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SAW THIS AND FELT SO ASHAMED OF THIS BUDDHIST
I saw this video clip of a young BUDDHIST man who really lost his temper. He was offended by a Christian man who was challenging his belief and the young Buddhist man starting going on a rampage and destroying the Christian man's sound equipment!
Is this justifiable of the young man? If so, how?
Is this unjustifiable of the young man? If so...what would you do in such a situation?
Should he pay for the man's sound-equipment?
Here is his rampage unfortunately caught on a strangers camera broadcast across the net: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abKwBVNgazs
Is this justifiable of the young man? If so, how?
Is this unjustifiable of the young man? If so...what would you do in such a situation?
Should he pay for the man's sound-equipment?
Here is his rampage unfortunately caught on a strangers camera broadcast across the net: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abKwBVNgazs
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Comments
No, he sounds like just an angry young man. He might call himself a Buddhist, but his actions speak louder.
Keep walking.
Probably. But I think we should let the courts decide.
With Metta,
Guy
Thank you for the reply.
My only follow-up question would be: Why should we leave a matter up to the courts? Shouldn't we hold ourselves to a higher regard? Even if the courts don't think so? So I guess I could really zero in my question by asking what is the DECIDER that makes a thing "right" or "wrong" beyond mere opinions? What sort of standard can we look to that doesn't change with man's courts and jurys?
Sorry for the multiple questions...I am just trying to conceptualize this all
Which one of us has not lost his temper and regretted it?
We have all manifested anger. This young man just got caught up in it and the only difference between him and us is that his bout of anger got filmed.
he was defending something he holds dear in his heart. Should we not at least admire that trait, even though we agree his methodology was found wanting, and not skilful.
However, I see his intentions.
This is the first time I've seen a public display of vehement disagreement from a Buddhist, with regard to the bombardment of proselytising Christians indulge in....
It's more commonplace amongst theistic religious members, though.
His criminal act is a different matter.
Regardless of his religion, he vandalised the property of another person, and is guilty of that.
The court would disregard any religious aspect and merely look at the act perpetrated.
The two issues are quite separate in Law, and religious convictions are immaterial.
Your questions are all good ones. I will try my best to answer:
The practice of Buddhists is not to police the world and tell other people what is right and wrong. Our duty is to understand WHY something is right or wrong for ourselves and to make sure that WE do the right thing so as to be harmless towards ourselves and others. If we understand harmlessness properly we don't need commandments to tell us what to do, instead our own wisdom will guide us away from such confrontations as seen in the video. We will avoid the shouting matches in life before they start. This is how we hold moral standards for ourselves.
Whether or not the evangelist wants financial compensation for any damage caused is a matter for the courts, it has nothing to do with you or me.
Again, it is not our place to determine what is right and wrong for everyone else, unless our job happens to be in law enforcement or we are on jury duty. We need to find out what is right and wrong in our own decisions, often the wisest thing to do is to let others be. The reason people get into fights and arguments in the first place is because of ignorance. When people don't understand that their problems with other people are self-caused then they seek to blame others. Therefore there will always be people doing and saying stupid things because there will always be ignorance. Trying to cure ourselves of ignorance is a huge task in itself, don't worry about curing the other 6 billion people, that's their responsibility.
Simple, ask yourself if what you are about to do is going to be harmful to either yourself or others or both yourself and others. If it is, don't do it. While you are doing it, again, ask yourself - is this harming anyone? If so, stop. Then after you have finished, ask yourself a third time - did I cause anyone any harm, intentionally or unintentionally? If so, avoid similar situations in the future. If you continue to have difficulty in these situations, ask for some advice from a friend whom you trust.
With Metta,
Guy
He certainly has an anger problem,from the bleeping out,I will assume that right speech was not always used and as for paying for the sound gear,if it was broken then it can do him no harm to offer to have it repaired or replaced.
I had a similar,but opposite outcome once when in england.
While out with some christian friends we came across a christian evangelist.
When I spoke of my buddhist beliefs the evangelist started to give it to me big time.
I spoke quietly and at no time criticized christianty while defending buddhism.
He finally lost the plot and screamed and swore at me while telling me that I was going to burn in hell for eternity.At this time I thanked him for sharing his views with me and wished him a nice day.
My christian friends felt ashamed of what they had witnessed and were amazed at how calm I had been through out the entire encounter.So was I.
Good point Federica.
have you actually tried this?
(Slightly off topic, although it might apply.....)
Faith as in confidence, or faith as in belief?
(I love how all roads lead to Rome....!!)
I like the way this kid handled argument [0:26 - 1:44]:
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Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CIhn3wPFnE
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Talk about car crash TV....
let's find the two most diametrically opposed groups of people we can, and deliberately create havoc by stirring the conflict pot.....
That's not common sense, that's just nasty commercialism......
There's nothing clever about it at all.
It's not even his mom, so to be so in your face with it is just disrespectful and cheap.
Sometimes, Right Speech involves keeping your big, liberal yap shut.
:rolleyes:
I'm not defending Wife Swap, nor do I even watch much TV, but to be fair, I think it really exposes the prejudice and intolerance that people have. This is the 21st Century and a civilized society and people shouldn't even resort to such intolerant acts. (The logical arguments that Dan the atheist put forth were not intolerant or prejudice, he was being rational, albeit a bit stern/blunt. A good ol' heated debate can be a great learning experience for people. I thank God that there were people there to challenge my previous religious views and get to where I am today.)
He wasn't using personal insults or yelling, he simply said things like "the Lord does not exist. ...The Bible was written a hundred years after he died." And that made her cry and walk away.
.
Right Speech though is speech which does not harm, it doesn't matter how true and technically correct what you have to say is if you know (and he seems intelligent enough to know) that it is going to harm someone else. He's not going to change her views by attacking her beliefs, if he is going to change her views at all (which I highly doubt). Therefore it is Wrong Speech.
I find it neither clever nor commendable.
I find it rude, offensive and actually worse than the kid in the first video.
LOL.
I think.
People I think if they sound like they don't know what they're talking about with Buddhism, they probly are 100% ignorant so I just don't get upset or worry about it anymore when my friends trash it.
My childhood friend Scott calls it respected but "bullshit", and my friend Kyle says monks are "living a lie". I don't care... they're just ignorant. I posted a thread about a guy trashing Buddhism, someone put a good post of the Buddha saying what is appropriate action and thought when someone does says something bad about it.
Please. Have some understanding.
We all start somewhere.
"I love to disturb people, because only by disturbing I can make them think. They have stopped thinking for centuries. Nobody has been there to disturb them. People having been consoling them. I'm not going to console anybody. Because the more you console them, the more retarded they remain. Disturb them! Shock them! Hit them hard! Give them challenge! That challenge will bring their capacities to their climax." - Osho
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The only one that can force him is the court. Well you can force him but then YOU will see the court too.
Its called society. If it makes you feel better you can say he will go to hell when he is dead.
I love this conclusion. I agree. I see that the kid in the first video did what he did rashly, in a reactive explosion of anger. The second child looks specifically and passionately cruel.
There is a difference between a pompous kid and a Zen teacher, who is loving, and acting in a direct way to loosen attachment in the student. That is not what the kid was doing. He was condescending, unskillful and did not exhibit any noticeable signs of compassion or loving kindness for the woman.
That you like his words is deeply revealing of where you are in your journey, and I hope you find a more direct and loving approach to relationships Trans.
With warmth,
Matt
and you can quote me on that.;)
I'm with GuyC on this one, I think the best thing to do is keep walking.
Don't worry Jeffrey, there's a third possibility; cultivate Metta. Here's a couple of Dhamma talks about Metta by Bhante Sujato with detailed instructions: "Metta Meditation" and "The Practice of Metta"
but the kid probably does truly love his religion and regret what he did