Are there any other agnostics on CC?

limon
Sun, 12 Dec 2004 17:02:42 +0000

tanonev:
“Buddhism, while a good lifestyle, has some issues as well…remember, the whole point of Buddhism is to cease to exist, and we do that by removing all emotion, including brotherly love…since everything is transient, there is no need to help others…Buddhism basically started as a means of justifying why some people are rich and some people are poor by assigning them past lives…”

Umm… I think you’re a little off in your understanding of Buddhism.
It is essentially a self-improving religion. Have you ever read Dante’s Divine Comedy? Buddhists are those who attempt to climb up the mountain of virtue by their own power. Is this a mistake? No. Will it get them there? It sure as hell will get them closer to heaven while living than anyone else, but I don’t know about the afterlife.
The loss of the self in Buddhism is one of those greatly misunderstood things. All sins can be said to come down to pride. The loss of focus on the self removes pride, the removal of the ego from the situation allows for greater understanding, awareness and empathy - this is without going into the mystical side, which I don’t know much about (and others can probably explain the whole loss of self better than I can). You’ve also conveniently ignored the virtues preached in Buddhism. You’ve also ignored its origins -you’re probably thinking of Hinduism.