Gee, do you think maybe its because some people, other than Libertarians of course, may be motivated by things other than money? Do you think maybe its becasue we've all learned how good unchecked capitalism has been for people in the past (see The Great Depression)...
You may now knee-jerk react and call me a socialist or communist....
If it weren't for WWII, we wouldn't have had jet aircraft or rockets as soon. Spread Spectrum communications and RADAR may not exist or have been years behind where they are today..
But, of course, if WWII hadn't happened, we'd all be living under the thumb of either a facist Japanese dictatorship or under the thumb of a genocidal facist German dictarship. Millions might not have died in war, but millions more would have been exterminated in the Camps. Millions more would have been enslaved. And North America might be the new battle ground between the two. And since the Germans may have come up with the bomb, it is likely that the world of 2005 would be a smoking wasteland too harsh for even "Mad Max"...
I for one will give up on the "robot in every house" "flying car in the driveway" dream to avoid that.
Answer: Ask them. I'm sure they will all say yes. They know that being an astronaut is dangerous but what they are doing is worth the risk, why can't the NASA administrators?
With all deference to Burt Rutan and his accomplishments, he did in 2004 what NASA did in the 1950's and 1960's AND he used all the research findings that NASA discovered while doing it.
If NASA could have copied what others did, they could have done it cheaper too.
Burt Rutan had 40 years of areospace research to draw on. NASA had to do the reasearch and discover the stuff from scratch.
I have always loved the "idea" of a PDA, but I have never found one that meets the "idea."
My idea was that a PDA was a portable interface to a larger, networked computing environment, not just a portable hand held version of your desktop. You use your PDA as a portable means to access applications and data residing on the network with a little compute power in you hand for other things.
The reality is, unfortunately, this just doesn't exist. The network wasn't there and when it was, a PDA couldn't connect to it - it has only been recently that you could get 802.11x connectivity for you Palm. WinCE\WindMobile devices like the iPAQ had them but they were difficult to configure (type a 28 character WEP key in by hand with a stylus?!?!). And once you got them configured, what to use them for except surfing the net.
And then there are the other technical issues. If I leave my iPAQ in my bag overnight or over a weekend and the battery is sucked dry, it is the equivelent of a soft-reset. I loose many of my installed programs and data as the device resets to factory settings. They aren't easily upgradable for the expense of buying one. The data storage and capabilities of some of the OS are lacking. I would love to run full JVM (or at least a stripped down version that is customizable) on a PDA.
Just imaging an environment where your PDA can run some fairly powerful programs, can easily connect, or be configured to connect, to a network. It can display highspeed graphics, dynamically download code (via say Jini) and can connect to devices and service with say jxta - one minute it can be your remote control for the TV\DVD\Stereo, the next your VOIP soft phone, the next you are using an application to enter data at work. This PDA can be easily upgraded and wounldn't lose data unless you format the storage device.
Until the day comes when all of this is available in a consumer device rather than a geek-hacked, one-off experiment (cuz I know ALL of the above can be done with the right tools, apis and a soldering iron), PDAs will never live up to thier promise.
According to the book I base my beliefs on, and which you apparently reject, one of the answers to "why are we here" is "to help each other when the other is poor, cold, hungry, tired, etc."
The book I base my beliefs on says the same thing, except it also aays that there is no God or God(s)and that all power to change anything is within every person (its called the Dharmapada, BTW). That book also says not to take anything on "faith" but to question authority and test what you have been told to arrive at the truth. You book does not have a monopoly on knowledge, you know.
None of the idea of "helping each other when we are cold" requires us to do that for fear of punishment from a bearded white man that lives in the sky. Rather, cooperationa and altruism are, according to Game Theory and evolution, the best strategy for long term survival (see the book The Evolution of Cooperation). So, technically, that answer WAS arrived at by the scientific method.
It doesn't matter why we are here, we just are...lets get on with it.
Well brother, I too am a Buddhist and a former Christian.
I am not disagreeing with what you said of Islam based on what is in its holy book, but Christianity is just as culpable. If you have Jesus as a role model, you may be just a susceptible to strange interpretations of that holy book as well.
The origin of this thread was a direct attack on a single religion, as if it were the only one that had these problems and atrocities associated with it. I merely pointed out that the mainstream religion of many Americans (Christianity) is the same, based on its holy book. And as many Christians DO live on the dark side of the Bible as Muslims that live on the dark side of the Koran.
Remeber, Jesus came not to bring peace, but sword!
Most mainstream Muslims are indeed peace-loving individuals, as are most mainstream Christians. They ingnore the nastier parts of their holy books as quaint outdated relics of a bygone age. Both take the BEST of their holy teachings and apply it on a daily basis. But if you wish to sully a single religion because of dated, violent passages in its holy book you must do the same for all. Measuring by passages in both the Old and New Testament, Christianity is just as evil a religion as Islam.
Why not look at what each has in common rather than differences? Why spread this bile, that is likely to cause suffering and hatred, against our Muslim brothers and sisters? Not exactly "Right Speech" is it?
Perhaps you need to review the 8-fold path again....
Still, not "millions" of Muslims dancing in the streets...CNN did cover the thousands of Muslims that prayed and protested against the 9\11 attacks in other Muslim centres as well, but people seem to forget that when writing their anti-Islamic diatribes. Palestinians who did this were doing it as Palestinians not as Muslims...there were plenty of Christian Palestinians celebrating this as well.
Should the non-Christian world think poorly of Christianity when they see the Topeka, Kansas Westboro Baptist Church hatemongers protesting and celebrating the kidnapping of a Swedish boy during the aftermath of the tsunami? I din't think so..
As an atheist, I think the people who beleive in a god or gods are poor superstitous bumpkins. As a Buddhist, I recognize the pragmatism that all religions, despite their superstitious elements, want peace, love and the end to suffering. And if interjecting in hate filled diatribe to remind people that they are the same as those they condemn is what needs to be done, I'll do it. It is my duty to spread compassion and to fight injustice wshen I see it, and not stand by.
Why does the religion of peace need special instructions on how to act civilized?
You mean like 10 Commandments or something? Why do Christians need this?
Why is the religion of peace directly responsible for 28 out of the 30 violent conflicts raging in the world today?
Hmm, really? Please enumerate them. Christianity seems to have its hand in a lot of them too.
Why is the religion of peace responsible for the vast majority of chattel slavery in the world today?
Really? Care to cite a source? BTW, the Southern Baptist Conference was pro-slavery throughout the civil war. There is NOTHING in the Bible condemning slavery - in many places slavery is condoned. Are you sure slavery is something inherent to a religion, or is it more likely poverty and economics?
Why is the religion of peace responsible for the vast majority of terrorism in the 20th and 21st Centuries?
The same reason Christianity was responsible for it in the preceeding 18 centuries. Because. Now, if you would care to substantiate this allegation, I'm all ears. The IRA, FARC and ETA have killed a lot more people in those centuries than Islamic terrorists but they just haven't been getting the press coverage since 9\11...
Why are the practitioners of the religion of peace routinely slaughtering unarmed practitioners of every other religion wherever they can get away with it?
I think what you meant to say was "SOME practitioners". Again, this can equally and justifiably be said of Christianity as well. When the Army of God or Eric Rudolph kills abortion doctors or some blond-haired, blue-eyed boy next door blows up 168 people in a federal building, you don't seem to blame all Christians or all Americans do you?
Why does the religion of peace call for the murder of anyone who converts from the religion of peace to another religion?
Oh you mean like these guys? Yeah, your right...what kind of sick religion is THAT?
Why do so many of the believers of the religion of peace look forward to the opportunity to rape 72 virgins in heaven if they die while killing innocent women and children of other religions? Is it a god they worship, or just sex? If a god, then shouldnt heaven have more to do with him than their libidos?
Would you care to show where it says ALL muslims share this belief? Or have you been watching too much Fox News...The Church of the Creator thinks that the White Race was Gods true choosen people and can even quote the Bible to back it up...doesn't make it so and doesn't mean All Christians think that way. Don't mistake the beleifs a a sick minority with the whole religion.
Why do the leaders of the religion of peace routinely issue fatwas (death warrants) for anybody who questions their holy book of peace and their holy prophet of peace?
You mean like Christianity did for hundreds of years upto the begining of the 19th century...Catholic AND protestant? Think of about 5 centuries of Jews and witches being burned at the stake. Better yet, read up about the murder of Hypatia in Alexadria. You know its is bad, but again, if Jerry Falwell claims that 9\11 happened because America pissed of your God doesn't mean ALL Christians think like that...
Why is the religion of peace responsible for the sexual mutilation of millions of little girls and the savage oppression of women?
But sexual mutilation of infant boys is ok then? Christianity has not exactly been a beacon of equality for women either, save the last 40 years of so...
Why did millions of the practitioners of the religion of peace laugh, cheer and dance in the street because 3,000 innocent men, women and children were murdered by seventeen men who supposedly hijacked the religion of peace? And why dont the real practitioners of the religion of peace condemn the supposed hijackers of their religion? Why th
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.
In North American Buddhist circles it has always been suspected that Einstien was a Buddhist. Not a practicing Buddhist, but that his ideas matched those of Buddhist philosophy.
One of the cornerstones of Buddhism is not to accept dogma because it is handed down by "holy men" or "authorities" but to try it for yourself. If it does not work, disregard it. This is a lesson taught by the Buddha himself. Sounds an awfull lot like the scientific method to me.
Also, recently, the Dalai Lama stated publicly that if science ever proved any tenent of Buddhism incorrect, that Buddhists would accept that as the truth and move on. Can you imagine the Pope saying such a thing? Not likely (just ask Galilleo).
We can't understand God so all his actions must be good, or at least the least cruel and evil because God by definition is loving. In this line of logic there is nothing said God can do that is not loving, even if it resllts in untold suffering, cruelty and death, because everything he does is loving because he is loving.
Talk about circular logic.
I can't talk for Kirshna or Ganeesh or Zoroaster, but the Judeao-Christian-Islamic God of the Bible\Koran is incredibly cruel and arbitrary, by (if you believe these holy books are the "breathed word or God") his own admission. Killing hundreds of innocent people, including children, giving virgins over for soldiers to have their way with etc all seems pretty cruel to me and not the actions of a "loving" god.
If you wish to hide behind your sohistry, feel free. But don't think it clever, you just fooling yourself and rationalizing evil.
Not intellectual prowess, just trying to be a smart ass...
I have learned in more than a few posts here that you don't assume to push your religious or philisophic views on someone. I figured he was already a Buddhist and thus would know who Siddharha Guatamo was...I was wrong.
In case you are wondering Siddharth Guatamo==the Buddha.
I was trying to be cute cuz I thought you were already a follower...(since you nailed the essence of Buddhism bang on)
I'm like you. I stopped beleiving in God and Christianity at about 14 because it just didn't make sense. Over the years, through a lot of trial and error, I came up with the same ideas you did, also on my own...and they seem to work quite well.
Only after I started Kung Fu at 36 and did a little research did I discover Buddhism and discover that the philosophy of Buddhism (I would shy away from calling it a religion, since its still atheistic and more of a simple "practice" than anything) was exactly what I had come up with on my own.
And your right, it just makes sense. And as you posted to another thread earlier, it's hard to live by on a daily basis, but at least you know you can make up for any mistakes.
Glad to see others using their minds for the purpose to which they evolved.
I would recommend "What the Buddha Taught" by Rahula Wapola and "How to Practice" by HH the Dalai Lama as good starting points....
i don't beleive in the christian god, but i know there has to be something out there, things are just to "perfect" to randomly appear.
I think what you meant to say was:
"i don't beleive in the christian god, but i WANT there has to be something out there, things are just to "perfect" to randomly appear.
Are things "too perfect" because the earth and the universe was built around us and our design or are they "too perfect" because we eveloved to fit "perfectly" into this universe, that if the universe was different, we would be different also and wondering the same thoughts.
Just thought you might want to consider these things along with a healthy dose of Occam's Razor...
Slashdot Mirror
Gee, do you think maybe its because some people, other than Libertarians of course, may be motivated by things other than money? Do you think maybe its becasue we've all learned how good unchecked capitalism has been for people in the past (see The Great Depression)...
You may now knee-jerk react and call me a socialist or communist....
Are you for real?
If it weren't for WWII, we wouldn't have had jet aircraft or rockets as soon. Spread Spectrum communications and RADAR may not exist or have been years behind where they are today..
But, of course, if WWII hadn't happened, we'd all be living under the thumb of either a facist Japanese dictatorship or under the thumb of a genocidal facist German dictarship. Millions might not have died in war, but millions more would have been exterminated in the Camps. Millions more would have been enslaved. And North America might be the new battle ground between the two. And since the Germans may have come up with the bomb, it is likely that the world of 2005 would be a smoking wasteland too harsh for even "Mad Max"...
I for one will give up on the "robot in every house" "flying car in the driveway" dream to avoid that.
Answer: Ask them. I'm sure they will all say yes. They know that being an astronaut is dangerous but what they are doing is worth the risk, why can't the NASA administrators?
Uhm no...
With all deference to Burt Rutan and his accomplishments, he did in 2004 what NASA did in the 1950's and 1960's AND he used all the research findings that NASA discovered while doing it.
If NASA could have copied what others did, they could have done it cheaper too.
Burt Rutan had 40 years of areospace research to draw on. NASA had to do the reasearch and discover the stuff from scratch.
Don't compare apples and oranges.
Yes, hard reset...sorry...I need more coffee
"Don't believe the FUD, our health care is STILL cheaper than yours..." A Canadian (1967 - )
I have always loved the "idea" of a PDA, but I have never found one that meets the "idea."
My idea was that a PDA was a portable interface to a larger, networked computing environment, not just a portable hand held version of your desktop. You use your PDA as a portable means to access applications and data residing on the network with a little compute power in you hand for other things.
The reality is, unfortunately, this just doesn't exist. The network wasn't there and when it was, a PDA couldn't connect to it - it has only been recently that you could get 802.11x connectivity for you Palm. WinCE\WindMobile devices like the iPAQ had them but they were difficult to configure (type a 28 character WEP key in by hand with a stylus?!?!). And once you got them configured, what to use them for except surfing the net.
And then there are the other technical issues. If I leave my iPAQ in my bag overnight or over a weekend and the battery is sucked dry, it is the equivelent of a soft-reset. I loose many of my installed programs and data as the device resets to factory settings. They aren't easily upgradable for the expense of buying one. The data storage and capabilities of some of the OS are lacking. I would love to run full JVM (or at least a stripped down version that is customizable) on a PDA.
Just imaging an environment where your PDA can run some fairly powerful programs, can easily connect, or be configured to connect, to a network. It can display highspeed graphics, dynamically download code (via say Jini) and can connect to devices and service with say jxta - one minute it can be your remote control for the TV\DVD\Stereo, the next your VOIP soft phone, the next you are using an application to enter data at work. This PDA can be easily upgraded and wounldn't lose data unless you format the storage device.
Until the day comes when all of this is available in a consumer device rather than a geek-hacked, one-off experiment (cuz I know ALL of the above can be done with the right tools, apis and a soldering iron), PDAs will never live up to thier promise.
According to the book I base my beliefs on, and which you apparently reject, one of the answers to "why are we here" is "to help each other when the other is poor, cold, hungry, tired, etc."
The book I base my beliefs on says the same thing, except it also aays that there is no God or God(s)and that all power to change anything is within every person (its called the Dharmapada, BTW). That book also says not to take anything on "faith" but to question authority and test what you have been told to arrive at the truth. You book does not have a monopoly on knowledge, you know.
None of the idea of "helping each other when we are cold" requires us to do that for fear of punishment from a bearded white man that lives in the sky. Rather, cooperationa and altruism are, according to Game Theory and evolution, the best strategy for long term survival (see the book The Evolution of Cooperation). So, technically, that answer WAS arrived at by the scientific method.
It doesn't matter why we are here, we just are...lets get on with it.
Here ya go
You may want to wait a week or so until they get caught up to Postres...
Thats the point...they are NOT Islamic, therefore, along with the IRA, shows that the majority of terrorists are not Muslim....
It seems to be quite fashionable here to be hate Islam....sorry I won't play along...
Well brother, I too am a Buddhist and a former Christian.
I am not disagreeing with what you said of Islam based on what is in its holy book, but Christianity is just as culpable. If you have Jesus as a role model, you may be just a susceptible to strange interpretations of that holy book as well.
The origin of this thread was a direct attack on a single religion, as if it were the only one that had these problems and atrocities associated with it. I merely pointed out that the mainstream religion of many Americans (Christianity) is the same, based on its holy book. And as many Christians DO live on the dark side of the Bible as Muslims that live on the dark side of the Koran.
Remeber, Jesus came not to bring peace, but sword!
Most mainstream Muslims are indeed peace-loving individuals, as are most mainstream Christians. They ingnore the nastier parts of their holy books as quaint outdated relics of a bygone age. Both take the BEST of their holy teachings and apply it on a daily basis. But if you wish to sully a single religion because of dated, violent passages in its holy book you must do the same for all. Measuring by passages in both the Old and New Testament, Christianity is just as evil a religion as Islam.
Why not look at what each has in common rather than differences? Why spread this bile, that is likely to cause suffering and hatred, against our Muslim brothers and sisters? Not exactly "Right Speech" is it?
Perhaps you need to review the 8-fold path again....
Well I stand corrected...
Still, not "millions" of Muslims dancing in the streets...CNN did cover the thousands of Muslims that prayed and protested against the 9\11 attacks in other Muslim centres as well, but people seem to forget that when writing their anti-Islamic diatribes. Palestinians who did this were doing it as Palestinians not as Muslims...there were plenty of Christian Palestinians celebrating this as well.
Should the non-Christian world think poorly of Christianity when they see the Topeka, Kansas Westboro Baptist Church hatemongers protesting and celebrating the kidnapping of a Swedish boy during the aftermath of the tsunami? I din't think so..
As an atheist, I think the people who beleive in a god or gods are poor superstitous bumpkins. As a Buddhist, I recognize the pragmatism that all religions, despite their superstitious elements, want peace, love and the end to suffering. And if interjecting in hate filled diatribe to remind people that they are the same as those they condemn is what needs to be done, I'll do it. It is my duty to spread compassion and to fight injustice wshen I see it, and not stand by.
I saw it and I have no apologies.
Hmmm, haven read the Bible lately have you? All those same atrocities and more.
Are you willing to post the same condemnation of Jesus and Christianity to Slashdot?
I thought not...
"We have just enought religion to make us hate one another but not enough to make us love one another" - Johnathan Swift
Right On!
I was beginning to think I was the only one who thought this...
Why does the religion of peace need special instructions on how to act civilized?
You mean like 10 Commandments or something? Why do Christians need this?
Why is the religion of peace directly responsible for 28 out of the 30 violent conflicts raging in the world today?
Hmm, really? Please enumerate them. Christianity seems to have its hand in a lot of them too.
Why is the religion of peace responsible for the vast majority of chattel slavery in the world today?
Really? Care to cite a source? BTW, the Southern Baptist Conference was pro-slavery throughout the civil war. There is NOTHING in the Bible condemning slavery - in many places slavery is condoned. Are you sure slavery is something inherent to a religion, or is it more likely poverty and economics?
Why is the religion of peace responsible for the vast majority of terrorism in the 20th and 21st Centuries?
The same reason Christianity was responsible for it in the preceeding 18 centuries. Because. Now, if you would care to substantiate this allegation, I'm all ears. The IRA, FARC and ETA have killed a lot more people in those centuries than Islamic terrorists but they just haven't been getting the press coverage since 9\11...
Why are the practitioners of the religion of peace routinely slaughtering unarmed practitioners of every other religion wherever they can get away with it?
I think what you meant to say was "SOME practitioners". Again, this can equally and justifiably be said of Christianity as well. When the Army of God or Eric Rudolph kills abortion doctors or some blond-haired, blue-eyed boy next door blows up 168 people in a federal building, you don't seem to blame all Christians or all Americans do you?
Why does the religion of peace call for the murder of anyone who converts from the religion of peace to another religion?
Oh you mean like these guys? Yeah, your right...what kind of sick religion is THAT?
Why do so many of the believers of the religion of peace look forward to the opportunity to rape 72 virgins in heaven if they die while killing innocent women and children of other religions? Is it a god they worship, or just sex? If a god, then shouldnt heaven have more to do with him than their libidos?
Would you care to show where it says ALL muslims share this belief? Or have you been watching too much Fox News...The Church of the Creator thinks that the White Race was Gods true choosen people and can even quote the Bible to back it up...doesn't make it so and doesn't mean All Christians think that way. Don't mistake the beleifs a a sick minority with the whole religion.
Why do the leaders of the religion of peace routinely issue fatwas (death warrants) for anybody who questions their holy book of peace and their holy prophet of peace?
You mean like Christianity did for hundreds of years upto the begining of the 19th century...Catholic AND protestant? Think of about 5 centuries of Jews and witches being burned at the stake. Better yet, read up about the murder of Hypatia in Alexadria. You know its is bad, but again, if Jerry Falwell claims that 9\11 happened because America pissed of your God doesn't mean ALL Christians think like that...
Why is the religion of peace responsible for the sexual mutilation of millions of little girls and the savage oppression of women?
But sexual mutilation of infant boys is ok then? Christianity has not exactly been a beacon of equality for women either, save the last 40 years of so...
Why did millions of the practitioners of the religion of peace laugh, cheer and dance in the street because 3,000 innocent men, women and children were murdered by seventeen men who supposedly hijacked the religion of peace? And why dont the real practitioners of the religion of peace condemn the supposed hijackers of their religion? Why th
Hey...that's 'Running Dog Imperialist' to you...
;)
Get it right...
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...)
Yep.
In North American Buddhist circles it has always been suspected that Einstien was a Buddhist. Not a practicing Buddhist, but that his ideas matched those of Buddhist philosophy.
One of the cornerstones of Buddhism is not to accept dogma because it is handed down by "holy men" or "authorities" but to try it for yourself. If it does not work, disregard it. This is a lesson taught by the Buddha himself. Sounds an awfull lot like the scientific method to me.
Also, recently, the Dalai Lama stated publicly that if science ever proved any tenent of Buddhism incorrect, that Buddhists would accept that as the truth and move on. Can you imagine the Pope saying such a thing? Not likely (just ask Galilleo).
Sophistry!
We can't understand God so all his actions must be good, or at least the least cruel and evil because God by definition is loving. In this line of logic there is nothing said God can do that is not loving, even if it resllts in untold suffering, cruelty and death, because everything he does is loving because he is loving.
Talk about circular logic.
I can't talk for Kirshna or Ganeesh or Zoroaster, but the Judeao-Christian-Islamic God of the Bible\Koran is incredibly cruel and arbitrary, by (if you believe these holy books are the "breathed word or God") his own admission. Killing hundreds of innocent people, including children, giving virgins over for soldiers to have their way with etc all seems pretty cruel to me and not the actions of a "loving" god.
If you wish to hide behind your sohistry, feel free. But don't think it clever, you just fooling yourself and rationalizing evil.
Not intellectual prowess, just trying to be a smart ass...
I have learned in more than a few posts here that you don't assume to push your religious or philisophic views on someone. I figured he was already a Buddhist and thus would know who Siddharha Guatamo was...I was wrong.
In case you are wondering Siddharth Guatamo==the Buddha.
I was trying to be cute cuz I thought you were already a follower...(since you nailed the essence of Buddhism bang on)
I'm like you. I stopped beleiving in God and Christianity at about 14 because it just didn't make sense. Over the years, through a lot of trial and error, I came up with the same ideas you did, also on my own...and they seem to work quite well.
Only after I started Kung Fu at 36 and did a little research did I discover Buddhism and discover that the philosophy of Buddhism (I would shy away from calling it a religion, since its still atheistic and more of a simple "practice" than anything) was exactly what I had come up with on my own.
And your right, it just makes sense. And as you posted to another thread earlier, it's hard to live by on a daily basis, but at least you know you can make up for any mistakes.
Glad to see others using their minds for the purpose to which they evolved.
I would recommend "What the Buddha Taught" by Rahula Wapola and "How to Practice" by HH the Dalai Lama as good starting points....
Peace buddy!
I'm with you on that one....
And if it turns out we're wrong, Buddhists will simply change their philosophy to match reality rather than the other way around.
i don't beleive in the christian god, but i know there has to be something out there, things are just to "perfect" to randomly appear.
I think what you meant to say was:
"i don't beleive in the christian god, but i WANT there has to be something out there, things are just to "perfect" to randomly appear.
Are things "too perfect" because the earth and the universe was built around us and our design or are they "too perfect" because we eveloved to fit "perfectly" into this universe, that if the universe was different, we would be different also and wondering the same thoughts.
Just thought you might want to consider these things along with a healthy dose of Occam's Razor...
MOD Points! Where are my mod points....
Nice to see another person that subscribes to the philosophy of Siddhartha Guatamo. We need a few more in this world.
Peace.
And, I believe being done in Toronto by Starnix (along with a few other cool things). Remember this?:
"That's one PDA doing the job of two desktop PCs, a notebook PC, and three telephones."
I suspect using a trimode card with any PDA\Palm\laptop you could home brew your own version of this that could pick up GSM as well.
Still, pretty interesting...