Buddhists Really Are Happier

bjornte writes "For anyone that wonders what Richard Gere is up to, the BBC explains: 'Scientists say they have evidence to show that Buddhists really are happier and calmer than other people. Tests carried out in the United States reveal that areas of their brain associated with good mood and positive feelings are more active.' So, if you're suffering from the ongoing IT slump..."

Comments

mentality not the religion

[Joe the Lesser]

These findings would be better stated as 'calm and stressless lifestyle is happier'. It has nothing to do with religion, just that fact that Buddhists are smart enough not to get worked up over stupid things like getting cut off in traffic or being late to a meeting.

Or even simpler, as was taught when I was younger: Don't worry, be happy.

Re:mentality not the religion

[dharmawan]

mentality is certainly important but i think the research shows that there are additional, long lasting benefits from regular practice of meditation

Re:mentality not the religion

[torpor]

You're perverting the sense and definition of religion here.

Religion is *supposed* to give you the tools to lead a calmer, less stresseful, happier life. If it doesn't, its not working as a religion.

Those who would stand to benefit from an un-calm, stressy society (WMH, Eli Lilli and Co.) seek to actively denigrate religions' potential for delivering calm, stressless people, and those who have bought the humanist party line from the last 20 years that "All Religion Is Bad, The pseudo-science of Psychology is the Only Way" support them in their effort to discount the positive effects which religion can have on a persons well-being.

All religion is not bad. Buddhists *do* lead happier lives than the anti-religion types... most of whom are pretty stressy people. I'm yet to meet a Buddhist (true buddhist, not dilletantes) who wasn't a happy, fun person to be around, generally.

Make your own determination of the value of religion in modern society if you will, but discount its worth and positive value at your own peril ...

Re:mentality not the religion

[ichimunki]

The salient point of the article is not that Buddhism per se is a "happier religion" (which you kind of pointed out) but that there seems to be scientific evidence for the idea that a regular program of a certain kind of meditative practice can have a positive effect on the brain.

The activity, which meditation most certainly is, is not unlike parts of standard hypnotherapy or yoga. Concentrating on nothing or simply on breathing, putting the body into a state of complete relaxation, etc, are not unique ideas to Buddhism. In fact, the same positive effects may well flow from other more overtly religious activities like saying the Rosary.

But scientists haven't studied that as much I'm guessing-- perhaps because prominent Catholics aren't as interested in working with science as prominent Buddhists are. The Dalai Lama meets regularly with western scientists and pseudo-scientists to discuss similarities and differences between Buddhist thought and scientific theory. Further, Buddhism generally says that there is no infallible word of God, which may or may not be contradicted by scientific evidence, so Buddhists do not cling to their beliefs out of "faith", but generally welcome any opportunity for greater understanding.

And when it comes to Buddhist doctrine, reincarnation and/or non-rebirth are certainly more comforting "afterlife" theories than the prospect of eternal torment. Once you stop worrying that the slightest mistake on your part could result in infinite pain after death, you can relax a bit. ;)

Re:mentality not the religion

[Anonymous Coward]

Just because there is a correlation between Buddhists and happiness does not mean that religion has any soothing abilities. It may very well be that those who are calmer, happier people would be the most likely to take up/continue to practice Buddhism. Especially in the United States, where Buddhism is not at all a majority religion.

Re:mentality not the religion

[kavau]

Somehow, traditional culture has perverted this ideology with the deification of the Buddha

Very true. People tend to transform religious ideas into worshipping cults, or into institutions that claim to have sole authority on moral issues. But you can nevertheless search for the true value of a religion on your own, or with like-minded people. This of course applies to all religions, not just to Buddhism.

I remember hearing about a Zen koan, which basically said: "If you meet Buddha on the way, kill him." I guess it means that you cannot succeed if you just follow in somebody's footsteps, but only if you find the way yourself.

Re:mentality not the religion

[SewersOfRivendell]

I would believe just the opposite, actually. If you're happy, and you believe in Christ/Satan/the Pope/Shrub/nobody, why change religions/lifestyles? No, it's the unhappy, the seekers, who convert to Buddhism. To paraphrase Shaw, "All progress depends on the unhappy man."

Correlation/Causation strikes again?

[Jerf]

There's not enough detail in the article to know whether this is a problem, but it looks like there's at least potential for a serious "correlation implies causation" error. Does Buddhism make people happy, or do people who are already happy become Buddhists?

I'm also not sure how "calm" got transformed into "happy" in the article. My personal definition of "happy" doesn't really have much to do with "hard to scare".

The study is interesting to some degree but drawing conclusion from it is unwarrented, until more data is collected from more sources.

Re:Correlation/Causation strikes again?

[Jerf]

I go more for

"Don't collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. But collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don't break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. "The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is generous, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is stingy, your whole body will be full of darkness. So if the light within you is darkness--how deep is that darkness! "No one can be a slave of two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot be slaves of God and of money.

"This is why I tell you: Don't worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn't life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the sky: they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they? Can any of you add a single cubit to his height by worrying? And why do you worry about clothes? Learn how the wildflowers of the field grow: they don't labor or spin thread.Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these! If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't He do much more for you--you of little faith? So don't worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Re:Correlation/Causation strikes again?

[Zeriel]

I think the reason that more people are willing to point directly to buddhism as opposed to religion in general in this sort of thing, despite the bible passages you quote, is due to two factors:

1. Buddhism actively encourages the practice of meditation and contemplation, which (it seems to me) would have a larger effect on the calmness of an individual than the tenets of a religion in general. I rarely see a similar emphasis on daily meditation and contemplation in Christian churches.
   
2. Anecdotally, but relevant is the fact that most people who are known to be Buddhist tend to rather closely follow Buddhist ideals--when the average American thinks of Buddhism, he thinks of monks and maybe a few actors. Wheras the tendency is to assume that the average greedy overstressed Westerner is "Christian" of some flavor, when in reality they're not really practicing much of anything except for the fact they go to church every so often.
   

Re:Correlation/Causation strikes again?

[sdjunky]

Those are some very insightful observations.

1. Christ prayed often and for long periods of time. Many who are "Christians" don't take time out of their busy lives to follow in this example.

2. "except for the fact they go to church every so often" These people you describe here are a dime a dozen. I wouldn't necessarily call them Christians as the word itself denotes a follower of Christ. How can one be a follower of Christ when he/she is not able to dedicate 3+ hours a week to worship?

Christianity has been blamed for alot of things. Violence, hatred and various other things but it isn't Christianity that is doing these things but people who call themselves Christians but don't even follow what the Bible itself teaches

Re:Why always those budda statues?

[Pall Agamemnides]

Piano players are often depicted as having a bust of Beethoven on their piano. But they don't worship Beethoven.

Adolescents often have posters of various famous people on their bedroom walls, but they don't worship them.

You probably have photos of your loved ones on the walls of your house, and perhaps in your wallet, but you don't worship them. Nor do you consider having those pictures there a temptation to worship them.

Catholic don't worship saints, but consider them "heroes" of the faith, examples of ordinary people who lived extraordinary, holy lives. They offer examples that we can emulate in our own lives, just as you may try to emulate someone you know who is saintly. To say that Catholics worship saints just shows that you've been influenced by anti-Catholic propaganda.

Buddhism, or Meditation?

[Fished]

From the article, it appeared to me that the association was less with being a Buddhist from a doctrinal point of view (i.e. holding a belief in the four-fold truths, reincarnation, etc.) than with Buddhist practices. I wonder if you would not find a similar correlation with people who pray regularly or meditatie within the context of another meditative tradition? Having known more than a few Franciscans, my impression is on a whole that they are happier than the non-meditative orders (e.g. the Jesuits) -- yet they are not Buddhists. They are just people who practice spiritual disciplines.

an old saying

[u19925]

there is an old saying, "it is hard to understand other's pain". don't read BBC to find out the pain of buddishts. ask buddhists.

Re:But...

[Anonymous Coward]

So which makes more rational sense: to achieve nothingness by relief from an otherwise unending cycle of pain through reincarnations, or eternal joy with our Creator God?

None of the above?

I'm a Buddhist of more than 25 years, but...

[AShocka]

this is not unique to Buddhists. It's entirely up to the spirituality or approach of each individual.

There are also plenty of suffering Buddhists amongst us. Yet at the same time I do feel that there are teachings within Buddhism that are treasures of humanity.

I have found that studying and practicing Buddhism has given me a greater appreciation of other teachings, cultures, methods, ways of life, and the human spirit (in general).

At the same time, I feel it often cheapens and can be misleading and deceptive when any spiritual teaching presents itself to sell it as a means to happiness.

This may be the goal, but it can be misleading to say that the journey is full of happiness. Even if some experience this to be true, still, it is uncompassionate to present it in a general way like that.

Often what is involved in the path is a lot of reflecting, and discovery of the tyranny of self deception (on many levels). That may lead to happiness (through liberation from self deception), but that process may not necessarily be a happy one (but it can be).

An individuals path or journey through life is not always so smooth. It's how they learn from, deal with, and adapt to what happens to them that counts in the long run, and how they share their life with their community (and fellow beings) as a whole.

As HH Dalai Lama says, it is a good thing that there are so many paths to suit the diversity of human beings.

Re:But...

[sjames]

Dissolution into nothingness is really not an adequate description. Since no language has an appropriate word or phrase since language must at least draw analogies from common experiance.

You woulkd have to achieve a state of Zen awareness in meditation to gain some understanding of that phrase. A friend once aptly described the state as a sort of mental white out, but that probably doesn't make it any clearer if you haven't experienced it.

Re:Why is it

[young-earth]

Oh, there you go again. How many times must you be told that the Roman Catholic Church does NOT follow the bible, that Catholicism is not the same thing as biblical Christianity. The RCC is much closer to the Babylonian mysticism (and therefore to Hinduism) than it is to Christianity. Charlemagne was following directions of the Pope to commit his atrocities; there is zero biblical justification for his actions.

You state

I believe in Christ, I was educated in a Christian School and attended Mass. So I am a christian too. But I am a Hindu too. No one has excommunicated me from my religion. Dr Frawley is another example.

Yet again you make the error of equating the RCC with Christianity. Question for you: what will it take for you to realize that is an error? Then you say

Don't go by atlan.org. It is badly written. Better use your brain

You are the one who suggested atlan.org as a source, it's a bit late to disclaim it. Next you say

Where is Christ Now? Do you know? I would love to meet Him!

Here is an example of the deficiency in biblical education for one who is a Catholic. It quite clearly states many times in the NT that the Lord Jesus Christ is at the right hand of the Father now. The next event on His calendar, from our perspective, is His coming in the clouds to gather the born-again believers, dead and alive (1 Thessalonians 4:15-4:17), in the Harpazo (known in the popular press as the rapture). After that will be (with zero to some time of delay) a seven year period of judgment known as the Tribulation. The only way to avoid that is to confess that He is Lord, accept His gift of salvation by repenting of your sins to Him, and make Him the Lord of your life. Then you will meet Him in love, either at your death or at the Harpazo.

However if you reject Him as your writing indicates you are doing (by not admitting that He is Lord), you will meet him at the great White Throne judgment (Revelation 20:10-20:15). Without your name in the Book of Life, you will meet Him as your Judge, not as your Saviour. That is a terrible fate, and I pray you will realize your need for His salvation.