a messiah, lore and rules, so how come it isn't a religion?

Imagine having the amount of sects as Protestantism but without any scripture

"Religion" "spiritual system" "philosophy" and "metaphysical system" are all vague and interconnected terms. I'd say it's a religion for intents and purposes.

Interesting, but tend to be far too passive/separated from world/mystic for the sake of mysticism.

Source: I've read the buddhist scriptures, the tao te ching and various commentaries.

So, modern protestantism?

No, there's a difference between not having a scripture and not reading it.

Why 'scripture' though? Unless you're just claiming that the religious texts of buddhism are just false in which case you should just state that buddhism is false.

They dont really speak to me and any westerner enthralled by them is just an edgylord that is fascinated with something unfamiliar.
Eastern religions are compeltely foreign to the western mindset and traditions.
Its like those liberal college girls with rastas.

hinduism concepts belnd vary nicley with christianity, while being similar with some of buddism, the concept from hinduism make christianty alot more digestable for me.

>hinduism concepts belnd vary nicley with christianity,

how?

>krishna
>tzeench tier all according to keikaku planner
>boring.

It's not like you can't come to a reasonable understanding of them through nuanced study though. It's possible to understand another viewpoint, even if it's not your native one

the idea that a big dude in the sky is the one and only, just never sat right with me, but hinduism opened me up to the idea of everything being god as a whole the universe "tat tvam asi", the idea of maya aswell, its hard for me to put into words, but christianty is much more beautiful for me after having a basic maybe even superficial understanding of this

of couse its possible to understand, ignore him, i think he is unable himself to understand any forign concepts so is projecting his insecurity

>end at death

enlightenment is liberation from death. protip: you're already dead

>afterlife

classic meme


just study the dharma, is has nothing to do with gods. same as catholics should study the words and deeds of jesus, not pray to shrines or whatever

Taoism is a lot of work in practice, and it definitely qualifies as a religion. Hours of meditation, and altars/offerings, loads of rules, but it's all very fair and logically consistent for a subjective rule system.

They get a lot of things very right. More emphasis on introspection.

What god do I have to thank for the lady boys?

It's not just you. The majority of Christins in public no nothing about metaphysics or mysticism. It's sad really, because they water down what is essentially an enlightening system. We're you to go to, let's say a monastery, they'd be better.

*know nothing

>just study the dharma, is has nothing to do with gods
In the Pali Canon the Buddha teaches the devas the Dharma.

Theravada Buddhism is Nibbana tier, but Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism are totally dead and are meme who've got out of hand.

Taoism is just a Chinese clone of Buddhism.

>Buddhism

Offers chill advice and cool metaphysical concepts and ideas. Probably the most true-neutral "religion" out there, or the very least one the more detached from material life.

>Hinduism

An ethno-religion that offers very little for non-native indians/hindu. Lots of goofy deities and bollywood-tier mythology though.

>Jainism

I honestly don't know jack shit about it.

East Asians don't even take them seriously, why should you?

>An ethno-religion that offers very little for non-native indians/hindu
I constantly hear people say this and I dunno why given all the various forms of outsider initiation in tantras and seemingly no citation in any of the scriptures that's definitive in saying "you can't practice unless you were born here".

Sikhism is pretty cool and were it now for the "you can't cut your hair" rule, it would probably have spread further.

>Taoism is just a Chinese clone of Buddhism.

But it predates Buddhisms introduction to China...

>Mahayana Buddhism and Taoism are totally dead

But there are lots of active sects I once met a former monk

>I find the idea of a transcendental omnipotent and omniscient god to be far more convincing than buddhism
how can you believe in an inherently good and caring god when you see the millions who have died in genocides for literally no reason?

well that's totally not projection

I guess it refers to the fact that a lot of the hindu deities of worship are region-specific, meaning unless you were born and/or live in a certain town in India the worship of that town's tutellary god would be pointless.

Also a lot of the more esoteric cults and sects within the broader hindu religion are based on supposed descendancy from some deity, hence the lineage based ethno-specifism.

To save a family, abandon a man;
to save the village, abandon a family;
to save the country, abandon a village;
to save the soul, abandon the earth.
- Mahabharata

The Bhagavad Gita also has some interesting bits. Krishna (God) sits next to Prince Arjun as he agonizes having to fight in battle against his family. Krishna tells Arjun don't worry mang, I'm eternal so from my perspective they're all already dead and I'm the one that killed them. Who cares if they die now or later. Fulfill your duty Arjun and kill them all.

buddhism these days seems to be a eastern catholasism, just with meditiation and the buddah instead of jesus. it even has a heaven in "pure land" i love hearing about buddism and reading about it but any time pureland is mention i drop it.

Maybe you should ignore that and focus on more orthodox versions of buddhism.

If you don't know where to start the Tibetan Book of the Dead is a good start. It's basically buddhism for dummies even though it's focused mainly on dying with heavy nepalese/tibetan influence, and not orthodox buddhism in the sense of the word.

Also never heard of "pureland" I must be getting old...

>Also never heard of "pureland"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Land_Buddhism

>Bhagavad Gita
Overrated tier.

I don't know of any candidates for Parameshvara who is a local godform.

>Also a lot of the more esoteric cults and sects within the broader hindu religion are based on supposed descendancy from some deity
???
The two major esoteric tantra groups don't have this.

So, even further, there's really nothing stopping you from adding puja from a local godform into your routine. Happens all the time. Mahziel was local to centers of Mandaean origin. Never stopped Agrippa. Yaweh was local to the Levant. Etc.

The only thing preventing you from venerating a godform is reluctance to do so.