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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..."
Here's an anecdotal, unscientific answer for you. In the nine years since I became a practicing Buddhist, I have become happier and happier, and I am definitely happier than I was before I became a Buddhist. I know many other Buddhists who could tell you the same thing about their own experience.
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".
Though I might quibble with the particular wording, here is an example of what is meant.
When you encounter an obstacle in your life, do you freak out and ask "WHY ME?", or do you face it calmly and rationally, with the confidence that you are up to the challenge. Since I have become a Buddhist, I increasingly find myself taking the latter approach.
Less time spent freaking out = more time spent being happy.
Take a look at the website of the SGI-USA if you are interested in learning more.
"All religion is not bad."
I would beg to differ. The majority of spiritualist traditions have been perverted by organized religion. The Bible warns of the dangers of institutions, and we see the prophecy come true with the Vatican selling redemption for money before the schism of the Reformation. Buddha taught that there are no gods, but only a single universal truth that we are all connected to each other (AFAIK). Somehow, traditional culture has perverted this ideology with the deification of the Buddha, and the creation of a pantheon of future and past Buddha incarnations. I have a hard time believing that this was Gautama's intention.
"Not only is there nothing to be gained by believing an untruth, but there is everything to lose when we sacrifice the indispensable tool of reason on the altar of superstition." - Freedom from religion foundation
"Thus that which is the most awful of evils, death, is nothing to us, since when we exist there is no death, and when there is death we do not exist." - Epicurus, 341/270 BCE
I do however agree with: "Doubt everything. Find your own light." - Siddhartha Gautama (circa 563/483 BCE).
As I recall from a college course several years ago, the attitudes toward the Buddha are very different between the broad, general schools of Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhists believe as you describe. Siddharta Gautama, the first Buddha, was a man who had a great insight into living. Mahayana Buddhism, in contrast, contains a diversity of mystical, magical beliefs that vary across its many divisions including ones that Siddhartha lived as a demonstration or revelation of what he knew before his human birth rather than as a regular human life that included a great insight. Pure Land Buddhism, in my understanding, does involve worship.
These generalizations are general, vague and not true for every Buddhist, but the original post, to me, glossed over the diversity of beliefs regarding the Buddha and the mystical nature, including worship, contained in many of them.
The problem, as usual, is one of definition.
According to ESR's neopagan FAQ, "religion" comes from roots "re ligare", meaning "to rebind" to roots, to strengths, to the basics of things. In that sense, of rebinding, reconnecting, us to our true natures, I'm all for religion.
But in Western society, our experience of religion is very much formed by authoritarian dogma, so that we assume religion implies belief in supernatural entities and unquestioning faith. In that sense, I hold no truck with it.
It's worth noting that there are dogmatic Eastern practices and non-dogmatic Western ones (the Society of Friends, a.k.a. Quakers, leaps to mind), so it's not a strict East/West split by any means.
(BTW, for any neopagan geeks out there, I'll be presenting a workshop on "Zen Paganism" at the Starwood Festival again this year.)
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me .
Note the different emphasis? Now repeat the above biblical statement, and when I comes, slap your chest with emphasis. You will get it.
I am my own master. No other man is the master. No other man is my master. No other man can lead me on the right path. It is I (not you or he or them) who is my own master. I is Unique, He isn't. If you have to seek God, do it within yourself, don't depend on others (Even Jesus Christ) to do it for you. A person like Jesus or Gautama who have walked the path to Nirvana can only show the way, they won't carry you with them again.
A person who has attained Nirvana cannot put his experiences in words, because words are limited in use. When they mean I, they mean 'I' without changing its meaning from person to person. But languages are inadequate. The other person interprets it as 'He' which is not what They meant.
Without practicing some sort of Vipassana meditation (insight), these people never get it right. They stick some philosophy to it and write, and rewrite their books. How many Testaments of the Bible are there, and how many interpretations? The Buddhists also stuck the Sankhya Philosophy (given by a sage called Kapila) and made sects out of their own interpretations (Mahayana and Theravada) and stuck daggers at each others. Every religion is the same
If Jesus or Gautama were alive today they would have slapped their foreheads in frustration, or perhaps died of shame
It is you 'Christians' who have been trying to prove Christ a liar all along
I know you will find this statement harsh, but it is the bitter truth. Why don't you take 12 days off and join your nearest Vipassana center? They are worldwide. Vipassana is a technique which emphasizes on self observation. Each has his own observaions and experiences. So be it. Don't listen to what 'Others' tell you. Acceptance of a fact or fiction by a fraternity of fools does not make it a truth, even if the fools make the majority. If you are a devout Christian, you will only become more devout, but differently. For a change you will begin to appreciate the Bible by interpreting it properly