Well, I don't speak for the absolute truthfullness of my beliefs. I have tried to give an accurate description of soto zazen before: Zazen is the awareness of breath.
When I am aware of my breath, the universe is my breath. You could say that when I am aware of a flower, the universe is that...
My heart goes out to Ed. It is easy for me to become angry towards the god that sent ed to such a horrendous place. If I do become angry, however, then I must recognize that that anger comes from me.
In the same way, If I, as Ed, am in such a state of pain, then I must recognize that this...
Rageoftyrael,
There is a saying:
At some point, even the buddha has to kill the buddha. If you keep walking into a giant boulder, at some point, you are going to have to walk around it. And in order to do that, you are going to have to simply stop believing that the boulder is not really a...
ahem *cough*Shakyamuni*cough*:meditate:
All kidding aside, there is a story about shakyamuni buddha, where an angry man who wanted to test him hurled all sorts of violent insults at him. All through the tirade, the buddha patiently listened to the man's filthy curses. Then, when the man...
We, the people here are more interested in religion than most others. It is difficult to even discuss religion with most other people in the world outside, and so we come to the internet to discuss it with eagerness here. It is easy to forget that. But religion does not necessarily grip most...
In soto zazen, posture is somewhat important. I sit on the floor, with no zafu(a cushion), but you may place a zafu under your spine, if you wish. If you are inflexible at first, then place your legs so that your ankles line up in front of your crotch. Either left or right foot may be in front...
When you are secular, you are not really attacking religion. If you do not like religion, then you have a view against it, an extreme view. Some that fight religion think that they are doing the world a service, that they are being rational, but I do not see it that way.
I have noticed that there is some silliness amongst different views. Feelings get hurt, and people play large ego cards. Threads like this one get made, with someone claiming that others are bashing their religion.
It is not unusual, that when many people come together to discuss their own...
Eliot wild, a vast majority of Muslims will not attack you if you claim to be of another religion. In the "big three religions", (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), I don't remember precise numbers, but the extreme forms of the fringe are all under 1%.
In Islam, too, the extremist population...
If you were, then you would not say it. You would just see, but not point out. Instead, you are pointing out what you see, and so you do not see it as it really is.
In order to see something as it really is, you must stop trying to see it. :slap:
:cover:
Yosef, it is not so important. If you focus on extreme elements of a religion, then a religion will seem extreme. If you focus on peaceful elements, then the same religion will also seem peaceful.
Any particular element that you focus on is not the whole element, so that element is not so...
It is not good that the people in the photo are acting so violently. But I do not think that we should round them up in ghettoes and exterminate them in death camps.
It is hard to let go of hate when someone is yelling in your face or trying to attack you. But ceasing-anger ceases anger...
Extreme views cause problems for those who hold them. It does not matter what the view is however, and even an atheist or buddhist can hold an extreme view and have problems arise.
If you, as an atheist, think that christianity is bad, then that is a view. If you allow that to be developed...
:sorry1: for not reading the entire thread. I am diving blind. :cover:
Sin is not all that important. Neither is thinking "Oh, this is good." or "That is bad".
When you discuss these concepts, or worry about them, you cause problems for yourself. If you believe, as it says in christianity...
The extreme views that some muslims have towards others are not always precipitated by religious divides. Differences do not always matter very much. In the middle east, some muslims see the western world as imperialist occupiers.
It is only natural that ethnic, political, and economical...