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Is Buddhism All It's Cracked Up To Be??

DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
edited May 2011 in Buddhism Today
Although it has been vilified by fanatic members of Western monolithic religions, the ancient religion of Buddhism has been widely respected by spiritualists and non-religionists for centuries. The admiration of Buddhism by open-minded Westerners is not a recent phenomenon, despite its current status in power circles such as the Hollywood elite.

Many seekers of truth have discarded their traditional spiritual practices in favor of what they consider a superior system, i.e., Buddhism, which does indeed offer concepts that are more cosmic and less repressive than the Western religions.

Further Reading: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/mistic/buddhism02.htm

Comments

  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    It strikes me as being biased and overly critical. The interpretation of much of the Buddha's character section was from one source and assumes that the Buddha is a normal being. That mention of a secret society in Tibetan Buddhism that has the power to create or destroy the cosmos sounds like something from a Dan Brown novel or a Hollywood movie.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    It strikes me as being biased and overly critical. The interpretation of much of the Buddha's character section was from one source and assumes that the Buddha is a normal being. That mention of a secret society in Tibetan Buddhism that has the power to create or destroy the cosmos sounds like something from a Dan Brown novel or a Hollywood movie.
    :)
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Authors website: http://www.truthbeknown.com/
  • compassionate_warriorcompassionate_warrior Veteran
    Well, well....I'll have to brush up on Alexandra David-Neel, one of the author's prime sources of info., allegedly. I'll get back to you, Leon, after I've read a couple of those books.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Well, well....I'll have to brush up on Alexandra David-Neel, one of the author's prime sources of info., allegedly. I'll get back to you, Leon, after I've read a couple of those books.
    Wonderful!
    Read her Biography too!
    Very interesting!
  • vinlynvinlyn Colorado...for now Veteran
    It's just another opinion on spirituality. It is no more negative about Buddhism than some on this forum are about Christianity.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    It's just another opinion on spirituality. It is no more negative about Buddhism than some on this forum are about Christianity.
    Good point!
    Thanks for reading and commenting!
  • personperson Don't believe everything you think The liminal space Veteran
    It strikes me as being biased and overly critical. The interpretation of much of the Buddha's character section was from one source and assumes that the Buddha is a normal being. That mention of a secret society in Tibetan Buddhism that has the power to create or destroy the cosmos sounds like something from a Dan Brown novel or a Hollywood movie.
    I was short on time before so I didn't really flesh out my meaning fully. The author just seems to be looking for areas to criticize. In the criticism of Tibetan Buddhism he brings up a secret society that can destroy the world. I doubt he really believes that but he uses it as a source for criticism. Then in the section on Buddha's personality he uses the interpretation that the Buddha was a normal person acting out of anger and conceit. So in one place he finds criticism in the "supernatural" aspects of Buddhism and in the next he ignores that aspect and finds criticism in a mundane view of Buddhism. He doesn't have a consistent view of what Buddhism is, he's just looking for places to criticize.
  • genkakugenkaku Northampton, Mass. U.S.A. Veteran
    One man's meat is another man's poison. If we worry too much about what others think -- whether pro or con -- when will we ever find time to practice?
  • CinorjerCinorjer Veteran
    This is the strangest website I have seen in a long time. If you click back to the entire collection in Buddhism and then back to the God and Religions on Planet Earth, you find a nonselective library of all the weird and wild rants on the internet along with some very astute, focused essays on various religions. You find Illumitati conspiracy accusations alongside a doctoral thesis on ancient religions. I sampled one at random in the Buddhism column, something about a person accusing the Dalai Lama of being a Satanist, and it seems to be because the Dalai looks devilish and was rude to a Chinese reporter. So, yeah, it's the internet for you. No screening at all.

    But an interesting way to pass some time studying the various ways people fool themselves.

    The internet is amazing.
  • NOTaGangstaNOTaGangsta
    Seeking for negative opinions on the internet about Buddhism is a choice. WHy make that choice?!
  • Floating_AbuFloating_Abu Veteran
    I know my pie tastes great, why do I have to ask someone else?
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    This is the strangest website I have seen in a long time. If you click back to the entire collection in Buddhism and then back to the God and Religions on Planet Earth, you find a nonselective library of all the weird and wild rants on the internet along with some very astute, focused essays on various religions. You find Illumitati conspiracy accusations alongside a doctoral thesis on ancient religions. I sampled one at random in the Buddhism column, something about a person accusing the Dalai Lama of being a Satanist, and it seems to be because the Dalai looks devilish and was rude to a Chinese reporter. So, yeah, it's the internet for you. No screening at all.

    But an interesting way to pass some time studying the various ways people fool themselves.

    The internet is amazing.
    Agreed!
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    I know my pie tastes great, why do I have to ask someone else?
    :)
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    Seeking for negative opinions on the internet about Buddhism is a choice. WHy make that choice?!
    Agreed.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    edited May 2011
    I don't remember David-Neel saying anything about secret societies capable of destroying the world, but the article, if I read it correctly, doesn't say that's exclusive to Tibetan Buddhism, so I don't think David-Neel is relevant as a source.

    There are many misrepresentations here. For a celibate movement, of course sex was prohibited. The author makes that prohibition sound like something evil, and likens it to prohibitions against theft and murder. He's twisting stuff around.

    By the way, while trying to look up some of the links and sources presented, I got a caution message on my computer after hitting one of the links, and my computer got hacked.

    Try to be a little more careful with the stuff you post from the internet, OK, Leon? A little more discerning.
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