How do Westerners become Buddhists?

How do Westerners become Buddhists?

I mean, what way do they usually do it, what understanding of Buddhism do they have, what institutions do they go to...?

I'm not asking for advice on how to convert, I'm curious about how it currently takes place.

Other urls found in this thread:

vividness.live/2012/09/18/what-do-you-want-buddhism-for/
vividness.live/2011/07/12/what-got-left-out-of-“meditation”/
vividness.live/2015/10/05/buddhist-ethics-is-advertising/
approachingaro.org/is-buddhism-just-for-baby-boomers
approachingaro.org/endangered-species
twitter.com/AnonBabble

It's usually "non institutional" Buddhism. ie. They read books on Buddhism and fancy themselves as such.

First you need to become a fedora neckbeard.
Then you throw your fedora away and assumes your new identity as a hipster to be with the cool kids
You become vegan because that's what the other kids do
You are against violence because you're an effeminate twink anyway
The you feel the need to connect with your "spiritual" side, but it CAN'T be Christianity
Then you read about Buddhists don't believe in a supreme deity and you feel like it matches your new identity perfectly
You don't have to take any risks of being ridiculed because you don't have to commit to any metaphysical view
You can still be a hipster faggot
You interpret Buddhist teachings as to reflect your urbanite daddy issues
You become a western """"Buddhist""""

>2016
First they hear about Buddhism from media/friends/internet/etc.
Then they take interest and read about it a bit or watch movies/documentaries about it.
Then comes research and fascination.
Then they take the jump and visit a local buddhist temple/"church".
They may accept the local monk as their teacher and ask for initiation into monkhood if they're devout.
Lastly is the moving to another country like India/Srilanka/Burma/Japan/etc to live out a more simplistic lifestyle.

>How do Westerners become Buddhists?
Depends on the person and their location, generally.

>what way do they usually do it
Obviously embracing the precept and tenets of the faith, which for a sincere aspirant will entail association at some level with the Sangha, which is not too limiting as various flavors of Buddhism have taken root in the West to a degree where most major metro areas will have a Sangha to practice with, but on the other hand, "mad monks" who only had light or no association with the Community were actually a thing, not to mention self-made Buddhas in the absence of much in the way of community.

>what understanding of Buddhism do they have
Depends. You can bet that anyone leading any flavor of Sangha has some form of monastic training, but the scriptures clearly delineate between lay and monastic obligations.

>what institutions do they go to...?
Tibetan outfits are generally called "Dharma Centers" while the Theravada and other Mahayana groups will have ethno-enclave Sanghas (think the local Chinese Buddhist temple), some of which, particularly in Therevada groups, will have centralized structures not unlike the Dharma Center system.

To be blunt, that sounds like most Christians.

>How do Westerners become Buddhists?
By being a old white woman tired of sexy sex, and dragging the man to a talk about the evil capitalism.

>Lastly is the moving to another country like India/Srilanka/Burma/Japan/etc to live out a more simplistic lifestyle.
That's really only if you intend on taking monastic vows or getting various forms of training or accreditation to lead a local body of aspirants. Lay folk often take blocks of retreat but it's not exactly required or even recommended for every personality that comes into Buddhism.

The same shit with theosophy and other new age mumbo jumbo, which really are leftist and globalist facade organizations. It's always the women who fall for that and bring the more beta elements of the male sex down with them.

Buddhism isn't really hip with young crowds as its not a religion that promotes sex, drugs and rock/roll.

You might get some hits with Hinduism or sexual Tantric lineage if you're looking for hip young people.

They are always middle class people who live in material comfort. Either they are raised by apostate boomers outside the Church, or if they were raised by Christians they rebel against their parents by apostatizing. In either case they develop an intense inferiority complex toward Western civilization and Christianity that crystallizes in an intense ethnomasochistic antitheism coupled with political liberalism or leftism by late adolescence, usually exacerbated by the Marxist brainwashing of post-secondary education and popular culture.

Ultimately they grow to hate Jesus Christ to the point where they even refuse to entertain thoughts of Him, to the point of even denying His historical existence at all. Seeking some kind of relief from their feelings of inferiority toward white Christians by feigning superiority, and growing older and closer to inevitable death by the day, they look to the exoticism of the Orient for an aesthetic that they can appropriate to wear as a mask to hide the void of their souls.

They hold no genuine interest in adhering to Buddhist ethics or metaphysics as actually practiced in Asia, and are unaware of the different and often mutually-exclusive schools of thought therein. Instead they cobble together from the ill-informed speculators in "Eastern Spirituality" section at the local Barnes and Noble a crude imitation of generic, vague, lukewarm "Buddhism" infused with recycled New Age nonsense. This "Buddhism" of theirs is a kind of lifestyle window dressing, stripped of any actual tradition, authority, or morality, and has been above all else massaged to conform to their preexisting political prejudices. In a way it's the opposite of actual Buddhism, and of all genuine culture. It's merely the hole left when a person completely spiritually collapses into themselves.

Pic related.

The enlightened had spoken

You realize that guy in your pic was expelled from his lineage, yes?

Theosophists are still relevant?
The writings of an alcoholic peasant woman in 1888 is a liberal globalist facade?

Most research on the youth today indicates the most conservative generation in quite a while. I'd rather think it's not popular because it's not easy. I mean, can you summarize Abhidhamma for me?

All Vajrayana has an inherently sexual component, even the Newar, as it flowed from contact with Saivism.

as an exercise in projection, this is exquisite.

Hit too close to home huh?

Overtime spiritual hole will dissappear. Its only a temporary withdrawal syndrome. Once the sizable portion of the society transcends that barrier, these withdrawl will happen in the opposite direction. Towards those of religious mindset.

It would be hilarious to find out what sort of rational people will use when this happens.

>To be blunt, that sounds like most Christians.
To be a Christian, even in Protestantism, you need to get baptized, which requires a church, a formal conversion process, some instruction, and a public proclamation of faith. Christianity is more about joining a community, which will have its own system of authority in place. You don't even need to be able to read.

As an Asian, I don't know why so many of y'all white folk want to be fucking Buddhists. Its a meme religion.

>The Lucis Trust has Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) and ...
This was founded by Annie Besant, a student of Blavatsky.

Also World Council of Churches and hundreds of other minor new age cults. Some people grow out of it and convert to Buddhism though, but they still want the same thing, one world religion.

>Christianity is more about joining a community, which will have its own system of authority in place.
So, how is this fundamentally different from the directive to join the Sangha community?

They do it because of issues with their parents, who were often to busy providing them a comfortable urbanite middle class life style to give then attention.

MOM'S GONNA FREAK!

>This was founded by Annie Besant, a student of Blavatsky.
Yup, sure was.
But Lucis Trust is not the Theosophical Society whose influence in the occult community has waned to near nonexistance.

>To be blunt, that sounds like most Christians.
Most Christians go to church if they take it even remotely seriously, most western Buddhists or quasi-Buddhists don't have weekly temple congregations.

To your average lower middle class, non-metropolitan christian-in-name-only, going to church is what being religious consists of. There's nothing comparable in Buddhism.

Whites were the first buddhists after India.

They literally had Greek-Indian cultural fusion, which later transmitted to the rest of the world.

>most western Buddhists or quasi-Buddhists don't have weekly temple congregations.
But I can google the Sangha in any given metro area and see that yes, in fact, they do have weekly temple congregations, often more if large enough.

>quasi-Buddhists
You mean idiots with a passing interest, right?

>There's nothing comparable in Buddhism.
The books of Vinaya are literally the rules for living among the community of Buddhists, of which is a directive of the scripture.

I think the western notion of afterlife is in flux. What we think of the afterlife reflects what we think of our own life and also what their combined totality describes as our "being."
To westerners the Buddhist concept of Samsara is a promise of a more unified view, when somewhat ironically the central aspect of Buddhism is to become released from Samsara.

I don't think I follow.

How does the mechanism for the continued bonds that prevent liberation become a 'more unified view of the afterlife'.

>But I can google the Sangha in any given metro area and see that yes, in fact, they do have weekly temple congregations, often more if large enough.
Why have I never heard of this before? Unless of course these western whatevers are directly imitating Christian church practice.

>You mean idiots with a passing interest, right?
I mean western Buddhists, such as they are.

>The books of Vinaya are literally the rules for living among the community of Buddhists, of which is a directive of the scripture.
Do they literally say, go to temple every 7 days?

Christianity is historical. It has a date where it began, and Christians have been patiently wigging out every hundred years or so waiting for the apocalypse. The day of judgement was integral to the religion.

But we're getting pretty tired of waiting for the wandering jew to die. Jesus told a crowd the world would end within their lifetimes. Some medieval tongue-wagger invented the "wandering jew," an immortal member of that crowd, to explain why the apocalypse is so god damn late.

Now we've acquired the historical sense, and ever since around 1850, or even 1750, we've been behaving as if all previous history was barbaric and ignorant, because we now have a general survey of all recorded history, which previous ages lacked. Now we even have prehistory, pre-human palaeontological history, pre-earth history. I don't think we have the patience to give the day of judgement, right around 2666, or possibly 3000, and so on, another shot. It's clearly a no-show.

Cyclical views of history, yin and yang rather than an awkward battle between an omnipotent god and a rebel angel that somehow explains the universe and hasn't ended yet, reincarnation rather than 60 years of life and apparently millions of years of orgasmic bliss, circles over lines, etc. We fucked up choosing out founding myths.

>Why have I never heard of this before?
Except the Vinaya's been around since literally the beginning.

>I mean western Buddhists, such as they are.
Have you ever thought for a moment there's an actual divide between sincere aspirants and the vaguely curious.

>Do they literally say, go to temple every 7 days?
It literally says to live in the community and fellowship of Buddhists, implying that the devoted enough will be in temple all days. Buddha says to practice in the Sangha.

Tbh, you don't sound very well informed about the actual doctrines of Buddhism.

Oh so you're gonna play (?) dumb. I said theosoPHY (the pseudo religion), not theosophical society (the organization).

>Have you ever thought for a moment there's an actual divide between sincere aspirants and the vaguely curious.
No. Why would there be, when the only distinction is the degree of curiosity?

>It literally says to live in the community and fellowship of Buddhists, implying that the devoted enough will be in temple all days. Buddha says to practice in the Sangha.
So in other words, there's nothing comparable to the obligatory churchgoing of christianity. I'm reasonably sure christianity does not encourage its followers to live around pagans, though it mostly does this through advocating the spread of the religion.

>Tbh, you don't sound very well informed about the actual doctrines of Buddhism.
Oh, I'm not.

What I do know is that "most Christians" do not become christians through reading books in private. It's almost an illiterate religion, as another user suggested.

I've observed plenty of white "Buddhists" in university. The process is ironclad with them. I have a friend who was interested in converting to Buddhism and I told her how to avoid falling into that particular ditch. I'd rather her follow the actual religion than be another poser, so of course I don't rule out a western person converting to Buddhism, but it would require enormous effort, and I've never seen it happen.

Western "Buddhists" follow the New Age approach to spirituality, which is about projecting the ego, not submitting to a religion. It's basically Cain offering the fruit he grew as a sacrifice to God after God had asked for meat. If a white person seeks Buddhism, it's because they think it will make for a nice piece of decoration in their lives, not because they're interested in fundamentally transforming themselves. They want a cool and foreign trinket to show off what a unique and interesting person they are. Christianity has a similar problem, of course (remember Bob Dylan's Christian phase?), but it isn't currently as bad because among the "cool kids" Christianity is viewed as unfashionable, if not the enemy. You don't usually become a Christian just to make yourself more hip, because Christianity isn't hip. Buddhism is. My point is that in the west converting to "Buddhism" is a solo journey in a way that converting to Christianity isn't.

The cyclical form places an individual life into a context that is eternal and whole and easy to apprehend, it's a circle.
This is in contrast to what I would argue is a more traditionally western way of looking at life/death as a singular, linear progression from a definite beginning to a definite end, without any embodiment of this linear form in any context.
So there is a blindness to what lies beyond the edges (beyond the beginning and beyond the end) that is a source of anxiety. Making a circle removes the edges and removes the anxiety.

talk about projection. why cant western people, in your mind, be interested in buddhism for its teachings instead of for vain reasons? says a lot about your own way of thinking

Because the only westerners who are interested in Buddhism are flakes. If I had a dime for every college girl with a nose ring and a spirit animal who told me she's into Buddhism...I'd like to be proven wrong, though.

your anecdotes don't make it a fact

perhaps you've met many people who were interested in it who didn't make it known

I have never seen a western Buddhist that isn't a poser.

Theoretically. I won't hold my breath, though.

...

>No. Why would there be, when the only distinction is the degree of curiosity?
An Aspirant has surpassed curiosity and moved into devotion.

>there's nothing comparable to the obligatory churchgoing of christianity
Just because the obligation isn't phrased in exactly the way you'd prefer does not mean it's not a primary directive of their scriptures. You can't negate the content and purpose of Vinaya just because it's an affront to your feels.

>Oh, I'm not.
Then why are you making such sweeping proclamations about the subject?

>It's almost an illiterate religion, as another user suggested.
And what's stopping you from simply getting oral instruction under any given guru who is well versed enough in the tradition? Nothing, as it's in fact encouraged.

>and I've never seen it happen.
Doesn't mean it doesn't, nor does it mean that your lens of watching "plenty" of people with a passing interest is representative of much of anything.

>Western "Buddhists" follow the New Age approach to spirituality
Fundamentally undermined by the existence of multiple Sanghas in just about every city in the West.

>If a white person seeks Buddhism, it's because they think it will make for a nice piece of decoration in their lives
Das rayciss

>My point is that in the west converting to "Buddhism" is a solo journey in a way that converting to Christianity isn't.
My point is you cats don't understand how functionally accessible the scriptures and lineages actually are.

Then why are you still typifying them as Buddhist and ascribing all of their worst characteristics to all Western Buddhists whether they conform to your perception or not?

>hey guys, just finished buying groceries at the organic fair
>I'm gonna go join the Buddhist sangha for a quick meditation section before I go to an avant-garde poetry recital
>so busy, I'm glad I have my bike!

You seem particularly invested in discrediting all possible interest in a faith other than your own.

Hm....wonder why that could possibly be....

do you not see how stupid it is to base your opinions off university kids

it's a time when people are eager to reinvent themselves and become a new person for their new peers, of course they might latch onto something like buddhism, but thats obviously not an accurate representative

>westerners can't be buddhist because of this preconceived notion of a snotty young person i have in my head

wtf i hate buddhists now

>if you mess with one of us, you mess with the whole sangha

So, what do non-flake western buddhists look like? Do they concentrate on spreading enlightenment from their loft in New York, or do they vanish into the mountains to commune with trees?

>An Aspirant has surpassed curiosity and moved into devotion.
You might want to contact the dictionary companies and explain that curiosity is tiered and not a spectrum. Tell me, did you receive a medal when you became Super curious?

>Just because the obligation isn't phrased in exactly the way you'd prefer does not mean it's not a primary directive of their scriptures. You can't negate the content and purpose of Vinaya just because it's an affront to your feels.

You're the one getting annoyed that Buddhism is not structured the same way as the christian church, which is fundamentally a group experience. Protestantism tried to end that, then immediately jumped back in the deep end with their baptists and their methodists, etc. There is almost no emphasis in Buddhism on the entire community of laymen gathering in front of a priest to hear a sermon. It does not exist in buddhism. I know nothing about buddhism, but I know that.

The content and purpose vindaloo does not magic up a tradition of all laymen gathering weekly to listen to a priest. Buddhists do not do that, you twerp.

>Then why are you making such sweeping proclamations about the subject?
I'm not, because I'm talking about christianity.

>And what's stopping you from simply getting oral instruction under any given guru who is well versed enough in the tradition? Nothing, as it's in fact encouraged.
Nothing, because I am talking about christianity, an almost illiterate religion. I'm surprised you're not a christian, in fact, it would suit you.

>don't ever say anything about the Buddha ever again

Hajimashite! Watashi no namei Debito-san desu. Watashi wa Buddist. Budda besto kami. Arigato!

why do they have to look like anything? you're so obsessed with being able to pigeonhole everyone that you can't fathom a normal person practicing meditation or being interested in buddhism.

>Tell me, did you receive a medal when you became Super curious?
Phenomenologically speaking, anyone who takes a vow is (fucking hopefully) going to have gotten some perceived outcome or benefit from an initial experimentation with a system passing into devotion. I'm not sure how I implied mutual exclusion, but I mean, don't you think it'd be a bit denigrating to call a monk on the verge of permanent vows "just super curious" if this we were talking about Christians?

>You're the one getting annoyed that Buddhism is not structured the same way as the christian church
Why would I be? I wasn't even raised as a Christian.

>which is fundamentally a group experience
I'm still not sure how Budhism doesn't have the group experience like Christianity does when one of the main scripture sources is exactly on that topic.

>There is almost no emphasis in Buddhism on the entire community of laymen gathering in front of a priest to hear a sermon. It does not exist in buddhism. I know nothing about buddhism, but I know that.

Lol.
There's a bajillion on youtube. Go look 'em up.

>I'm surprised you're not a christian, in fact, it would suit you.
Between what, the Sadhana, the Puja, the Thelemic sex magick, the traditional witchcraft, the assault shamanism, the Agrippan asterism, etc., I don't think I have the time, but thanks.

Obsessed? No, user, I'm just surveying the general state of Buddhism in the west. Giving it a moment's thought; clearly a moment more scrutiny than you can handle.

vividness.live/2012/09/18/what-do-you-want-buddhism-for/
vividness.live/2011/07/12/what-got-left-out-of-“meditation”/
vividness.live/2015/10/05/buddhist-ethics-is-advertising/

>I'm just surveying the general state of Buddhism in the west.
But you already admitted multiple times you're fundamentally ignorant of the topic you're scrutinizing so I dunno why I should give much, if any, consideration to your position.

approachingaro.org/is-buddhism-just-for-baby-boomers

approachingaro.org/endangered-species

>Phenomenologically speaking, anyone who takes a vow is (fucking hopefully) going to have gotten some perceived outcome or benefit from an initial experimentation with a system passing into devotion. I'm not sure how I implied mutual exclusion, but I mean, don't you think it'd be a bit denigrating to call a monk on the verge of permanent vows "just super curious" if this we were talking about Christians?
One minute the only distinction is sincerity, then you're talking about vows. What institutions are these vows formalised at?

>Why would I be? I wasn't even raised as a Christian.
You are relentlessly squirming away from the idea that buddhism and christianity have different traditions. I'm not interested in your life story, user. I'm just describing what I see.

>There's a bajillion on youtube. Go look 'em up.
Are they obligatory, scheduled congregations that comprise the majority of religious practice for Buddhists? Do they take place weekly?

>Between what, the Sadhana, the Puja, the Thelemic sex magick, the traditional witchcraft, the assault shamanism, the Agrippan asterism, etc., I don't think I have the time, but thanks.
Perhaps some ritalin, then.

spouting off your own preconceived notions about a group of people without looking past the surface is not scrutinising anything, just displaying your own ignorance

>I'm atheist, surely there must be a way I can be a special snowflake that has deep and meaningful experiences my hated christians don't have.
Pick:
a)weaabo >>>> Buddhism
b)drug addict >>> Shamanism

Now you are a very spiritual independent person who needs no god.

>You are relentlessly squirming away from the idea that buddhism and christianity have different traditions.
Not particularly, I just find the idea that Buddhism does not have a community discipline aspect hilariously absurd based on their actual scriptures and practices which are easily accessible by a five second websearch.

>Are they obligatory, scheduled congregations
Yes.

>comprise the majority of religious practice for Buddhists?
Sorta, depends on the phase you're in, often these oral instruction will get demphasized for the purposes of leaning on contemplation before going back for more oral instruction.

>Do they take place weekly?
Often, more than weekly.

what an original opinion you have there that isn't just copy-pasting to fit in with le epin Veeky Forums hivemind

>I do a million different snowflakey godless spiritual fuckeries
Occams Razor: Godless universes have no spirit

Found a picture of Ape.

>I'm a high level magick practitioner

My position, twerp, is that Christianity, as a practiced religion, consists primarily of weekly congregations with lore on the side.

I'm sure you have many opinions, but I'll survive if you yourself do not deign to shower them upon me.

Obsessed and spouting, Next will I be babbling?

I take it all back, user, my shallow, sociological and analytical tendencies are all very ignorant, and you are very profound for around 5 minutes every wednesday evening, or whatever.

Those are monastic practices. For monks.

>Yes.
I know I'm seriously putting you on the spot here, but what's the schedule?
For people who do not wear orange robes, I mean. You know. Buddhists. People who adhere to the Buddhist religion and do not live on a mountaintop.

>Sorta, depends on the phase you're in, often these oral instruction will get demphasized for the purposes of leaning on contemplation before going back for more oral instruction.
Are we talking about buddhist monks or buddhists? Because talking about catholicism is not the same as talking about priests.
"Are Catholics allowed to have sex?"
This is a very important and (almost) completely self-evident distinction.

>everything I personally don't like is devoid of spiritual content and special snowflake garbage unlike my totally unique ressurecting God

Nah, I wear business casual just about every day because I'm in the museum.

I cant have original opinions because I'm busy practicing seven hundred different spiritual godless fuckeries that no doubt are real because reality is schizophrenic.

>he must be a bible thumper!

>I'm indeed conversant with the powers of darkness - see mom? That's what you get for giving me that bible for my birthday

well i think you certainly might be schizo. keep fighting with these imaginary boogeymen you create in your head just to argue a point on the internet

I will never be a tantric sex slave of a A tibetan Lama who will never enlighten me as he ejaculates his warm cum in my ass after a night of tantric sex.
Why should I live ?

because they saw it somewhere on tv and thought it was cool.
yes people choose religions like dresses nowadays.
it's disgusting.

I'm not the one who says theres no god and then tries to summon a demon prostitute.

>twerp
That's not nice.

>I'll survive if you yourself do not deign to shower them upon me.
While you enlighten us by the euphoria of your intelligence? Thanks.

>Those are monastic practices. For monks.
Lemme ask you; have you actually BEEN to a local Sangha? Do the people in there for weekly look like monks to you?

>For people who do not wear orange robes, I mean. You know. Buddhists.
Just pulling out Boston's Tibetan outfit as an example, let's see...

Sun: 11-12:15
Tue: 7-8:30.
Thurs: 7-9.
Bi-weekly shit for kids
Plus a revolving door of weekly meditation workshops on Sat.

>Are we talking about buddhist monks or buddhists? Because talking about catholicism is not the same as talking about priests.
Y'see, this is interesting, as you're ascribing a sharp distinction between the lay and monastic practices, which is less defined in Buddhism outside of the Vinaya vows; a layperson can be granted initiation into the devotional of any Godform just as easily as any monk can, provided they display the same sort of devotion on the path of one hundred thousand prostrations.

In short, while a monk may get some sort of like Geshe instruction that's a touch more advanced, the normative Buddhist can go attend the knowledge lecture on Vajrayogini provided they've displayed the required discipline even if they're not a monk.

>not the one who says theres no god
>summon a demon prostitute
I don't think I've ever actually said either of those things. My position on YHVH is rather complex.

>tantra lewds!
You're in for disappointment

Nobody mentioned yhvh.

well before that, many years ago, there were some books with this "oriental vibe" Exotic for the westerns with existential crisis.

It fits perfectly because there are no gods. (At least not how is understood in the west.)

I'm going to be boring and bring this argument right down to earth.

A fifty year old Thai from a town of 20,000 people who leans towards the local variation of conservatism and tradition. He had a Buddhist wedding. His parents had a Buddhist funeral. He is moderately religious, probably doesn't contemplate it more than once or twice a week.

Is he bound by religious custom to go to the local temple and join a congregation on a weekly basis?

Same scenario, but the man is Japanese.
Is he bound by religious custom to go to the local temple and join a congregation on a weekly basis?

Oh, and they are accountants. Not monks.

>Is he bound by religious custom to go to the local temple and join a congregation on a weekly basis?
According to his own Tripitaka, yes.

>Is he bound by religious custom to go to the local temple and join a congregation on a weekly basis?
This is fundamentally more variable due to the way Buddhism transmitted to the island. I mean, the Tripitaka's words are more or less final on this: Yes. But on the other Zen via Chen is pretty damn variant and at some level reactionary to what would be considered sangha doctrine elsewhere.

As much as its a gigantic projection you got there, why extent it beyond the Anglosphere?

The main middleclass rebellion isn't rebellion, its general abandonment by their parents leading to the kids trying to flee society.
Most likely combined with urban anglo moral, alcohol, and "kids need to move out as early as possible, shoo! i hate you!"

Most of these are only a problem in the Anglopshere, because of a toxic parent culture.
That said, as the Anglosphere did won the Cold War, we are seeing a slow adoption of the export of the Anglo shit parent culture.

The general reason is that Westerns want parts of the tradition
I.e meditation
The other side of the coin is that Buddhism is a sect religion. Like how Monks is a Christian Sect Group. Which means in general, Buddhist are trying to isolate themselves, in the long term.

>and Christians have been patiently wigging out every hundred years or so waiting for the apocalypse.
Nah
Thats a uncommon Christan view.

I dream of bhikkhunis in bikinis

Ignorance, we all are ignorant to some degree, there are western belief systems with meditation or even spiritual sex, though they aren't godless.

...

...

But that is the deity you worship.

reminder that this is all you have to do


Bhikkhus, for a virtuous person, one whose behavior is virtuous, no volition need be exerted: ‘Let non-regret arise in me.’ It is natural that non-regret arises in a virtuous person, one whose behavior is virtuous.

“For one without regret no volition need be exerted: ‘Let joy arise in me.’ It is natural that joy arises in one without regret.

“For one who is joyful no volition need be exerted: ‘Let rapture arise in me.’ It is natural that rapture arises in one who is joyful.

“For one with a rapturous mind no volition need be exerted: ‘Let my body be tranquil.’ It is natural that the body of one with a rapturous mind is tranquil.

“For one tranquil in body no volition need be exerted: ‘Let me feel pleasure.’ It is natural that one tranquil in body feels pleasure.

“For one feeling pleasure no volition need be exerted: ‘Let my mind be concentrated.’ It is natural that the mind of one feeling pleasure is concentrated.

“For one who is concentrated no volition need be exerted: ‘Let me know and see things as they really are.’ It is natural that one who is concentrated knows and sees things as they really are.

“For one who knows and sees things as they really are no volition need be exerted: ‘Let me be disenchanted and dispassionate.’ It is natural that one who knows and sees things as they really are is disenchanted and dispassionate.

“For one who is disenchanted and dispassionate no volition need be exerted: ‘Let me realize the knowledge and vision of liberation.’ It is natural that one who is disenchanted and dispassionate realizes the knowledge and vision of liberation.

>ive had several white people telling me buddhism isnt a religion because they have no gods
I blame the Police.

>reminder that this is all you have to do
Yeah, fuck the Four Noble Truths and Eightfold Path and the Vinaya.

>that's a good representative passage, but that's far from all you need.

Christianity has a failed end of the world because when christianity came about, the sons of darkness assumed shit was about to hit the fan, so they forged scriptures and "truly" shit was about to get real.
Find me a gnostic gospel with this urgency.
There probably was a full enchilada of gnostic text that perfectly substitute the bible and then some more that gets passed down only to some elects, lest it fall in the hands of child rapists and book burners.

It's Jesus's view, and it has been embarrassing christians for 1947 years.

The reason it's uncommon is because believing the world might end tomorrow is probably comforting to a slave, but it's not particularly conducive to a productive life for anyone else. After Christianity spread upwards, socially, they tried to shove the baggage out of the way ("wandering jew") but never quite succeeded.

I don't.

Protestantism had to bring the bible back when we were smoothly transitioning to a more healthy, philosophical and humanistic form of Greco-Roman Pagan Christianity in the Renaissance. Fuck Luther and fuck Protestants.

The Apocalypse of Adam?

>when we were smoothly transitioning to a more healthy, philosophical and humanistic form of Greco-Roman Pagan Christianity
>under the pope
Ay lmao

>and "truly" shit was about to get real.
Apocalypse "now" is just wishful thinking.

>fedora thinks he speaks for Jesus
Lol

>My position, twerp, is that Christianity, as a practiced religion, consists primarily of weekly congregations with lore on the side.
That's wrong. Jesus himself commanded Christians to pray with their door shut.

Yup, you don't know shit

>being a jedi

Westerners have been jerking off to the eastern other hundreds of years before some cunt you know turned buddhist.

I believe in Christ as the one true god but I also believe that rejecting our desires and discipline through yoga and meditation is a way to conquer desire and be a better Christian as you now have less chance to sin.

What the fuck am I?

Well rounded?
Christianity has always had a deep relation with contemplative mysticism, it's just been de-emphasized in a lot of groups, particularly as we get toward modernity.

I mean, you can do Yoga with Christ as the object of your dharana/dhayana, I can't really figure out a way to make scripture reject that experiment.