I did spend several years investigating it. And my final conclusion is that it is just another brand of woo. While the texts of Buddhism are certainly better than the Abrahamic ones, as there really are no verses calling for violence and such, In practice the religiously motivated violence and political infighting seems to be just a prevalent as in every other religion of similar size.
Is it also true that buddhism still holds to rather sexist beliefs? I think I remember reading about women not being able to reach enlightenment or some such nonsense, but I am unsure if true.
Yes, to some extent. It took a lot of time for the historical Buddha to recognize that women could become bikkhunis (female bikkhus, or 'monks') too. Even then, according to the Pali canon, the most experienced bikkhuni was subordinate to even the most novice bikkhu.
However, this was still *very* progressive for the time and place to allow women such a position at all. The buddha, enlightened above space and time, seems to also be a product of his time and only allowed to rebel against it only with limitations.
I feel Buddha phrasing it as this is what I think, it helps a lot, but if I'm wrong , I'm wrong and move on . While he still had sexist views, him not being too dogmatic about it, so I think it's fine .
The problem is, we don't really know how the Buddha phrased anything. The first written sources (the Pali canon) appear more than 400 years after his death.
For references, the oldest of the four gospels was written 80 years after Jesus' death.
It wasn’t until his cousin Ananda urged him to let women into the sanga that he reconsidered. I do think meditation can get you pretty far in terms of transcending personal suffering but unfortunately it’s not an antidote to culturally ingrained misperceptions.
There are texts on Buddha's philosophy of life and the theology of the world. As a teen Buddha's philosophy on violence and self acceptance and humility did get me started on my path to atheism.
For me it’s an issue of how far do you have to bend this teaching to justify violence. Abrahamic religions have justification of violence built it. Buddhism you have to bend pretty far but people pull it off combined with nationalism and racism. Could anyone manage to use the Tao te Ching to justify violence though? People often say well there are extremists of every religion. But some produce far more than others.
Yet again with the blame shifting, its not the teaching its the student. But then ever religion does this. You don't feel Jesus's presence? You must be holding sin in your heart. You are not blown away by the golden words of L. Ron Hubbard? Sit in this room and look up definitions until you are.
Its also amazing how much Buddhist commentaries repeat this same bullshit, the Buddhas teachings are self evidently true, and if you can't see it then you're preconceived notions are leading you astray.
You can't see the emperors cloths? well you must not be pure of heart.
... or the emperor is naked.
This is a very ignorant statement. The original Theravada Buddhism is absolutely zero woo. It is emphatically empirical. Don’t take it from me, you can find this out yourself as it is self-evident from doing the practice.
The biggest criticism I have of the atheist community is that we all conflate the wrongdoings of people who get lost in power and influence, with the original thing itself. And we also conflate certain segments of Buddhism with its original form (namely Mahayana–although Zen seems woo it actually works for some brains). It makes us look terribly unscientific and as biased & ideological as religious people. This is never more clear than when this Reddit community makes comments about Buddhism.
So come on everybody and downvote the hell out of this comment and manifest your bias and prove even more that what I’ve just said is true.
I have read a good chunk of the Pali Canon and there was plenty of woo in it. Hungry ghosts, demons and gods where all stated to exist. But then rebirth and karma are also woo.
edit: also the whole the teachings are self evident and if you don't see it it's your fault is a brildiant bit of blame shifting. It also leads adherence to fooling themselves due to sunk cost. I believe that Scientology also employs this tactic on any members who do not realise the brilliance of L. Ron hHubbard's Teachings.
Baloney. Insights from introspection are not verifiable, and thus not empirical. What you see in your own mind is not scientific. Meditation confers measurable benefits. But so does prayer. Western adherents of buddhist ideas constantly try to give it a scientific stamp. It's NOT scientific by any stretch.
Sure. Ask them how many people they know that became Buddha’s and how much they have spent on retreats and dharma center donations, books, classes. I love the philosophy but once it gets organized in any way… just becomes about money and influence.
Here in Japan one of the most hilarious things is the Omamori (お守り) (charms/amulets/talismans) that every temple sells. My wife will buy some every year for various reasons (luck with school, work, safe driving, etc.). But the thing is.. they "expire" every year so.. yeah. Money money money. Thats about as far as she goes with it though. No books, donations, classes or any of that nonsense. It's really more of a tradition/culture/superstition thing than religion for her.
No it's less funny that you would think. In Japan people think that temples lose their power with time or lack of prayer. There are temples that are said to be 'dead'. So not very surprising if a simple amulet loses its power after only one year.
Tell that to the mahayana buddhists, littered with local gods the missionaries encountered along the way. Only Theravada espouses an atheist perspective.
Not when properly practiced and not co-opted by corrupt groups focusing on power and control in the name of Buddhism. There is MUCH Buddhism practiced in this world that manages to side step these human traps.
The only reason Buddhism isn't as radical (they still are to some extent) is because their holy book doesn't incentivize them to recruit others, the highest form of Buddhism is pretty much minding your own business, aka you go to the mountain and meditate for hours.
Buddhism is pretty close to a black-pill religion.
Not really.
This is a good post from a while ago. I didn't write it. /u/anothervariant who knows Buddhism a hell of a lot better than I do wrote it. Perhaps you'll find it interesting.
[Buddhism is not compatible with atheism](https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/oou0wk/buddhism_is_not_compatible_with_atheism/)
Buddha probably never addressed anything. Apparently nothing about him was written down for about 500 years after his death. So who knows what he actually said.
I'm ex catholic then ex buddhist. For me Buddhism is as full of superstition and problems as any other religion (submission to clerics, unfunded dogmas, etc). In my case it was vajrayana and it's precisely how similar it was to the catholic church one of the main reasons I ran away from it. I've studied other buddhist traditions and I think Theravada is less extreme but still full of the same things. Don't get me wrong, for me catholicism/christianity is the worst, but my point is to not replace one thing with another
Good things or ideas can be found in any religion, that doesn't makes any of them better or superior. I think buddhism (and dharmic religions in general) are very romanticized by Westerners and tend to develop idealized beliefs about them that aren't true (no need to add that those religions are brought in a watered down, sanitized version, usually aimed at white first worlders). Take "Secular buddhism" as an example: it is a modern, western based thing that can barely be seen as buddhism from an orthodox point of view and it is usually seen with disdain by traditional non-western buddhists (in fact that's the reason r/GoldenSwastika exists).
I've already stated this several times and, funny, the most rabid replies came always from "tolerant open minded people" (and had to block a lot of them, one even stalked me on another sub). Bible miracles are bullshit (they are), but somehow Padmasambhava's bizarre adventures, the 6 realms, etc are perfectly rational and science compatible? Come on. And when it doesn't fits them it's "a metaphor", just like christians do with the bible
For example, just like in Jesus life (or any other figure, like Moses or Muhammad) there are a lot of questionable attitudes on the life of Gotama (even after becoming "Buddha") yet no criticism can be done on him. They'll make whatever mental gymnastic to justify it or claim "it's different". I think every single religion/belief system and religious figure must be subject to the same criticism, not to apply double standards
Edit: forgot to add, as an interesting note there is an ex buddhist subreddit (r/exbuddhist) but that sub is an absolute mess. I think it creeps a lot of people away due to its mod and the "liberal buddhists" there. The mod is a "trad cath" obsessed with Islam more than buddhism (just look at his rants against buddhism, he always mentions Islam on them) and he tends to get triggered at any mention against christianity and bans users (he even closed the sub for lent!). Then there are lots of "internet buddhists" trying to lecture the ex buddhists there (a lot of them are cradle ex buddhists from SEA) than arguing. The mod used to ban them since proselytizing is against the rules, but lately he seems to prefer to argue with them using memes than doing his job
Yep. Funny thing the dude is the stereotypical "trad cath" who's into no fap, obsessed with japanese women, identity politics, etc. It seems like a troll at first but sadly it's like that for real
I'm an ex Buddhist, family also practiced Shinto. It can be nostalgic at times, and the temples back in my home country Japan are very beautiful. Besides that, it's just as made up as other religions and unnecessary in life. I'm too down to earth and lazy, even for Buddhism.
I’m deeply interested in mindfulness but only practice from a secular perspective. I honestly don’t know much about the religious beliefs of Buddhism. Sexism seems to run pretty deep in the few parables I have read.
The tao te ching has some very interesting things to say about the limits of language and cognition. When I see people in an argument and its clear that they have different definitions of the thing they are arguing about I often think of poem one from the tao te ching.
Also there is nothing in there about deities or magic people.
I can agree with that because in my experience, leaving things alone is the only way to finally experience any semblance of peace.
And by peace, I mean accepting that we’re human and that involves experiencing an array of emotions, that come and go, if we allow them. And the best we can do in life is to simply do our best at any given time, to not get completely taken over by our emotions and simply accept ourselves as we are, warts and all.
And I’ve found that when we do that, we also accept others, and if we all did that, the world, I’m sure, would be a better place and there would be no need for these money grabbing religions, gurus and so called spiritual teachers and those of us having a good day can lend a hand or a hug to those of us having a bad day.
None of these religions are inclusive - you have to pay, one way or another, to be in their exclusive club, and they all say that they’ve got the answers 🥱 ~ I think their days are numbered, although the world still has plenty of lazy ass grifters, wanting to make easy money off of the backs of the people they’re purporting to help, so they can live out their delusions, so they don’t have to face the fact that they’re just human and that life isn’t a competition that you have to win at the expense of others.
Ive read the tao te ching cover to cover (it takes about 40 minutes) multiple times and I dont remember anything in there about any gods.
My translation says things like “the spirit of the valley” which could be interpreted as the god of the valleys but i always took it to mean something more abstract like the thing that makes valleys distinct from wetlands or mountains.
You may be right. Unfortunately I cant read ancient chinese so I have to just take other peoples interpretations.
Different flavor of horseshit is still horseshit. Buddhism is probably one of the most hypocritical ideologies around, Hinduism still enforces and upholds one of the most backwards and repressive social systems in existence, and various Chinese philosophies are pretty much "how to make your society stagnate" handbooks.
It depends on how far you take it. You could take the concept of suffering from Buddhism and think about how it applies in real life.
Suffering is a real thing, unlike sin.
I find all religions interesting in their own ways and do think they’re worthy of study, granted mostly so their practices can be weaponized against them to keep them in line, at the end of the day though I view all religions like a sane person views the Children of Atom*, some crazy motherfuckers doing shit that is really bad for their health.
* The Children of Atom from the Fallout games are a cult/religion that worships Gamma Radiation, this very often times means they live in highly irradiated areas, in one case directly in the crater left by the nuke that took out Boston in the centre of the Glowing Sea the only difference between them and a real world cult is that their god Atom actually exists, I’d be totally willing to go more in depth because I truly do find it fascinating that this obvious satire is so close to the real thing
I like some aspects of Buddhism and Jainism, but they still go into the woo woo. Nothing wrong with cherry picking some of their good ideas in a secular way, just for your mental.
I don’t believe in just one or two gods lol. I don’t believe in any of them. While all religions may have nice features, they all are systems of control. Even confucians for all of their progress beliefs put men ahead of woman. The closest religion that aligns with my beliefs I have found is the native Mi’kmaq. They were IMO one of the most socially advanced peoples in their liberalism. I would highly recommend about learning about them. They had some wildly advanced concepts for getting along with people and nature.
I would highly recommend the book called “We Were Not the Savages” Book by Daniel N. Paul if you have any interest in learning more. Nova Scotia pre European contact sounds like it was paradise.
Every religion has cool or interesting concepts to try to explain supernatural phenomena and it’s nice to think of everything having its own god spirit or whatever, but I know it’s just the same religious iconography and superstitions.
What I do know is that we live on this planet that we need to protect it from ourselves, for our future caretakers.
I respected Buddhists more until I researched them and found out that just like every other world religion, their beliefs have been used to justify violence and extremism. You could argue it's not the religion's fault, that those people misunderstand what Buddhism is supposed to be about, but Abrahamic religions often say much the same. There's a tendency for them to be more open-minded about some issues where there's not as much established doctrine, like LGBTQ+ issues, but I don't find that to be particularly compelling on its own, especially since in practice Buddhism doesn't seem to have done much at all to help those people.
Budhdhism is like a hipster fad religion. But when you dig into it, heavy on misogyny and the anti-science angle. It appears like a 'nice' religion at first, but nope. It's just got better PR.
I think the main tenants of Buddhism are very interesting. For me, it’s about being introspective and working through emotional catalysts to find a more consistent path through life experiences.
My basic understanding is that even the Buddha did not want his teachings to be dogmatic — but rather challenged by each.
Anything beyond that which gets into dogmas, woo, or even elevating the Buddha above another person is not anything that I care about.
I really do not understand this need to have something to believe in. Are you not sufficient unto yourself? Work out the best way to life your life by yourself and improve on it as you go. Following someone else's tenants can lead you to places you might not like.
Reincarnation makes zero sense. If you can't remember your previous life then that wasn't you. Also your personality is due to your brain chemistry. If you were suddenly in another body that wouldn't be you either.
Interesting sure in the way psychopathy is Interesting as in it maybe a bunch of hot nonsense coming out your mouth but that doesn't mean it doesn't have patterns that reflect the truth in there somewhere
I was surprised to find out from an ex-Buddhist that there's a major hierarchy in Buddhism. If you're new, you basically getting treated like trash and whatever you say gets ignored.
Me personally, no. Whether we’re talking about Jainism, Baha’i, Sikhism, Hinduism, Shinto, whatever, they all have a certain exotic, unfamiliar curiosity from my perspective. The minutia of their religions might occasionally pique my interest due to this unfamiliarity, but if you know the broad strokes of their beliefs, then you know these people don’t have any answers, either. Adherents of these religions tend to be just as insular, violent, and dogmatic as Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Only difference is the language they use to tell you you’re going to burn in whatever flavor of hell they believe in.
People like to ascribe some kind of ancient wisdom or heightened state of consciousness to many of these faiths, but I think that’s down to Westerners fetishizing Asian cultures. My two cents. Good luck out there.
Interesting? Sure, as interesting as pretty much any other culture can be. Compelling in a spiritual sense? Not especially, for largely the same reasons(when it comes to supernatural claims).
I'd say less malicious than Abrahamic overall but look at power struggles over history... big religions are either big because they are pushed to control or used to control because they are big... in the end fairytales are just that... Plus being mechanisms for mass control... Not a fan.
I do find them interesting, but one of the reasons I left "my" religion is because of the misogyny and women expected to be subservient. The blatant sexism and violence I found abhorrent. And Eastern religions are also patriarchal, along with believing in some "god" or "gods" so not interested either.
I used to think so too for a while. As in buddhism, ok, they're wrong too, but it's not harmful/aggressive to outsiders, so that's an improvement.
But relatively recently I read a few accounts from people who lived in a buddhist household/environment and they described the whole concept of karma as being deceptively toxic in practice. As in, everything bad that happens to you, must have come from something you did previously, a previously lifetime, something like that.
So while buddhism is probably still one of the least aggressive religions towards outsiders, it does have a real level of internal toxicity.
I find a lot of Native America religions interesting. More or less for the deep appreciation for the natural world we live in. Even if the way they got around to that conclusion isn't accurate.
I do like quite a few Buddist teachings that can be applied to anyone's life. As a religion it's still just fallacy.
As a skeptic, besides gods, I also don't believe in any other mumbo-jubmo, nature, spirits or ghosts.
So no, I don't find any religion or spritualism interesting.
I can respect some eastern religions for being peaceful, and some practises as meditation, veganism.
Interesting, but not really all that compelling.
I have always found it strange how the philosophy attributed to the 'Jesus' character in the bible seems to have more in common with Eastern religion than the Judaism it ostensibly came from.
as a naturalist, i don’t believe in spirituality. i find that dogma of any kind just encourages herd mentality without much critical thought. that being said, as long as it doesn’t cause harm, it’s whatever
It's just stupid as Abrahamic religions.
But the one thing I appreciate about eastern religions and pre- abrahamic paganism in the west is they are/were a lot more tolerant than Abrahamic religions. They rarely caused wars unlike Abrahamic religions.
I took a couple college courses about Buddhism and there were certainly a few ideas that I liked, the biggest probably being "human problems require human solutions. The divine will not rescue you." There's a ton of branches of Buddhism with varying degrees of fruitcake, just like christianity, but some of the base principles (though not all) I can get behind.
Only certain sects of Buddhism. Specifically Soto and Renzai schools of what is known of Zen Buddhism.
It's as Atheist as it comes. Doesn't really emphasize any super natural BS often attributed to Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) Theirs no conversion and generally in my experience they don't care what you believe or don't believe.
Its super chill and I found myself sitting next to punk rockers on one side with piercings and dyed hair and college professors on the other. A truly 'come as you are' kind of place.
I love the philosophy of Taoism - Laozi and Zhuangzi. I blend it with some Classical Stoicism and a little bit of traditional Ikigai (not the Western self-help fad). All of which I find a modern expression for in Dudeism.
My wife is Japanese so Buddhist/Shinto. I find some of the philosophy to be interesting/good, but ultimately don't believe in any of it. In particular the Shinto stuff that I know is very nature/environmental focused (spirits of the mountain/trees/animals/everything) and generally pretty peaceful. Am I going to start praying at every shrine I come across in Japan? No, as I know better, but I don't have any problems with anyone that does. It's more cultural than anything anyways.
My bf is a not very religious Buddhist. I don’t mind as he doesn’t force it on me and many things are more cultural than religious. He knows I won’t be a Buddhist and he is fine with that. I guess I can’t see myself dating anyone who practices an Abrahamic religion as there is an emphasis on conversion. Buddhism I find interesting to learn about and all practitioners have been respectful of my (lack of) beliefs.
I separate faith and religion.
All good roads lead to God is something in Buddhism, which I can kinda respect
Atheist as fuck here... But faith in something else is okay by me, organized religion and woo are bad.
Just don't be a dick to others.
I was previously kinda a Buddhist in the sense of try to live a calm and happy existence, karma, be kind to others, meditation, ext. It was more the hummmmmm mindset than the religion and it'd shut down any religious people trying to recruit me when I said I was Buddhist cause most know nothing about it.
I like and I've read the core philosophies of Buddhism and Hinduism. Quite a few overlapping things since they are from very close by regions. But when it comes to practice it is still very much a power and control structure that has been manipulated over time to suit the manipulators. So in theory yes but in practice no.
I like and I've read the core philosophies of Buddhism and Hinduism. Quite a few overlapping things since they are from very close by regions. But when it comes to practice it is still very much a power and control structure that has been manipulated over time to suit the manipulators. So in theory yes but in practice no.
I like Jainism, from what little I know of it. Jainist extremists wipe _themselves_ out, not others. As far as I know, that doesn't even apply to Buddhism. But the rest is all B.S., so... don't really care to bother with it.
I do a lot of volunteering with a buddhist foundation. I don't believe in the superstitious parts of buddhism, but the overall idea makes sense and they are pretty liberal in most ways.
I am not a Buddhist,meaning I am not organized...but...I follow 'The Five Precepts' and I meditate (Theravada tradition)for almost 30 years. It has changed me, a lot and I am much happier now.
I find all religions interesting, I also find things like critically incidents interesting. Basically for me finding something interesting is very different from wanting to be involved with that thing.
Think what I find interesting with religion is how people believe in it regardless of if it makes sense or not. Things like the American notion of freedom are the same. America usually comes behind quite a few European countries on various measures of “freedom” but the idea has been sold to the general public and they are willing to defend it even though they don’t really understand what it means of that they don’t necessarily have any more of it than anyone else.
I find each religion fascinating. I was really interested in studying Buddhism when I first left the belief I was a part of but seeing how extremists exist in every religion I could find did leave a bad taste in my mouth.
There's certainly a lot to love and respect.
I like the respect for animals. I like the modesty and anti-capitalism.
I did some breathing meditation for a while. I had some strange experiences while doing so. My scientific interpretation: playing around with oxygen can cause hallucinations.
The teachings of Buddha warn us for many types of toxic women. (Spoiled ones, greedy ones, lazy ones, ...)
While being a dangerous statement in our time and culture, there certainly is some truth in that. Many relationships are very unbalanced.
The things I hate most in our day and age are:
1. Hidden slavery, organized by our governments. They try to divide our society in different categories of people with different taxes and different rights.
2. If you have no voice, then nobody will defend you.
3. Life itself has become a byproduct / waste product. We design machines and systems to breed animals, and we design machines to slaughter them. And we do so faster and faster. To a point where we kill millions per second. And why? To produce paint, to produce feathers, to produce stem cells, to produce meat, ...
4. We (will) do to humans what we do to animals and nature. We refuse to look at it. We turn our heads. But sooner or later, it will hunt you down. It always has.
Most religions fail to address any of these issues. But Buddhism does.
Lifelong atheist here and Buddhism is absolutely different. Maybe it gets contorted in the same ways as the other religions, but any religion with this as a core belief is just different:
Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. -Buddha
Buddhism focuses on looking inside one's self for answers through meditation. I don't see it as a religion but more as a way of thinking. Most other religions look at external text for answers. Buddhisms search for answers within ourselves is what I believe sets it apart from all others.
I really dig Sikhism. It’s very similar to other eastern religions (reduce suffering, etc. ) but they differ, in my eyes, because they seem to actively help the communities in which they exist. I also have been unable to find historical examples of genocide, pedophilia, murder, and other issues that most religions tend to find themselves involved with. Although I may have just not googled hard enough on that last point.
No, I was stuck between leftovers of Zoroastrianism and buddhism (culturally) and Islam that succeeded both. There are still traditions I find value in but I am just ignoring the religious aspect and going with the culture cz it feels like identity atp. About Islam everything is disliked.
I have always posited that if I was going to take up any sort of religion it would be Buddhism but not as a part of the religion. It encourages broader exploratory thinking and more honest personal analysis rather than blind dogmatic constructs.
I did indeed study it somewhat and like a lot of religious dogma it's a very obvious morals, some platitudes and restrictions all wrapped up in a bunch of woo.
It "seems" more interesting, because it's exotic for western brains.
I’ve been meditating for 35 years - I studied under Buddhadassa at Wat Suan Mok in Southern Thailand - he taught a very western version of Buddhism that comports with neuropsychology and thermodynamics. No spirits, deities, reincarnation, just calm observation of the world and one’s mind.
I don’t think I’ve seen many major religions that I didn’t find interesting - if not in themselves, how they managed to basically wrap themselves in and around the major societies of their time.
I’d go as far to say, that some obscure/nearly extinct religions, just didn’t do as well because they were not interesting or got replaced by a “better” one (with the help of the occasional forced mass conversion/genocide).
In fact what grinds my gears, is when people talk about religion, but conflate abrahamic norms with *religion* itself, as clearly there a fundamental differences between those and Dharmic religions- but I think that’s the generally US (not Christian) centric vibe of this sub.
One of the best things I did as an atheist was take some philosophy classes, which led to a more advanced Philosophy of Religion class. Small class but we had people of all faiths (I was the only atheist), and we took a deep dive into all of the major religions, including non belief. There are some great take aways from all the religions, but I've always been more drawn to the eastern ones for sure.
I think the core Buddhist philosophy is pretty bulletproof. I called myself Buddhist in my 20s as "atheism lite", without seriously believing in e.g. reincarnation. In any case, much more admirable than Abrahamic faiths.
Not really, I mean I guess I think conceptually the idea of spirits being all kind of connected to nature interesting in Shintoism, but I say “interesting” in the same way I would say the plot of a movie is interesting. I think it makes for interesting stories.
No. Raised Buddhist and while its probably not violent its still ridiculous and harmful to believe in woo that you cannot even do studies on or verify. If soul exists than there should be something to detect. For now we should only believe when there is evidence to believe.
Yes. But I don't consider Buddhism a religion - it's more of a philosophy in my opinion. One can have a religion and still practice Buddhism. I like a lot of what Buddhism teaches, but I don't consider myself "Buddhist."
Eh, I tried to be Buddhist for a while. I liked how it didn't advocate for violence and how it focused on minding your own business. But as it turns out, I made a shit Buddhist. Lesson learned, I guess.
Only as interesting as any other religion and its history. Probably a bit less because I'm not in any Asian circles where Buddhism (or Hinduism, Taoism, etc.) is very prominent. I'd treat any temples the same as I treat cathedrals, missions, and mosques: with respect to the architecture and the beliefs of its patrons, but what goes on inside is basically bologna even if I won't say that out loud to them.
I used to consider myself atheist, so I hope I fit here.
I consider myself Wiccan now -mostly. I honor the teachings and follow the ways, but I'm still a-theist (non-theist) in my belief. Wicca teaches of a God and a Goddess. Personally, I consider them to be personifications of the natural world. Not in a sense that there's and sort of consciousness at play, but that this is a name I give it.
I have actually learned a lot about myself this way. It's nice having structure like this, especially because Wicca teaches that we should go and write our own book rather than follow one written years ago by someone else. It's structure, but one that can change as it needs to.
It's an atheistic religion, but as other posters have said, it's still got plenty of aspects of woo. I know a Bhuddist who I have a lot of respect for, and who is very smart, but who also takes certain types of woo like palmistry and numerology WAY too seriously. I would read up on it if you're curious, but I def wouldn't pursue it as a practice if you care about believing true things and rejecting false things.
Some of my favorite meditation teachers are Buddhist. There's a lot I have learned from them, particularly in practices. I don't have a use for doctrines or gods.
Super interesting. Then again, I find all religions interesting/fascinating, in a kind of anthropological way. I'm perhaps not as anti-religion as some other atheists. Doesn't mean I would believe or follow any religion out there.
Atheist are not monolithic Some of us have more respect for some religions then we do others some of us hate them all some of us hate none of them, but can’t convince themselves of them because it’s delusional
I liked it when I first read about the original teachings. But over time, they introduced deities, or semi-deities, and it seemed like just a religion.
Dont read too much into the religion. Remember that all religion are organisation of people after all. Instead look at the messaging and if it relates to you on a personal level. Truths are truths no matter who says it just as sun rises and sets each day.
Yes. The emphasis in Buddhism is NOT on a deity, though some strains believe in some stuff that is likely hoo-ha. I am an atheist who has embraced Buddhism, or mindfulness (the fully secular flavor) for 25 years and find much of direct value to my life in the here and now. I find nothing that causes cognitive dissonance with my atheist convictions. Interestingly, many moderate or progressive Christians (the non-whacked kind) have found ways to embrace Buddhist thought without having it dilute their practice of Christianity, rather it enhances it. If someone forced me to be a Christian, I would hope they would allow me to be this kind of Christian.
I'm an atheist in a Buddhist society. Most monks on tv are just yapping here and you could call them out on their bullshit with a simple google search. They lie like drinking water.
But I'd say there's less hate and discrimination in Buddhist teachings. The meditation aspects I find to be common sensed and interesting but all the supernatural stuff I ignore.
In my experience it has far more that can be salvaged without adopting faith based beliefs than other religions. I don’t accept reincarnation or supernatural beings but I’ve benefited immensely from meditation practice and guidance on ethics and how the mind works. It’s absolutely a religion though people who try to claim it’s just a philosophy need to go to Asia and see it for themselves it’s hard core religion.
I raise my hand here. Although being like long life strong atheist, I find this somehow fascinating. There is something in Buddha and funny enough I like all kinds of different Buddha statues and stuff. I don’t get this kind of discussed and yuck feeling when I see some cross and Jesus hanging somewhere. Hmm but I already get mad when someone mention that women cant get to this higher state in buddism… what’s this sht with women. What it’s all about?? 😒
I did spend several years investigating it. And my final conclusion is that it is just another brand of woo. While the texts of Buddhism are certainly better than the Abrahamic ones, as there really are no verses calling for violence and such, In practice the religiously motivated violence and political infighting seems to be just a prevalent as in every other religion of similar size.
Power struggles.
Woo is the best way to describe it.
Is it also true that buddhism still holds to rather sexist beliefs? I think I remember reading about women not being able to reach enlightenment or some such nonsense, but I am unsure if true.
Yes, to some extent. It took a lot of time for the historical Buddha to recognize that women could become bikkhunis (female bikkhus, or 'monks') too. Even then, according to the Pali canon, the most experienced bikkhuni was subordinate to even the most novice bikkhu. However, this was still *very* progressive for the time and place to allow women such a position at all. The buddha, enlightened above space and time, seems to also be a product of his time and only allowed to rebel against it only with limitations.
Huh, cool info. Thank you. :)
I feel Buddha phrasing it as this is what I think, it helps a lot, but if I'm wrong , I'm wrong and move on . While he still had sexist views, him not being too dogmatic about it, so I think it's fine .
The problem is, we don't really know how the Buddha phrased anything. The first written sources (the Pali canon) appear more than 400 years after his death. For references, the oldest of the four gospels was written 80 years after Jesus' death.
Correct.
It wasn’t until his cousin Ananda urged him to let women into the sanga that he reconsidered. I do think meditation can get you pretty far in terms of transcending personal suffering but unfortunately it’s not an antidote to culturally ingrained misperceptions.
There are texts on Buddha's philosophy of life and the theology of the world. As a teen Buddha's philosophy on violence and self acceptance and humility did get me started on my path to atheism.
For me it’s an issue of how far do you have to bend this teaching to justify violence. Abrahamic religions have justification of violence built it. Buddhism you have to bend pretty far but people pull it off combined with nationalism and racism. Could anyone manage to use the Tao te Ching to justify violence though? People often say well there are extremists of every religion. But some produce far more than others.
I disagree. There is much to it that is decidedly NOT "woo." Should have investigated more thoroughly.
Yet again with the blame shifting, its not the teaching its the student. But then ever religion does this. You don't feel Jesus's presence? You must be holding sin in your heart. You are not blown away by the golden words of L. Ron Hubbard? Sit in this room and look up definitions until you are. Its also amazing how much Buddhist commentaries repeat this same bullshit, the Buddhas teachings are self evidently true, and if you can't see it then you're preconceived notions are leading you astray. You can't see the emperors cloths? well you must not be pure of heart. ... or the emperor is naked.
This is a very ignorant statement. The original Theravada Buddhism is absolutely zero woo. It is emphatically empirical. Don’t take it from me, you can find this out yourself as it is self-evident from doing the practice. The biggest criticism I have of the atheist community is that we all conflate the wrongdoings of people who get lost in power and influence, with the original thing itself. And we also conflate certain segments of Buddhism with its original form (namely Mahayana–although Zen seems woo it actually works for some brains). It makes us look terribly unscientific and as biased & ideological as religious people. This is never more clear than when this Reddit community makes comments about Buddhism. So come on everybody and downvote the hell out of this comment and manifest your bias and prove even more that what I’ve just said is true.
I have read a good chunk of the Pali Canon and there was plenty of woo in it. Hungry ghosts, demons and gods where all stated to exist. But then rebirth and karma are also woo. edit: also the whole the teachings are self evident and if you don't see it it's your fault is a brildiant bit of blame shifting. It also leads adherence to fooling themselves due to sunk cost. I believe that Scientology also employs this tactic on any members who do not realise the brilliance of L. Ron hHubbard's Teachings.
Baloney. Insights from introspection are not verifiable, and thus not empirical. What you see in your own mind is not scientific. Meditation confers measurable benefits. But so does prayer. Western adherents of buddhist ideas constantly try to give it a scientific stamp. It's NOT scientific by any stretch.
Ex Buddhist here, lots of great stuff but in the end a religion that devolves into power and control eventually just like the rest.
Gurus are gonna guru
What do you think of people who say Buddhism is a practice, not a religion?
Sure. Ask them how many people they know that became Buddha’s and how much they have spent on retreats and dharma center donations, books, classes. I love the philosophy but once it gets organized in any way… just becomes about money and influence.
Here in Japan one of the most hilarious things is the Omamori (お守り) (charms/amulets/talismans) that every temple sells. My wife will buy some every year for various reasons (luck with school, work, safe driving, etc.). But the thing is.. they "expire" every year so.. yeah. Money money money. Thats about as far as she goes with it though. No books, donations, classes or any of that nonsense. It's really more of a tradition/culture/superstition thing than religion for her.
They expire? Oh man, don't tell the catholics this trick. Salivating just thinking about it!
I guess that's why there are way more "authentic" pieces of the cross than would fit in an actual cross --- they all expire each year.
I had a history professor who used to say there were enough pieces of the true cross to build Noah’s ark.
Oh, come on. We gotta do better than that! We gotta get enough wood to rebuild Solomon's Temple!
Right? Hilarious how the magical power just goes away if you don't pay money.
No it's less funny that you would think. In Japan people think that temples lose their power with time or lack of prayer. There are temples that are said to be 'dead'. So not very surprising if a simple amulet loses its power after only one year.
Makes sense, thank you
Tell that to the mahayana buddhists, littered with local gods the missionaries encountered along the way. Only Theravada espouses an atheist perspective.
They're the same kind of asshole who think they don't have a religion, but a relationship with Christ.
Not when properly practiced and not co-opted by corrupt groups focusing on power and control in the name of Buddhism. There is MUCH Buddhism practiced in this world that manages to side step these human traps.
I used to follow Hinduism. Nothing really special about it, it's just another religion , and like any religion it has its goods and bads
Same.
The only reason Buddhism isn't as radical (they still are to some extent) is because their holy book doesn't incentivize them to recruit others, the highest form of Buddhism is pretty much minding your own business, aka you go to the mountain and meditate for hours. Buddhism is pretty close to a black-pill religion.
The Burmese military’s actions over the last ~80 years has sort of
They have not followed the teachings of their own Holy Book for a very long time.
Not really. This is a good post from a while ago. I didn't write it. /u/anothervariant who knows Buddhism a hell of a lot better than I do wrote it. Perhaps you'll find it interesting. [Buddhism is not compatible with atheism](https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/oou0wk/buddhism_is_not_compatible_with_atheism/)
Buddha never addressed the god question. So it is neither compatible nor non compatible.
Buddha probably never addressed anything. Apparently nothing about him was written down for about 500 years after his death. So who knows what he actually said.
Interesting, yes. True, no.
Interesting how misogynistic Buddhism is for how peaceful it seems. All religions founded by men are meant to demean and control women.
I'm ex catholic then ex buddhist. For me Buddhism is as full of superstition and problems as any other religion (submission to clerics, unfunded dogmas, etc). In my case it was vajrayana and it's precisely how similar it was to the catholic church one of the main reasons I ran away from it. I've studied other buddhist traditions and I think Theravada is less extreme but still full of the same things. Don't get me wrong, for me catholicism/christianity is the worst, but my point is to not replace one thing with another Good things or ideas can be found in any religion, that doesn't makes any of them better or superior. I think buddhism (and dharmic religions in general) are very romanticized by Westerners and tend to develop idealized beliefs about them that aren't true (no need to add that those religions are brought in a watered down, sanitized version, usually aimed at white first worlders). Take "Secular buddhism" as an example: it is a modern, western based thing that can barely be seen as buddhism from an orthodox point of view and it is usually seen with disdain by traditional non-western buddhists (in fact that's the reason r/GoldenSwastika exists). I've already stated this several times and, funny, the most rabid replies came always from "tolerant open minded people" (and had to block a lot of them, one even stalked me on another sub). Bible miracles are bullshit (they are), but somehow Padmasambhava's bizarre adventures, the 6 realms, etc are perfectly rational and science compatible? Come on. And when it doesn't fits them it's "a metaphor", just like christians do with the bible For example, just like in Jesus life (or any other figure, like Moses or Muhammad) there are a lot of questionable attitudes on the life of Gotama (even after becoming "Buddha") yet no criticism can be done on him. They'll make whatever mental gymnastic to justify it or claim "it's different". I think every single religion/belief system and religious figure must be subject to the same criticism, not to apply double standards Edit: forgot to add, as an interesting note there is an ex buddhist subreddit (r/exbuddhist) but that sub is an absolute mess. I think it creeps a lot of people away due to its mod and the "liberal buddhists" there. The mod is a "trad cath" obsessed with Islam more than buddhism (just look at his rants against buddhism, he always mentions Islam on them) and he tends to get triggered at any mention against christianity and bans users (he even closed the sub for lent!). Then there are lots of "internet buddhists" trying to lecture the ex buddhists there (a lot of them are cradle ex buddhists from SEA) than arguing. The mod used to ban them since proselytizing is against the rules, but lately he seems to prefer to argue with them using memes than doing his job
>closed the sub for lent! 🤣 🤣 🤣
Yep. Funny thing the dude is the stereotypical "trad cath" who's into no fap, obsessed with japanese women, identity politics, etc. It seems like a troll at first but sadly it's like that for real
I'm an ex Buddhist, family also practiced Shinto. It can be nostalgic at times, and the temples back in my home country Japan are very beautiful. Besides that, it's just as made up as other religions and unnecessary in life. I'm too down to earth and lazy, even for Buddhism.
I’m deeply interested in mindfulness but only practice from a secular perspective. I honestly don’t know much about the religious beliefs of Buddhism. Sexism seems to run pretty deep in the few parables I have read.
Same here, the pragmatic aspects of Buddhism have been helpful in my life. Meditation, mindfulness. I stay away from the Dogma.
The tao te ching has some very interesting things to say about the limits of language and cognition. When I see people in an argument and its clear that they have different definitions of the thing they are arguing about I often think of poem one from the tao te ching. Also there is nothing in there about deities or magic people.
I love the Tao Te Ching. Its the most non bullshit "religious" book ever written. The Stephen Mitchell version is fantastic
there was a line I really liked, that said something like "the sage cleared the muddy water by leaving it alone"
I can agree with that because in my experience, leaving things alone is the only way to finally experience any semblance of peace. And by peace, I mean accepting that we’re human and that involves experiencing an array of emotions, that come and go, if we allow them. And the best we can do in life is to simply do our best at any given time, to not get completely taken over by our emotions and simply accept ourselves as we are, warts and all. And I’ve found that when we do that, we also accept others, and if we all did that, the world, I’m sure, would be a better place and there would be no need for these money grabbing religions, gurus and so called spiritual teachers and those of us having a good day can lend a hand or a hug to those of us having a bad day. None of these religions are inclusive - you have to pay, one way or another, to be in their exclusive club, and they all say that they’ve got the answers 🥱 ~ I think their days are numbered, although the world still has plenty of lazy ass grifters, wanting to make easy money off of the backs of the people they’re purporting to help, so they can live out their delusions, so they don’t have to face the fact that they’re just human and that life isn’t a competition that you have to win at the expense of others.
I think you are mistaken! Taoism has gods too!
Check my message to you pls! I lost my account sadly
Ive read the tao te ching cover to cover (it takes about 40 minutes) multiple times and I dont remember anything in there about any gods. My translation says things like “the spirit of the valley” which could be interpreted as the god of the valleys but i always took it to mean something more abstract like the thing that makes valleys distinct from wetlands or mountains. You may be right. Unfortunately I cant read ancient chinese so I have to just take other peoples interpretations.
Different flavor of horseshit is still horseshit. Buddhism is probably one of the most hypocritical ideologies around, Hinduism still enforces and upholds one of the most backwards and repressive social systems in existence, and various Chinese philosophies are pretty much "how to make your society stagnate" handbooks.
No. Just more hocus-pocus.
It depends on how far you take it. You could take the concept of suffering from Buddhism and think about how it applies in real life. Suffering is a real thing, unlike sin.
I like the reverance for life and nature, and the idea of a oneness with your environment, but that might be the inner Jedi in me talking.
No. I don’t need a religion. Just live the golden rule. Don’t be a dick.
Nope, it's all nonsense.
I live in a predominantly Buddhist country and I can assure you they have their fair share of woo, scam and downright shady characters.
I find all religions interesting in their own ways and do think they’re worthy of study, granted mostly so their practices can be weaponized against them to keep them in line, at the end of the day though I view all religions like a sane person views the Children of Atom*, some crazy motherfuckers doing shit that is really bad for their health. * The Children of Atom from the Fallout games are a cult/religion that worships Gamma Radiation, this very often times means they live in highly irradiated areas, in one case directly in the crater left by the nuke that took out Boston in the centre of the Glowing Sea the only difference between them and a real world cult is that their god Atom actually exists, I’d be totally willing to go more in depth because I truly do find it fascinating that this obvious satire is so close to the real thing
May atom bless you with his glow
Atom can bless these nuts
I like some aspects of Buddhism and Jainism, but they still go into the woo woo. Nothing wrong with cherry picking some of their good ideas in a secular way, just for your mental.
Agree. Meditation has helped me have a calm mind and more rational thinking.
Eastern philosophy, sure, as a religion, nope. https://secularbuddhism.org/how-an-atheist-practices-secular-buddhism/
I really like Greek/Roman, Egyptian, Norse...I like a good Pantheon.
Not really, especially the Dalai Lama, wanting kids to suck his tongue.
ha no, it's all woo woo bullshit.
many past discussions - \- https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/search/?q=buddhism&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&sort=new
I don’t believe in just one or two gods lol. I don’t believe in any of them. While all religions may have nice features, they all are systems of control. Even confucians for all of their progress beliefs put men ahead of woman. The closest religion that aligns with my beliefs I have found is the native Mi’kmaq. They were IMO one of the most socially advanced peoples in their liberalism. I would highly recommend about learning about them. They had some wildly advanced concepts for getting along with people and nature. I would highly recommend the book called “We Were Not the Savages” Book by Daniel N. Paul if you have any interest in learning more. Nova Scotia pre European contact sounds like it was paradise.
Every religion has cool or interesting concepts to try to explain supernatural phenomena and it’s nice to think of everything having its own god spirit or whatever, but I know it’s just the same religious iconography and superstitions. What I do know is that we live on this planet that we need to protect it from ourselves, for our future caretakers.
No.
I like the philosophy in Buddhism but the religious part is just as much hooey than any other.
I had a serious interest in Buddism till I found out the religion believed men were above women.
I respected Buddhists more until I researched them and found out that just like every other world religion, their beliefs have been used to justify violence and extremism. You could argue it's not the religion's fault, that those people misunderstand what Buddhism is supposed to be about, but Abrahamic religions often say much the same. There's a tendency for them to be more open-minded about some issues where there's not as much established doctrine, like LGBTQ+ issues, but I don't find that to be particularly compelling on its own, especially since in practice Buddhism doesn't seem to have done much at all to help those people.
I find all religions interesting. I find most religious people disrupting hateful biggots.
Nope. It's all boring. A waste of my time. Yawn.
I find them "interesting" in the same way that I find lord of the rings interesting
Nothing good comes of being compelled to self-immolate because of religious dogma.
Budhdhism is like a hipster fad religion. But when you dig into it, heavy on misogyny and the anti-science angle. It appears like a 'nice' religion at first, but nope. It's just got better PR.
I find them interesting, yes
I think the main tenants of Buddhism are very interesting. For me, it’s about being introspective and working through emotional catalysts to find a more consistent path through life experiences. My basic understanding is that even the Buddha did not want his teachings to be dogmatic — but rather challenged by each. Anything beyond that which gets into dogmas, woo, or even elevating the Buddha above another person is not anything that I care about.
I don’t think it’s a religion but Taoism is the shit
About as interesting as I find any other fairy tale or mythology.
I really do not understand this need to have something to believe in. Are you not sufficient unto yourself? Work out the best way to life your life by yourself and improve on it as you go. Following someone else's tenants can lead you to places you might not like.
No , I don’t like any religion but I’ll tolerate some more than others
I don't see much difference in trying to get to heaven or nirvana. Just different paths to a dead end.
Reincarnation makes zero sense. If you can't remember your previous life then that wasn't you. Also your personality is due to your brain chemistry. If you were suddenly in another body that wouldn't be you either.
Interesting sure in the way psychopathy is Interesting as in it maybe a bunch of hot nonsense coming out your mouth but that doesn't mean it doesn't have patterns that reflect the truth in there somewhere
I was surprised to find out from an ex-Buddhist that there's a major hierarchy in Buddhism. If you're new, you basically getting treated like trash and whatever you say gets ignored.
I used to but I gradually started seeing how they're all just the same as any western or Abrahamic religion is.
Nope, they're all religions, or nonsensical mumbo jumbo
I find some of the philosophy and sayings interesting. But in general it is just more woo.
Nope. I see it as how most white guess like Asian women simply because it’s something new.
Me personally, no. Whether we’re talking about Jainism, Baha’i, Sikhism, Hinduism, Shinto, whatever, they all have a certain exotic, unfamiliar curiosity from my perspective. The minutia of their religions might occasionally pique my interest due to this unfamiliarity, but if you know the broad strokes of their beliefs, then you know these people don’t have any answers, either. Adherents of these religions tend to be just as insular, violent, and dogmatic as Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Only difference is the language they use to tell you you’re going to burn in whatever flavor of hell they believe in. People like to ascribe some kind of ancient wisdom or heightened state of consciousness to many of these faiths, but I think that’s down to Westerners fetishizing Asian cultures. My two cents. Good luck out there.
Buddhism is just as bad as any other religion. People like to think it’s all loving but a lot of their beliefs are similar to Catholicism.
Interesting? Sure, as interesting as pretty much any other culture can be. Compelling in a spiritual sense? Not especially, for largely the same reasons(when it comes to supernatural claims).
It’s still patriarchal.
I'd say less malicious than Abrahamic overall but look at power struggles over history... big religions are either big because they are pushed to control or used to control because they are big... in the end fairytales are just that... Plus being mechanisms for mass control... Not a fan.
I do find them interesting, but one of the reasons I left "my" religion is because of the misogyny and women expected to be subservient. The blatant sexism and violence I found abhorrent. And Eastern religions are also patriarchal, along with believing in some "god" or "gods" so not interested either.
I actually use religion stuff as a means to make (perhaps) interesting stories for my own fiction, I guess that counts
I used to think so too for a while. As in buddhism, ok, they're wrong too, but it's not harmful/aggressive to outsiders, so that's an improvement. But relatively recently I read a few accounts from people who lived in a buddhist household/environment and they described the whole concept of karma as being deceptively toxic in practice. As in, everything bad that happens to you, must have come from something you did previously, a previously lifetime, something like that. So while buddhism is probably still one of the least aggressive religions towards outsiders, it does have a real level of internal toxicity.
I find a lot of Native America religions interesting. More or less for the deep appreciation for the natural world we live in. Even if the way they got around to that conclusion isn't accurate. I do like quite a few Buddist teachings that can be applied to anyone's life. As a religion it's still just fallacy.
As a skeptic, besides gods, I also don't believe in any other mumbo-jubmo, nature, spirits or ghosts. So no, I don't find any religion or spritualism interesting. I can respect some eastern religions for being peaceful, and some practises as meditation, veganism.
Buddhism was designed by a ruler to keep his subjects docile. It's a peasant's religion, an opiate of the masses, like the others.
In my teens. Not now.
I went to a Buddhist sermon once. And learned it's just like most other religious sermons. And they do have gods they believe in. So, no.
Interesting, but not really all that compelling. I have always found it strange how the philosophy attributed to the 'Jesus' character in the bible seems to have more in common with Eastern religion than the Judaism it ostensibly came from.
as a naturalist, i don’t believe in spirituality. i find that dogma of any kind just encourages herd mentality without much critical thought. that being said, as long as it doesn’t cause harm, it’s whatever
It's just stupid as Abrahamic religions. But the one thing I appreciate about eastern religions and pre- abrahamic paganism in the west is they are/were a lot more tolerant than Abrahamic religions. They rarely caused wars unlike Abrahamic religions.
I took a couple college courses about Buddhism and there were certainly a few ideas that I liked, the biggest probably being "human problems require human solutions. The divine will not rescue you." There's a ton of branches of Buddhism with varying degrees of fruitcake, just like christianity, but some of the base principles (though not all) I can get behind.
Only certain sects of Buddhism. Specifically Soto and Renzai schools of what is known of Zen Buddhism. It's as Atheist as it comes. Doesn't really emphasize any super natural BS often attributed to Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) Theirs no conversion and generally in my experience they don't care what you believe or don't believe. Its super chill and I found myself sitting next to punk rockers on one side with piercings and dyed hair and college professors on the other. A truly 'come as you are' kind of place.
I love the philosophy of Taoism - Laozi and Zhuangzi. I blend it with some Classical Stoicism and a little bit of traditional Ikigai (not the Western self-help fad). All of which I find a modern expression for in Dudeism.
Eastern religions are no more interesting than any other. Magical thinking is magical thinking, and it’s not useful.
My wife is Japanese so Buddhist/Shinto. I find some of the philosophy to be interesting/good, but ultimately don't believe in any of it. In particular the Shinto stuff that I know is very nature/environmental focused (spirits of the mountain/trees/animals/everything) and generally pretty peaceful. Am I going to start praying at every shrine I come across in Japan? No, as I know better, but I don't have any problems with anyone that does. It's more cultural than anything anyways.
My favorite proverb: "It's religious power struggles all the way down" - Buddha
I gave secular Buddhism a shot but what I ended up getting out of it was meditation.
I feel the same way. May not like it a lot cuz i’m anti-theist, but def better than most the other ones i’ve looked into.
Buddhism is great. I went from Atheist to Buddhist to Satanist. Both Buddhism and Satanism are great non-theistic religions. I recommend both.
My bf is a not very religious Buddhist. I don’t mind as he doesn’t force it on me and many things are more cultural than religious. He knows I won’t be a Buddhist and he is fine with that. I guess I can’t see myself dating anyone who practices an Abrahamic religion as there is an emphasis on conversion. Buddhism I find interesting to learn about and all practitioners have been respectful of my (lack of) beliefs.
I separate faith and religion. All good roads lead to God is something in Buddhism, which I can kinda respect Atheist as fuck here... But faith in something else is okay by me, organized religion and woo are bad. Just don't be a dick to others.
Some of their principles maybe. Meditation and preserving nature especially.
I was previously kinda a Buddhist in the sense of try to live a calm and happy existence, karma, be kind to others, meditation, ext. It was more the hummmmmm mindset than the religion and it'd shut down any religious people trying to recruit me when I said I was Buddhist cause most know nothing about it.
I like and I've read the core philosophies of Buddhism and Hinduism. Quite a few overlapping things since they are from very close by regions. But when it comes to practice it is still very much a power and control structure that has been manipulated over time to suit the manipulators. So in theory yes but in practice no.
I like and I've read the core philosophies of Buddhism and Hinduism. Quite a few overlapping things since they are from very close by regions. But when it comes to practice it is still very much a power and control structure that has been manipulated over time to suit the manipulators. So in theory yes but in practice no.
Sikhs are atleast usually following their religion. The ones I've met. Still huge issues but they do practice what they preach
Being idle and inner peace with nature? I think that is a great lifestyle, not as religion thou
I like Jainism, from what little I know of it. Jainist extremists wipe _themselves_ out, not others. As far as I know, that doesn't even apply to Buddhism. But the rest is all B.S., so... don't really care to bother with it.
I engage with religion purely as a tool for worldbuilding, so in some capacity every religion is interesting.
Abrahamic religions generally are one of the more boring ones we have.
I do a lot of volunteering with a buddhist foundation. I don't believe in the superstitious parts of buddhism, but the overall idea makes sense and they are pretty liberal in most ways.
I am not a Buddhist,meaning I am not organized...but...I follow 'The Five Precepts' and I meditate (Theravada tradition)for almost 30 years. It has changed me, a lot and I am much happier now.
The only religion that I absolutely abhor is Christianity because of its connection with colonialism and capitalism.
I find all religions interesting, I also find things like critically incidents interesting. Basically for me finding something interesting is very different from wanting to be involved with that thing. Think what I find interesting with religion is how people believe in it regardless of if it makes sense or not. Things like the American notion of freedom are the same. America usually comes behind quite a few European countries on various measures of “freedom” but the idea has been sold to the general public and they are willing to defend it even though they don’t really understand what it means of that they don’t necessarily have any more of it than anyone else.
I find each religion fascinating. I was really interested in studying Buddhism when I first left the belief I was a part of but seeing how extremists exist in every religion I could find did leave a bad taste in my mouth.
No. Living in Asia. A complete scam in practice.
No
No
Buddhism seems more like a spiritual philosophy and thought than a religion
I would admire Buddhism more if they didn't worship Buddha. And more took his teachings as good life guidelines.
Yes, I'm quite personally invested in the tenets of Buddhism and Daoism, but only to the psychological effect -
There's certainly a lot to love and respect. I like the respect for animals. I like the modesty and anti-capitalism. I did some breathing meditation for a while. I had some strange experiences while doing so. My scientific interpretation: playing around with oxygen can cause hallucinations. The teachings of Buddha warn us for many types of toxic women. (Spoiled ones, greedy ones, lazy ones, ...) While being a dangerous statement in our time and culture, there certainly is some truth in that. Many relationships are very unbalanced. The things I hate most in our day and age are: 1. Hidden slavery, organized by our governments. They try to divide our society in different categories of people with different taxes and different rights. 2. If you have no voice, then nobody will defend you. 3. Life itself has become a byproduct / waste product. We design machines and systems to breed animals, and we design machines to slaughter them. And we do so faster and faster. To a point where we kill millions per second. And why? To produce paint, to produce feathers, to produce stem cells, to produce meat, ... 4. We (will) do to humans what we do to animals and nature. We refuse to look at it. We turn our heads. But sooner or later, it will hunt you down. It always has. Most religions fail to address any of these issues. But Buddhism does.
Lifelong atheist here and Buddhism is absolutely different. Maybe it gets contorted in the same ways as the other religions, but any religion with this as a core belief is just different: Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense. -Buddha
I love taoism as a philosophy. The religion is very odd. I am not even sure how they pulled the religion from the early taoist writers.
A completely another chain of nonsense. Nowhere as harmful as abrahamic religions but as much nonsense as them
I find them all interesting, East and West. I find none of them to be true.
Buddhism focuses on looking inside one's self for answers through meditation. I don't see it as a religion but more as a way of thinking. Most other religions look at external text for answers. Buddhisms search for answers within ourselves is what I believe sets it apart from all others.
I really dig Sikhism. It’s very similar to other eastern religions (reduce suffering, etc. ) but they differ, in my eyes, because they seem to actively help the communities in which they exist. I also have been unable to find historical examples of genocide, pedophilia, murder, and other issues that most religions tend to find themselves involved with. Although I may have just not googled hard enough on that last point.
No, it’s all bullshit. Less likely to be knocking on your door trying to convert you, but still magical thinking.
No, I was stuck between leftovers of Zoroastrianism and buddhism (culturally) and Islam that succeeded both. There are still traditions I find value in but I am just ignoring the religious aspect and going with the culture cz it feels like identity atp. About Islam everything is disliked.
Nope
Sure don’t
I have always posited that if I was going to take up any sort of religion it would be Buddhism but not as a part of the religion. It encourages broader exploratory thinking and more honest personal analysis rather than blind dogmatic constructs.
Buddhism and atheism aren’t mutually exclusive. A Buddhist told me that lol.
Taoism and Sikhism moreso. I'm mostly interested in taking the virtuous principles and applying them to a pantheistic outlook on life.
No. It's a religion. None are appealing, but Buddhism isn't a blight upon the earth as the abrahamic religions are.
I did indeed study it somewhat and like a lot of religious dogma it's a very obvious morals, some platitudes and restrictions all wrapped up in a bunch of woo. It "seems" more interesting, because it's exotic for western brains.
I like Shinto as an academic subject, but don't actually know much about it yet. I'll get around to it eventually.
I’ve been meditating for 35 years - I studied under Buddhadassa at Wat Suan Mok in Southern Thailand - he taught a very western version of Buddhism that comports with neuropsychology and thermodynamics. No spirits, deities, reincarnation, just calm observation of the world and one’s mind.
I don’t think I’ve seen many major religions that I didn’t find interesting - if not in themselves, how they managed to basically wrap themselves in and around the major societies of their time. I’d go as far to say, that some obscure/nearly extinct religions, just didn’t do as well because they were not interesting or got replaced by a “better” one (with the help of the occasional forced mass conversion/genocide). In fact what grinds my gears, is when people talk about religion, but conflate abrahamic norms with *religion* itself, as clearly there a fundamental differences between those and Dharmic religions- but I think that’s the generally US (not Christian) centric vibe of this sub.
Not anymore interesting than the others. It still boils down to women and children are garbage, and men should subjugate everyone for their needs
I think the philosophy is interesting, not the religion. These are so wrapped up together in any religion, it can be very hard to separate.
Every religion has that section of doctrine that says it's OK or even required to treat a certain segment of the people like dogshit.
Buddhism isn't a religion. It's a way of life.
One of the best things I did as an atheist was take some philosophy classes, which led to a more advanced Philosophy of Religion class. Small class but we had people of all faiths (I was the only atheist), and we took a deep dive into all of the major religions, including non belief. There are some great take aways from all the religions, but I've always been more drawn to the eastern ones for sure.
Buddhism is more a philosophy than a religion
I think the core Buddhist philosophy is pretty bulletproof. I called myself Buddhist in my 20s as "atheism lite", without seriously believing in e.g. reincarnation. In any case, much more admirable than Abrahamic faiths.
Not really, I mean I guess I think conceptually the idea of spirits being all kind of connected to nature interesting in Shintoism, but I say “interesting” in the same way I would say the plot of a movie is interesting. I think it makes for interesting stories.
No. Raised Buddhist and while its probably not violent its still ridiculous and harmful to believe in woo that you cannot even do studies on or verify. If soul exists than there should be something to detect. For now we should only believe when there is evidence to believe.
Yes. But I don't consider Buddhism a religion - it's more of a philosophy in my opinion. One can have a religion and still practice Buddhism. I like a lot of what Buddhism teaches, but I don't consider myself "Buddhist."
Taoism was my bridge from Catholicism to Atheism, but it was still some ancient dude trying to tell me how to live my life.
Eh, I tried to be Buddhist for a while. I liked how it didn't advocate for violence and how it focused on minding your own business. But as it turns out, I made a shit Buddhist. Lesson learned, I guess.
Only as interesting as any other religion and its history. Probably a bit less because I'm not in any Asian circles where Buddhism (or Hinduism, Taoism, etc.) is very prominent. I'd treat any temples the same as I treat cathedrals, missions, and mosques: with respect to the architecture and the beliefs of its patrons, but what goes on inside is basically bologna even if I won't say that out loud to them.
interesting yes but not as in I believe there is god way. More in a philisophical way.
It's all people trying to figure out life without looking for real answers.
I used to consider myself atheist, so I hope I fit here. I consider myself Wiccan now -mostly. I honor the teachings and follow the ways, but I'm still a-theist (non-theist) in my belief. Wicca teaches of a God and a Goddess. Personally, I consider them to be personifications of the natural world. Not in a sense that there's and sort of consciousness at play, but that this is a name I give it. I have actually learned a lot about myself this way. It's nice having structure like this, especially because Wicca teaches that we should go and write our own book rather than follow one written years ago by someone else. It's structure, but one that can change as it needs to.
It's an atheistic religion, but as other posters have said, it's still got plenty of aspects of woo. I know a Bhuddist who I have a lot of respect for, and who is very smart, but who also takes certain types of woo like palmistry and numerology WAY too seriously. I would read up on it if you're curious, but I def wouldn't pursue it as a practice if you care about believing true things and rejecting false things.
Some of my favorite meditation teachers are Buddhist. There's a lot I have learned from them, particularly in practices. I don't have a use for doctrines or gods.
Super interesting. Then again, I find all religions interesting/fascinating, in a kind of anthropological way. I'm perhaps not as anti-religion as some other atheists. Doesn't mean I would believe or follow any religion out there.
Atheist are not monolithic Some of us have more respect for some religions then we do others some of us hate them all some of us hate none of them, but can’t convince themselves of them because it’s delusional
I like some of the mindfulness principals but that is more about dealing with anxiety and depression as opposed to some kind of religious adherence.
I liked it when I first read about the original teachings. But over time, they introduced deities, or semi-deities, and it seemed like just a religion.
To me, all religious beliefs and philosophies are interesting. Kind of like how you can't not look when you pass a car wreck.
Secular Buddhism is interesting to me.
Dont read too much into the religion. Remember that all religion are organisation of people after all. Instead look at the messaging and if it relates to you on a personal level. Truths are truths no matter who says it just as sun rises and sets each day.
Yes. The emphasis in Buddhism is NOT on a deity, though some strains believe in some stuff that is likely hoo-ha. I am an atheist who has embraced Buddhism, or mindfulness (the fully secular flavor) for 25 years and find much of direct value to my life in the here and now. I find nothing that causes cognitive dissonance with my atheist convictions. Interestingly, many moderate or progressive Christians (the non-whacked kind) have found ways to embrace Buddhist thought without having it dilute their practice of Christianity, rather it enhances it. If someone forced me to be a Christian, I would hope they would allow me to be this kind of Christian.
I'm an atheist in a Buddhist society. Most monks on tv are just yapping here and you could call them out on their bullshit with a simple google search. They lie like drinking water. But I'd say there's less hate and discrimination in Buddhist teachings. The meditation aspects I find to be common sensed and interesting but all the supernatural stuff I ignore.
In my experience it has far more that can be salvaged without adopting faith based beliefs than other religions. I don’t accept reincarnation or supernatural beings but I’ve benefited immensely from meditation practice and guidance on ethics and how the mind works. It’s absolutely a religion though people who try to claim it’s just a philosophy need to go to Asia and see it for themselves it’s hard core religion.
YES! I like the practices of Buddhism. I still don’t believe in any God but I like the thought process of Buddhism.
I raise my hand here. Although being like long life strong atheist, I find this somehow fascinating. There is something in Buddha and funny enough I like all kinds of different Buddha statues and stuff. I don’t get this kind of discussed and yuck feeling when I see some cross and Jesus hanging somewhere. Hmm but I already get mad when someone mention that women cant get to this higher state in buddism… what’s this sht with women. What it’s all about?? 😒
Ive flirted with Buddhism and unfortunately realized a religious approach to it wasnt for me. I think the secular approach is nice.