Quote Originally Posted by Binzhoubum
Why do people in the West always think Buddhism is the answer...

I live in a country where many people practice it, and I have been to many temples and such throughout Asia and I really mostly see alot of incense burning and kneeling before statues of various ancient kings, spirits, landowners, etc... It's not like you go to a Buddhist temple and there are hundreds of monks sitting in the lotus position searching for enlightenment...HAHA!!! :Smokin: In the temples I have been to, all of the monks are selling little doo-dads and asking for donations.

I remember this time in Jiuzhaigou (I believe it is in Northwestern Sichuan province extremely close to Tibet) when I climbed up this mountain for four hours to get to the top. At the top they have this huge temple that was built over a number of years of workers carrying all this material up this huge mountain. There was a monk standing in front of the main hall of the temple banging on a gong, smokin a cigarette, saying, "Give me money! Give me money!"

Is that how you picture Buddhists? Don't leave one religion behind and escape to another one until you do real world research and aren't just living off the image inside your head...

I also see a lot of Buddhists here who are perpetually afraid of ghosts and spirits. They always leave offering of fruit and such at the door and burn incense and chant and such not in an attempt to find enlightenment but in an attempt to ward off evil spirits and bring in good luck and money.

The pictures are of Jiuzhaigou. Enjoy! :smokin:
What you are describing isn't necessarily buddhism though. I sought out buddhism and have gained a lot from it, particularily now. But I don't base my beliefs on what the monks do, I don't even adhere to a particular sect, I merely study the teachings to the best of my ability and live by the philosophy as my mind interprets it.

I think the whole world would be a lot better off if we all stopped basing religion on what the leaders and temples do, and just studied the teachings of the originators, using these teachings to live to the best of our ability. Just imagine if christians stopped going to church and simply did their best to live as Jesus did.

There are many enlightened beings throughout history with great knowledge to give, the problems arise when the followers try to adopt the same status as the original teacher.