Hey, I have no idea if this is the right place for this, but I figure I'd ask since it has been on my mind lately.
How does Buddhism, Eastern Religion/Spirituality, or anything of the sort deal with the fact that all around the world, children are starving to death, women are being raped, warlords are destroying villages, factory farms killing animals by the millions, ect...
I know this sound silly, but really, where does Eastern Philosophy fit into how cruel our world really is? I have recently taken up meditation as a hobby and all the research I have been doing says to "get in touch with the world" or "become one with your body and the earth" and all that kind of shit. It just seems silly to think these thoughts when there are untold amounts of death and suffering happening all of the time. Why am I so privileged (I hate to use this word) that I can potentially gain enlightenment through meditation and Eastern Philosophy, yet a child in Africa dying of some horrible disease will never know such peace.
How can Eastern Religions/Philosophies sit in their ivory towers and pretend that any of this is important when the world we live in is filled with atrocities?
Sorry if this is coming across as angsty. I am genuinely curious as it is something that I feel is preventing me from fully immersing myself in meditation and spirituality.
Before you save the world you gotta save yourself tbhfam
>>860484
Yeah, I think this and the highest form of Buddhism is self annihilation of the spirit, so you are not reincarnated into this world, this ball of dirt and shit we call earth, this thing called life. The dead only know one thing, it is better than life is the final transcendence.
I tend towards eastern philosophy more than western Abrahamics even tho I was born and raised in the west, the east has some good points.
>>860496
Close but more like annihilation of the samsaric element. But even that is a dialectic. Buddhism is transcendence of dualisms, to where you've been this whole time.
>>860455
I suggest you read more about Buddhism, since the nature of suffering and how to end it is central to Buddhism.
>>860455
Do you even read them?
>>860455
4 noble truths.
read the Dhammapada
>>860576
Honestly, no. Like I said I simply picked up meditation as a hobby and went from there. These thoughts naturally arose and thus here I am.
>>860538
Where would you suggest to begin? Is there any good layman's material for this kind of stuff?
>>860601
Thank you
>>860484
How do you "save" yourself? How do the people who experience the atrocities of life save themselves?
>>860496
Does this imply that atheism and meditation are not totally compatible?
>>860455
This seems kind of silly because Buddhism is one of the few religions where ending suffering is the goal. I suggest you maybe read a wikipedia article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Noble_Truths
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_marks_of_existence
If you're worried about being too individualistic or something, then look into Mahayana Buddhism. Their Bodhisattva path is more about liberating others.
>>860496
How does one kill their 'self'?
>>860973
attempt nibbana aka nirvana
>>860973
Killing the 'self' is the act overcoming your own desires and grievances, and attaining peace within and without.
>>860973
You're not actually killing anything because there wasn't really anything there to begin with
>>861321
>extinguishing desire is suicide
Typical dumb millennial, go meme about video games faggot
>>861328
go light yourself on fire you dumb cuck
>>860455
The same way Western religions do: by not giving a shit. In fact, they suck on the tit of economic power just the same.
>>861333
That niggas got more stones in his pinkie finger than you got in your whole family tree you mong faggot
>>861342
>mixed metaphors and gibberish
is that some buddhist nonsense you're spouting?
you win the buddhist game when you're dead, so go ahead and end it all.
>>861351
Lol no you don't dipshit, reincarnation hurrrrr. If you're gonna meme at least know what the fuck youre talking about lnao
>>861333
Anyone who posts on 4Chan every day is a confirmed super fag
>>861293
How does one extinguish this false perception of a self?
>>861429
Realise that the ego is an illusion
>>860455
Sound like youre "researching" new age hippie bullshit idealized psuedobuddhism and not actual Buddhism as practiced by asians
>>861429
The Eightfold Path
"Eastern Religion/Philosophy" is hopelessly, absurdly broad. "How does Western philosophy deal with the problem of suffering?". You're talking about a philosophical tradition that spans 2500+ years and, as in the West, eventually explored and exhausted every permutation imaginable of metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics, from pluralism to monism, from materialism to idealism, from moral absolutism to relativism to nihilism, from skepticism to quietism to foundationalism.
There is no answer to your question because it is broad for even a monograph. Even limited to Buddhism it would require tracing the history of pre-sectarian Buddhism up through the development of the Mahāyana and the rise of the bodhisattva ideal.
1.) Duty to self
- Clearing one's mind
- Removing expectation
2.) Duty to others
- Help those in need
- Do not encourage overt dependence
Pretty much all Eastern Schools reflect this in some rule of religion or philosophy.
>>862234
So reductive and facile as to be beyond incorrectness.
>>862236
Basically, yes.
If you want to see how Easterners have swayed from this in modern times, watch Wuxia films from the 70s.
Often the premise is that someone is blamed for their circumstances and only verbal dictations are offered... until they learn that such philosophy doesn't work in the real world.
It reminds of me a Chinese dignitaries response to the hypocrisy of the Chinese working with Americans, being asked if they're still Communist:
"We will use what works and we will call it Communism."
>>862250
The post was facile, not the content of it. "Clearing one's mind" is a caricature of, again, the 2500 year history of South and East Asian thought.
