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eyesopened -> RE: Dawkins on "God" and the Flying Spagetti Monster (1/6/2007 4:20:31 AM)
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ORIGINAL: meatcleaver
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ORIGINAL: eyesopened
So Budhism and Confusicainism can't be cults of the individual because Gautama Buddha and Confucius weren't individuals like Mao or Jesus? i am sorry to be so stupid but i still don't understand.
As far as I'm aware and I'll stand corrected, Budhism and Confuscianism aren't worshipped in themselves, they divised a philosophy by which to live. Budhists and Confuscians don't invoke the supernatural.
Let's take Christianity. Jesus, god and the holy spirit, one god yet three but indivisible (huh?) are worshiped. Jesus is the son of god, born of a virgin, who made miracles happen in his life, who was killed and rose from the dead and then ascended to heaven. If you pray hard enough he has even been known to intervene in someones life. It just becomes absurd.
Yep. Budhism has some wierd ideas, karma and reincarnation but there is no supernatural god to invoke.
Moa having no more power than any other individual encouraged hero worship and above human powers to be projected onto him as though he was a sort of mesaih some Jesus figure.
Here's a little snippet that may help you understand the Buddah and how He is "worshipped"
According to tradition, the historical Buddha lived from 563 to 483 B.C., although scholars postulate that he may have lived as much as a century later. He was born to the rulers of the Shakya clan, hence his appellation Shakyamuni, which means "sage of the Shakya clan." The legends that grew up around him hold that both his conception and birth were miraculous. His mother, Maya, conceived him when she dreamed that a white elephant entered her right side (The Dream of Queen Maya, 1976.402). She gave birth to him in a standing position while grasping a tree in a garden (Birth of the Buddha, 1987.417.1). The child emerged from Maya's right side fully formed and proceeded to take seven steps. Once back in the palace, he was presented to an astrologer who predicted that he would become either a great king or a great religious teacher and he was given the name Siddhartha ("He who achieves His Goal"). His father, evidently thinking that any contact with unpleasantness might prompt Siddhartha to seek a life of renunciation as a religious teacher, and not wanting to lose his son to such a future, protected him from the realities of life.
The ravages of poverty, disease, and even old age were therefore unknown to Siddhartha, who grew up surrounded by every comfort in a sumptuous palace. At age twenty-nine, he made three successive chariot rides outside the palace grounds and saw an old person, a sick person, and a corpse, all for the first time. On the fourth trip, he saw a wandering holy man whose asceticism inspired Siddhartha to follow a similar path in search of freedom from the suffering caused by the infinite cycle of birth, death, and rebirth. Because he knew his father would try to stop him, Siddhartha secretly left the palace in the middle of the night (The Great Departure and the Temptation of the Buddha, 28.105) and sent all his belongings and jewelry back with his servant and horse. Completely abandoning his luxurious existence, he spent six years as an ascetic (Fasting Siddhartha, 1987.218.5), attempting to conquer the innate appetites for food, sex, and comfort by engaging in various yogic disciplines. Eventually near death from his vigilant fasting, he accepted a bowl of rice from a young girl. Once he had eaten, he had a realization that physical austerities were not the means to achieve spiritual liberation. At a place now known as Bodh Gaya ("enlightenment place"), he sat and meditated all night beneath a pipal tree. After defeating the forces of the demon Mara, Siddhartha reached enlightenment (Plaque with scenes from the life of the Buddha, 1982.233) and became a Buddha ("enlightened one") at the age of thirty-five.
The Buddha continued to sit after his enlightenment, meditating beneath the tree and then standing beside it for a number of weeks. During the fifth or sixth week, he was beset by heavy rains while meditating but was protected by the hood of the serpent king Muchilinda (Buddha sheltered by a naga, 1987.424.19ab). Seven weeks after his enlightenment, he left his seat under the tree and decided to teach others what he had learned, encouraging people to follow a path he called "The Middle Way," which is one of balance rather than extremism. He gave his first sermon (Buddha's First Sermon at Sarnath, 1980.527.4) in a deer park in Sarnath, on the outskirts of the city of Benares. He soon had many disciples and spent the next forty-five years walking around northeastern India spreading his teachings. Although the Buddha presented himself only as a teacher and not as a god or object of worship, he is said to have performed many miracles during his lifetime (Bookcover with scenes from the life of the Buddha, 1979.511). Traditional accounts relate that he died at the age of eighty (The Death of the Buddha, L.1993.69.4) in Kushinagara, after ingesting a tainted piece of either mushroom or pork. His body was cremated and the remains distributed among groups of his followers. These holy relics were enshrined in large hemispherical burial mounds (stupa, 1985.387), a number of which became important pilgrimage sites.
In India, by the Pala period (ca. 700–1200), the Buddha's life was codified into a series of "Eight Great Events" (1982.233). These eight events are, in order of their occurrence in the Buddha's life: his birth (1976.402), his defeat over Mara and consequent enlightenment (1982.233; 1985.392.1), his first sermon at Sarnath (1980.527.4), the miracles he performed at Shravasti (1979.511), his descent from the Heaven of the Thirty-three Gods (Buddha's Descent from the Trayastrimsha Heaven, 28.31), his taming of a wild elephant (1979.511), the monkey's gift of honey, and his death (L.1993.69.4).
Let's see.... born of a virgin, tempted, performed miracles, gave great sermons, no Buddah and Jesus aren't even remotely alike.
Jesus never claimed to be divine and neither did His followers. The emperor Constantine told His cronies to make the philosophy espoused by Jesus into a religion. Prior to that time, there was no such thing as "Christianity" so it's not Jesus or His philosophy you should have a beef with but with Constantine. Constantine's new religion bares little resemblence to the original philosophy as evidenced in the Nag Hammadi scrolls.
While not giving a name to a diety, Buddhists pray and make offerings to a power outside themselves that most folks would call "god" for lack of a better term.
Look, it's an acuarial fact that the Chicago Cubs will never win the World Series which would make Cubbie fans irrational and delusional and with the evidence of riots, violence and corruption of "organized sports" all sports fans are under the thumb of an athletic worldview which causes great harm to a great many people. One need only look at the new field of "sports medicine" to see this is true. There is no evidence that even one who practices personal exercise at home will not get sick and die so athletics are irrational and delusional and should be stopped. Except golf cuz that's not really a sport, that's a game... oh, and NASCAR cuz that's not a sport, it's a religion.
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