Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Your opinions
Mingle
Veteran
I clearly have much to learn on Buddhism. I find I am conceptualizing it too much and becoming butthurt when my concept is proven false. Buddhism (I believe) has brought me from my depression and taught me how irrational my thinking is so you perhaps can see why I can't handle its criticism because too me if it is false then my growth in confidence and happiness is what? A placebo. Do I need faith to be happy with who I am? Anyway I want to know your views on Richard Dawkins, Deepak Chopra and I am thinking of reading Killing the Buddha by Sam Harris anyone here read that? Is it a good book?
0
Comments
@Mingle
There are many different forms of Buddhism because everyone approaches Buddhism from there own direction. What works for one person, may not fit well for another. By reading a wide range of different books on Buddhism you can find out what form might be most the appealing to you....but even there, what** appeals** to you may not be the best criteria to use for what is best for you.
Most will eventually find that their need to study will be matched with a need to actually try out some of the practices that make the most sense for them.
I wish you a fruitful journey.
Relevant discussion here: http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/22374/richard-dawkins-v-deepak-chopra/p1
@how is right @mingle.
There is no harm in reading, theorising, conceptualising and intellectualising about Buddhism but at some stage you need to put that aside and start to practice!
Best of luck.
You are not your ideas so they can be proven false without hurting you if you think learning and growing is a good thing. There is nothing wrong with getting it wrong but often we have a need to be right.
Buddhism is a process that unfolds uniquely for most I would wager.
I don't think so... There is that which makes the most sense at the time according to all the information available and there is always the possibility for new information.
I got nothing.
What do you define as "faith?"
I would actually say that faith can be an important part of any spiritual path, theist or not. At least having faith that what you are doing is for the good of yourself and others, and that there is an innate goodness to be unraveled from the knots of samsara.
Dawkins is a bit too pompous for my liking. He acts like his view is the only correct view and anything else is ridiculous. He doesn't even give contemplative religions a fair shake despite all the research that comes out. Harris on the other hand, is quite a bit more balanced in terms of his approach to spirituality. He is aggressive on his stance against religious institutions, but seems to be quite open to the benefits of spirituality.
I haven't read much Chopra, but his entire approach sort of puts me off... too much New Agey jargon and vague language.
Rule #1 about NewBuddhist Club: Never ask about Deepak Chopra
Rule #2 "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice." Steve Jobs
I personally enjoy some of Chopra's stuff, but he's never actually said he's a Buddhist and is really more of a Hindu but studies and practices a lot of stuff without a name. Which is fine, of course, but he might not be the best Buddhist, simply because he is not a Buddhist. I enjoy his Ayurveda stuff, however, and some of his meditations.
Do you need faith to be happy? I guess that depends exactly how you define faith. The word has a long of hangups attached to it. I have faith in some things, I guess. Buddhism, I find, requires little faith because it works in practice. When I can see it in action and see it working, I don't need to have faith because it's right there. Faith, to me, means believing in and trusting in the good of something intangible. I have faith in humanity, for example. I believe that people are good at their core, their true nature. But I cannot touch that for myself all the time. It is just something I have a sense about and trust because of that. Buddhism, however, I see evidence of every day. I believe Buddhism works not because I trust what the Buddha said, but because I witness it. Does having faith in some things make me happier? Maybe sometimes, in some ways. Other times it lets me down. I don't think it is required for happiness within.
It wasn't until I firmly parked my bottom on the cushion that I began to "make progress." I put "make progress" in quotes because I wasn't making progress towards some predetermined goal. When I really started practicing - just paying attention to my breath with no concrete goal other than that -many positive things happened I never expected. Not all of these positive "things" were easy or pleasurable - some were hard realizations- but they vastly improved my life.
A lotus to you!
Depends who is reading it. What does that mean? Depends who is reading it.
My teacher once said of the Zen we both practiced, "For the first four or five years [of practice], hope and belief are necessary.... [After four or five years] they are not so necessary."
Hope, belief, and other faith-based exercises can and do inspire practice in the early going. But as the body of experience gains substance, the need to believe fades naturally.
Does Buddhism not teach you to be more open-minded and tolerant of the opinions of others? There is no need to defend your 'beliefs' when you know them to be true for yourself. It sounds to me like you have developed an attachment to Buddhism to find a place for yourself, rather than embraced its principles and taken them with you in to every day life.
@Mingle I think maybe instead of faith you need to know that it's OK to be confident. I once heard my Zen Teacher Young, say something that directly contradicted an old Master we were studying. When I asked him who was right, he told me, "That's his understanding, and this is mine."
Have confidence in your understanding and practice, while knowing that understanding is going to grow and change as you practice and that you might learn something from listening to others. I don't agree with half the things I said five years ago, but I was confident that was my understanding at the time and I'm just as certain I'll one day shake my head at what I'm saying now and think, "That's not it at all." But I'll still think it with confidence. I'm not right and you're wrong; I have my understanding and you have yours. If your understanding seems better, I'll borrow it from you.
-No...
Some great answers guys thank you all..