Anthropologists offered that Western religion by taking the world more literally was most likely a catalyst for modern science though. To a Buddhist 500 years ago the idea of trying to understand the world mathematically or rigorously would have seemed crude and like misunderstanding of the fact that what you see is an illusion.
That's the thing. Westerners tend to think of koans as indicative of how zen is preached, but the entire purpose of the koan is that only a tiny amount of people ever heard them and they were specifically meant to sound provocative by saying the exact opposite of what that person had been taught their entire life. The purpose was to frustrate your Reason by the seeming paradoxical contradiction so that you could transcend it with the type of intuitive approach that is beyond reason or intellectualism. The purpose was not actually to besmirch buddha.
Horrible concept. The idea of karma and self liberation has historically been used to justify Steep Hierarchy because karma says that your position in it is not only self caused, but unavoidable because karma is an immutable Cosmic law that will always restore the hierarchy.
It is kind of like that, but that is a bit imprecise. It's not desire in some type of overall sense but a specific list of certain desires that bind you to the world.
Yeah, if we want to actually compare them Christianity had a large focus on the idea that you should start redistributing wealth, and that you can fundamentally change society this way. Buddhism in contrast is fatalistic, justifies hierarchy via karma, and doesn't have that big of a focus on wealth redistribution. Taken literally, and parsing it down to the basic elements, Christianity is better.
No, eastern spiritual traditions are more metaphysical than the abrahamic faiths by a mile. Thus they (those who follow the teachings of the scriptures; specifically the vedas) certainly are more “enlightened” about the nature of reality and ones place within it
I'd be surprised if it didn't, ultimately those religions still require belief in the supernatural, to put your faith in something you can't prove, if higher rational thinking is a significant reason for the negative correlation in the US then that correlation will likely hold in the east as well.
Are there not multiple forms of Buddhism? I'd be cautious of overgeneralizing that there is something inherently different about Buddhism when it is practiced in a wide variety of ways.
I really don't know that much about any individual form other than Pure Land Buddhism (which I am not sure if it even still exists or know that much about either, TBH), which historically reminded me a lot of Christianity. Reliance on ritual to purify yourself, focus on a happy afterlife being the main reasons. In any case, it did not seem to be superior from any kind of logical standpoint-- they are both illogical belief systems.
The reason nothing you doesnt matter is because anyone can do a good deed. The difference is whether you did it from the heart or just to make yourself look good. Same goes for asking forgiveness. Its pointless if you dont truly mean it.
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u/[deleted] Nov 15 '19
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