Message Of Hate From The Grave

[Guest lazyphil]

ks that (thinking for ones self) must conflict with living in los as they have buddhism drilled into them from birth, some more sophisicated white skinned bkkians practice christianity mind you.

[buffalo_bill]

 

It almost sounds like you might be getting close to figuring out something obvious here.

 

But then, I'm a perennial optimist.

 

I am actually good at figuring out the obvious , I could line up lots of people who could confirm I said years ago the Bush government would result in a desaster for the US . But let's not spoil this thread with trivialities .

 

[Tiger Moth]

I just looked up one definition of "religion" and Buddhism doesn't seem to qualify. Buddhism doesn't include a god, a creator. Basically, it teaches good human values, altruistic behavior and loving kindness.

 

Buddhism as practiced by many in Thailand has become distorted to some degree - like making an offering so that you will win the lottery. But, Buddhism teaches loving your enemy and being kind to everyone.

 

So, I don't see anything in Buddhism that equates to Muslim's and Christians getting at each other's throats.

[Guest lazyphil]

<>

 

 

the japanese were buddhists during world war 2. i'm not suggesting they're war mongers right now, clearly they're not. but once upon a time a buddhist nation were highly aggressive. (yes, i know christian nations have and continue to use aggression, thats been thrashed out plenty of times already!)...onward buddhist soldiers!

 

[ALHOLK]

I think that they are firstly Shintoists and probably were at that time too.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

Yes, it does piss me off that nobody here thinks for themselves. But at least nobody here is trying to convert me or ostracizing me for not being a Buddhist.

 

Sanuk!

 

[Steve]

A while back when we had a religion is bad thread this stuff was covered then. Religion is an excellent conduit for hate, intolerance and violence. I won't deny that. Its perfectly understandable to have a vitriolic reaction to religion.

 

However, I will also say that if you stripped the world of religion, we would still kill and hate each other. Its human nature. All religion does is give some an excuse to do it.

 

The USSR was agnostic. The Nazis weren't religious and tried to curtail the influence of christianity in their society.

 

Human natue is human nature. We're all base creatures not much different than our forebearers centuries ago. The only difference is we have figured out a more sufficient way to do the job nowadays.

 

Religion has also done a lot of good. Whether the bad outweighs the good is open to debate. However, to deny the good, selfless sacrifice, even their lives in the name of religion for the good of their fellow man is also wrong. I've seen plenty of the bad but I've seen a lot of the good as well and benefited from that good. Some of you have as well, either knowingly and you don't want to admit or indirectly.

 

Finally, when a lot of us say we hate religion its usually not all religions its the ones based on the old testament that the three 'great' religions come out of. At its root, the problem is with Christianity (and Islam and/or Judaism). Many of us find the religions of small tribes in Africa or South America of interest in an intellectual sense but we don't view them with the vitriol we do Christianity and Islam for example.

 

I share the anger but from another point of view. Too many are corrupting the faith. The early christian church was all about helping people mostly.

 

[Flashermac]

King Rama IV, who had been a Buddhist monk and abbot, used to say: "Ours is almost an agnostic religion." There have been claims that Buddhism is almost a philosophy rather than a religion. Since there is no acknowledged deity to pray to, the Thais have been free to improvise - adopting Hindu gods or dabbling in mumbo jumbo Khmer magic (e.g. Thaksin). I've read that Rama IV used to tell Christian missionaries, "How you teach people to act is admirable; what you teach them to believe is ridiculous."

 

I've had Thais tell me that they like the Christian philosophy, but since Buddhism teaches them to behave the same way, why should they convert?

 

 

 

 

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"How you teach people to act is admirable; what you teach them to believe is ridiculous."

 

I like that one.

 

Steve, I agree on the human nature stuff, which to me also means that without religion those people doing great things would very likely still have done them as well.

 

Sanuk!

 

[drogon]

Japan = Shintoisme.

 

Thai Buddhism = Theravada school and I tend to admit this is not really a religion but this is closer to a philosophy unlike the main branch of Buddhism with its "head" the Dalai Lama.