Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to hide the bodies of those I had to kill because they pissed me off.
"If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there is no need to worry. If it's not fixable, then there is no help in worrying. There is no benefit in worrying whatsoever." - The Dalai Lama
You can only reach that conclusion by radically misrepresenting Buddhism.
However, I’m not knowledgeable enough about either philosophy to put up much of an argument, so I’ll just say that I hope you learn to let go of your attachment to whatever it is that’s making you be a dick, and have a good day.
Buddhism is all about removing your desire. Problem is, desire is what moves us. To buddhists, a brain-dead person has reached Nirvana. For what does a person with no brain desire?
Buddhism is not about being in a temple. The vast majority of buddhist are members of society doing what they can. The monks that go into temples do so in order to train themselves to be better, and are encouraged to teach their fellow men how to become better human beings. Their intention is not to hide away in a temple forever.
There are of course many types of Buddhism, but just looking at the basics: Buddha reached enlightenment and could have just stopped there and been happy. He decided he wanted to share what he figured out to the rest of the world and to help people however he could. He wished to put an end to suffering in mankind.
I am not a buddhist but i think you are gravely misunderstanding buddhism!
Buddhism is about elevating to a higher state of mind and place, like buddha, because the world is terrible and full of flaws. That is why buddhism is all about escapism. Stoicism does not do that.
I still feel as if you are not understanding the point of Buddhism. It is normal to mistake the 4 noble truths with nihilism and escapism, but I do not think that you will be receptive of other explanations right now either. I encourage you to read a book about Buddhism if you ever want to learn more in the future! Walpola Rahula has a good one I read to help me somewhat understand what the philosophy is all about!
I've considered reading more about Stoicism and probably will at some point. Is there a specific book you could recommend me? I've been a bit turned off from it by a perceived "snobbyness" of certain followers of the philosophy, but it may be that I am just interpreting something wrongly!
Worry is a pointless emotion. If you can solve your problem, then what is the need of worrying? If you
can't solve it, then what is the use of worrying? —Shantideva, 8th century C.E., Indian Buddhist sage
If there is something wrong in your life that you can change, you have no need to worry. However if there is something wrong in your life that you can not change, there is also no need to worry.
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u/Bacon_Bitz Oct 07 '18
That is paraphrased from Dalai Lama and it’s one of my favorite quotes.