"Only if you discard reincarnation, Nirvana, various supernatural beings like the "Monkey God" (as seen in the famous classical Chinese book "Voyage to the West" - basically the whole religion."
Actually the novel "Voyage to the West," is a satire written to reflect the political corruptions at the time. The "supernatural beings" are meant only as metaphors. And most of those beings are part of Chinese folk-lore rather than Buddhism. I seriously doubt you will find them, including the "Monkey God" (actually he's a "Monkey King," at least in the Chinese version I've read), in any of the Buddhism texts.
My understanding of Buddhism is that it is a more philosophy-oriented religion compared to Christianity and various other religions, which often require people to believe in (un)certain historical facts. And it doesn't claim monopoly on the truth (as everything is an illusion, even Buddha, according to some) and therefore definitely more compatible with science than most religions, I think.
Just my 2 cents.
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No doubt:) It's the official java IDE in my software engineering class :)
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/kids/
What better way to get them to learn about computers/Internet than building their own site? :)
Hope it helps.
"Only if you discard reincarnation, Nirvana, various supernatural beings like the "Monkey God" (as seen in the famous classical Chinese book "Voyage to the West" - basically the whole religion."
Actually the novel "Voyage to the West," is a satire written to reflect the political corruptions at the time. The "supernatural beings" are meant only as metaphors. And most of those beings are part of Chinese folk-lore rather than Buddhism. I seriously doubt you will find them, including the "Monkey God" (actually he's a "Monkey King," at least in the Chinese version I've read), in any of the Buddhism texts.
My understanding of Buddhism is that it is a more philosophy-oriented religion compared to Christianity and various other religions, which often require people to believe in (un)certain historical facts. And it doesn't claim monopoly on the truth (as everything is an illusion, even Buddha, according to some) and therefore definitely more compatible with science than most religions, I think. Just my 2 cents.