Buddhism

[°Leprechaun]

I actually have to say bad, because although it strongly appeals to me, I think that like Christianity it has been somewhat corrupted by divisions and dogma.

[°Leprechaun]

"Only when there are many people who are pools of peace, silence, understanding, will the war disappear." Osho

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Overall my impression is negative. Now it may be a mistaken impression, but the impression I get of Buddhism is that it subscribes to the Gnostic concept that spirit is good, flesh is bad, and thus we should strive to become as spirit like as possible and strive to escape our fleshy prisons.  That is not a concept I agree with in the least, so for me it outweighs the valuable parts of Buddhism, especially when it appears to me that with Taoism I can get my RDA of Eastern philosophy without the taint of Gnostic disgust with the flesh.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Overall my impression is negative. Now it may be a mistaken impression, but the impression I get of Buddhism is that it subscribes to the Gnostic concept that spirit is good, flesh is bad, and thus we should strive to become as spirit like as possible and strive to escape our fleshy prisons.  That is not a concept I agree with in the least, so for me it outweighs the valuable parts of Buddhism, especially when it appears to me that with Taoism I can get my RDA of Eastern philosophy without the taint of Gnostic disgust with the flesh.

Spirit's not all that great in Buddhism either.

[Blue3]

Buddha rejected asceticism, he wanted a middle path between self-denial and self-indulgence.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Buddha rejected asceticism, he wanted a middle path between self-denial and self-indulgence.

Yeah. Some of the Zen patriarchs and a few masters of other Buddhist traditions felt the need or ability to lead searingly ascetic lives but they're comparable to the Stylites within Christianity: Not representative or even really exemplary of the religion as a whole (although not deviations from it either, at least not to the point of being troublesome).

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Good.  Although I am a Christian, I always admired the tremendous value that Buddhism and other Indian religions placed on life and on living, gentle, peaceful lives.

[Frodo]

Was there ever any contact between Buddhism and early Christianity (and, for that matter, other eastern cults popular at the time), especially considering the far-reaching range of Roman trading routes?  



When you look at the practices of Christianity (particularly monasticism), there is much to suggest that.  

[The Mikado]

Was there ever any contact between Buddhism and early Christianity (and, for that matter, other eastern cults popular at the time), especially considering the far-reaching range of Roman trading routes?  



When you look at the practices of Christianity (particularly monasticism), there is much to suggest that.  

During the second half of the first millennium, Buddhism, like Christianity and Islam, tried hard to evangelize the nomadic tribes of Central Asia and the great steppe, and there was a similar competition between the three over the souls of the Mongols in the 13th century.  There's a great story from the reign of Mongke Khan (1251-1259) where he hosts a huge debate between Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist clergymen, and drafts the papal legate who is visiting Karakorum on diplomatic business to go take the side of the Christian team which is otherwise all Nestorians whom the papal legate would normally consider heretics.  If you go before that, there's the famous story of "St. Barlaam," which was literally the Buddha story lifted wholesale and turned into a Catholic saint.

EDIT: Oh, early Christianity, missed the word early.  For the longest time, there have been groups of Hindu monks and rival groups of Buddhist monks who claimed that Jesus had studied in (for the Hindus) Varanasi or (for the Buddhists) in Tibet, and that he learned there to merge Jewish law with dharmic religion.  The idea of a working-class Galileean  walking to Eastern India, let alone Tibet, is kind of ludicrous, but the concept's out there and has been popularized especially by Hindus who were trying to make their religion seem less foreign to Western audiences.

[anvi]

Clement of Alexandria seems to be familiar with some history of the missions of Buddhism in his Stromata.  Buddhist monks appear to have been present in Alexandria by around the third century CE.  There has also been scholarly speculation that the halos that appear over the heads of bodhisattvas in Asian Buddhist artwork may have resulted from some Christian influence.  But nothing very specific is known about any of this.

BTW, with the exception of some of its texts and traditions, Buddhists generally reject notions of soul or spirit entirely.  That having been said, the ultimate goal of praxis for Buddhists is to escape the rebirth cycle entirely. But this results in extinguishing (nirvāṇa) of a karmic heritage, and not in eternal paradise.  Still for most Buddhists, this goal is considered a long, long way off, and very few are thought to achieve it in any given generation.  So, Buddhists spend much of their time trying to build moral merit through deeds and various kinds of Buddhist devotions, and much less time in meditation practices than is often thought.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Hell and heaven being a state of mind, rather than pernament state. Narivana, instead of extinction, end of reincarnation. And reincarnation itself. Keeps one thinking, that life will go on after death than the Chriian thinking on rapture.


Think very positive of philosophy.

[TDAS04]

Mostly positive.

[The Dowager Mod]

Positive obviously.

[RR1997]

Very positive.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Very positive.

^^^Same.

I'm am surprised by the negative majority here.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Was there ever any contact between Buddhism and early Christianity (and, for that matter, other eastern cults popular at the time), especially considering the far-reaching range of Roman trading routes?  



When you look at the practices of Christianity (particularly monasticism), there is much to suggest that.  

During the second half of the first millennium, Buddhism, like Christianity and Islam, tried hard to evangelize the nomadic tribes of Central Asia and the great steppe, and there was a similar competition between the three over the souls of the Mongols in the 13th century.  There's a great story from the reign of Mongke Khan (1251-1259) where he hosts a huge debate between Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist clergymen, and drafts the papal legate who is visiting Karakorum on diplomatic business to go take the side of the Christian team which is otherwise all Nestorians whom the papal legate would normally consider heretics.  If you go before that, there's the famous story of "St. Barlaam," which was literally the Buddha story lifted wholesale and turned into a Catholic saint.

EDIT: Oh, early Christianity, missed the word early.  For the longest time, there have been groups of Hindu monks and rival groups of Buddhist monks who claimed that Jesus had studied in (for the Hindus) Varanasi or (for the Buddhists) in Tibet, and that he learned there to merge Jewish law with dharmic religion.  The idea of a working-class Galileean  walking to Eastern India, let alone Tibet, is kind of ludicrous, but the concept's out there and has been popularized especially by Hindus who were trying to make their religion seem less foreign to Western audiences.

Well had to be doing something between ages 12 and 33.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

Was there ever any contact between Buddhism and early Christianity (and, for that matter, other eastern cults popular at the time), especially considering the far-reaching range of Roman trading routes?  



When you look at the practices of Christianity (particularly monasticism), there is much to suggest that.  

During the second half of the first millennium, Buddhism, like Christianity and Islam, tried hard to evangelize the nomadic tribes of Central Asia and the great steppe, and there was a similar competition between the three over the souls of the Mongols in the 13th century.  There's a great story from the reign of Mongke Khan (1251-1259) where he hosts a huge debate between Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist clergymen, and drafts the papal legate who is visiting Karakorum on diplomatic business to go take the side of the Christian team which is otherwise all Nestorians whom the papal legate would normally consider heretics.  If you go before that, there's the famous story of "St. Barlaam," which was literally the Buddha story lifted wholesale and turned into a Catholic saint.

EDIT: Oh, early Christianity, missed the word early.  For the longest time, there have been groups of Hindu monks and rival groups of Buddhist monks who claimed that Jesus had studied in (for the Hindus) Varanasi or (for the Buddhists) in Tibet, and that he learned there to merge Jewish law with dharmic religion.  The idea of a working-class Galileean  walking to Eastern India, let alone Tibet, is kind of ludicrous, but the concept's out there and has been popularized especially by Hindus who were trying to make their religion seem less foreign to Western audiences.

Well had to be doing something between ages 12 and 33.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Buddhism_in_India

Under the first section, there's a map that shows Buddhism reaching Ancient Greece 200 years before Christ.

[Beet]

Positive. It's still hard to believe that in the early 19th century, it was thought that Buddhism was the world's largest religion. Now there are hardly any Buddhist-majority countries left, except for maybe a few in Southeast Asia.

[politicus]

Positive. It's still hard to believe that in the early 19th century, it was thought that Buddhism was the world's largest religion. Now there are hardly any Buddhist-majority countries left, except for maybe a few in Southeast Asia.

Sri Lanka
Vietnam
Laos
Cambodia
Burma
Thailand
Bhutan

And its still big in Japan. Wikipedia claims 2/3 of Japans population is affiliated with Buddhism in some way.

[Beet]

Oh come on, that's obviously false. The same wikipedia line says that "70–85% of Japanese profess no religious membership or personal religion."

[politicus]

Oh come on, that's obviously false. The same wikipedia line says that "70–85% of Japanese profess no religious membership or personal religion."

Didn't say it was the truth, just that Buddhism is still big in Japan. The Japanese relationship to religion is complex and not something you can easily measure. Membership is not a possibility in this context.

Still, Buddhism is the majority religion in three 50 mio.+ countries: Vietnam, Thailand and Burma and it is a cultural factor in countries as important as Japan and China.

Regarding Wiki: Its says surveys show that 18-20% of the Chinese population are Buddhists, that looks legit. Regarding Taiwan it says 90% are Buddhists, so that would add Taiwan to the list, but maybe that's an exaggeration?

Tibet is still majority Tibetan (barely) AFAIK, and it is a country, despite not being an independent one.

[Beet]

What's your point? To refute my line about there hardly being any Buddhist countries left except a few in Southeast Asia? Japan, China, and Taiwan are not Buddhist, they are largely secular. Tibet is not a country. I support Tibetan independence myself, but us saying it's a country doesn't make it one. Vietnam is borderline at best. Only about 8% of Vietnamese are practicing. I don't know why you seem so determined to refute one throwaway line by me. So far you've deliberately twisted a wikipedia quote, and make up a new country to exaggerate Buddhism. What's your motive?

[politicus]

What's your point? To refute my line about there hardly being any Buddhist countries left except a few in Southeast Asia? Japan, China, and Taiwan are not Buddhist, they are largely secular. Tibet is not a country. I support Tibetan independence myself, but us saying it's a country doesn't make it one. Vietnam is borderline at best. Only about 8% of Vietnamese are practicing. I don't know why you seem so determined to refute one throwaway line by me. So far you've deliberately twisted a wikipedia quote, and make up a new country to exaggerate Buddhism. What's your motive?

Country do not equal state. Wales, Catalonia, Greenland and Tibet are all countries.

Cultural Buddhism is a factor, just as cultural Christianity is.

I didn't "twist" a Wikipedia quote. I just referred the overall assessment about the prevalence of Buddhism in Japan.

Why are you mad about this? Just saying that Buddhism is still a major religion in some important countries.

[Beet]

Alright, I'm not mad anymore. I overreacted a bit. You're right, I shouldn't have referred to Buddhism as being only majority in a few countries.

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Japan is one of the few countries in the world with very low rates of claimed religious affiliation...but relatively high rates of religious observance and practice. To claim that it's 'a secular country' rather than a Buddhist one is to overlook quite a lot about Japanese family and civic life.