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Buddhists Really Are Happier

Posted by michael on from the ommmmmm dept.

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..."

3 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Correlation/Causation strikes again? by Goronguer · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Does Buddhism make people happy, or do people who are already happy become Buddhists?

    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.

  2. Re:mentality not the religion by Synic · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "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.

  3. Reincarnation. by I+am+Jack's+username · · Score: 4, Interesting
    "The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality." - George Bernard Shaw, 1912, Androcles and the lion

    "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).