Buddhism is radically diffrent from other relegions is a wishful thnking?

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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Sherab
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Re: Buddhism is radically diffrent from other relegions is a wishful thnking?

Post by Sherab »

befriend wrote: Fri Sep 21, 2018 6:49 pm All religions are like different cars all moving in the same direction people who don't see it like that have no light in their hearts- Ajahn chah. we have to remember Christianity Islam were founded after Buddhas life. In the bible it says be still and know that I am God. That sounds like choiceless awareness or shikantaza.
I disagree. All religions espouse different views. A path with the wrong view is not a path that leads to liberation from the cycle of existence. Only the path taught by the Buddha has the right view.
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StormBorn
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Re: Buddhism is radically diffrent from other relegions is a wishful thnking?

Post by StormBorn »

Sherab wrote: Mon Sep 24, 2018 7:44 am
befriend wrote: Fri Sep 21, 2018 6:49 pm All religions are like different cars all moving in the same direction people who don't see it like that have no light in their hearts- Ajahn chah. we have to remember Christianity Islam were founded after Buddhas life. In the bible it says be still and know that I am God. That sounds like choiceless awareness or shikantaza.
I disagree. All religions espouse different views. A path with the wrong view is not a path that leads to liberation from the cycle of existence. Only the path taught by the Buddha has the right view.
From DN 16:
"In whatever Dhamma and discipline the Noble Eightfold Path is not found, no ascetic is found of the first, the second, the third or the fourth grade. But such ascetics can be found, of the first, second, third and fourth grade in a Dhamma and discipline where the Noble Eightfold Path is found. Now, Subhadda, in this Dhamma and discipline the Noble Eightfold Path is found, and in it are to be found ascetics of the first, second, third and fourth grade. Those other schools are devoid of [true] ascetics; but if in this one the monks were to live the life to perfection, the world would not lack for Arahants."
“Greater in battle than the man who would conquer a thousand-thousand men, is he who would conquer just one—himself.”
Laurens
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Re: Buddhism is radically diffrent from other relegions is a wishful thnking?

Post by Laurens »

SarathW wrote: Thu Sep 20, 2018 9:01 pm From another post:

3- Sometimes i feel that Buddhists are not so different from other human beings except the terminology they use. Maybe the wishful thinking i have that Buddhism is radically different can be a cause of disappointment.

viewtopic.php?p=487365#p487365

I can be related to this concern. It is frustrating when we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

What is your opinion on this?
I think if you wear it like a religion it is remarkably similar to other faiths.

I had a phase of taking on Buddhism like I would any other religion. I meditated because I believed it would get me somewhere at some future point. That enough hours struggling to focus on my breath whilst engaged in endless battle with incessant thoughts, would eventually lead me to Nirvana. Nirvana, I imagined, was a totally far out state of being. Perhaps it was like being on a cocktail of all the best elements from all of the most blissful narcotics at once. I suppose I viewed it in the same way as someone might view heaven, just more appealing in that it is supposedly available within this lifetime. I would renounce this or that, not because my practise had developed to a point at which I lost my desire for said pleasure, but because I felt like it was what a Buddhist should do. I would then feel the shame of failure, and subsequent guilt.

I had a process that I can only call 'Killing the Buddha' in homage to the Zen proverb. I gave up Buddhism for a number of years and went back to a lifestyle of ignorance and hedonism. Ignorance and hedonism led, of course, to suffering, which led me back to Buddhism. This time, though, with a few more years of life experience, and less of a desire to wear it like a religion, I have begun to experience definite benefits to the Buddha's teaching.

I think that Buddhism is a bit difficult to define. If you take on Buddhism as though it were a religion, as a part of our identity, as a set of infallible rules to follow against our basic impulses; it doesn't do what it says it will do on the tin. You stop and go 'hang on a minute, this path to the end of suffering is causing me no end of suffering! Every time I eat a chocolate bar, I beat myself up for six hours because I am unable to conquer my desires by sheer force of will and time spent meditating!' Buddhism is pretty safe in that if you get it really wrong it doesn't work.

For me now---especially as someone who is unable to devote my life extensively to studying suttas and such---I view Buddhism in more down to earth terms. I don't think about meditation as increments of investment towards an undefined, ultimate reward. I meditate because it makes it easier to be present enough with what I am experiencing to call to mind any useful wisdom when I am confronted with suffering. It doesn't always work, but it works enough to make my life better. The more you call to mind the dhamma, and bring yourself to let go, the less you cling to Buddhism the religion.

I'd be curious to know whether anyone can relate to my experience.
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
SarathW
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Re: Buddhism is radically diffrent from other relegions is a wishful thnking?

Post by SarathW »

I'd be curious to know whether anyone can relate to my experience.
Yes, I can understand where you coming from even though I never had the experience of hedonism.
But I had enough life experience to understand Dukkha.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
Laurens
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Re: Buddhism is radically diffrent from other relegions is a wishful thnking?

Post by Laurens »

SarathW wrote: Fri Oct 05, 2018 10:38 pm
I'd be curious to know whether anyone can relate to my experience.
Yes, I can understand where you coming from even though I never had the experience of hedonism.
But I had enough life experience to understand Dukkha.
I suppose more specifically I meant experience of getting Buddhism wrong, rejecting it, and then arriving back at it from the right angle later on.

I just wasn't sure whether that was something that is common to a lot of Buddhists.

Thanks for the reply, may your present and future life experiences will lead you to the end of dukkha :)
"If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
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robertk
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Re: Buddhism is radically diffrent from other relegions is a wishful thnking?

Post by robertk »

Laurens wrote: Fri Oct 05, 2018 6:07 pm
SarathW wrote: Thu Sep 20, 2018 9:01 pm From another post:

3- Sometimes i feel that Buddhists are not so different from other human beings except the terminology they use. Maybe the wishful thinking i have that Buddhism is radically different can be a cause of disappointment.

viewtopic.php?p=487365#p487365

I can be related to this concern. It is frustrating when we can't see the light at the end of the tunnel.

What is your opinion on this?
I think if you wear it like a religion it is remarkably similar to other faiths.
.

I'd be curious to know whether anyone can relate to my experience.
yep, I can.
SarathW
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Re: Buddhism is radically diffrent from other relegions is a wishful thnking?

Post by SarathW »

I suppose more specifically I meant experience of getting Buddhism wrong, rejecting it, and then arriving back at it from the right angle later on.

I just wasn't sure whether that was something that is common to a lot of Buddhists.
Yes, this is very common to many Buddhist.
Unfortunately many Buddhist never get it right.
Even though my parents are Buddhist and I was brought up in a Buddhist environment I had the glimpse of the teaching only for last six years. Many thanks to the friends in Dhamma Wheel.
Even now I feel that I still have not grasped the Buddha's teaching the right way.
“As the lamp consumes oil, the path realises Nibbana”
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