Quote Originally Posted by MastaChronic
i believe (im not entirely sure, mr.D a little help?) that the place within ourselves full of peace and harmony would be the buddhists nirvana....or is that hinduism? idk, ima go wiki it right now
Your right Masta, but the hindu's have a concept of nirvana that is very similar too. Also, the Bon religion which was prominant in Tibet for some 7,000 years and is one of the oldest religions in the world, is based on a man who was said to have attained enlightenment. Unfortunately they didn't have nearly the time the Buddha offered to spread his teachings, so it's hard to say if it's the same type of enlightenment. Probably not, but something similar; however the Tibetan's picked up buddhism so enthusiastically because it was very compatible with the beliefs they already had.
I can't speak about the Hindu form of enlightenment since I'm not especially well versed, but it is unique and perhapse less detailed than the buddhist enlightenment known as "nirvana" (extinctions of self).

The buddhist concept of nirvana is not one that can be fully understood without actaully having attained it. When the Sidhartha attained nirvana and became the Buddha, he attained the extinction of self. This is often misinterpreted as a sort of self-anihilation, a death without leaving life, but that's incorrect. The extinction of self is the extinction of the ego, a mindset where the sense of self is extinguished and one comes into perfect harmony with existence. The mind ceases to separate your body, mind, and the external world as separate entities. (This is why Taoism has often been very compatible and practiced along side buddhism, and buddhist and taoist philosophers often congregated on a special occasion to have several-day-long discussions).
Nirvana does not entail a supernatual omniscient understanding of everything and anything. When one attains nirvana, rather, they reach a point of perfect wisdom. They see the world as it truely is, and understand how to make decisions and guide others in a way that will create perfect harmony between the self and the universe. This can be a bit confusing since it entails extinction of "self", yet there is a "self" that exists. That is, there is an egoless entity that makes up yourself as the newly enlightened being, who no longer exists as a being separate from anything.


EDIT: yes, i was right
maybe all the christians should throw down their beliefs and pick up buddhism while the athiests adopt this
i dont think buddhism is really a religion, but more of a philosophy
I don't think so actually. Some people need to stay with the religion they are engulfed in culturally to have the support of the majority of their peers. Jesus himself was a very wise man and a rolemodel completely worth following by example. It's the extra, often hatefull or abusive nonsense, that gets added into the bible by several authors over hundreds of years that seem to be the problem. These are the parts that some more hate-filled people like to adopt then blow WAY out of proportion, giving it extra attention and exageration, and twist the core message of the bible as an excuse to still call themselves "christian". Though thankfully non of such types of people seem to reside here. The main point I'm trying to make here, one philosophy can't be for everybody, they have to have a mind that is willing to adopt the practices, and above all understand them which many unfortunately fail to do. Buddhism can at times be very confusing to the untrained mind in its complex simplicity.

And yes, I do agree that it is more a philosophy than a religion. Religion isn't really accurate, but it's a title attached to any philosophy followed by enough people I suppose.




Buddhists are great! I Love them...They are more christ like than most Christians, imo. Gentle, Loving, compassionate, and kind; I think they are true beacons to mankind. We could all learn something from the Buddhist philosophy, imo.
I'm sorry, but I can't agree with this either. There are tons of buddhists who act nothing like the Buddha would want, just like the tons of christians who act nothing like Jesus, and the tons of Muslims who act nothing like the Quran tells them. The Tibetan system eventually became a rather lousy one, where 80% of the population slaved as surfs to support the temple and lifestyle of the 20% buddhists who exploited the wealth of the many to support the few. The problem is not buddhism, islam, christianity, any of it. The problem is that people spend more time obsessing over the mythology attached to every religious leader (including buddhism, as the Hindu's attached a whole bunch of extra mythology to Buddha's life, that Buddha himself never actually claimed or discussed). IMHO, people need to stop obsessing over the words of scholors and mythological beings, and more on the way their religious/philisophical leader would have lived himself.