Pedro Picasso explains Buddhism to the primitives

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=214x168289

Oh my.

It's always interesting to hear Pedro Picasso explain things; things like economics and politics and journalism and now, religion.  At this bonfire, Pedro Picasso gets repeatedly owned by the sandy Sahara primitive.

ZombieHorde  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 04:42 PM
Original message

Buddhism fastest growing religion in West
   
Colombo, 07 April, (Asiantribune.com): Buddhism is being recognized as the fastest growing religion in Western societies both in terms of new converts and more so in terms of friends of Buddhism, who seek to study and practice various aspects of Buddhism.

It's a pretty big bonfire, so only a sample of primitive comments, selected at random:

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 04:51 PM
Response to Original message

2. Buddhism isn't a religion
   
If it's growing that fast in the West, we're bound to completely **** it up, though.

Read "Buddhism Without Beliefs." A great primer.

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 05:09 PM
Response to Reply #3

8. It's not "just semantics" if you know anything about Buddhism
   
The fact that people have chosen to MAKE a religion of it is beside the point. Buddhism is simply not a religion. Just ask the Buddha if you see him (but be sure to kill him afterward).

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 05:50 PM
Response to Reply #13

23. Uh...you ever hear of a "metaphor?"
   
"The idea of "killing the Buddha" comes from a famous Zen line, the context of which is easy to imagine: After years on his cushion, a monk has what he believes is a breakthrough: a glimpse of nirvana, the Buddhamind, the big pay-off. Reporting the experience to his master, however, he is informed that what has happened is par for the course, nothing special, maybe even damaging to his pursuit. And then the master gives the student dismaying advice: If you meet the Buddha, he says, kill him.

Why kill the Buddha? Because the Buddha you meet is not the true Buddha, but an expression of your longing. If this Buddha is not killed he will only stand in your way.

Why Killing the Buddha ? For our purposes, killing the Buddha is a metaphor for moving past the complacency of belief, for struggling honestly with the idea of God. As people who take faith seriously, we are endlessly amazed and enraged that religious discourse has become so bloodless, parochial and boring. Any God worth the name is none of these things. Yet when people talk about God they are talking mainly about the Buddha they meet. For fear of seeming intolerant or uncertain, or just for lack of thinking, they talk about a God too small to be God."

http://www.killingthebuddha.com/manifesto.htm

It's not crap at all. Maybe the above reference will help. It's from one of very first of 843,000 Google hits on the topic, but maybe the other 842,999 say something different. Who knows?

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 06:15 PM
Response to Reply #29

33. What "killing bullshit?"
   
Good grief, man...we seem to be in agreement about 100%, except for your dislike of the word "killing." Talk about bad karma...your tone and your attempts to shoot me down aren't doing you any favors, my friend. I'm not talking about "killing" anyone, let alone the buddha. Why on earth did you let yourself get so hung up on that particular METAPHORICAL reference?

And the concept of betting a paycheck on my knowledge of Zen is downright comical!

Let's you and I call a truce on this one now. Nothing I hate more than seeing two people essentially in agreement wind up tearing each other down based upon misconstrued interpretations of message board posts. Clearly, were we to be sitting together having a face to face discussion we could be more in depth in the explanation of our points. YOU just seem to be getting nasty, then having the nerve to suggest I'll suffer bad karma because you don't like my posts.

Man...DU never ceases to amaze me.

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 05:39 PM
Response to Reply #15

16. Yeah, how silly of me to take the teachings of Buddha over Dictionary.com

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 06:02 PM
Response to Reply #25
27. I don't believe in the religious concept of a soul, either
   
I selected the screen name years ago, basically as a tongue-in-cheek reference to having achieved "ultimate political enlightenment."

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 05:54 PM
Response to Reply #21

24. Of course I can't argue with the points you made...there is no argument.
   
You're points are simply wrong, and you are simply wrong. What's to argue?

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 06:18 PM
Response to Reply #28

34. samsarrha and Warpy have already provided excellent explanations.
   
You just don't want to hear it.

Atman  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Sun Apr-06-08 08:39 PM
Response to Reply #51

53. You know, I may disagree with you on the "isn't a religion" thing, but...
   
I commend your attempts to carry on this debate with sam sarrha, who obviously feels the particular teachings he received trump everything else anyone can say to him. His un-wavering assertion that "killing" in this context means actual physical violence against another human (even equating it with the crucifixion of Jesus!) is just ludicrous, and flies in the face of common sense. We are all Buddhas, but that does not mean we are all advocating killing one another. You see that, I think most people with any sort of sense would see that.

In sam sahhra's case, it appears a little "education" (or actually, a lot), is indeed a dangerous thing. It did not enlighten him, it appears to have helped him close off his mind and bring about a certain hostility toward other interpretations but that which he was specifically taught.

Very un-Buddhist of him if you ask me.

Oh my.

[Chris_]

He seems very contentious.

[USA4ME]

Atman

2. Buddhism isn't a religion

So simpleminded.

Sure it's a religion.  It's a false religion, but a religion nonetheless.

A religion consist of something which holds meaning to you and of which you worship and/or serve.  Even if you are worshiping nothing, you are in fact serving something.  And even though you might not even believe that something even exists, that something is glad that you don't believe in anything, because in doing so you are serving that something.

Wait until you're dead and you figure it out then, FAtman.

.

[dandi]

LOL at the pretentious sam sarrha DUmmy. They like to claim Buddhism isn't a religion so they can represent it as something above religion or better than religion. "Hey, look how enlightened I am. I am above the fray. I don't need your foolish religion."

Actually, I prefer to think of my belief in God as my faith rather than my religion, not because I think I'm better than anyone else, but because "religion" to me implies manmade dogma that is not necessarily scriptural, though I may attend worship services at a church that can be defined as affiliated with a particular religion.

conscious evolution  (1000+ posts)      Wed Apr-09-08 09:02 AM
Response to Reply #61
70. In my nieghborhood
 we actually do get flyers and pamplets.
But then again,my nieghborhood is full of bhuddists,Taoist,Krishnas',pagans and wiccans.

Geez, where does this guy live? That must make for some wild block parties.
 

[Vagabond]

LOL at the pretentious sam sarrha DUmmy. They like to claim Buddhism isn't a religion so they can represent it as something above religion or better than religion. "Hey, look how enlightened I am. I am above the fray. I don't need your foolish religion."

Actually, I prefer to think of my belief in God as my faith rather than my religion, not because I think I'm better than anyone else, but because "religion" to me implies manmade dogma that is not necessarily scriptural, though I may attend worship services at a church that can be defined as affiliated with a particular religion.

conscious evolution  (1000+ posts)      Wed Apr-09-08 09:02 AM
Response to Reply #61
70. In my nieghborhood
 we actually do get flyers and pamplets.
But then again,my nieghborhood is full of bhuddists,Taoist,Krishnas',pagans and wiccans.

Geez, where does this guy live? That must make for some wild block parties.
 

My personal guess is in his head.  Like most of the rest of them.