I want to be a Buddhist: My motivation being to be a better less miserable person

[unperson]

This is the best philosophical treatment for personality defects I can think of. If I can withstand the inner-cynic trying to tear at me with claws as I crawl upside down on the underside of a long pole that traverses a vast deep expanse, tired and bleeding, just holding on to stay in the space of simply having the resolve to pursue any path at all; even while lying catatonic in the midst of depression, I've maintained for at least some duration the resolve and intention to pursue this way of changing my experience of life. I'm hyper-skeptical & -critical but find that even that can be compatible with some concept of spiritual/philosophical change that seems possible in ways that might be different for each person depending on circumstances but nonetheless helpful. I don't want to be arrogant but also false-humility is counterproductive so I accept my strengths and weaknesses and use them as a guide to plan the path that works for me. So, for funsies, here are pontifications I'd like to blabble about

being compassionate—different from empathy as you can have the desire to help others, & feel meaning from helping, but without feeling the pain/(full pain) of others experiences. Too much affective empathy relative to the nature of interpersonal association is basically analogous to the basic emotional component of codependency.

reading is a good way to see things from different angles and relate to and understand more kinds of people even if not based on your own personal experience; unfortunately online digital-media bubbles even if they're nice and friendly don't usually help with learning to be unbiased about things, so I recommend diversifying your reading portfolio ya no w like books n shit

on another note maybe I'll never escape my dysfunction and support myself but if it's possible my best chance at a career would for a myriad of reasons be writing, but nonetheless I'm not actually very good with grammar and certain basic shit I just like using lots of words and long sentences because it's satisfying but I would like to learn it more formally and put things more concisely and simply. Because my goal is not esoteric linguistic diarrhea prestige, so it would be best to diversify my styles and learn to emulate ones I like. Imagine if hunter s thomson wrote a book on meditation haha, don't stop here, this is thought country!

... Let's remain mindful until we find ourselves distracted from thot-country xD

enough rambles for now, going to do some monk listening to. Bikkhu Analayo(was that his name..?) is a good one.

 

[JustAFriendlyGuy]

I get always confused while reading your threads but i nevertheless enjoy them xD.
I do know a thing or two about buddhism, so if there are any questions, feel free to message me. :)

 

[Hewburt]

"esoteric linguistic diarrhea prestige" might be my one of my new new favourite euphemisms

 

[Callie Arcale]

Buddhism is the only path I have found towards peace and acceptance.

I've had a few brief moments of pure peace while meditating on a gatha I read in one of Thich Nhat Than's books.

I imagine Zen masters who immerse themselves in meditation, experience that sort of inner peace every day. What a blessing!

I can think of no greater joy on this Earth than being a Buddha (we all can become Buddha if we practise enough). I hope you do become a monk @NamelessBeing because that might lead you to a life where you no longer let suffering, illness or fear overwhelm you.

 

[motel rooms]

This is the best philosophical treatment for personality defects I can think of.

What type of Buddhism are you talking about? I find it hard to believe that someone like you could ever force their skeptical brain to buy into karma, reincarnation, nirvana & all that jizz.

 

[kitch]

The idea of having compassion for myself was very helpful.

I listened to Tara Brach (?) ... not beyond skeptical analysis , but kind of warm hearted and sharing of her own struggles .

I particularly like the Dalai Lama saying that if Science disproves his beliefs he will change them , or something like that .

 

[unperson]

I get always confused while reading your threads but i nevertheless enjoy them xD.
I do know a thing or two about buddhism, so if there are any questions, feel free to message me. :)

That was an awesome compliment haha! thanks
I am curious how buddhism deals with the reality of mental illness and modern treatments for it, and suicide, etc. Happy to talk anytime :)

"esoteric linguistic diarrhea prestige" might be my one of my new new favourite euphemisms

haha it was fun typing that out too! xD

Buddhism is the only path I have found towards peace and acceptance.

I've had a few brief moments of pure peace while meditating on a gatha I read in one of Thich Nhat Than's books.

I imagine Zen masters who immerse themselves in meditation, experience that sort of inner peace every day. What a blessing!

I can think of no greater joy on this Earth than being a Buddha (we all can become Buddha if we practise enough). I hope you do become a monk @NamelessBeing because that might lead you to a life where you no longer let suffering, illness or fear overwhelm you.

'gatha'..? see, i'd like to know more, enough to know what things like that mean. Sounds interesting!

idk if I'll ever be at the point of becoming a monk, but either way there's still potential to become something more than what one currently is in terms of happiness and satisfaction. Thanks for your message!

What type of Buddhism are you talking about? I find it hard to believe that someone like you could ever force their skeptical brain to buy into karma, reincarnation, nirvana & all that jizz.

This was a fun reply to read, you put things in a straightforward but funny way. So for me I might have the nice rosey bias of being exposed through the likes of Sam Harris, and then Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche (who blends science/psychology and buddhist philosophy), so although I know there are more 'wooish' forms, I've been happy with the secular interpretations as well as some Tibetan-Buddhism as it's described by a mingyur, as well as some other sources.

Most importantly, it seems like this is a 'religion/philosophy/whatevertocallit' where it's open and accepting enough that one can identify with it while choosing not to believe in certain parts, and maybe my view is very biased in this perception, but it seems like one could be comfortable denying belief in reincarnation, karma, etc, and still be accepted and welcomed. Personally I just think the 'identity' aspect of calling myself buddhist could help me (quite paradoxical considering buddhisms dispelling of substantially existing 'identity' and 'self'), and don't believe in reincarnation, and I think there is a kind of karma of probablility in certain specific context, though there's certainly plenty of evidence for a seemingly inverted depravity of injustice permeating all of existence, but I'll play around with the compartmentalizing cognitive dissonence while mindfully masturbating later on or something idk, and nirvana I guess I don't think about, but it can be seen as a comfort that is allowed to be when suffering has been relieved, though there's also some sweet tunes like in bloom or smells like teen spirit.

Also, sometimes there's a kind of belief-oriented programming that can be 'life-changing' (brain-changing), consider this; Isaac Newton was rediculous autisticly high iq, did it make sense for him to go religious? Not intellectually, but in the same way someones intellect can be bipassed by some nice titties, there's a kind of 'philosophical' emotional-programming that can be satisfying enough to compel one to accept it even if it doesn't make sense and seek to lawyer up with elaborat rationalizations if necessary. (why else would someone like Jordan Peterson believe in his silly bible juice, also listening to him have a sidetracked epistomology disagreement with the Harris was kinda amusing in their first podcast interaction, seems the ol JP does a lot of work to rationalize his beliefs so that he can protect his christianity-addicted feelers, though he might not admit to it being this way) But I guess where I'm coming from is looking for the most compatible woospell/hypnosis where I can still be an insufferable argumentative little cunt and make my own perverted little carved out niche form or something idk, but yeah these were awesom questions especially because the whole 'reincarnation & karma' are the first things that come to mind when considering parts of Buddhism that I don't believe in.

What makes sense is the view of consciousness and attachments, aversions, mediation, compassion, etc, etc.. Also come on, if you become monk-status you can gain the 'sit-still-while-on-fire' self-immolation-public-political-statement-suicide super power, how badass is that!

 

[unperson]

The idea of having compassion for myself was very helpful.

I listened to Tara Brach (?) ... not beyond skeptical analysis , but kind of warm hearted and sharing of her own struggles .

I particularly like the Dalai Lama saying that if Science disproves his beliefs he will change them , or something like that .

Yeah Tara Brach is interesting, she wrote a book on radical acceptance.

Oh, interesting lama quote!

 

[motel rooms]

Most importantly, it seems like this is a 'religion/philosophy/whatevertocallit' where it's open and accepting enough that one can identify with it while choosing not to believe in certain parts, and maybe my view is very biased in this perception, but it seems like one could be comfortable denying belief in reincarnation, karma, etc, and still be accepted and welcomed.

But Buddhism is totally a religion, it's not a philosophy. That's why Sam Harris doesn't call himself a Buddhist. Siddhartha Gautama believed in karma in the most conservative sense imaginable, he believed in literal reincarnation, he ever so modestly claimed that he managed to achieve total fucking ENLIGHTENMENT
The sanitized secular versions of Buddhism created by a bunch of modern Westerners are philosophies/whatevertocallits.

This is pretty short & entertaining -



In conclusion, I think that Mr. Siddhartha got the diagnosis right ( Life is inherently unsatisfactory & experienced as suffering ), but he was too much of a Hindu pussy to admit that there's a shortcut to blissful Nothingness, the one that Cobain took

Stay away from monks , all you need is this nice compassionate nerd - https://www.youtube.com/c/DougsSecularDharma

 

[TheAmazingCriswell]

In conclusion, I think that Mr. Siddhartha got the diagnosis right ( Life is inherently unsatisfactory & experienced as suffering ), but he was too much of a Hindu pussy to admit that there's a shortcut to blissful Nothingness, the one that Cobain took

Almost no philosopher is willing to admit the validity of that shortcut. They all prefer to develop bizarre excuses instead ("Embrace the absurdity of life"). If you are aware of a philosopher who came to the conclusion that suicide is logical and acceptable, please let me know.

 

[logan]

I definitely recommend Sadhguru to you as well.
There are many videos and texts online from him - he gives many interesting answers and seems to really know what he is talking about and lives it.

 

[Callie Arcale]

Almost no philosopher is willing to admit the validity of that shortcut. They all prefer to develop bizarre excuses instead ("Embrace the absurdity of life"). If you are aware of a philosopher who came to the conclusion that suicide is logical and acceptable, please let me know.

I think it was Cioran who said that without the idea of suicide he'd kill himself. I am that way too: the idea gives me comfort. The act itself cannot provide me with any relief because I won't know I'm dead, so I won't be enjoying my non-existence.

I am not sure if Cioran thought suicide was logical, though. It's been a while since I read On the heights of despair.

 

[TheAmazingCriswell]

I think it was Cioran who said that without the idea of suicide he'd kill himself. I am that way too: the idea gives me comfort. The act itself cannot provide me with any relief because I won't know I'm dead, so I'm be enjoying my non-existence.

I am not sure if Cioran thought suicide was logical, though. It's been a while since I read On the heights of despair.

Cioran also said this:
"It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late."
If you start with the premise "you always kill yourself too late", the only logical conclusion is to kill yourself as soon as possible.

or this:
"The fact that life has no meaning is a reason to live -- moreover, the only one."
This makes no sense.

or this:
"Why don't I commit suicide? Because I am as sick of death as I am of life."
??? As long as he lives, he will be sick of life, but if he kills himself, he won't be sick of death nor life. He might be talking about "dying" instead of "death", which would be nonsensical as well, since it is impossible to be sick of dying; you only die once. He might be talking about killing himself, in which case the statement should read: "Why don't I commit suicide? Because I am as sick of trying to kill myself as I am of life." That is a statement I have no qualms with.

or this:
"The refutation of suicide: is it not inelegant to abandon a world which has so willingly put itself at the service of our melancholy?"
No comment.

 

[Callie Arcale]

Cioran also said this:
"It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late."
If you start with the premise "you always kill yourself too late", the only logical conclusion is to kill yourself as soon as possible.

or this:
"The fact that life has no meaning is a reason to live -- moreover, the only one."
This makes no sense.

or this:
"Why don't I commit suicide? Because I am as sick of death as I am of life."
??? As long as he lives, he will be sick of life, but if he kills himself, he won't be sick of death nor life. He might be talking about "dying" instead of "death", which would be nonsensical as well, since it is impossible to be sick of dying; you only die once. He might be talking about killing himself, in which case the statement should read: "Why don't I commit suicide? Because I am as sick of trying to kill myself as I am of life." That is a statement I have no qualms with.

or this:
"The refutation of suicide: is it not inelegant to abandon a world which has so willingly put itself at the service of our melancholy?"
No comment.

I just love it that you had so many Cioran quotes about suicide ready :-) It's mightly impressive.

The last three quotes are bizarre, but maybe you need the context to understand their true meaning.

The first quote makes sense to me, though. Suicide cannot undo a lifetime of suffering, it can only end it. So, in a sense, it's always too late to kill yourself. The damage has already been done.

 

[TheAmazingCriswell]

I just love it that you had so many Cioran quotes about suicide ready :-) It's mightly impressive.

To be frank, quotes are the only things of his I am familiar with. Although I had planned to read some of his works, I never went through with it.

The last three quotes are bizarre, but maybe you need the context to understand their true meaning.

A possibility not to be dismissed.

The first quote makes sense to me, though. Suicide cannot undo a lifetime of suffering, it can only end it. So, in a sense, it's always too late to kill yourself. The damage has already been done.

I did not attack his premise, which I agree with, but his conclusion, i.e. it not being worth the bother. This quote has in fact been discussed elsewhere on this website, so I will quote what I wrote back then:

"Cioran's premise is correct, but he draws the wrong conclusion.
It is true that you will always kills yourself too late.
By the time you have reached a point where you prepare your suicide, things have escalated; had you killed yourself before, the escalation and the suffering associated with it would have been avoided.
The conclusion is bizarre.
Let us say that you are an adult who has never had the pleasure of learning to play a musical instrument, and you now want to make up for this negligence by learning the violin. It is a fact that at every point of time in your adult life it will be too late to learn the violin, since one should have started while being a child to achieve anything close to technical mastery. However, no one would draw the conclusion that it would be futile to start learning it at all; in fact, everyone would encourage you to start as soon as possible!
The same may be said about suicide."

 

[motel rooms]

The first quote makes sense to me, though. Suicide cannot undo a lifetime of suffering, it can only end it. So, in a sense, it's always too late to kill yourself. The damage has already been done.

He only said it because "It's never too late to kill yourself" is not interesting enough &, more importantly, it doesn't sell books.

to cut one's losses = to stop an action that has resulted in loss or failure or leave a failing situation before it gets worse

Killing myself is totally worth the bother because my situation is getting worse by the day.

 

[unperson]

But Buddhism is totally a religion, it's not a philosophy. That's why Sam Harris doesn't call himself a Buddhist. Siddhartha Gautama believed in karma in the most conservative sense imaginable, he believed in literal reincarnation, he ever so modestly claimed that he managed to achieve total fucking ENLIGHTENMENT
The sanitized secular versions of Buddhism created by a bunch of modern Westerners are philosophies/whatevertocallits.

This is pretty short & entertaining -



In conclusion, I think that Mr. Siddhartha got the diagnosis right ( Life is inherently unsatisfactory & experienced as suffering ), but he was too much of a Hindu pussy to admit that there's a shortcut to blissful Nothingness, the one that Cobain took

Stay away from monks , all you need is this nice compassionate nerd - https://www.youtube.com/c/DougsSecularDharma

Ok so this message is only for hotel-man, no one else alloud to read it--for your own good!

Well, it's a religion, but contains philosophical views that can be seperated from the whole package, however that could be said about any religion and so maybe a better way of putting it this; just let me LARP bro, why you gotta take away my LARPing-sexual-release-session, did you see how much hot repressed sexual energy eminated from those nuns in that video?! I didn't try to tell you that the guy in the dinosoaur costume who you were pounding from behind last week wasn't really a dinosaour! >

As for the ol siddhartha, I think there's a lot more value in modern science-integrated forms of buddhism (which perhaps isn't really buddhism at a certain point but eh whatev) so the ancient idolized deadman is kinda irrelevant from my perspective. Sam Harris also adresses a need for a kind of rational non-religious & non-woo form of spirituality, but lets be honest, 90% + of people aren't really ready for that and probably never will be, but maybe if more people adobt the identity/group-labels, things can be changed from the inside. For example the monk I mentioned adresses a lot of those issues mentioned in that video in 'Superiority Conceit in Buddhist Traditions', and yeah the video was pretty funny and entertaining and none of it was surprising unfortunately. It's possible that if I call myself a buddhist while also being candid when talking to buddhists who deny or excuse such things, I might be dissapointed by their angry reaction from their idealistic attachment to their imperfect religion that promotes non-attachment, which is kinda hilarious, but idk, this could be an interesting experiment and I wanna know what the results of it will be :D

And holy shit, I never made that connection about Cobain/Nirvana, but that's pretty ironic to consider that while so many fans and friends/family were suffering as a reaction to his death, he was no longer suffering at all and finally experienced the closest real thing to a literal 'Nirvana', but a lot of people of course don't want to admit the reality of suicide--> no more suffering. It's kinda wierd to me because it always seemed so obvious. Feel for the living beings who are still around not the one's who no longer exist.

Maybe I'll start my own sect of Identity Crisis LARPing Buddhism :D With some Attack on Titan Lore mixed in and a freedom-complex.

But the orange robes are so fucking cool and sexy looking D: ok I'll check out the nerd

Almost no philosopher is willing to admit the validity of that shortcut. They all prefer to develop bizarre excuses instead ("Embrace the absurdity of life"). If you are aware of a philosopher who came to the conclusion that suicide is logical and acceptable, please let me know.

If you look up philosophy of suicide on wikipedia you will find plenty of examples, but they will definitely be in the minority.

Philosophy of suicide - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Cioran also said this:
"It is not worth the bother of killing yourself, since you always kill yourself too late."
If you start with the premise "you always kill yourself too late", the only logical conclusion is to kill yourself as soon as possible.

or this:
"The fact that life has no meaning is a reason to live -- moreover, the only one."
This makes no sense.

or this:
"Why don't I commit suicide? Because I am as sick of death as I am of life."
??? As long as he lives, he will be sick of life, but if he kills himself, he won't be sick of death nor life. He might be talking about "dying" instead of "death", which would be nonsensical as well, since it is impossible to be sick of dying; you only die once. He might be talking about killing himself, in which case the statement should read: "Why don't I commit suicide? Because I am as sick of trying to kill myself as I am of life." That is a statement I have no qualms with.

or this:
"The refutation of suicide: is it not inelegant to abandon a world which has so willingly put itself at the service of our melancholy?"
No comment.

"Life is like a movie, if you've sat through more than half of it and it's sucked every second so far, it probably isn't going to get great right at the end and make it all worthwhile. None should blame you for walking out early."​

― Doug Stanhope (he also mentioned it's sad when young people/kids do it cuz they didn't really give life a chance) another one was something like 'life is like animal porn, it's not for everyone.' xD

Yeah he's a comedian, but comedian/philosopher, same thing... lol

I just love it that you had so many Cioran quotes about suicide ready :-) It's mightly impressive.

The last three quotes are bizarre, but maybe you need the context to understand their true meaning.

The first quote makes sense to me, though. Suicide cannot undo a lifetime of suffering, it can only end it. So, in a sense, it's always too late to kill yourself. The damage has already been done.

I only partially agree... It's too late to prevent the suffering that's already occured, but it could prevent however many years/decades of additional suffering there'd be.... Like if you were in pain from an injury and then after a few days got some painkillers to get you through the rest of the healing process, yeah you can't undue those few miserable days, but you can make the remaining recovery-time not as bad--not a perfect analogy but anywho

 

[motel rooms]

just let me LARP bro, why you gotta take away my LARPing-sexual-release-session, did you see how much hot repressed sexual energy eminated from those nuns in that video?! I didn't try to tell you that the guy in the dinosoaur costume who you were pounding from behind last week wasn't really a dinosaour! >

Actually, he was wearing a tattered wrestling singlet, but he did make T-rex noises...
Enjoy your adventure... Interacting with all the people who call themselves Buddhists will definitely force you to work out your tolerance/compassion muscle. Be careful not to strain it... If you get the urge to scream, just empty your mind or think about those sexy nuns

My main beef with Buddhists (& Hindus) is their belief in karma. If you go to a random orphanage in Laos or Cambodia, the monks/nuns who run it will tell you that the malnourished orphans there are suffering because they did something horrible in their past lives; it's their own damn fault. I was sexually abused by my father for years, so that type of explanation/accusation makes my blood boil

 

[Kattt]

One of my best friends recently married a Thai girl and converted. No doubt it has some wonderful principles etc.
When I was 13, I used to go to the local Buddhist vihara where we would learn meditation,drink tea then talk about the wheel of enlightenment.
give it a try

 

[logan]

I don't think any religion or doctrine can really explain to you why certain things happen.
Partly you realise that you are responsible for things - but overall the connections are too complex.

But Buddhism, in my opinion, gives the best answers at the moment and this world would be much better if Buddhism was the dominant way of thinking.

 

[motel rooms]

But Buddhism, in my opinion, gives the best answers at the moment and this world would be much better if Buddhism was the dominant way of thinking.

Yeah, countries with predominantly Buddhist populations are just wonderful... South East Asians are so much more enlightened & respectful of all living beings than, say, Scandinavian atheists. Ever been to Bangkok, Hanoi or Phnom Penh? Human life is very cheap there...

 

[logan]

Yeah, countries with predominantly Buddhist populations are just wonderful... South East Asians are so much more enlightened & respectful of all living beings than, say, Scandinavian atheists. Ever been to Bangkok, Hanoi or Phnom Penh? Human life is very cheap there...

Yes, I did not say that implementation in practice always goes well.
I was referring to the basic thinking.

And poverty in many countries is enormous. We live in capitalism.

But there are many people who are happier than many of us, despite the simplest living conditions.

 

[motel rooms]

Yes, I did not say that implementation in practice always goes well.
I was referring to the basic thinking.
And poverty in many countries is enormous. We live in capitalism.

Westerners have no clue what Asian Buddhism is all about. It's not a liberating philosophy compatible with modern psychology, it's a narrow-minded religion. Only 1-2 % of Buddhist monks in Asia actually meditate, 1-2 % of monks, not 1-2 % of laypeople... They are as superstitious as medieval Catholics, they worship statues of the Buddha & pray to them for good luck instead of soberly practicing meditation, mindfulness & compassion for all living beings... They believe that deformed children & orphans deserve to suffer because they've accumulated bad karma by doing terrible things in their previous lives... It's barbaric & disgusting. That mindset is ancient, it has nothing to do with the atrocities of neoliberal capitalism

But there are many people who are happier than many of us, despite the simplest living conditions.

So what? There are many poor people who are happier than us in Africa & Latin America too...

 

[logan]

So what? There are many poor people who are happier than us in Africa & Latin America too...

Yes, you are right. I didn't mean to say that other people in poor circumstances can't be happy.

 

[unperson]

Actually, he was wearing a tattered wrestling singlet, but he did make T-rex noises...
Enjoy your adventure... Interacting with all the people who call themselves Buddhists will definitely force you to work out your tolerance/compassion muscle. Be careful not to strain it... If you get the urge to scream, just empty your mind or think about those sexy nuns

My main beef with Buddhists (& Hindus) is their belief in karma. If you go to a random orphanage in Laos or Cambodia, the monks/nuns who run it will tell you that the malnourished orphans there are suffering because they did something horrible in their past lives; it's their own damn fault. I was sexually abused by my father for years, so that type of explanation/accusation makes my blood boil

Low energy Day today ugh.

Hawt, pls send video

yeah idk what I'm going to do here, still struggling to accept my limitations, like it's really hard to stick with decisions, idk what to do when I can't seem to make myself do much of anything. I just wish the adderall hadn't stopped working it was the only thing somewhat helping me function and I guess maybe I'll go off for a few months and then try some other stimulant and use the typically 1 month per year periods of semi-funtionality to prepare an exit plan for if I become ready for that. In the meantime I'll try whatever is left to try to make life easier

and damn that would piss me off seeing them say those things about kids.

 

[motel rooms]

Are you able to meditate? When I try to focus on my breath or calm my mind, I usually end up giving myself a panic attack. Taking fast deep breaths is the only thing that helps me numb my brain, I enjoy feeling light-headed & almost passing out. Whee!

 

[Mendex]

Westerners have no clue what Asian Buddhism is all about. It's not a liberating philosophy compatible with modern psychology, it's a narrow-minded religion.

It seems like that you belong in that group of "Westerners" who have no clue what "Asian Buddhism" is all about either, you didn't clarify which sort of Buddhism are you talking about (Like Mahayana,Theravada,Vajrāyana,Zen,etc). Being each one differ in content and form, so you just generalized as "Asian Buddhism". And I don't know why you say that with that religion need to be compatible with "modern psychology". The only religion that I know who tries to justified and explained with science is "christianism" (Usually this is .the other religions doesn't have serious business with science. The only concern that maybe might between science and Buddhism, is the buddhist cosmology and meditation. Cosmology who doesn't differ from Greek mythology or Celtic folklore. And talking about meditation part of his psycho-physiological effects are proved with fMRI (is nothing to concern with Buddhism tbh) and other part is just "Hard-consciousness problem" which science don't know how to reach yet. The necessity that Buddhism needs to be proven or justified as well as christianism need is ironically a "Westernization" of Buddhism.

Only 1-2 % of Buddhist monks in Asia actually meditate, 1-2 % of monks, not 1-2 % of laypeople... They are as superstitious as medieval Catholics, they worship statues of the Buddha & pray to them for good luck instead of soberly practicing meditation, mindfulness & compassion for all living beings... They believe that deformed children & orphans deserve to suffer because they've accumulated bad karma by doing terrible things in their previous lives... It's barbaric & disgusting. That mindset is ancient, it has nothing to do with the atrocities of neoliberal capitalism

Buddhism have a lot of hypocrites as well as Islam and christianism. And as you said it's true. Theravada Buddhists are more misogynist and ableist in his corpse and practice of thinking. And they put woman/disabled people in a spiritual lower hierarchy (Which is not the case other traditions Zen/Vajrayana). As the article says below.

UNICEF Blog

Insights, opinions and behind the scenes of the on-ground work on children’s rights and well-being

blogs.unicef.org

In the Mahayana Buddhism tradition, You have self-immolated protester. Who are praised for his followers . Which as you said is barbaric & disgusting in that tradition.

Spoiler: Sensitive Content.

Two Buddhist monks and a woman self-immolate in latest protest against Chinese occupation of Tibet

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Three Tibetans died on Wednesday in the latest self-immolation protests against Chinese rule and the exile of their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama (pictured).

www.dailymail.co.uk

They even have monks kids with gun ownership.

Burma's Buddhists Determined to De-romanticize Buddhism for West - Institute for Policy Studies

Burma -- from its president to its Nobel laureate -- has failed to address Buddhist violence in its Rakhine state against Muslim Rohingyas.

ips-dc.org

This issues doesn't have concern with the early Buddhism and the Zen (Japan/Korea) which are more "modern" than the old traditions the Mahayana or Theravada (China/Sri Lanka/India) which are countries which are more susceptible to such as "degeneratives".

Spoiler: Scheme

This is the best philosophical treatment for personality defects I can think of. If I can withstand the inner-cynic trying to tear at me with claws as I crawl upside down on the underside of a long pole that traverses a vast deep expanse, tired and bleeding, just holding on to stay in the space of simply having the resolve to pursue any path at all; even while lying catatonic in the midst of depression, I've maintained for at least some duration the resolve and intention to pursue this way of changing my experience of life. I'm hyper-skeptical & -critical but find that even that can be compatible with some concept of spiritual/philosophical change that seems possible in ways that might be different for each person depending on circumstances but nonetheless helpful. I don't want to be arrogant but also false-humility is counterproductive so I accept my strengths and weaknesses and use them as a guide to plan the path that works for me. So, for funsies, here are pontifications I'd like to blabble about

being compassionate—different from empathy as you can have the desire to help others, & feel meaning from helping, but without feeling the pain/(full pain) of others experiences. Too much affective empathy relative to the nature of interpersonal association is basically analogous to the basic emotional component of codependency.

reading is a good way to see things from different angles and relate to and understand more kinds of people even if not based on your own personal experience; unfortunately online digital-media bubbles even if they're nice and friendly don't usually help with learning to be unbiased about things, so I recommend diversifying your reading portfolio ya no w like books n shit

on another note maybe I'll never escape my dysfunction and support myself but if it's possible my best chance at a career would for a myriad of reasons be writing, but nonetheless I'm not actually very good with grammar and certain basic shit I just like using lots of words and long sentences because it's satisfying but I would like to learn it more formally and put things more concisely and simply. Because my goal is not esoteric linguistic diarrhea prestige, so it would be best to diversify my styles and learn to emulate ones I like. Imagine if hunter s thomson wrote a book on meditation haha, don't stop here, this is thought country!

... Let's remain mindful until we find ourselves distracted from thot-country xD

enough rambles for now, going to do some monk listening to. Bikkhu Analayo(was that his name..?) is a good one.

It's sound great that you found your "Treatment" and you still having a critique attitude about it. But If I was you, I'm ward off our opinions.
And keep my thoughts for myself. and start experimenting by myself without the consent of such as Religion,Science or the "other".
"Keep the precious things inside you or you will lose them"

But there are many people who are happier than many of us, despite the simplest living conditions.

There's a good reason why Kant didn't mixed happiness as better or a form of justification (opposite of average utilitarian).

 

[motel rooms]

you didn't clarify which sort of Buddhism are you talking about (Like Mahayana,Theravada,Vajrāyana,Zen,etc). Being each one differ in content and form, so you just generalized as "Asian Buddhism".

Thanks for correcting me. What do all these types/schools of Buddhism in Asia have in common?

And I don't know why you say that with that religion need to be compatible with "modern psychology".

I didn't say that religion needs to be anything. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama does keep claiming that Buddhism is compatible with modern science/psychology though.

the early Buddhism and the Zen (Japan/Korea) which are more "modern" than the old traditions the Mahayana or Theravada (China/Sri Lanka/India) which are countries which are more susceptible to such as "degeneratives".

I assume you're into Zen, which is responsible for producing plenty of degenerates. Kamikaze pilots were trained by "enlightened" Zen monks. Btw, lay Buddhists in Japan & Korea are just as superstitious as those in China, Vietnam or Mianmar & they don't meditate either.

 

[unperson]

Actually, he was wearing a tattered wrestling singlet, but he did make T-rex noises...
Enjoy your adventure... Interacting with all the people who call themselves Buddhists will definitely force you to work out your tolerance/compassion muscle. Be careful not to strain it... If you get the urge to scream, just empty your mind or think about those sexy nuns

My main beef with Buddhists (& Hindus) is their belief in karma. If you go to a random orphanage in Laos or Cambodia, the monks/nuns who run it will tell you that the malnourished orphans there are suffering because they did something horrible in their past lives; it's their own damn fault. I was sexually abused by my father for years, so that type of explanation/accusation makes my blood boil

I want to rerespond to this because of some stuff on my mind this morning and I think it will be easier to explain what led to this decision.

Your experience with abuse is certainly awful and unfair for anyone to have to go through. It seems you have a similar way of seeing the toxic side of things that I relate to, so maybe it will make more sense to put it like this: There's an ugly side to everything, buddhism, psychology, science, etc, it all comes down to people using these things in a selfish/evil/harmful way vs using these things in a more noble way. One could make a similar judgement about sanctioned suicide; yes a lot of us really have some rational reasoning behind our view but it's also possible for someone to have a robust enough brain to have a good chance at a happy life and simply be drawn here while depressed and influenced by ss, which is why I try to be careful about not actually ever encouraging ctb, while nonetheless being accepting of people's choices. But it wouldn't be wrong to say that a lot of what goes on in these threads and chats can include so much toxic bullshit because there just isn't any community that doesn't have that, and my own personality often feels like a smaller version of this positive/negative balance. As for the identity thing, it's just something that might or might not help with motivation for me.

Anyway, I figured maybe this explanation would make more sense to you. It's hard shifting the focus away from all the corruption and misuse of something, over to the things that can be helpful and productive. But until death seems like more of a near-future thing rather than more distant, it seems best to take a break from constantly focusing on all the negative shit that can be found absolutely anywhere. Also another good quote is Doug Stanhope talking about football 'I know it's stupid, but it's my stupid!' lol, hang on ima post the clip that has that cuz it's hilarious


just watch the first minute at least it's pretty funny xD

@hotelbeneathground

 

[motel rooms]

There's an ugly side to everything, buddhism, psychology, science, etc, it all comes down to people using these things in a selfish/evil/harmful way vs using these things in a more noble way.

It's hard shifting the focus away from all the corruption and misuse of something, over to the things that can be helpful and productive. But until death seems like more of a near-future thing rather than more distant, it seems best to take a break from constantly focusing on all the negative shit that can be found absolutely anywhere. Also another good quote is Doug Stanhope talking about football 'I know it's stupid, but it's my stupid!'

I just don't get why you can't be like Sam Harris or Stephen Batchelor & keep the precious baby without the filthy bathwater that's been pissed in for centuries
I like some of the sayings ascribed to Jesus & Gothic cathedrals, but that don't make me wanna embrace Christianity. I think that a couple of Madonna songs are brilliant & that "Frozen" is one of the best mainstream music videos of all time, but I'd never buy all of her albums (btw, "Ray of Light" is a cover, that's why the lyrics aren't dumb). Why take the good with the bad when these days you're free to get rid of the bad?

I can't handle too much Doug Stanhope, when he gets all bitter & misanthropic I feel like I'm looking in the mirror. I can't believe he's still alive, I'm sure he's an extremely vulnerable boy who cries when he's not heavily intoxicated.

"Ray of Light" is kind of Buddhist, isn't it?

Zephyr in the sky, at night I wonder
Do my tears of mourning sink beneath the sun?
She's got herself a universe gone quickly
For the call of thunder threatens everyone
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel
And I feel like I just got home
Cause I feel
Faster than the speeding light she's flying
Trying to remember where it all began
She's got herself a little piece of heaven
Waiting for the time when Earth shall be as one
Quicker than a ray of light
And I feel
Quicker than a ray of light
Then gone for
Someone else will be there
Through the endless years
She's got herself a universe
And I feel
And I feel like I just got home
And I feel AAAAAAAAAH!
Quicker than a ray of light she's flying
Quicker than a ray of light I'm flying...

-- Dave Curtiss & Clive Maldoon