OH MY GOD WE'RE BURNING THE KORAN [Politics]

[Koumei]

I'm a fan of Zen Buddhism. Because fuck it, who really needs to make sense?

"Two monks were walking on a bridge, and one remarked on the stillness of the trees. The other replied 'Yes, but I am quite tall.' And the first monk became enlightened."

Also, apparently Taoism/Daoism is pretty cool, with the tenets being:
1. Enjoy your life
2. Take the medicine so your life is longer (thus there is more to enjoy)
3. Fireworks are fucking awesome

But that's all according to a somewhat biased friend of mine (she's trying to get Chinese citizenship at the moment, she loves the place so much). I would be more than happy to hear why Taoism is bad.

[Maj]

I'm a fan of Zen Buddhism. Because fuck it, who really needs to make sense?

"Two monks were walking on a bridge, and one remarked on the stillness of the trees. The other replied 'Yes, but I am quite tall.' And the first monk became enlightened."

It is for this reason that my husband and I enjoy stealing quotes from Iron Chef. We distort the sayings at the beginning of the show so horribly that they end up morphing from something like "eat the green of the bamboo shoot" or "for mushrooms, look north" to "eat the crunch of the smell of the north side of the chocolate."

[JigokuBosatsu]

"The tall daisy gets pounded down." That one's mine. Zen is great. High on the WTF factor. Lots of monks running each other with carts, slapping each other, putting shoes on their heads. It's the best ever.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

Taoism was invented to keep chinese peasants in a subservient position. Everything else is flavor text.

I reject any philosophy that tells me I should stay in the place I was born. Whether or not that concept is correct is irrelevant, if the universe really does rely on my being lowly then that only encourages me to disrupt it.

[Zinegata]

Taoism and Buddhism are actually widely seen as rather musty, conservative, and highly limiting in the Far East. In contrast to the "Oh, cool!" reaction it gets from some people in the West.

I went to a Buddhist school. And frankly I didn't understand most of the tenets that were taught to me in religion class, although they did stress non-violence towards all living creatures. Which was cool.

[Maj]

And frankly I didn't understand most of the tenets that were taught to me in religion class, although they did stress non-violence towards all living creatures. Which was cool.

...Until you want a hamburger (or swat a mosquito).

[Zinegata]

And frankly I didn't understand most of the tenets that were taught to me in religion class, although they did stress non-violence towards all living creatures. Which was cool.

...Until you want a hamburger (or swat a mosquito).

I actually made it a point to avoid swatting little insects to death if I could because of said tenets. Seriously, I'd often try to relocate them outside of the house instead.

Reconciling meat-eating with Buddhist tenets was harder though, but it was an issue that the monk also tackled. Essentially, lay Buddhists (non-monks) are allowed to eat meat, but not kill animals in a cruel fashion to get their meat.

If you wanna be a monk though, say hello to Tofu.

[Username17]

The larger issue, I suppose, is that Buddhism encourages you to examine what it is that you believe, and drop it if it doesn't work. No sectarian additions to the dharma will ever erase that.

Sure. And the Shining Path decided that they needed to also believe in Christian prophecies because the prophesied end time war of Christianity was clearly a war between East and West, and they intended to be on the winning side, and to jump start this plan by releasing sarin nerve gas on the Tokyo subway.

Yes, it encourages introspection, but it's still introspection. It is meditative enlightenment, not scientific truth that you are seeking. There is absolutely no controls in place to make your revelations be ones that make any kind of sense or are n any way helpful. They are just as likely to be "I have to nerve gas attack a lot of morning commuters!" as they are to be "I should stop drinking milk from the carton!"

And Bogd Khan?

Yes. The Bogd Khan. The monk who was the leader of a Buddhist Theocracy. The fact that even the other monks thought he was probably molesting too many children does not make him a non-true Scottsman. He was still the head of state of a Buddhist Theocracy. You let Buddhists be in charge of the world, and that is apparently what you get.

Heck, back when the Dalai Lama had any real power, he owned human slaves.

-Username17

[Ganbare Gincun]

Don't forget that the Japanese used Imperial Way Buddhism to justify their ambitions, what with bringing the world closer to enlightenment by crushing everyone beneath their heels and all that.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

I actually made it a point to avoid swatting little insects to death if I could because of said tenets. Seriously, I'd often try to relocate them outside of the house instead.

Lol. Your intentions were noble, but those bugs probably died of exposure outside. House insects are evolved to live inside houses and can't live outside. I just let bugs do their thing unless they are causing some sort of harm to me.

[eeuuugh]

Taoism was invented to keep chinese peasants in a subservient position. Everything else is flavor text.

I reject any philosophy that tells me I should stay in the place I was born. Whether or not that concept is correct is irrelevant, if the universe really does rely on my being lowly then that only encourages me to disrupt it.

I think you're thinking of Confucianism. Taoism is the "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" religion.

[JigokuBosatsu]

the Dalai Lama had any real power, he owned human slaves.

-Username17

He also cries like a baby in public when people point out the wrong shit his tradition has done. The Dalai Lama is not Buddhism. He is the leader of a Buddhism/Bon hybrid.

Besides, with your terrible Bogd Khan example, you're not going to prove a No True Scotsman by using an Association fallacy yourself! That's just dumb.

And yet again, sure, it is an introspection. In a sense, introspection is at the heart of any epistemological debate. Because, you know, Hume probably did some of it. You cannot even approach a scientific stance unless your worldview is flexible and allows for metacognition. Which Buddhism does RAW. If certain despots, beloved or not, refuse to RTFM, that is not a black mark on people who do.

[CatharzGodfoot]

Taoism was invented to keep chinese peasants in a subservient position. Everything else is flavor text.

I reject any philosophy that tells me I should stay in the place I was born. Whether or not that concept is correct is irrelevant, if the universe really does rely on my being lowly then that only encourages me to disrupt it.

I think you're thinking of Confucianism. Taoism is the "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" religion.

Yeah, but Daoism is also the 'go with the flow, don't rock the boat' religion.

the Dalai Lama had any real power, he owned human slaves.

-Username17

He also cries like a baby in public when people point out the wrong shit his tradition has done. The Dalai Lama is not Buddhism. He is the leader of a Buddhism/Bon hybrid.

Besides, with your terrible Bogd Khan example, you're not going to prove a No True Scotsman by using an Association fallacy yourself! That's just dumb.

And yet again, sure, it is an introspection. In a sense, introspection is at the heart of any epistemological debate. Because, you know, Hume probably did some of it. You cannot even approach a scientific stance unless your worldview is flexible and allows for metacognition. Which Buddhism does RAW. If certain despots, beloved or not, refuse to RTFM, that is not a black mark on people who do.

You don't get to decide who is Buddhist and who isn't. The fact remains that quite a few people considered both to be leaders of Buddhism. The Daiai Lama is probably the best-known Buddhist in the world.

[JigokuBosatsu]

You don't get to decide who is Buddhist and who isn't. The fact remains that quite a few people considered both to be leaders of Buddhism. The Daiai Lama is probably the best-known Buddhist in the world.

This is so full of fail that I don't know what to say. I didn't specify whether anyone was Buddhist or not... I said that they are not BuddhisM. Whether or not people think they are leaders or if they are leaders is immaterial. They were still doing it wrong.

Yet again, at the end of the day, DOCTRINALLY you can tell the Buddha to get fucked(nicely). That is at the core of Buddhism, from the Kalamma sutta. If Mongolian rapers, Japanese hyper-nationalists, or Apocalyptic prophecy goons want to misuse the dharma, well, shit happens. The difference between most theistic religions and Buddhism is like the difference between pistols and hammers. Both can hammer nails. Both can kill people. It requires a significant deviation from intended purpose in both cases.

[Prak]

I actually made it a point to avoid swatting little insects to death if I could because of said tenets. Seriously, I'd often try to relocate them outside of the house instead.

Lol. Your intentions were noble, but those bugs probably died of exposure outside. House insects are evolved to live inside houses and can't live outside. I just let bugs do their thing unless they are causing some sort of harm to me.

hmm... this makes me rethink my "invading force" philosophy on bugs...
(ie, long as they stay outside, we're cool, but if they come inside, they're an invading force, and are dealt with as such)



(....yes, I'm a dork.)

[Cynic]

Orthodox Jainism is always interesting with their attitude to non-violence. They recommend sweeping the ground with a soft-grass broom. This is to avoid stepping on bugs or any other creatures on the ground.

[Koumei]

I prefer to be more proactive about it: every bug that I kill won't create a million more bugs that I will have to kill later on. This kind of forward-thinking saves lives!

[CatharzGodfoot]

Having cats is a nice solution to worrying about killing bugs.

[Prak]

Having cats is a nice solution to worrying about killing bugs.

Yes. When they're not too damned lazy to kill them, of course...

[Koumei]

My dog will only snap at bugs that get too close to his people. If a mosquito lands on him and starts drinking, it's basically my job to wipe it away. He'll just lie there, not bothered by it (except for the one time it landed on his nose and he made a fuss, requiring my help). But the moment that same bug approaches me, it's on.

[Count Arioch the 28th]

I found that spiders and centipedes are pretty good about keeping your house bug free.

Spiders take out fliers, while house centipedes eat roaches and silverfish.

[Maj]

My knee-jerk response: That's like saying poop is a good way of keeping out bad smells.

[Zinegata]

I actually made it a point to avoid swatting little insects to death if I could because of said tenets. Seriously, I'd often try to relocate them outside of the house instead.

Lol. Your intentions were noble, but those bugs probably died of exposure outside. House insects are evolved to live inside houses and can't live outside. I just let bugs do their thing unless they are causing some sort of harm to me.

I live in apartments. "Outside" means the hallway which is still indoors

I do tend to not throw out spiders though. They're very good at catching fliers, which I'm bad at.

[Koumei]

The spiders here have knee-mounted machineguns (that's eight each!) and breath weapons. So we tend to provide incentives to not enter the house. By which I mean swift execution.

It generally does the trick.

[Calibron]

I changed my "live and let live" policy with spiders after I found one hanging out in my bangs. Besides, their are so many spiders in this town that there's no way we could possibly get rid of them without a gassing the whole town via airstrike, not even joking.