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I apologize for being condescending about religion

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Re: I apologize for being condescending about religion

Unread postby SeaGypsy » Mon 06 Jul 2015, 08:36:40

Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.

Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
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Re: I apologize for being condescending about religion

Unread postby Ibon » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 07:04:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', 'M')r. Desu, Sea Gypsy has thrown a challenge your way. Care to respond?


Hey Mr. Desu, What's up? Care to respond?
Patiently awaiting the pathogens. Our resiliency resembles an invasive weed. We are the Kudzu Ape
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Re: I apologize for being condescending about religion

Unread postby SeaGypsy » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 07:19:35

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Oik6dXm-0l0
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Re: I apologize for being condescending about religion

Unread postby Sixstrings » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 07:48:22

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', '&')quot; It is a great insult to the collective intelligence and goodwill of humanity that a man who claims to be the fourteenth reincarnation of a virtually prehistoric Nepalese princeling is granted the attention that he is. Maybe the Dalai Lama should stick to his platitudinous advice-spewing (for him, Buddhism is no more than a collection of vaguely mystical aphorisms anyway), and the rest of us should get on with our lives. Perhaps he could restrict his sphere of activity to writing forwards to potboilers about meditation and self-help and the political and cultural establishment could stop deferring to an outstandingly successful fantasist and conman on such an elaborately bended knee."

Alas, there are no sacred cows on PO.com (or humans)

http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/4421553


I scanned that article.. it's just a bunch of words, I can't see anything specific in it actually about the dalai lama. This is the closest I could find:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]Oh, and he's a Marxist as well. Just thought I'd mention it: not that I support clichéd rapid-fire anti-commie sentiment at the very mention at the term, but it is worth pointing out that as a political actor, the Dalai Lama is hardly neutral.


That's not even true. He's a centrist (as a Buddhist ought to be, the "middle way," no extremes). He's actually a major supporter of democracy. He gave a flat out honest opinion on Russia and Putin going too far. He's not right, or left.

He's always kind. He's just a very good person. I don't know how anyone can read his books and watch some documentaries of him and not come away liking him.

I looked up dalai lama on youtube, happened to see this clip from Australia:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Dalai Lama walks into a pizza shop
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlIrI80og8c


That seems oddly smug, and snarky to me. Was that journalist high on crack or something? It just looks like they're making fun of him.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'D')alai Lama - 80th birthday speech at Glastonbury 2015
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XPO8B2QZ1g


I can't find it now, but one of the best documentaries I saw was a PBS type thing where they just followed him for a full 24 hours, a typical day in Dharamsala. He's starts the day watching BBC news. He meditates for hours.. then just meets people, is nice and kind and gives wise advise.

There's also a neat documentary I saw on netflix more recently, about the first American (and Westerner) ever appointed abbot of a major Tibetan monastery (in Dharamsala).

Anyhow, if anyone is bored, "Kundun" the full move is on youtube:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'K')undun (1997) - Full Movie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC0jChlBwHE
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Re: I apologize for being condescending about religion

Unread postby Sixstrings » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 09:06:08

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('SeaGypsy', 'I')'m on the side around here that he is a troll


We agree on that. You and me disagree on the moon landing and the dalai lama. :lol:

This is what desu did: he got a attention going after religion, then he came back now to get attention for apologizing.

But, who knows about anyone, and we need to be kind.

The biggest thing about Desu is he should just try to have a conversation and make it real. If we're talking about religion, then okay let's talk about religion. What's his background and family experience in that, where's he coming from. One can talk generally about oneself, while still being private.

He should realize this forum is not like reddit and other anonymous places -- people sort of "know" each other here. There are conversations.

@onlooker
About desu getting banned, I'm just guessing but I would assume the problem may be when he will start about 5 threads and then doesn't have conversations in them. So it looks like spam / just trolling.
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Re: I apologize for being condescending about religion

Unread postby Sixstrings » Tue 07 Jul 2015, 09:35:11

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ibon', 'W')hen you live in an affluent society where you can fine tune and satiate all your desires, this tends to develop a focus on self. Digital media has greatly exasperated this. Self indulgence, like materialism, does not provide a deeper sense of connection to others or toward your planet. This is what leads to frustration and bitterness. It leads to very degraded human social skills. You become angry easily, you insult others, you criticize and demean others point of view. Your compassion gets reduced to almost zero.


Nicely said. And that's the Buddhist message. And really, the message of all religion -- whereas it's consumerism that tries to fill the empty existential places with new shiny "things" and diversions. Yet "enough," is never enough -- even for a multi billionaires, or however much a person seems to have, it's just never enough.

So that's what the buddhist ideas of "attachment" are about, and the cycle of "dukkha." That people need the "things" to fill them up, then they get attached to the things, scared of losing the things, when the reality of life is that ALL "things" are impermanent. And so, suffering is universal.

The central message is empathy: if one is suffering over a loss, the best thing one can do is turn that toward care for someone else.

I'm not a "buddhist" but I have always liked it. I read a ton of zen and buddhism books years ago and really soaked it in. One can get to the same place, with Christianity as well or other religions. But the lesson is the same, and it's important tool to have in one's toolkit -- an ability to ACCEPT change and loss, and acceptance of impermanence, as a fundamental principle.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'Y')ou begin to seek negative attention because you are starved of real quality human contact. We can all easily recognize posters who come along here at times demonstrating these traits. Some of us move in and out of moments of more compassion and then clamp down again in bitterness. To make yourself vulnerable and to practice humility requires courage. In your self devised prison of narcissism you are an emperor of one and you dictate the rules. A lonely kingdom.


I resemble some of those remarks. :| At least I'm aware of it. And bend towards compassion, and am mindful, I try to be.

Out in the real world.. our families and social circles.. the truth is that there is a MOUNTAIN of selfishness and pettyness to deal with out there, so.. it's hard to be an all empathetic, humble rock in the middle of that ocean, you know? The arguing and "bitterness" is the language of the group, so you almost have to speak the language. (and that is true on "the internet" most of all, where the discourse is often the least empathetic).

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I')n a world crowded with lonely narcissists there is a growing need of mentors that encourage the opening of the heart and compassion. The Dalai Lama is such a mentor.


Yep, nothin' wrong with a leader, if they lead somewhere good.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'E')ach and every one of us can take some courageous steps toward the opening of the heart and compassion. Today I will carry this thought and awareness with me and make a conscious effort to practice kindness.


That's all any of us can do, is be aware -- be mindful -- and try. Otherwise we are not by nature prefect people, it's always going to be a "practice" whether one is practicing at Christian precepts or Buddhist ones. In Christianity, they say we're all sinners and saved by grace.. in buddhism, they say we are all lost in dukkha and perfect as we are but we just don't know it yet, and that meditation and the 8 fold path and 4 truths are the way to find that perfection, or as close as one can get to it, enlightenment.

Christian or Buddhist or muslim or atheist, it's about the "golden rule" and empathy and being mindful of the best of our human nature and bending toward that.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') left Mount Totumas 2 days ago and I am now in South Florida. Thoughts of compassion are easy when you are not disturbed in a temple on a mountain top. Now is the challenge, for I am surrounded by a sea of humanity whose ignorance is breathtaking.

Right, exactly, as I said above. How can one be perfectly empathetic, in an ocean of arguments and greed and small-minded pettyness? These things become the language of society, and you almost have to speak the language or you're not talking at all. It's not easy.
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