Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

Examples: Monday, today, last week, Mar 26, 3/26/04
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.

Buddhism and Scientology

NamelessRiverNamelessRiver Veteran
edited November 2009 in Faith & Religion
This was written by the founder of Scientology, who apparently thinks he is Buddha: (from Hymn of Asia) (BTW these Scientology books are supposed to be secret or something? It's like they delete everything from the internet and they are good at it. Weird.).
"I come to bring you
all that Lord Buddha
would have you know
of life, Earth and Man.
[...]
Study the wisdom
That I have to
say and you will
Be Bodhi
[...]
To suffer every doubt.
Am I Metteyya?

Everywhere you are

I can be addressed
But in our temples best
Address me and you address
Lord Buddha.
Address Lord Buddha
And you then address
Metteyya."
There is a CD of this thing in Amazon and here is part of the description:
A handsome, hardback edition with audio CD containing an Eastern poem of the Prophecy of a Golden Age by L. Ron Hubbard. L. Ron Hubbard wrote "Hymn of Asia" for a Buddhist convention during the 1955-56 worldwide celebrations of the 2,500th year of the Buddhist era. The poem's 1,046 lines concern the fulfillment of Buddha's prophecy. As well, they bear upon the timeless message that resonates through all ages -- Man's irrestible longing for spiritual freedom.
This is from their website (Scientology dot org):

About the same time Christ was teaching in the Middle East, the first Buddhist monks arrived in China. The Buddhism that first became popular in China during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.—A.D. 220) taught the indestructibility of the soul [lol], the theory of karma and the values of charity and compassion. Buddhism spread through China, incorporating some of the practical and this-worldly philosophy of ancient China. It taught man a way to spiritual enlightenment despite resistance from the Taoists and later suppression by the state, when hundreds of monasteries were destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of monks and nuns were forced to return to lay life.

Is this last part about the monasteries true though? It doesn't seem so...

Comments

  • SimonthepilgrimSimonthepilgrim Veteran
    edited October 2009
    I found this on Wikipedia. I haven't checkjed the facts:

    Tang state repression of 845

    There were several components that lead to opposition of Buddhism. One factor is the foreign origins of Buddhism, unlike Taoism and Confucianism. Han Yu wrote, "Buddha was a man of the barbarians who did not speak the language of China and wore clothes of a different fashion. His sayings did not concern the ways of our ancient kings, nor did his manner of dress conform to their laws. He understood neither the duties that bind sovereign and subject, nor the affections of father and son."
    Other components included the Buddhists' withdrawal from society, since the Chinese believed that Chinese people should be involved with family life. Wealth, tax-exemption status and power of the Buddhist temples and monasteries also annoyed many critics.
    As mentioned earlier, persecution came during the reign of Emperor Wuzong in the Tang Dynasty. Wuzong was said to hate the sight of Buddhist monks, whom he thought were tax-evaders. In 845, he ordered the destruction of 4,600 Buddhist monasteries and 40,000 temples. About 250,000 Buddhist monks and nuns had to give up their monastery lives. Wuzong cited that Buddhism was an alien religion, which is the reason he also persecuted the Christians in China. Ancient Chinese Buddhism never fully recovered from the persecution.
  • edited October 2009
    Al Ron Hubbard is not the first, nor will he be the last, to advance his own deluded religio-spiritual science with delusions of grandeur involving Buddha, Maitreya, etc.
    Just observe the proliferation of would-be Maitreyas who have sprung up around the world over the past decades, or any number of Maitreya/Mettaya-based Messiah movements around the world that have little or nothing to do with Buddhism.

    All these people know little or nothing about the real Bodhisattva Maitreya of the Mahayana sutras and tantras or the Mettaya encountered in some Pali suttas and extracanonical Pali scriptures. But since Buddhism is the essence of all truth in the universe, it is inevitable that all types of confused beings invoke the names and figures of Buddhism without the slightest idea about the actual reality of it - hence L. Ron Hubbard et al trying to incorporate Buddhism and making noise about Maitreyas and Messiahs. However, the good roots from even hearing the name "Buddha" or "Maitreya" go so deep that after long enough, even these deluded ones will surely attain nirvana in future lives.
  • StaticToyboxStaticToybox Veteran
    edited October 2009
    I'm usually pretty accepting of other beliefs, but Scientology bugs the ever-lovin' shit out of me.
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Oh MAN! You..and...me...both...!!

    I had to do some research about it last year and I read through some of the most disturbing affidavits. The lawsuits that have been filed all around the world against that 'church' should be enough to give anyone pause.

    Very sick and scary stuff.
  • cazcaz Veteran United Kingdom Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Hubbard was mad.
  • edited October 2009
    Takeahnase wrote: »
    I'm usually pretty accepting of other beliefs, but Scientology bugs the ever-lovin' shit out of me.

    Ditto. Scientology is like Mormonism to me, only worse. They are both recent enough that the fact that they are hoaxes should be clear to anyone who looks at them, but at least you can get the Book of Mormon for free. Scientology's Fair Game doctrine should put them in the category of terrorists.
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited October 2009
    Simon, looks like the Chinese are old hands at repressing Buddhism. Still at it after all these years...

    And I have to agree with the rest that Scientology looks bogus even compared to the other bogus so-called religions like Mormonism and Jehovah's Witnesses. I guess the lesson is never trust a religion founded by a (bad) science fiction writer. But heck, they make lots of money!

    Palzang
  • edited November 2009
    The funny thing is, that Scientology uses alot of the same teachings and techniques as buddhism....... but what you have to pay ALOT of mooonneeeeyyy to get at Scientology, you get for free in buddhism (or almost for free)
    :D:D:D:D

    Buddhism is both better and cheaper than Scientology
  • LincLinc Site owner Detroit Moderator
    edited November 2009
    Buddhism is both better and cheaper than Scientology
    Drinking tea is both better and cheaper than wiping out civilizations.

    Playing hopscotch is both better and cheaper than burning 20 hectares of rain forest.

    I like this game; who's got another comparison? :lol:;)
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited November 2009
    But unfortunately you don't get any aliens with Buddhism...

    Palzang
  • BrigidBrigid Veteran
    edited November 2009
    Lol!!
  • edited November 2009
    Palzang wrote: »
    Simon, looks like the Chinese are old hands at repressing Buddhism. Still at it after all these years...
    Palzang

    What about Chan Buddhism?
  • edited November 2009
    Lincoln wrote: »
    Drinking tea is both better and cheaper than wiping out civilizations.

    Playing hopscotch is both better and cheaper than burning 20 hectares of rain forest.

    I like this game; who's got another comparison? :lol:;)

    a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush...no that's not one
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited November 2009
    blueface wrote: »
    What about Chan Buddhism?

    Well, it's quite possible the authorities never noticed them! Just a bunch of beggars and basketmakers and poets... ;)

    Palzang
Sign In or Register to comment.