Imagine If All Atheists Left America

[ZombieHorde]

Special thanks to Cynatnite for originally posting this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbef07aQtB8">Youtube video of interest.

[Oregone]

1. I say do it if Keanu Reeves stops making movies

He's Canadian anyway. So is Donald Sutherland. Just saying. :)

[pleah]

2. Interesting.

K&R for others to see.

[Warpy]

3. I don't think their figure on Cambodia was correct

Cambodia is heavily Buddhist and that is an atheist philosophy. Oh, household gods are tolerated, but they don't run the show, they're good luck charms more than anything else.

[ZombieHorde]

5. Many Buddhists monks believe gods, or so a Buddhist monk told me.

He also told me some Buddhist monks smoke pot, since pot is not considered an intoxicant.

[Warpy]

8. Even pot interferes with the ability to meditate

so he was pulling your leg.

Again, it depends on the sect. Tibetan Buddhism has gods. Zen doesn't, except as more constructs of the mind.

[ZombieHorde]

10. "so he was pulling your leg."

No, he smokes pot. I have smoked it with him many times.

Tibetan Buddhism has gods

That's him.

[sam sarrha]

6. you are wrong about Buddhism.. the gods have their own Realm in Samasra, they simply can not use

their unimaginable powers to free themselves from karma and Cyclical rebirth into suffering old age sickness and death.. so it follows that they can not save us either.

go here and search 'Wheel of Life'... http://www.buddhanet.net/

here it is... http://www.buddhanet.net/wheel2.htm


i would like to add that Buddhism is more likely a "Psychology" than a Philosophy. it is for the most part a method of training the Mind... to become Awake, ...Buddha simply means "One who is Awake"

reference to Buddhists being atheists
http://www.buddhanet.net/budsas/ebud/ebdha137.htm
"snip...To many people of other faiths the term 'Buddha' conjures up ideas of idol worship and concepts, such as, that Buddhists are atheists, such concepts being an anathema to the followers 'of the, so called 'religions of the book’. Buddhism, certainly, is very different from the Semitic religions, but it may surprise many of its critics to know that the Buddha condemned idolatry...snip"

[Warpy]

7. Depends on the flavor

All that stuff is part of the folk religion that grew up around Buddhism.

[sam sarrha]

9. ..and i agree, but it isn't' Buddhism.. Buddhism is based on "Only" the 4 Noble Truths".. there is n...

mention of gods there, it is only a Logical Posit, nothing more.
http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm

one is invited to investigate, practice.. if it works great.. if it doesn't work for you, you don't burn in hell

i was lucky to run into a group that had a Tibetan Monk, he had been the chant master of the Dalai Lama's Monastery, and an attendant to the Dalai Lama. he taught 2 evening classes a week open to the public on meditation and Buddhism. we also had an hour meditation and 1/2 to an hr discussion afterwords on saturday.. i attended all the meetings and retreats, studied and meditated daily for 4 1/2 years before accepting Renunciation. i didnt do it on a whim.

the Hinayana is considered "The Lesser School",

the Wheel of Life was dictated by Siddhartha as a tool to teach the Illiterate masses. the gods realm resides in Samsara. where they are born, suffer like the rest of us and die.. in the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.. there is actually a warning about an aspect in the Bardo of transition where one can willingly become born in the god realm, and a warning NOT TO DO IT.

i have had this discussion with the Fundi Christians again and again about the Buddha being called a god by the Hinayana, or believing in gods by the Hinayana is what Buddhism is about.. fundies and trolls use it to invalidate Buddhisn.. its BULLSHIT, they are ignorant of what Buddhism is and un-interested in finding out the truth.

if someone gives you a gift and you don't accept it who owns the gift...:shrug:

[ZombieHorde]

11. "the Hinayana is considered "The Lesser School""

They don't call themselves "The Lesser School".

[Warpy]

12. Hinayana translates more to "profane" school

that "lesser school" stuff is a polite fiction.

And no, they don't consider themselves either.

The core of all the schools is the practice. Buddha told people not to believe a word he said but to find it all out for themselves through the practice of deep meditation.

[Ian David]

4. If Bruce Willis is an Atheist, I'd better go find Jesus. n/t