Buddhism

[sosenroshi]

Like all religious groups Buddhism has had its share of controversy.
However, many of the teachings are soundly based on reason and Buddhism can be followed withour adhering to all the teachings that cannot be demonstrated by the scientific method.
How do others feel about this?

Sozen

[cckeiser]

I prefer Dudeism. Low standards and even lower expectations.

[Landshark]

is...is this a weekday?

[DigitalBuddha]

I slack, therefore I am.

[hannahdude]

even buddha's storyline, at it's most basic is pretty un-dude. he fretted about the world so much, he tried radical things to find enlightment, he TRIED so much it almost killed him.
then he almost didnt teach because he thought the community couldnt handle it.
and thats the basic historical stuff without getting into the thousand of years of different strands of buddhism which grew after his death.
zen buddhism is as close to buddha as i can get, but i sure do get a LOT more calm and chillness meditating on the dude than the buddha. the dude is a lot more accessable to me.

[Caesar dude]

That's just like your opinion dude....

I prefer rich kid wanted to get out and meet real people...couldn't connect and then basically committed suicide by starvation....had  an hallucinogenic experience then died....

But I think the message may be real.

[DigitalBuddha]

  For me, enlightenment comes from...

Lucky Buddha Beer



....and then rolling a few down the lane.

[Reverend Curb]

Sure, the Buddha's storyline may be "inaccessible" at first but when you look at it isn't it our story?

He had no thought of things like illness, poverty, death, general suffering. How many of us contemplated those things early in our life?
At some point he met with those things and began to be exposed to the world and found it unsatisfactory, painful and damn scary.
Haven't we ever just sat and pondered our own mortality, wondered when the big one was gonna be? It can be scary if you're not prepared.

He looked at his life, wife, new son (Rahula, meaning fetter, basically named his kid Ball-and-Chain), his riches and status as a member of the warrior caste and decided that as painful as it would be to give it all up like he did, the desire for knowledge and an answer to why these things have to be was stronger.
Don't we all search for some way to rationalize our existence and what our relationship to each other and the universe is?

Now some of us might not settle upon our first set of answers to the questions we seek. We might keep looking. And so did Gautama. Ultimately he sat down, meditated on it, and broke through the barriers.

His life could be seen not just as a model but as an allegory for our lives. He lived and suffered through the same things we do.
You might not think that oppulence and foods and fucking can be suffering, but even on the smallest scale all things are from an uncomfortable posture in your chair, to the shits from the curry you ate, to the hangover you have.

Anyways, I'm blathering. And I've seen those Hotei beers at my local H Mart. Gonna have to pick up a sixer, decorate my apartment with Buddha beers.

[HnauHnakrapunt]

I don't think Buddha's story is inaccessible. Perhaps some Buddhist prayers are difficult to understand in the original version, perhaps some local Buddhist customs may seem strange, but the basic part of Buddhism is clear and simple. A young man that had everything he wished for saw in a flash that something was wrong and it would not last forever. So he wanted to cure that shock in some way and feel safe again and started to change his life instead of just suffering fear.