Nhoj Morley - 17 June 2011 10:24 PM

Khổng Minh - 17 June 2011 10:05 PM

The term religion should be exterminated. Strange, only in western culture uses this confused term.

If you see or hear the term religion on your path, KILL IT.

Then after, everything will be explained, for themselves.

That’s the Dalek approach. I think we should talk about it endlessly and everyone should learn as much about it as possible.

Sometimes being fixated with a term definitively, an object in itself, deters its intended expression and any other expressions intended to be associated with it.

unsmoked - 05 May 2011 10:28 AM

The mind habitually thinks harmful things.  The mind habitually ruminates on things that precipitate behavior that destroys peace of mind, making itself unhappy and eclipsing creative potential.  Is it possible to watch the mind doing this?  Is it possible to nip negative or self-destructive thought in the bud, to stop detrimental thinking as soon as it sprouts?  Is that religion?

I’d agree that one could subjectively “watch” the mind and “control” competing drives and emotions, but I don’t think these features of Buddhism would make it a religion.

cosmodet - 31 July 2011 07:11 AM

unsmoked - 05 May 2011 10:28 AM

The mind habitually thinks harmful things.  The mind habitually ruminates on things that precipitate behavior that destroys peace of mind, making itself unhappy and eclipsing creative potential.  Is it possible to watch the mind doing this?  Is it possible to nip negative or self-destructive thought in the bud, to stop detrimental thinking as soon as it sprouts?  Is that religion?

I’d agree that one could subjectively “watch” the mind and “control” competing drives and emotions, but I don’t think these features of Buddhism would make it a religion.

Similarly, can the mind watch itself chattering?  Can the mind watch itself ‘channel surfing’ from one topic to another?  As the man of old said, “Bring the ten thousand things to rest.  Let the mind rest at peace.”  Is that religion?

Many think that the agitated mind is solving problems or figuring things out.  When someone suggests that they quiet the mind, they say, “You want me to be a vegetable?  The thinking mind is what makes us human!  This is how we solve problems!”

Zen masters suggest, “The ground of mind does not produce useless plants.”  The ground of mind is the mind in a peaceful, normal, effortless state.  In this state, when someone speaks to you, there’s attention and listening.  It takes some private experimenting to find out if the mind in a peaceful, normal, effortless, attentive state is in a healthy creative state, or in a state of torpor.  Is it religion to explore these questions?

torpor  n  1 :  APATHY, DULLNESS 2 :  a state of mental and motor inactivity with partial or total insensibility :  extreme sluggishness or stagnation of function -  (Webster)

Doesn’t karma get connected to reincarnation?

john76 - 06 August 2011 11:39 AM

Doesn’t karma get connected to reincarnation?

Yes. Vipaka (or the potential results of Kamma dependent also on favorable conditions) is part of Buddhist’s rebirth theory (not reincarnation).

I’m not sure that the OP question is really relevant. Buddhism is what it is, and in some forms it definitely has religion overtones (Mahayana), while in others it does not (Theravada). Whether it qualifies as religion or not depends on the manner in which the individual or community applies it. A prophet, teacher or messiah introduces a concept, and then everyone interprets it as he/she will. You can have non-religious Christianity or Islam (following Jesus/Mohammed as a moral teacher but not as a messiah/prophet). The individual/community decides.