buddhism at its worst
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for those of you who think i have too much of a soft spot for buddhism, i present more sri lankan bullshit. akon was denied a visa to sri lanka and protestors got violent over alleged "blasphemy" towards the buddha in his "sexy chick" video:
http://new.music.yahoo.com/blogs/hiphopmediatraining/253602/akon-sexy-chick-video-considered-blasphemous-to-buddhists-sri-lankan-visa-denied/
what
the
fuck?
this bullshit is more worthy of the abrahamic religions, or even hinduism. i mean, if i've gotten any picture of the personality of the buddha from reading his words over the years, i have to think he would be absolutely appalled by this whole situation, or else laugh at it.
i wonder how many sri lankans have encountered zen, with its story praising the monk who broke up a wooden statue of the buddha for firewood, or its famous proverb, "if you meet the buddha on the road, kill him!"
even the finest teachings can degenerate into superstitious numbskullery so quickly...
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
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OK, I had to freeze frame the video to even find the damned statue. The girls are not dancing “in front of” a damned statue. They are dancing at a party at some rich dude's house. The statue happens to be at the end of the pool in what looks to me to be a fairly geometric position (I am given to understand that the Zen community tends to avoid geometric art but that could just be my sources).
Also, the supposed screen cap of the two chicks standing in front of the statue is a lie. In the released video, the statue is up on a pedestal that is about 2.5 meters tall. So there cannot be such a screen cap. Probably, the statue was on the ground at some point during filming but in post production, they only used the other shots. Some asshole must have released a pre-production still in order to stir up the shit.
I would be inclined to grant kudos to the producer for being consistent on that except for one thing. Since I freeze framed it, I also notice that just after the camera goes inside the mansion grounds, in the parking lot there is a short scene where (1:44-45 in the version I saw on youtube) there is a truck with red and black stripes. Look to the right of the truck and you can see a guy pissing on the rear tire. I am quite sure that they had like 10+ hours of raw film to work with, so they could have done without that bit.
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Lol, another religion of peace!
Man, people suck. Why are some humans so eager to take offense?
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
I hate it when ANY label makes a broad statement about being "a religion of peace". BULL, human beings make up labels, all labels, and since humans are flawed, and capable of the same range of human emotions and actions, this should not surprise anyone.
Buddhism CURRENTLY has no major political power, globally and sees RIGHT NOW in current history, passive dissent as it's only viable tactic politically. THIS was not always the case in Buddhist history. Much less any other culture or religion or political label.
People's labels, be it political or religious don't make them peaceful anymore than they can make them violent. What causes a human to do anything good or bad is the fact that we have always seen good and bad behavior in our species history. What perpetuates our species inability to stop violence is making the label the issue instead of making the human nature in our species the issue.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
I have mentioned in a previous post that events, both in Sri Lanka recently, and a bit further back in Cambodia, in the regime of Pol Pot, to me give the lie to Buddhism being an inherently peaceful and positive religion, certainly at the level of society, however personally 'fulfilling' or whatever it may be. Both nations are highly Buddhist.
On a side note, not connected with 'peace' as such, there is a practice inspired by Buddhist beliefs in 'karma', which I observed at first hand in the grounds of a temple, which I find repugnant, if not downright dishonest. It is the selling of caged birds to people so they can gain 'karma points' by setting them free. So people, who may or may not profess to be Buddhists, capture the birds in the first place to make money out of people based on their Buddhist beliefs... I wonder how many of those freed birds get recaptured to go thru the cycle again. I hope the funds are donated to the Temple.
On a more positive note, I and my travelling companions were offered some second-hand 'offerings' by some monks who didn't particularly care for them - mainly 'junk' food such as packets of crisps, etc.
I have thought about problematic aspects of Buddhism a lot after visiting Cambodia, Laos and Thailand a few years ago. (I also visited Vietnam, but that has had much more European and Chinese influence, so Buddhism is not nearly as prominent there, from what I could see).
I would argue that its strong internal focus helps the population 'cope with', ie ignore, atrocities being perpetuated by their fellow citizens.
Favorite oxymorons: Gospel Truth, Rational Supernaturalist, Business Ethics, Christian Morality
"Theology is now little more than a branch of human ignorance. Indeed, it is ignorance with wings." - Sam Harris
The path to Truth lies via careful study of reality, not the dreams of our fallible minds - me
From the sublime to the ridiculous: Science -> Philosophy -> Theology
It is a bit more complex than whether or not people use labels for other people isn't it? Unless you are going for some very far out meaning of labels that takes us all the way to 'self' and 'other'. But since people damage themselves that still seems to simple.
I agree that it is an issue, but you've been bringing it up in almost every post and I don't know if it is so widely applicable.
I could be wrong though, or misinterpreting you, so feel free to convince me otherwise.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
It is simple, once the abused become the abuser. Labels are a REAL distraction away from REAL human history. It replaces human nature with artificial bias. Once you fool yourself into saying my label can never do wrong, long term you set yourself up to justify the very nasty things all humans in history are capable of.
We are the same species beyond our labels, and we as a species would do better recognizing that.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog