The Pagan, Buddhist, and Hindu Thread

[Secret Chief]

Make a regular pig of myself.

Oink.

 

[ChieftheCef]

My practice (shikantaza) is not about highs.

I mean it strictly medically is. If you alter your consciousness you are experiencing a high, no matter how endogenous those chemicals which are actually responsible for the alteration of consciousness is.

 

[Secret Chief]

I mean it strictly medically is. If you alter your consciousness you are experiencing a high, no matter how endogenous those chemicals which are actually responsible for the alteration of consciousness is.

Am I altering my consciousness?

 

[SalixIncendium]

Am I altering my consciousness?

You must be. @ChieftheCef said you are.

It's always helpful when someone comes along and tells you about your practices and/or your personal views. Where's the gratitude?

 

[Martin]

In another thread, I told someone I feel that us Buddhists, Pagans, and Hindus get swept under the rug around here.

So, I'm making a thread devoted to these three(very vast) worldviews. Any and all may participate, but this thread may not delve into discussions of Abrahamic viewpoints, scriptures, or their God.

Anyone have anything interesting to share or ask?

I've been all three of those at different times. More interesting than the Abrahamic religions, IMO, and a much larger canvas.
I've heard Hinduism described as a type of Paganism, does that make sense?

 

[JustGeorge]

I've been all three of those at different times. More interesting than the Abrahamic religions, IMO, and a much larger canvas.
I've heard Hinduism described as a type of Paganism, does that make sense?

It makes sense to me.

I kind of think of it as a branch of Paganism that survived the Abrahamic faiths.

 

[crossfire]

Any ideas for some non-Abrahamic debate threads? I need a break from political threads.

 

[Quintessence]

I don't really do debate, but back when I did? There was this other forum I had the misfortune of using where there was a cadre of individuals who more or less made it their mission to bully newcomers away from Wicca and Witchcraft. That's not how they saw it, obviously, but that was the effect of their had-line stance that "the only real Wiccan is one who has been initiated into a tradition that can trace itself back to the founder" type of fundamentalism. The Pagan community as a whole has gone in cycles throwing a collective fit about who is and isn't a "real" something or other. Gatekeeping and purity tests. Which is just weird to see given contemporary Paganism has at best a complicated relationship (if not a hostile one) to dogmatism and fundamentalism. Eventually quit that forum over it because those folks were incredibly toxic and I got tired of taking the punches to help support everyone who wasn't the weird oxymoron that is Pagan fundamentalist. The moderation there was also complete trash, so by toxic I really should probably use the word abusive given things went into death threat territory.

 

[crossfire]

I don't really do debate, but back when I did? There was this other forum I had the misfortune of using where there was a cadre of individuals who more or less made it their mission to bully newcomers away from Wicca and Witchcraft. That's not how they saw it, obviously, but that was the effect of their had-line stance that "the only real Wiccan is one who has been initiated into a tradition that can trace itself back to the founder" type of fundamentalism. The Pagan community as a whole has gone in cycles throwing a collective fit about who is and isn't a "real" something or other. Gatekeeping and purity tests. Which is just weird to see given contemporary Paganism has at best a complicated relationship (if not a hostile one) to dogmatism and fundamentalism. Eventually quit that forum over it because those folks were incredibly toxic and I got tired of taking the punches to help support everyone who wasn't the weird oxymoron that is Pagan fundamentalist. The moderation there was also complete trash, so by toxic I really should probably use the word abusive given things went into death threat territory.

I'm glad you survived unpoisoned!

 

[Quintessence]

I'm glad you survived unpoisoned!

Thanks, I think? Heh.

Curiously, experiences with early web forums are part of what turned me off to "social media" from a young age. I kind went "nah, I'm just gonna not use any of this stuff, not worth it." Folks are never that mean in-person. Well, maybe not never but it is so vanishingly uncommon it might as well be a never.

 

[JustGeorge]

I don't really do debate, but back when I did? There was this other forum I had the misfortune of using where there was a cadre of individuals who more or less made it their mission to bully newcomers away from Wicca and Witchcraft. That's not how they saw it, obviously, but that was the effect of their had-line stance that "the only real Wiccan is one who has been initiated into a tradition that can trace itself back to the founder" type of fundamentalism. The Pagan community as a whole has gone in cycles throwing a collective fit about who is and isn't a "real" something or other. Gatekeeping and purity tests. Which is just weird to see given contemporary Paganism has at best a complicated relationship (if not a hostile one) to dogmatism and fundamentalism. Eventually quit that forum over it because those folks were incredibly toxic and I got tired of taking the punches to help support everyone who wasn't the weird oxymoron that is Pagan fundamentalist. The moderation there was also complete trash, so by toxic I really should probably use the word abusive given things went into death threat territory.

I remember waaay back in the day I tried out a Pagan forum...

I didn't last long. Everything I did was wrong, I was terrible, etc...

I really enjoyed OBOD's forum.

 

[Quintessence]

In spite of having gone through a couple grades with OBOD I never did use the forum. Probably missed out

Pagan forums could be... well, they were a special sort of thing. I didn't use the Pagan-only ones that much back in the day. Sounds like that wouldn't have gone much better from your experiences. Kinda weird that religious traditions known for being nondogmatic sometimes have folks that are all up in your everything about "but you're doing it wrong."

In a way I kinda get it, though. Since few in my country are raised in the tradition it is mostly your responsibility to figure out what's what all on your own. It means there's an allure to framing "right ways" of doing things. It's legitimizing when you don't have much of a foundation to go on. How do I do ritual? Well, follow the right way! What, there's not a right way? But then how do I do ritual?!

 

[ChieftheCef]

I don't really do debate, but back when I did? There was this other forum I had the misfortune of using where there was a cadre of individuals who more or less made it their mission to bully newcomers away from Wicca and Witchcraft. That's not how they saw it, obviously, but that was the effect of their had-line stance that "the only real Wiccan is one who has been initiated into a tradition that can trace itself back to the founder" type of fundamentalism. The Pagan community as a whole has gone in cycles throwing a collective fit about who is and isn't a "real" something or other. Gatekeeping and purity tests. Which is just weird to see given contemporary Paganism has at best a complicated relationship (if not a hostile one) to dogmatism and fundamentalism. Eventually quit that forum over it because those folks were incredibly toxic and I got tired of taking the punches to help support everyone who wasn't the weird oxymoron that is Pagan fundamentalist. The moderation there was also complete trash, so by toxic I really should probably use the word abusive given things went into death threat territory.

Yuck!