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Get back to us when you get that relative pronoun thing down, faux Grammar Nazi.

Mindfulness is a dictionary word.

If Buddhadhasa Bikkhu didn't object to it being used in the title for one of his books, perhaps you might wish to reconsider your position.

I'll let "whiplash" address your remaining error.

Unfortunately, nobody has been able to serve papers, and they're not clear on jurisdiction.

And, randomly, Buddha wasn't a world creator. He was a mortal man like you and I -- there *is* no specific creator in Buddhism. Depending on who practices it and where they come from, Buddhism isn't even technically a 'religion'.

Sounds familiar.

Humans have sexual urges, it is not realistic to expect them to be celibate..... you will have abuse in a significant percentage of cases.

Not neccesarily. Don't get me wrong here, I'm not defending anyone's abuse of children (priest or otherwise), however the implication that celibacy automatically creates an environment where the chances of sexual abuse are higher is distorted.

a gift to you: http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/index.htm

Surprise, surprise. Life's newbies. As this guy sort of let on, a few years ago...

This ebookwill touch on it, among other things.

Fair enough. Your personal interpretation of Buddhism is extremely well thought-out and coherent, and I have no rebuttal. In fact, I was looking for some documentation to prove that at least I am not alone in my (mis)understanding of Buddhism, and I ran across this, which seems to support your interpretation of reincarnation. Cheers!

One night, a neighbor strolling by Nasrudin's house found him outside under the street lamp brushing through the dust. "Have you lost something, my friend?" he asked. Nasrudin explained that he had lost his key and asked the neighbor to help him find it. After some minutes of searching and turning up nothing, the neighbor asked him, "Are you sure you lost the key here?" "No, I did not lose it here. I lost it inside the house," Nasrudin answered. "If you lost the key in the house, Nasrudin, why are you looking for it out here?" "Well, there's more light out here, of course," Nasrudin replied.

Take the Book of God anywhere with BiblePlayer, listen to the Quran on your walk to the office, or discover the wisdom of the Torah on the train.

And you can also get meditation instruction, Dharma talks, etc... - Here ...FYI

I like to learn about Asian philosophy.

Maybe they need to look at cause and effect differently.

Dude, are you Buddhist?

I find the whole "we're all gods" buddhism definition to be misleading.

Not Gods. God. The idea is we are a manifestation of the same, not individual gods.

Christians at least all believe in one god, in Jesus, ten commandments, etc. Christianity relies on texts, and that tends to limit belief creep.

That view doesn't conflict with Buddhism though. From the perspective of Buddhism, its very likely that Jesus was the Buddha known as Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhists believe that the teachings of the Buddha are self evident, and you don't need any text because you already know the answers.

Oddly enough, a book called "The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu" by Wong Kiew Kit. Part of the book deals with the philosophy of Shaolin, which is Cha'an or Zen Buddhism.

Now, I was a Christian born and raised - Altar Boy and Choir Memeber in the Anglican Church. When I was around 14 or 15, after having actually read a good deal of the Bible, I decided that Christianity in particular and Theism in general just did not make sense. I still had an sense of right and wrong, but to me, it was based on simple "common sense" - "Good things happen to people who do good things" and vice versa. Through some amount of personal trial and error over the intervening years I simply learned that if I spoke softly and calmly and thought about what I was going to say before saying it and tried to see things from other peoples point of view,I got along alot better. Now I didn't have to do that - I am (and was) a 6'2", 260 lbs farm-boy-linebacker bruiser and knocking heads would have been just a easy. But I found that life was more peaceful if I acted nicely and calmly, rather than throwing my wieght around (and I tried that for a few years too). And I never again bought into the idea of un-seen, un-proven (or provable) God(s). I was and still am an Atheist.

So when I got "The Art of Shaolin Kung Fu" 2 years ago at 35 and read about Buddhism, I discovered that it was the philosophy I had come to on my own. So, I read books such as What the Buddha Taught by Rahula Walpola and How to Practice by HH the Dalai Lama. And a few others.

I discovered a "religion" that is more of a philosophy or practice, that is simple and elegant. No need for "God". Accepting the inter-connectedness of all things and searching for peace under the control of the individual and anyone can do it..its not an exclusive club.

"No Hell below us, above us only sky" if I may quote... ;-)

Anyway, if you want to go through the books above or the Buddhist Holy Books, I would also reccomend finding the Dharmapada and the Lotus Sutra.

A great place to start is here.

Have a look and see if you like it (and if you don't, feel free to try something else...)

Except for that it's not a true statement... Funny mods don't improve your karma.

Humous != Humorous. Post Humously. To post humously, you do need good karma. You misread and also missed the double entendre.

Zen is a state of being and awareness. Your complaint shows your unfamiliarity with both Buddhism and Zen Buddhism. Zen as a concept has more in common with 'aware,' 'hungry' or 'green' than it does with Jesus. Zen is an aspect, not THE foundation of Buddhism, and often incidental to many Buddhists.

From Buddhanet.net--Buddhist means belonging to a particular community of people and following a path of life taught by the Buddhas (enlightened beings). Members of the Buddhist community are formally joined by taking refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma (the teaching) and the Sangha (the community of noble disciples).

What does Roxio's CD authoring software have to do with toast? Is Roxio being disrespectful?

Are you likely to care if a brand of mediocre jeans in China is called Jesus? People do far more insulting things in the name of Jesus than a computer company using a noun like Enlightenment.

Intertesting... but...

Point 1
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Your statement about karma is not quite correct and your statement about Christianity is a narrow truth stated as a general rule.

Karma is not the idea that you "pay back" for your "evil" deeds. It is the idea that any action you take has an effect on your life and subsequent reincarnation(s). Here is a good explanation of karma.

As for Christianity, there are numerous sects, and one of the more prominent is the Roman Catholic Church. Their program for salvation is significantly more complicated than simply "accepting Christ as your savior". While at their core, the various types of Christianity may have what appears to be a similar notion of what salvation is, what they expect the faithful to do as a result of their faith varies. Look at the variation in baptismal practices as a good indicator of attitudes around salvation.

For those of you who don't afraid of where this is leading towards, here are some interesting links between buddhism and fundamental phisics.

Quantum sunyata: Basically, what quantum theory says is that fundamental particles are empty of inherent existence and exist in an undefined state of potentialities. They have no inherent existence from their own side and do not become 'real' until a mind interacts with them and gives them meaning. Whenever and wherever there is no mind there is no meaning and no reality. This is a similar conclusion to the Mahayana Buddhist teachings on sunyata.

Sunyata - the emptiness of all things: It is important to emphasise that the mathematical equations of quantum physics do not describe actual existence - they describe potential for existence. Working out the equations of quantum mechanics for a system composed of fundamental particles produces a range of potential locations, values and attributes of the particles which evolve and change with time. But for any system only one of these potential states can become real, and - this is the revolutionary finding of quantum physics - what forces the range of the potentials to assume one value is the act of observation. Matter and energy are not in themselves phenomena, and do not become phenomena until they interact with the mind.

Buddhism copes with Science: "If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism." -- Albert Einstein

A cosmic religion: "The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description." --- Albert Einstein

About buddhism: "Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in the cosmic religion for the future: It trancends a personal God, avoids dogma and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity." --- Albert Einstein.

My favorite quote of Albert Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge".

For those of you who don't afraid of where this is leading towards, here are some interesting links between buddhism and fundamental phisics.

Quantum sunyata: Basically, what quantum theory says is that fundamental particles are empty of inherent existence and exist in an undefined state of potentialities. They have no inherent existence from their own side and do not become 'real' until a mind interacts with them and gives them meaning. Whenever and wherever there is no mind there is no meaning and no reality. This is a similar conclusion to the Mahayana Buddhist teachings on sunyata.

Sunyata - the emptiness of all things: It is important to emphasise that the mathematical equations of quantum physics do not describe actual existence - they describe potential for existence. Working out the equations of quantum mechanics for a system composed of fundamental particles produces a range of potential locations, values and attributes of the particles which evolve and change with time. But for any system only one of these potential states can become real, and - this is the revolutionary finding of quantum physics - what forces the range of the potentials to assume one value is the act of observation. Matter and energy are not in themselves phenomena, and do not become phenomena until they interact with the mind.

Buddhism copes with Science: "If there is any religion that would cope with modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism." -- Albert Einstein

A cosmic religion: "The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It should transcend a personal God and avoid dogmas and theology. Covering both the natural and the spiritual, it should be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity. Buddhism answers this description." --- Albert Einstein

About buddhism: "Buddhism has the characteristics of what would be expected in the cosmic religion for the future: It trancends a personal God, avoids dogma and theology; it covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, as a meaningful unity." --- Albert Einstein.

My favorite quote of Albert Einstein: "Imagination is more important than knowledge".