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[Silver]

I will say if I wasn't already a Mormon and made temple covenants which I plan to stick to, and I had no religion, I would be a Buddhist. I know many and they're the nicest and care free people I know who are humble and don't care for material possessions except as a need. They fight cravings.

I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but having lived in Japan for eight years I will inform you that the good Buddhists there are just like you and me. They have the same weaknesses, cravings, fears, sins, and bad habits, while also being gracious and caring and helpful and humorous and dedicated. I've also worked with the Japanese for over 30 years. In the workplace, they are just like you and me.

Further, I've traveled to China, Korea, Taiwan and other Asian countries where there are many Buddhists, at least in name. They're like us, too. They want to be successful. They want to send their kids to good schools. They want the whole family to visit Disneyland. They also have faults.

We share many traits with people all around the world. That's why we Christians especially should follow the Golden Rule so they might be inclined to learn more about us and perhaps accept Jesus as their Savior.

[passionflower]

Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion. Not in any strict sense of the word, anyway. It began in India as a school of philosophy and just happened to become more popular and competed well with other philosophers of the day to the point where one day it became sanctioned by Emperor of China. Siddharta has become the subject of many fanciful tales concerning his life, but he really just put his pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us. Being a popular philosopher in those days was like being a rock star. People would fall over themselves on your every word and treat you like a God or something and just believe anything about you, no matter how incredible. Siddharta was a wealthy man, and was able to travel to what were then the philosophy capitals of the world and visit the great libraries of Greece and Egypt. Therein, no doubt he came across the five books of Moses and did some plagarizing. Buddhism is truly the "philosophies of men mingled with scripture". And has held a gripping domination over the minds of peoples in the far east branching off into some very very extreme spinoffs. It was Buddhist ideals that sparked the justification for Japanese Imperialism and the brutal invastion of China during the 1930's.
As I have said on another thread, Buddhism is a philosophical experiment in erasing conflict. It is just too bad that Buddhsim kills the wrong party to the conflict.

[Silver]

Buddhism is a philosophy, not a religion.

This probably confuses some people so let me elaborate. Years ago I worked with a cool guy from Tokyo. His father was the priest in charge of a Buddhist temple, and later became the chief priest when his father passed away. The temple had been in their family for about 400 years. On one visit to his home, his father said: "Buddhism is not a religion. There is no god in Buddhism. We pay respect to our ancestors."

[passionflower]

The ensign article explains what the original Buddha taught after he meditated under that tree.

Yes, I know that.
Buddhist meditations techniques ( which also actually originate in India ) take the meditator into theta levels, which is actually too deep to do anyone any real good. It is as if meditation itself would create higher level experience and is a goal in and of itself. The truth is that your subconscious mind is given free reign at theta, and can come up with all kinds of pseudo-spiritual like experiences if it thinks it is supposed to. Meanwhile beta brain frequencies remain unengaged, unable to reason anything out. This is not the way to engage the brain to its most productive state, especially reiigiously speaking .

Believing stuff like this has brought on the belief that the intuitive "female" side of the brain is superior to the outward directed decision making male side. Not so.

When I meditate, I am trying to actively come up with solutions to problems and real direction to help me take the best action possible. Meditation is not an end state in and of itself. Both sides of my brain are active at the same time, by maintaining beta logic and reasoning, while accessing information from the subconscious in a completely awake state. How do you think I really found that doctor in the nick of time and got all the cancer treatments I wanted and didn't get what I didn't want? ( that I talk about on that alternative cancer therapy thread )

I have found time and time again that people who are attracted to Buddhism and/or Hinduism believe this philosophy will solve their internal personal conflicts and give them peace of mind. I would unequivocally say that it does neither because, like modern medical practices, it does not get down to the real underlying cause of the personal unrest, but simply maintains people at the very best. It was actually very disappointing for the world to see the Dalia Lama coming out of seclusion all those years ago. The legends of the Tulku, like those of Buddha, told fantastic tales of stunning displays of their supposed great powers. Turns out the Dalai Lama suffers hot, cold, pain and hunger just like the rest of us, and has no unusual mental or physical abilities.

But I am actually a very open minded egalitarian, and am not suggesting that Buddhism is total bunk, an all over worthless discipline, and that no monk ever discovered anything, oh contraire. The musical tones of the singing bowls are highly sophisticated and make very interesting study, and worship of the bodisatvas obviously predates buddhism and should be fascinating to anyone LDS. To give you one for your side, once I healed myself of a terrible psychological struggle that was causing me to starve and dehydrate. Why this was happening to me is a story for another day, but it was steadily gazing upon a Samsara Mandala that finally caused my strong fearful emotions to let go and I was able to eat and drink again, and I had gone for six days without food and could only infrequently sip water by the teaspoon!)

[passionflower]

I think I'm just attracted to the peace and love and forgetting about problems and letting go and the bliss and happiness. It's tempting because it seems like such an "easy way out". It seems to a lot of people enlightenment is easier to obtain than by all the church requirements. It all seems easier to many and that's what makes it effective.

I can understand your attraction here. Nobody wants to suffer or worry. I don't want to suffer. Jesus didn't want to suffer, but there was no easy way out for Him, and neither is there for us. But you and I agreed to accept suffering in all its forms before comiing to this earth. Philosophies of men can be altered, changed and competed with by someone new with a better or more modern set of seemingly consistent ideas. Buddhism certainly has morphed over the years, whereas principles of the gospel cannot be, and have a worth that extends beyond the problems and frustrations of this telestial world. And that's what we are living for. We want "to set aside the things of this world and seek for the things of a better".

I think I have been around enough to be convinced nothing of this world offers real peace, love, solutions to problems, or any bliss or happiness of any permanence. I knew a former practicing Buddhist who forsook it when her first child died shortly after birth. Nothing Buddhist prepared her for this and neither did it comfort her. She was just supposed to let go somehow and be "unattached", but this was not enough for her or her husband. They found they needed more purpose and more connection, even if that caused pain, sorrow and suffering.

The Buddhist philosophy lines up with the psychological concepts of conscious and subconscious, objective and subjective, dominant and submissive, survival and sacrifice. Having to make choices in these areas form the basis of internal conflict for many people. So buddhism basically says " let's get rid of conscious, objective, dominant thinking and ignore the survival instinct, and take what's left, meaning the subconscious, subjective, submissive and sacrificial states of miind. Then we will no longer suffer and have continual peace and happiness.

I for one am not buying into that, and I don't care what noble words surround such ideas. God made me with both conscious and subconscious, objective and subjective states of mind, along with dominant and sumissive characteristics ( my right hand is dominant over my left ) and I intend to use them all, even if I make less than good decisions, bad things happen and I am perpetually in a state of pain. :(( True enlightenment is a rocky uphill road where we have to learn by experience to choose good over evil. No one is really ahead of anybody else on this road by virtue of the philosophy of life they adhere to or how much bliss they claim to be having.

If I wasn't born into the church, I hope I would be looking for it, and that nothing would satisfiy me until I found it. I am sure you really are the same way. Good luck on all the searching things out you seem to be doing. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. :ymhug:

[passionflower]

Here's my question. How come I've never had a spiritual experience in the temple or chapel but I've had them in my house and in nature?

Why do you think this is? What do you think is happening here?

As a missionary, I would have to often point out to people that they were feeling impressions given them by the Holy Ghost, they just didn't realize it or know how to recognize it. Are you really sure you have never felt the presence of the Holy Ghost in the temple or at church? When I hear a sweeping overgeneralized statement such as yours above, and it is negatively bent, I suspect someone is depressed about something. Could this be the case?

Just a knee jerk reaction. I don't really know, of course. ;)

Some of the most intelligent and gifted people have suffered from depression at times.

I could offer this, too: when you were confirmed a member of the church, you were exhorted to "receive the Holy Ghost". When you attend church or go to the temple, can you honestly say that you are making every effort to "receive" the Holy Ghost? Are you opening yourself up to Him in these situations as well as at home or in nature?

IMO, and based on my experience, I would say that the gospel way to have peace, happiness, and undo conflict is to replace doubt with faith. Real serious faith. This unifies and strengthens the personality and has brought many people through all sorts of difficulties, even religious ones. If I had a question like yours up there, first I would pray and ask HF about it. If I didn't get an answer, then I would ask myself about it. Whatever the answer was, I would make up my mind to do something about it and believe that if I do my part, I WILL get divine help and aid.

[drtanner]

I feel the spirit almost without fail everytime I attend the temple and while at church. It is one of the ways I have no doubt the keys are still active and with the church. I've also felt it in my home and in nature. I would definitely spend some talking with Heavenly Father about what the fruits of the spirit are and helping you recognize them. I have also found that if you focus on what "you" are suppose to receive out of the temple experience vs complete love for those you are doing the work for this changes the experience.

[drtanner]

Sometimes the best kept secret in the church (or temple) is the gospel. I would start there.

[lemuel]

The Buddha may have some enlightenment. I leave this picture here without comment.

buddha.jpg (32.91 KiB) Viewed 714 times

[passionflower]

I feel the spirit almost without fail everytime I attend the temple and while at church. It is one of the ways I have no doubt the keys are still active and with the church. I've also felt it in my home and in nature. I would definitely spend some talking with Heavenly Father about what the fruits of the spirit are and helping you recognize them. I have also found that if you focus on what "you" are suppose to receive out of the temple experience vs complete love for those you are doing the work for this changes the experience.

I've only felt it at home and in nature and I've been temple endowed for 12 years and go a lot and nothing inside a church has ever done it for me. Maybe I'm not worthy enough of the temple but worthy to be loved outside of it.

Maybe you are just the independent-great-outdoors-go-it-alone type.

[Thinker]

I am pleasantly surprised that the Ensign had an article about Buddhism!
How awesome is that!!! I wish they still did things like this - genuinely live the 11th article of faith.

There's no doubt that Jesus was somewhat influenced by Buddhism. It had been preached in various lands, including Isrrael for over 400 years when Jesus was alive. He felt it important to include in the parable of his birth the "wise men of the east." And some of his quotes seem quite Buddhist like "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation, neither shall they say lo here or lo there. Behold the kingdom of God is within you." Buddha similarly taught that if you meet the Buddha (God) on the road, don't believe it's him because it is experienced within (paraphrasing).

I took my kids to a Buddhist temple (among other religious services) & the chanting left them speechless. The guy was very nice & helped explain Buddhism to their level. Personally, I collect truth wherever I can find them, but I don't live each religion or
philosophy despite appreciating certain aspects.

I read a book by Dalai Lama & HC Cutler, "The Art of Happiness" which has been insightful to me. Maybe I'll quote some later.

[Thinker]

I read a book by Dalai Lama & HC Cutler, "The Art of Happiness" which has been insightful to me. Maybe I'll quote some later.

First off, "thinking with integrity is paradoxical thinking" so obviously, many assertions could be debated with credibility.
Also, I don't agree with everything that Dalai Lama believes - but as with everything, I try to take the best and leave the rest.

Ok, some quotes from that book....

*Training the mind for happiness...
*By bringing about a certain inner discipline, we can undergo a transformation of our attitude, our entire outlook and approach to living.
*Happy people are generally found to be more sociable, flexible and creative and are able to tolerate life's daily frustrations... and are found to be more loving and forgiving."
*Happiness is determined more by one's state of mind than by external events. Success may result in a temporary feeling of elation, or tragedy may send us into a period of depression, but sooner or later, our overall level of happiness tends to migrate back to a certain baseline.
*If you possess this inner discipline, a calmness of mind -no matter what external conditions, with a degree of stability within, [you can] live a happy and joyful life.
*Be grateful for what you have...Another internal source of happiness is a sense of self-worth. Despite hardship or loss, you can relate to others because you are still a human being, within the human community. You share that a bond. And that human bond is enough to give rise to a sense of worth and dignity. That bond can become a source of consolation..."

*...The practice of Dharma is a constant battle within, replacing previous negative conditioning or habituation with new positive conditioning.
*Factors for optimal environment to allow seed of caring and compassion to ripen in kids:

• Parents regulate their own emotions
  (Parents) model caring behavior
  Set appropriate limits with kids' behavior
  Communicate that a child is responsible for his behavior
  Use reasoning to help direct child's attention to affective emotional states and the consequences of his behavior on others

*Proper utilization of time is so important.
*Empathy helps enhance compassion and helps disolve conflict... temporarily suspend insisting on your own viewpoint and look from the other person's perspective. Imagine how you would deal with this if you were in their shoes. This helps you develop an awareness and respect for another's feelings, which is an important factor in reducing conflicts and problems with other people.
*Genuine compassion is based on the other's fundamental rights rather than your own mental projection.
*Genuine compassion is much stronger, much wider [than love based on attachment], much more stable, more reliable.

*If your basic outlook accepts that suffering is a natural part of your existence, this will make you more tolerant and less miserable towards the adversities of life.
*Although you may not always be able to avoid difficult situations, you can modify the extent to which you suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation.
*One of the primary causes of suffering: resistance to change.
*Contemplate your own and others' reality's impermanence: Life is change.

*{Re: Holding Grudges} Use all your powers of reasoning and look at the situation as objectively as possible. Remember nobody is 100% bad... the tendency to see someone as completely negative is due to your own perception based on your own mental projection, rather than the true nature of that individual.
*If you can learn to develop patience and tolerance towards your enemies, then everything else is much easier. Your compassion towards all others begins to flow naturally. So, for a spiritual practitioner, one's enemies play a crucial role... Therefore, one must exert one's best efforts not to harbor hatred towards the enemy but rather use the encounter as an opportunity to enhance one's practice of patience and tolerance. IN fact, the enemy is the necessary condition for practicing patience. (Friends don't test us that way.)
*When you consider all of the people you know, the enemy is truly 'rare' - our supply is limited... and it is our enemies that test us, provide us with the resistance necessary for growth.
*There may be instances where one may need to take strong counter-measures to others' aggression to prevent harm to oneself or others.

*Deliberately trying to objectively examine our problems from a variety of perspectives can be seen as a kind of flexibility training for the mind.
*A supple mind (& ability to shift perspective) can help us reconcile the external changes going on all around us. It can also help us integrate all of our internal conflicts, inconsistencies, and ambivalence. It is through our efforts to achieve a flexible mind that we can nurture the resiliency of the human spirit.
*Believe in the underlying goodness of all human beings.

*Think of pain as a speech your body is delivering about a subject that is of vital importance to you, in the most effective way of getting your attention; then your attitude about pain will begin to change and suffering will diminish.
*Much of what we call pain, including the unpleasant emotional response, was learned rather than instinctive. Other experiments with human beings, involving hypnosis & placebos, have also demonstrated that in many cases the higher brain functions can overrule the pain signals from the lower stages on the pain pathway. This indicates how the mind can often determine how we perceive pain.

*Education is directly linked to a happier life.
*Essential ingredients to happiness: determination, effort and time.
*Have high ideals with realistic expectations.
*Meditation: Isolate different aspects of yourself, then engage in a dialogue between them (ie selfish vs. giving)

*Anger, rage & hostility are now considered a major risk factor in heart disease.
*Anger can be positive, when motivated by compassion or a sense of responsibility and can be used as an imeptus or a catalyst for a positive action.
*Still, generally speaking, anger leads to ill feeling & hatred.
*Responding to a trying situation with patience & tolerance rather than reacting with anger & hatred involves active restraint, which comes from (not a weak but) a strong, self-disciplined mind.

*A healthy sense of self-confidence is a critical factor in achieving our goals. This holds true whether our goal is to earn a college degree, build a successful business, enjoy a satisfying relationship or train the mind to become happier.
*Use all 24 hours of your day for your [spiritual] practice [pray always].
*Bodhicitta, a mental state characterized by the spontaneous & genuine aspiration to attain full enlightenment in order to be of benefit to all beings.

*Romans 8: "All things work together for the good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose."
*Faith helps provide framework for relating with others, feeling of acceptance, deep sense of purpose/meaning for one's life. Can offer hope in the face of adversity, suffering and death. Faith helps one adopt an eternal perspective that allows one to get outside of oneself when overwhelmed by life's daily problems.