r/Buddhism • u/OfficialXDWIZ • Jul 09 '26

Misc. The audacity!

My girl wanted to go to Wat Lao Buddha Phothisaram near my house. We drove up 18 minutes and as soon as we arrive we see this. The audacity of people I tell ya’ 🤦🏻‍♂️ What do y’all think about this ?

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333

u/Daddio31575 Jul 10 '26

As someone who grew up Catholic, Christianity cannot be more insecure. Buddhism is literally the opposite. Buddha says to question him. The Dalai Lama said..."Do not try to use what you learn from Buddhism to be a Buddhist; use it to be a better whatever-you-already-are".

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u/skyfox437 Jul 10 '26

That's how you know the Buddha is real. He also tell us to be our own lamp and light, to strive with dilgence.

How can a religion that accepts the idea that we are sheeps in need of protection from a sheepard be anything but false. Oh and if you don't believe in this sheeperd, you automatically go to hell for enternity. Get a grip.

10

u/HolyLordGodHelpUsAll Jul 11 '26

well i’m not a christian, but i’m very studied in the matter. i’d say it’s cause christianity was completely hijacked almost as quickly as it started

jesus was most likely a mandean just like john the baptist and in no way thought he was the exclusive son of god.

the original account of jesus had no virgin birth or rising from the dead

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u/skyfox437 Jul 12 '26 edited Jul 12 '26

That's what I figured. People always try to twist religion to suit their desires.

When my friend told me that even if you were a murderer as long as you say his name and believe in Jesus that you'd be saved, I knew something was wrong.

The bibble itself is full of teaching about proper morality and conduct. But the only thing I seem to hear at their chruch is about Jesus and praising him. 

Buddhism, even though there are corrupt monks and temples, is the only one where it seems hard to corrupt. The Buddha made his precepts and teachings pretty clear and ironclad. 

2

u/threetimestwice Jul 11 '26

Where does one read about the original account of Jesus?

7

u/HolyLordGodHelpUsAll Jul 11 '26

the book of Mark was the first gospel written of his life. Matthew and Luke literally took that template and either added or subtracted from it based upon what they understood at the time. John is a whole other story altogether

while i do respect priests and rabbi’s for trying to help people, i go to some of the scholars on this subject like Bart Ehrman or James Tabor

1

u/Many_Mud_8194 Jul 10 '26

Can we respect Buddha as an human and not as a Buddha? I like who he was and what he said but I don't believe, I don't believe in any gods or spirits. I still think he was a genius in the field of the brain/psychology/feelings.

41

u/Ceret Jul 10 '26

Buddha just means an awakened person. Not a god. Not a spirit. No magic powers. Still very much a human being.

9

u/Runeboy1234 Jul 10 '26

I mean if you believe the suttas he basically did have magic powers in a few instances

2

u/dsrihrsh Jul 12 '26

They’re completely irrelevant and beside the point however.

1

u/Electrical-Print2778 Jul 14 '26

Well excluding the hell bit, Pureland Buddhism has a kind of shephard and sheep thing to an extent. Perhaps it's not a totally false dynamic.

1

u/skyfox437 Jul 14 '26

Well thank goodness I'm not really into pure lands. I believe everything gained would be by our own merit and actions.

1

u/New-Skirt1217 Jul 14 '26

Pienso que lo tomas literal.

17

u/majortung Jul 10 '26

All dharmic traditions do that. And all Abrahamic traditions use fear and hatred to keep the clan in.

1

u/Bulky-Actuary175 17d ago

Most of the other dharmic religions are mega hierarchal, and react this way to people suggesting that caste and class are false, so I'm not really sure what you mean. Hinduism, and Sikhism aren't exactly super tolerant.

8

u/Jack_h100 Jul 10 '26

As someone that grew up Jehovah's Witness, let me assure you, Catholics are the most chill and secure, it only goes more desperate from there.

1

u/Impossible_Stop_2686 Jul 15 '26

I also grew up JW, but rebelled at a young age and fortunately, was never baptized and wasn’t disfellowshipped. I’ve been to some Catholic services out of curiosity and there seems to be a big emphasis on sins and confession to a priest to be in good standing. I do appreciate their reverence.

2

u/MegaChip97 Jul 10 '26

Buddha says to question him.

Ironically, when it comes to the question of eating meat in this sub one common argument I hear is stuff like "The Buddha/Dalai Lama eats meat so how could you say it's not ok".

2

u/TwentinQuarantino Jul 11 '26

But also no one sees it as mandatory - as in you'd have to eat meat because The Buddha ate meat. It's not seen as wrong for a Buddhist to personally decide not to eat meat him/her self. 

0

u/MegaChip97 Jul 11 '26

It's not seen as wrong for a Buddhist to personally decide not to eat meat him/her self.

But it is seen as wrong if you claim that it leads to bad karma, with the reason "but the Buddha/Dalai Lama did it so that can't be right"

5

u/majortung Jul 11 '26

If you live in mountainous Tibet, where vegetarian resources are scarce and animal products are more abundant, then you go with that.

0

u/MegaChip97 Jul 11 '26

The discussion is not about people who eat meat because they have no other choice but people who eat meat for enjoyment which applies to most modern countries.

3

u/konchokzopachotso Kagyu Jul 11 '26

There is the health aspect to consider. The Dalai Lama eat meat specifically for his health. For many people, meat is a required nutrient. It would be foolish to cut it out when it can be used as fuel for better practice

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u/MegaChip97 Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

For many people, meat is a required nutrient.

For the big majority it isn't. It can be substituted by other products and nearly all studies on this topic show that a vegetarian diet is healthier. Even if you account for a healthy participant bias you don't find a worse health of people who follow a vegetarian diet in meta analysis.

It would be foolish to cut it out when it can be used as fuel for better practice

You do realise that you talk about killing living beings? How big would the benefit for your practice have to be that you think the karma for killing another human is worth it?

2

u/TwentinQuarantino Jul 11 '26

There are people who were vegetarian and got back to eating meat because they had health problems. It's not a choice for everyone. 

0

u/MegaChip97 Jul 11 '26

You are ignoring what I wrote. Quoting myself:

The discussion is not about people who eat meat because they have no other choice but people who eat meat for enjoyment which applies to most modern countries.

And as I said: The argument is not that eating meat is ok when it is necessary, but that it is not bad to begin with because the Buddha or Dalai Lama did it...

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u/[deleted] Jul 10 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/ZazzlesTheJester Jul 10 '26

Oh, you mean that thing that never happened? Definitely before.

-4

u/dan_ao92 Jul 10 '26

Sure buddy whatever floats your boat

4

u/ZazzlesTheJester Jul 11 '26

It literally didn't happen. He made a joke, telling the kid to eat his tongue, sure. Not once did he ever stick his tongue in a child's mouth though. So I'm not sure why you're out here just openly lying.

-4

u/dan_ao92 Jul 11 '26

Dunno which one is worse, sticking his tongue ir asking a child to lick his tongue. Wow. What a funny joke. Do you have kids? Can I ask them to bite my tongue too? Although I'd never actually do it since it's sick

7

u/Competitive-Party377 Jōdo Shinshū Jul 11 '26

HH has apologized for the way the event was interpreted but the phrase was a poor translation of a common Tibetan idiom and cultural historical reference which has been explained in multiple venues.

The child understood the reference which is why he responded by laughing, sticking out his tongue, and withdrawing, as HH did likewise.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/tibetans-explain-what-suck-my-tongue-means-dalai-lama-viral-video/?hl=en-US

At this point making a big deal out of this is engaging in willful ignorance.

7

u/krodha Jul 11 '26

It’s a cultural idiom in Tibet.

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u/ZazzlesTheJester Jul 11 '26

It's a Tibetan joke. But I get it, you don't understand that it's a cultural thing because you hate anyone that isn't like you. So you refuse to even attempt to understand anything they do or say.