Can I learn anything from Buddhism? im not very well read on the religion but I see there are many like the theravada and zazen (also trying to get away from the jewdeo-christian religion) . Some also talk about their creation beliefs and some said not to worry about creation because you will spend your whole life trying to answer a question you cannot. Is Buddhism at it's core just to alleviate suffering?
Can I learn anything from Buddhism...
Nathaniel Perez
Asher Cruz
>some said not to worry about creation because you will spend your whole life trying to answer a question you cannot
they were right
when you try to find an answer to this question you ensnare yourself deeper into karma and generation
why do you care about creation even? why do you wish to know that?
Ethan Rodriguez
Buddhism at its core is "just" to alleviate suffering.
4 Noble Truths (suffering exist, it has a cause, it ends, by doing 8foldpath)
8foldpath(last of noble truth) summed up is be wise, behave ethically/morally, and concentrate.
You could call yourself a buddhist by simply believing in these key tenants (to the best of your knowledge/intention).
Hunter White
At it's core i think it's about being happy and being free from stuff that gets in the way of truly enjoying every moment of your life. I recommend reading anything by thich nhat hanh to get an idea about it and start practicing some simple things to make you happier.
Gabriel Hall
WRONG
Hunter Gomez
If it's eastern religion that allures you look into Taoism or Hinduism instead.
Kevin Martin
Care to suggest why?
Asher Phillips
Enjoying your life is missing the point because it means you are attached to living which is the most temporary of the things. You're supposed to not give a single fuck about anything
David Foster
>about being happy
>being free from stuff that gets in the way
Wrong on both accounts because Buddhism isn't a religion about seeking happiness or about freeing yourself from enjoying life. That's hippie nonsense garbage. Especially at the core.
Buddha didn't become enlightened because he found out how to be happy or how to free yourself from shit that gets in the way of your happiness. He went out and became enlightened when he found a way to "end suffering".
Its easy to conflate the end of suffering as the hallmark of happiness. But there's a mark difference in between the two. When someone says, they're debt-free, you don't automatically conflate that to them saying they're rich. The accurate assumption is they've 0+ in their wealth. Buddhist enlightenment isn't a means to get to being happy. In fact Buddha discourages that line of thought as misleading/wrong thought. He discourages people from seeking out happiness in the worldly manner. Buddha has a difference sense of happiness. He says that happiness leads to suffering as these are all temporary and creates burden on the mind. He says that "true" happiness does exist, but one thats completely different from what we understood it to be, namely the trivial pursuit of happiness.
So you're wrong in those statements when used to say its the Buddhist core. Happiness or pursuit of happiness is not and never has been the core of Buddhism. Buddhist may say happiness is good and may say its better than suffering, but thats just conversational/nominal talk.
Jose Barnes
I understand what you both mean. The pursuit of happiness can be construed as attachment/craving, which is one of the 3 poisons that spins the wheel of samsara. Equanimity is the ideal emotional state, but that doesn't mean you don't give a fuck or that no emotions are felt in enlightenment. You give a fuck very much and feel many things: about relieving the suffering of others, about rejoicing in the joy of others, about being present in every moment of this precious and beautiful life in which all things are interconnected. There is immense "happiness" in thus. The buddha is always smiling, is he not?
Luke Wright
You're arguing a different point now.
Happiness and suffering are both emotions humans feel when certain reigns of criteria mixed in our mind.
The ideal Buddhist emotion is not trivial happiness nor trivial suffering. It is equanimity. This emotion is expressed as being mentally calm and expressed many cultures/customs surrounding Buddhist regions. In martial arts, in tea ceremonies, in calligraphy, in mental competition, etc.
>Buddha is always smiling
That's Butai or Budai. The Chinese happy/laughing monk. Most often mistaken as Buddha by westerners.
Pics related is actual Buddha. There is a small positive/neutral facial expression. Its not the same as the happy/laughing monk Budai.
Zachary Hill
I honestly don't even understand endgame Buddha because I'm pretty sure there is no afterlife (or existence) once you are enlightened and in secular/OG Buddhism there's no reincarnation either
Oliver Smith
>why do you care about creation even? why do you wish to know that?
Its curiosity which is natural, pondering creation is A ok in Dharmic (Eastern) traditions. There are many fanciful theories, but science can fill a few gaps, but never the whole, because knowing ALMOST everything is just as impossible as knowing everything.
Wyatt Turner
Yes i get you're point. Nothing you said is inconsistent with what i said or what thich nhat hanh has said. Is not that buddha smiling?
Ian Clark
Things are transient. All things are finite. Enjoy the beauty in the moment.
Nolan Jones
Essentially Buddhism questions the reason why there is suffering in life and seeks to end suffering through a study of ones own consciousness. Much can be learned from Buddhism since it's effectively a science of the impersonal aspect of consciousness. Personally I'd recommended reading the Bhagavad Gita but Buddhism was my starting point into Eastern philosophy.
Michael Flores
>Enjoy the beauty in the moment.
But you can do more than enjoy it. Enjoyment in short moderate bursts are the best, stray too long like all things too much is too bad.
Liam Wright
There's a bit of smile in that Buddha's facial expression, but to conflate that with happiness is bit too overreaching. The proper emotion level is equanimity. Equanimity is a positive emotion, yet not an overt emotion one like happiness, sadness, anger, etc.
Jack Scott
It's gonna sound weird but it's technically beyond existence and non-existence. Some metaphysicians would argue that it's a logical impossibility, but that might be irrelevant.
I have to brush up on my Nagarjuna, I'm sure he has plenty to say about it.
Jack Brown
Yeah, how do you transcend a binary like that?
Colton Hill
Categorical error. A confusion of the mind because the concepts of our mind are created through ignorance and reinforced through such, the nature is not to be understood in these categories/concepts but rather through shedding of the mind.
This is why Buddhist couple meditation to re-write or rather re-orient your mental conceptualization to a correct one (or close to one). Concentration meditation, analytic meditation, mindful meditation, etc
Logan Parker
There's a parable where Buddha's followers asked him where the enlightened one goes after death, and he responded by asking where the flame goes when you blow out a candle.
Kevin Jackson
The enlightened go to paranirvana. It is described as the extinguishing of self and the end of suffering, but in Therevadan texts there is no "official" representation of what happens over there. Certain mahayaman texts feel it is heavenly.
Connor Barnes
>over there
There is no over there user. Only right here.
t. Nagarjuna
James Green
They are probably the most empirically analyzable systems along with philosophies like the yogic schools. Zen is said to be rooted in yogic Maitreya devotion. They might not have as orderly a theology as in Christian religions but this could be reasoned as being due to a fundamental difference in their nature. Here's a sutta from the Pali canon.
accesstoinsight.org
Yuri Bezmenov did speak negatively about yoga and meditation but one should also take anything he says with a generous grain of salt given the chance of him having striken a deal with the C.I.A and the US government to use his deception capabilities to push in favor of the rightist conservative rhetoric in order to justify his stay and perhaps make a buck while at it and just because something could be of utility to people with ulterior motives doesn't mean it itself is bad.
youtube.com
I think that individual Buddhist practice has is someways a better potential to flourish given the West's attitude of individualism. This could potentially be of greater benefit to "non-attachment" than the East's alleged hive mentality.
Jordan Butler
No, you can't. Is Buddhism at it's core just to alleviate suffering? Nope.
Luis Martinez
Yeah it is. Prove yourself wrong.
en.wikipedia.org
Dominic Harris
*right
Christian Thompson
Buddhism states that Dukkha is inherent in life, that nirvana can't happen during your lifetime. Buddha himself died very painfully.
Angel Davis
>what are the 3rd and 4th noble truths
Tyler Bennett
The goal is still appears to be the cessation of dukkha. Nobody said anything about life. Arahantship was achieved by some people.
David Brown
>nobody said anything about life
Buddha did actually. It's all about this life right now
Henry Sullivan
That is just nonexistence not a state beyond it.
Josiah Hall
thanks you for this, I agree
Jordan Hernandez
The state you experience is called Buddha-Nature, or the Ground in Dzogchen teachings. It's the exact same thing as the impersonal Brahman in Hinduism, pure consciousness. IMO it's best to simply read Vedic texts on the matter, as they describe the impersonal Brahman as well as the higher Parabrahman.
Buddhism only describes the lower impersonal Brahman and does so somewhat poorly leaving students in confusion and with a lot of questions unless you want to dive into Tibetian Buddhism. But even then you are only studying the impersonal aspect of the truth as the Brahman instead of the Parabrahman thus you're not actually attaining the highest perfection.
Asher Gonzalez
says the Brahmin
Kayden Lopez
Brahman is just a lower description of God but in hindu aspect.
A true description of God can only be given by learning Christianity.
Brandon Flores
Correct, the impersonal Brahman is a feature of the supreme Bhagavan, or the personality of God. So the personal aspect and the idea of a personal God is established as the supreme in this manner.
However, the science of knowing God is not simply confined to one religion. God is not Christian nor is God Hindu or Muslim. God is God.
Caleb Carter
Why isnt there anything to learn from it?
Eli Gomez
That's just the lower level Hindu interpetation. As a Muslim, Hindus are lower than dirt and they cannot possibly know the true glory of Allah.
As such, a true pure understanding of God can only be obtained through reading Koran and submitting yourself to Allah.
Attribution of God as non-Muslim is a highly imperfect view tainted by the Hindu's lack of faith in Allah and the Prophet Muhammad.
Mason Reyes
buddha came from a time when the view was reincarnation
he was a very depressed man who saw endless lives in his future, filled with pain and suffering
he decided there was a way of ending this hell cycle by basically non-attaching yourself from everything, so that you would cease to exist entirly post death (like atheistic death)
there is no reason to be buddhist in todays westernculture, because we do not believe in reincarnation. if we want to acheive the same ceassation of suffering the buddha was after, we can just kill ourselves.
in saying that, buddhism has some interesting philosophical concepts to study eg 'non-self' (annata), dependent origination, etc
a lot of these have a far longer history and origin in the belief/practice of hindiusm
buddhism is quite unlike other religions, it's more like a 'cure', or a solution than a set of beiefs
Isaac Sanders
Wow very interesting analysis. What about his previous lives it was said he had lives as numerous animals. So when he became human he decided he didn't want to exist anymore?
Noah Jenkins
>1438
>still shirkfagging
Christian Thompson
this is patently wrong, and is in fact an inversion.
Julian Brown
you know verry little of hinduism, i am well aware this is a bait post but im gonna have to tell you to shut the fuck up if islam is so great where are all the enlightend muslims who have had the betific vision, where are all your saints as a none muslim i cant name any but as a none relgious man all together i can still name many saintly hindus, and christians
god is one but appears as many , allah, god,brahman, toa there all the same thing just diferant cultures trying to express and understand it as best they can
Nolan Wright
All the englightened Muslisms are with the 72 virgins in heaven with God. Where as dirty Hindus are left shitting on streets.
Robert Ross
the hindus decided the best thing is to help enlighten others on their path to god instead of selfishly suiciding themselfs for a imaginary cause so they can aquire material and sexual pleasures in the next life islam is literaly built on a promise of sex, why? becuase those brainless savages only want to do things for themselfs, and need somthing, where as all other religions focus on helping the rest of the world
Liam Morales
Muslims aren't people so they have no souls. I don't understand why you insist on categorizing as anything other than a waste of space.
Jonathan James
Buddai was so fat? Is he gluttony?
Dominic Edwards
I'd look into its a religion that I find very interesting but I do not know if I would subscribe to it personally. Even so learning about the religion won't hurt.
Jayden Gutierrez
>if we want to acheive the same ceassation of suffering the buddha was after, we can just kill ourselves.
only hedonists have faith in this
Nicholas Perez
So dying from doing something pleasurable?
Josiah Allen
...
Caleb Bell
You should try science