Comments on: What About Skeptics Of Buddhism, Like Us ? Please Patiently Read Everything.?

By: Anger eating demon

Anger eating demon — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:31:54 +0000

Dhamma friend,
My master once told a Prof.of psychology from Cambrige U(a Buddhist as well) that he is a seeker of knowledge only.Having knowledge is good,but the ability to use the knowledge to advance spiritually is better.
The Buddha has shown us the WAY,we have to step onto the path and travel on it.All the academic discussion is good,but without travelling the Path shown by the Buddha,it is useless.
‘Appamadena sampadetha vaya dhamma sankhara’
‘Work diligently.All component things are impermanent.’

By: Vajradha…

Vajradha… — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:31:54 +0000

1.) How did you get past the character limit for your question (far more than the yahoo 1000 character limit for details and extended details for your question.
2.) I am also a Buddhist. However, in my mind if you ask 1000 Buddhists what their definition of Buddhism is, you will get 1000 different answers. This also implies that there is no one right answer. Including differences in what the proper spelling of “Bhuddism” is.
3.) The whole point is to discover your own answer (that’s my definition anyway) so how, using my definition am I supposed to answer your question? Aren’t you supposed to discover that for yourself?
4.) On matter and energy. You are scientifically incorrect, but close. The law of conservation of matter is not exactly right. Its really the law of conservation of energy where matter is more of a compact storage unit for potential energy. When a nuclear reaction takes place, actual matter is lost – that’s where the energy given off by the reaction comes from, matter has been converted to energy according to physical laws described by the most famous of all equations in physics E=MC&2
5.) On re-incarnation. If you consider a soul to be a form of energy, in the same way as light is energy, then you bind the soul to the same rules by which matter and energy are governed.
Science struggles to formulate these laws in a mathematical equation and religion struggles to formulate the same laws using different terms.
Who is right and who is wrong? Nobody and everybody. Its not a matter of the right/wrong answer, but a matter of the right/wrong perspective.
Everyone’s perspective is different, yet they are all right, for that person.
Religion’s job, in my mind is to be a method for everyone to find the right perspective for themselves.
Personally, I would consider say Judaism to be one of many flavors or Buddhism. I would say that Shinto is the same thing – another flavor of Buddhism. In my mind, everyone is a Buddhist whether they realize it or not. On the other hand, that is the perspective that works for me – so it is right…. for ME..
This doesn’t mean I am right in an absolute sense, only that I am right for my own perspective.
So…. go out and find the correct viewpoint for YOURSELF and stop looking for some kind of absolute regarding religion, re-incarnation, whatever. Its not important what others think. All that matters is that you are true to whatever it is you believe. Its, in my opinion as simple as that.
On the other hand – just like I said, its about personal truth, not absolute, therefore, what I’ve said matters to me – its useless to you unless you happen to find the same truth for yourself.
Go out and find that truth rather than asking for concrete answers! The answer is not concrete. The ‘answer’ is to ‘think about’ or to discover the answer – it will make itself clear all by itself – at least in the terms that are relevant to you. There are many methods to this discovery, but still, in my mind, in a way, the ‘question’ is more important than the ‘answer’.

By: Angela B

Angela B — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:31:54 +0000

Sorry sir, I could not resist the temptation to copy/paste my identical Answer to your identical Question. Thanks for the two points and here is my response:
Sir, I am a Muslim and I had a few Buddhist friends whom I found to be very modest in their outlook. I have a seen a lot of my fellow Muslims posting long questions and sometimes replying by way of long Answers.
You may have come to realise that the patience of the people in Y!A are very thin and they would escape as fast as they have entered in your question. Therefore, could you possibly make a short question which we can read and possible respond suitable?
No offence taken, please see to it that your message is passed across as intended and wish you all the luck in the mission to spread peace and harmony.
Sorry for the long answer or explanation from my part too!!

By: neuralze…

neuralze… — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:31:54 +0000

I’m not so sure I could answer your questions. I feel that you are more knowledgeable in this Buddhism than I am. What I know are what I’ve been taught in school and also from my experience. Well, I’ll just share my opinion on some points with you, also be warn that English is not my mother tongue .
I used to have quite a debate on some of this topics with my family. I’m Thai and Buddhism is something that I live with for more than 20 years. For somebody that not born in Buddhist society might find many contradictions in what many Buddhists do. Even I confuse sometime.
“why I have to bow to a statue?”
IMO, the first important thing is to separate culture out of religion. In Thailand, for example, we “claim” that we are Theravada Buddhists (which not accept the existence of supreme being), yet we prey to Hindu deities (Krishna, Shiva, etc.) (Especially, royal family, they are really into this). This is culture. This is a tradition.
The important one would be hierarchy. We have some social levels and people do according to what level they are. We show respect to whoever greater than us (not politically nor financially, of course). Generally, we usually show respect to people who tend to be wise or good. The most common one would be age. It important to respect people who older than you as they (presumably) have more experience in life. Monk is automatically considered a good person (assume that all monks are strictly follow the rules).
Also, there’s a saying in Thai: “Even though you don’t believe, do not disrespect”. Thus, we do show some respect to anything holy (regardless of religion).
Do you really have to bow to a statue? Short answer is you don’t have to. People do that because they want to show their respect to statues of Buddha, monks or good people. Even though they already past away, we still recognize the goodness that they had done. There nothing wrong if you don’t do it but some people might find that you have no manner.
About rebirth and reincarnation, I would not be the best one who discuss in this topic as I don’t believe in it. As I remember, what they taught us in school was Buddha never answer if next life exist. I used to ask this question to a monk. What he replied was Buddha told people to concentrate/emphasize on the present, do not regret on what had happened in the past nor worry about uncertain future because we cannot do anything about past and future. Thinking about them cause nothing but trouble in your mind. It’s kind of make sense to me because (in my humble opinion) the heart of Buddha’s teaching is to end suffering not to create one.
If you are not really certain what should you believe/accept, you might want to have a look at Kalama Sutta. So far, this this what I do believe the most in Buddha’s teaching.