Everyone criticises the main Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism and Islam) for their contradictions, violence, and promotion of "fearing" or "submitting" to God.
But there's not much criticism of the "Eastern" religions in the mainstream.
So what criticisms can you think of for Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism etc?
>>863362
well Sikhism was pretty violent historically IIRC but then again, it's partially descended from Islam
I can't think of any except Hindu varnas
Eastern religions are just more mature than petty semitic ones
>>863368
All the Sikh wars are were self defense against muslims
The Gurus say to protect the weak, oppressed, and helpless no matter what
>>863368
Sikhism is mending of cultures and not a religion, so it is adaptive to time than actual religions.
>>863362
Hinduism and Shinto used to have shitty aspects of human sacrifice.
Like clergy everywhere, Buddhist monkhood also led to the rise of a powerful clergy class. They were responsible for the balkanization of the Tibetan State into warring monasteries. Also in Japan the Buddhist Monasteries were quite the political assholes as well. Raising up popular revolts whenever they're asshurt about an Emperor's policy.
>>863362
Buddhists can have extremists like the Abrahamic faiths. In Myanmar, monks often attack muslim villages and burn their things.
The Buddhist idea that life is awful and should be escaped, but only the very few can do that, sounds almost as grotesque as the idea that paradise consists in endlessly contemplating god and that the large majority of souls will instead of that end up in eternal torment.
>>863382
>The Gurus say to protect the weak, oppressed, and helpless no matter what
BRO-TIER
>>863455
this
>>863455
this
Also i never understood completely why there is such a fucking gap between "Everything is an Illusion" and "Compassion for everything" mentality. I read a lot about the two everywhere but never, nowhere it states clearly why one leads to another.
>>863362
>Hinduism
Caste System
>>863498
Your new is showing.
Let me tell you something about Buddhism: It is a religion of death. It says that life is this endless cycle of suffering, and that you just end up reincarnating to suffer again and again. The whole goal is to achieve an end to all this by finding true death. Why do you think the preferred religion of the samurai is Buddhism? Those guys embraced death.
I don't know about you, but I would rather embrace life. I think that life is a fucking miracle, despite all the shitty suffering and bullshit everywhere. Life is good, even with all the pain.
That's just me though, if you want to embrace death, go ahead and become a Buddhist.
>>863382
It was more the Mughal empire and Hindu Nawabs rather than only Muslims. The Mughals were pretty secular, the exception being Aurengzeb. And don't forget the massacre at the golden temple in the 70s, that was Muslim, but rather carried out by a Hindu prime minister.
>>863525
Religion wise, that sounds pretty pagan to me.
I'm not saying go full LARP, but reading mythology and Hellenic and Roman philosophy and reflecting on its meaning and significance is good to do. I do this.
>>863625
The enlightened individual is beyond good and evil.
>>863455
>>863525
>The Buddhist idea that life is awful and should be escaped
Is not a Buddhist idea. Many misinterpret the First Noble Truth as "Life is suffering." In truth, it is merely a pragmatic teaching that "There IS suffering." Nobody can deny this. The further Noble Truths elucidate that there is an end to suffering, that there is a direct path to the end of suffering, and the actual ending of suffering itself can be directly experienced.
People portray this idea that Buddhism is life-denying based on this misconception, but the truth is really that Buddhism is neither life-affirming or life-denying--- it speaks on a deeper level, on which one recognizes that there is a suffering that comes from separation from the loved, association with the hated, and so on, and that this suffering really is optional.
That's the real beauty of the teaching: that regardless of external condition, the suffering that comes from clinging to what you like and aversion to what you don't like can be extinguished.
>>863625
Buddha taught absolute pacifism, that even if there were people sawing you in half with a two-handed saw, you should still cultivate good will and a genuine wish of true happiness for those people
>>863625
You're confusing Abrahamic morality with Buddhist morality.
In Abrahamic religions, if you do not do what Yahweh says, he hurts you. You have no choice about this (the most extreme view is occasionalism, which posits that literally NOTHING can occur any way except the way Yahweh wants).
In Buddhism, you don't have that. Buddhism posits a bunch of stuff that you should do IF you want to reach Nirvana. But that's only for monks. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a layman taking a wife, fucking the shit out of her, and living a happy yet moderated life. There's nothing "Wrong" with war except in that it hurts people (and will hurt future people).
So yeah, war is fine in Buddhism. Especially a defensive war. If a monk is given the choice between standing there while a woman is raped or kicking the shit out of the rapist, defending the woman (violently if need be) isn't immoral. It won't "hurt" his karma. If a group of monks needs to band together to violently overthrow a tyrant, that's not bad. We're assuming their intentions are pure and they aren't pulling the "violence can be used to stop evil and evil is not giving us what we want :^)" card of course. Nationalism, likewise, is perfectly acceptable for laymen and monks (I don't get why you would think it would be, but hey).
>>863394
I rest my case
Buddhism breaks down if you remove the baseless dogma of reincarnation
>>863672
>Buddha taught absolute pacifism, that even if there were people sawing you in half with a two-handed saw, you should still cultivate good will and a genuine wish of true happiness for those people
What a total cuck!
>>863715
>>863707
Rebirth =/= reincarnation. Very important distinction. It's not baseless because if you look at your own mind you can observe rebirth occurring on a small level all the time, it's a continuous process.
>>863732
>Buddhist meditation teachers suggest that observation reveals consciousness as a sequence of conscious moments rather than a continuum of awareness. Each moment is an experience of an individual mind-state such as a thought, a memory, a feeling or a perception. A mind-state arises, exists and, being impermanent, ceases, following which the next mind-state arises. Thus the consciousness of a sentient being can be seen as a continuous series of birth and death of these mind-states. Rebirth is the persistence of this process.
>>863732
Consciousness is nothing more than the sum total of neurological activity
Killing oneself sends the "ego" into oblivion
>>863753
>He's a positivist!
>>863753
Buddhism doesn't deny that. You might want to look at this sutta:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/mn/mn.038.than.html
>>863766
>he's a fantasy writer
To Nietzsche Buddhism was a religion of the waning days or the evening of a certain aristocratic type, one that parted ways with life from a position of strenght. The Buddha had everything he wanted, but he let go with willingly.
Christianity (and Messianic Judaism) on the other hand, being a slave religion, looks at life with bitterness. The Christian parts ways with life from a position of weakness, wishing revenge on everyone else as he goes.
Remember, Yahweh hates the "bold".
>>863808
Cont.
But while he certainly acknowledged the superiority of Buddhism, he nevertheless thought that it was a nihilistic religion of the weary and tired of life. The difference being this, Buddhism was a nihilistic religion of the upper class whereas Christianity was a nihilistic religion of the lower class. That is because the Aryan is the master wherever he is at and there could never be an Aryan religion of the lower class (and Buddhism is an Aryan religion). Source: notes on The Will to Power.
>>863836
Cont.
So basically the aristocrat looks back and says: so this was life? Cool, but enough now. Whereas the Abrahamic slave wishes he will have in the next life everything that he didn't have in this life (72 virgins, etc.), and wishes that the successful be punished by Yahweh/Allah for humiliating him.
>>863753
lol what an autist
Whether or not consciousness is fairy dust or electrical activity in the brain there's no denying your mind is in a constant flux, either that or you're some sublime platonic being shitposting on 4chan
>Buddha was a fatty, apparently
>>863382
Confirmed for clueless, useful idiot.
>>863525
Compared to what?
Life being some sick test for a vengeful god so that nearly everyone but a few people go to some eternal hell?
>>863892
Me again.
Now for some criticism of Buddhism itself.
Buddhism is a mish mash of Vedantic Shramanic elements with Jainism, whence, Karma and Nirvana come from. The Pali Canon cites Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, and is thus dated and cannot claim a greater antiquity. Buddhism also draws heavily on the Samkhya system of Hindu philosophy.
In the Pali Canon, the Buddha is said to be omniscient, but he claims to believe in spontaneous generation, a theory debunked by Pasteur. He also believes that there is a mountain on the center of the world (actually, of the universe) and everything is composed of the the classical four elements plus mind. So much for any claim of transcendental knowledge.
In the later sects or Mahayana schools we see Buddhism completely degenerate into a theistic and popular religion, complete with "medicine Buddhas", "female Buddhas", etc.
The Mahayana scriptures smack of datable sectarian polemics and proselytizing fervor. No Mahayana can start without the Buddha being attended by a retinue of dragons and other mythical creatures, and then procede to have the Buddha himself bad-mouth other Buddhist sects in a cringy manner, totally unworthy of the serene Buddha of the more ancient manuscripts. Thus the Mahayana scriptures are impossible to take seriously by anyone but sectarian fanatics.
>>863497
As far as I understand, "Everything is an illusion" is more like "everything is one, all distinctions are an illusion" and when you see this clearly as Buddha, compassion is necessary
>>863967
Vedantic AND Shramanic*
>>863933
>Chinese Buddha
>>863967
Can any religion really claim to have transcendental knowledge?
Abrahamic regions also adhere to spontaneous generation and have similarly wrong ramblings about the origins and nature of the universe.
>>863455
>the buddhist idea
geez no wonder this is board is shit
>>863525
woof
gb2reddit
>>863990
There is one God and he is throughout the Holy Bible as Koran
>>863968
Still, if everything is one why i should have compassion? Compassion is an distinction in human behavior and an illusion to be abolished and to be detached from.
Jump from metaphysics and ethics in buddhism is flimsy if non existent and i never could find anything solid on in over the net and some Buddhists speak to are literary...either Asians and 'i dunno' or wannabe Buddist from the west..
>>863362
Because eastern religions aren't causing mischief and strife.
>>864066
It is secular societies which cause these wars
>>864059
>if everything is one why should I feel compassion for it
Because Buddhism assumes you're not an autist
>>863401
Christianity still has human sacrifice to this day tho
>>864093
Uh... Where?
>>864098
jesus
>>864078
You are seriously mentally disabled or just 'pretend stupid' for sake of trolling?
>>863362
I could be a sikh if I wanted but I am literally drinking whiskey right this second
>>863933
That's Budai.
>>864059
Its worth noting that Buddha was more than a man who recognized the abstract form of the universe, he had reached a state of sublime realization that cannot be explained. Buddhism describes the path to this state, but it cannot describe the state itself.
So a answer that may be less than satisfactory for you is that describing enlightenment necessitates less than adequate words such as "compassion", but when we feel compassion it is nothing compared to the understanding the totality of pain and suffering that is felt in enlightenment
>>864131
What part of "Final Sacrifice that is celebrated all at once throughout time and space and every mass is, from a heavenly perspective, happening at the exact same time" do you not comprehend?
>>863715
kek
