Buddah, A fat green glass man. Why do people worship green glass? It doesn't make any sense. I've seen people actually pray to this thing. I would rather line them up on a board, and use them in target practice.

Nicely put D-Bag...

Its known as Buddhism, and hes not always fat or green. People worship him the same way people worship Jesus. The ignorance of some people...

Would you bow before a fat piece of glass?

Nobody actually worships the buddha. At least, they're not supposed to. Buddha is the teacher, he isnt a God. Anyone is capable of being a Buddha.

People who do that understood absolutely nothing of Buddhism.
The Lord Buddha never said he was a god and he should be worshipped, even less as a statue.
In fact in Buddhism there isn't any God, unless you want to consider Void as God, which is wrong: http://www.religiousbook.net/FAQ/QA_25.html
Or the Adi-Budda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adibuddha
Wheter the Adi-Budda should be seen as God is open to debate, but my opinion is that believing that the Adi-Buddha is God is due to the limitations of our mind.



Very good. You managed to say it better than me with simpler words.

Then why do people build shrines & stuff for it? The name Buddhism implies the worship of Buddha, otherwise they would call it something else.

Love the sig.

Yes and hypocriticism implies worship of hypocrites.

Edit: and yes, before anyone comments, I'm aware that hypocriticism isn't a technically correct word (hypocrisy) .

I honestly dont know why buddhists need shrines. I'd imagine it's the same reason why Christians need churches. The organizational aspect. JesusChristianity and Buddhism are actually very similar religions. Siddartha Guatama and Yeshua of Nazareth have almost exactly the same things to say. Anyway... people believe in Buddhism for the same reason they believe in anything else. It seems reasonable to them, and they were brought up that way.

Thanks! I am glad somebody likes it

You are not far from the truth.

http://www.unknownnews.net/040308skullandbones.html

Oh yes, I know that. In fact I took that picture from: http://www.bushisantichrist.com/

I know that bushisantichrist.com is over the top, but I liked the fundamental idea.

You obviously don't know anything about what Buddhism really is.

When people are worshiping the "green glass" it is merely a representation of what they want to be like. It is MUCH like Jesus in the western tradition. A Buddhist actually shouldn't worship the Buddha though, because...its not even really about that, the Buddha is just an example.

I am really rusty on Buddhism but I love the religion, pretty much the only one worthwhile in my opinion (an atheists opinion). I will try to explain it as best from memory as I can.

Buddhism has its root in the 4 noble truths:

1. Life is Suffering (this can also be translated as dissatisfaction)
2. Suffering/dissatisfaction is caused by desire
3. The way to get rid of suffering is to reduce desire
4. The way to reduce desire is to follow the noble eightfold path which is as follows:


1. Right Speech - One speaks in a non hurtful, not exaggerated, truthful way
2. Right Action - Wholesome action, avoiding action that would do harm
3. Right Work - One's way of livelihood does not harm in any way oneself or others; directly or indirectly
4. Right Effort - One makes an effort to improve themselves ALWAYS
5. Right Awareness - Mental ability to see things for what they are with clear consciousness
6. Right Concentration - Being aware of the present reality within oneself, without any craving or aversion.
7. Right Thought - Change in the pattern of thinking
8. Right Understanding - Understanding reality as it is, not just as it appears to be. (This involves one trying to take themselves out of their own mind and body, to see the world from an objective view)

Buddhism basically tries to say that we're all part of one thing (this thing can be defined as god, but usually isnt). The best way to illustrate this is through an example, let's say that you accidentally step on a thorn, do you yell at your foot for stepping on the thorn? of course not. You would simply help your foot out by pulling out the thorn. The Buddhist would say that people are NO DIFFERENT. That we are all part of the same thing, and us fighting each other is counter intuitive to what it means to be human.

Buddhism is all about the middle way, finding the middle between two extreme choices, one would try to argue that there are NO extreme choices.

Buddhism is all about finding enlightenment (noble eightfold path). The Buddhist would also say that you do NOT have to be Buddhist in order to attain enlightenment, the story of Buddha (or Prince Siddhartha) in India is only a model to finding enlightenment. A Buddha is not a statue, there have been many Buddha's, a Buddha is one who is described as FINDING nirvana or enlightenment.

One more thing I just remembered, there are multiple types of Buddhism, the two main types are Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism and excuse me if I spelled these incorrectly.

Mahayana Buddhism (Translation - Greater Vehicle - This form of Buddhism is quite popular in Korea, Japan, etc.) is about finding enlightenment but once you find it, you are supposed to leave enlightenment and to try to help other people to become enlightened (this is the path the Buddha took and it is expected that future Enlightened individuals do the same).

Theravada Buddhism (Translation - Lesser Vehicle - Popular in Tibet, Thailand etc, this is the one with the monks in the orange robes) is about finding enlightenment but to not really worry about those around you, enlightenment is for YOU so you should enjoy it, or as the Buddhist would say be content with it (ha ha a little humor there)

The religion is deep and complex, and I don't have enough time to go into the specifics right now (especially since I am really fuzzy on the details, and I don't even know if I got this part completely right, much is lost in translation.

My point in telling you this, the religion is NOT about worshiping Buddha, it is about finding enlightenment, you don't even have to be Buddhist to get there, amazing. This is why I have such a lack of respect for Christianity because your deeds in life don't matter, only faith (worship) in Jesus, before you start criticizing Buddhism you should learn a bit more about it.

I have no hard feelings, I am not mad, I am just pointing something out, if I say something ignorant about a subject I would like ANYBODY to point it out to me, this is why we are here right? To learn.

Love,
Killbot

Excellent post, killbot1000.

I rated your profile 5 stars again.

I'm a Christian, not catholic (because the church) but I like a lot of things of buddhism.

Why thank you

You can be both! I don't think they are mutually exclusive...

This is why Buddhism is one of the few religions that I think is a good idea. It seems so much more like a philosophy than a religion

First off, Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion.

Second, way to be intolerant of different religions. I've got about a million things I'd like to say to you, but it'd probably get me banned. Just be happy knowing there's not many worse kinds of bigots out there than you.

I think OryHara's question was a fair one but just worded as badly as it could possibly be.

Firstly thanks to the ones who created some really insightful posts. They were really interesting read.

I just got to say one thing though. While I was going down killbot1000s post I was thinking to my self Christianity, Judaism and Islam in their essence are made up of this stuff too. The difference being that there is a creator in the centre of it all.

I won't lie and saw I can guarantee it for Christianity or Judaism (although I'm fairly certain Jesus's and Moses message was more or less the same) but I know for a certain that many if not all of those points are integral part of being a Muslim truly practising Islam. But it's overshadowed because of the men in long beards holding the AK-47s... But in all fairness even Muslims don't always consider most of these points integral to being a Muslim when they are. We often concentrate on other things which appear to be more important but most likely aren't.

Anyway, just wanted to add a little there.


She knows that but she's making the distinction to clarify she isn't a Catholic.

We Did a Study of religions in my World History Class, Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion, But Look at Confucianism, its also a philosophy but people in The People Republic of China think its a religion, Same with Buddhism. Like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, (which are almost practically linked together, Jesus, Moses, Allah.) Buddhism follows the 8-Fold path and the 4 Noble Truth, The founder of Buddhism was a real person (Like Jesus) Named Siddharta(sp?) Ghutema(sp). Why can't people respect other religions instead of saying. "Christianity is better than all the religions in the world" (which I HIGHLY doubt). Yes Its about Finding Nirvana or Enlightenment (where Someone got the name for a Linux desktop). Now that is why there is fascism. Now I'm dwelling off topic.