/lit/ - Literature

>>5204101

>omg he never even lifted boxes up and down or served fries! how does he know anything

working isn't thinking

>>5204101
>Buddha's explicitly stated goal: freedom from suffering
>Buddha's proposed method: to extinguish desire

Was he unsuccessful? No.

>>5204101
>OK. I'm posting this in philosophy, rather than religion, because strictly speaking, Buddhism IS a philosophy, NOT a religion.

Stopped reading there.

Buddhism has loads of gods, and it can be a religion. It depends on who is talking. There are a lot of varieties of Buddhism, some with many gods.

The value of Buddhism, I'm sure for some, is that it shows a way of living removed from the superficial and the pitfalls of a meaningless search for materialistic gain, in favor of a life lived in contemplation of living a better life, or a more sane life.

Technically its a non-teistic religion

>>5204101
Complete birdshit. What's a life without desires? It'd make more sense if Gautama had said don't desire something out of your control--the stoics had that down pat at least.

>>5204101
>Buddhism IS a philosophy, NOT a religion.
Yeah right. And weed is a food. Fuck off.

your all wrong

>>5204101
>Buddhism IS a philosophy, NOT a religion.
You dont say

Its only stated as one because of its transition into China and Japan where gods were involved in the canon

Also,
>Last night, I watched a BBC documentary

When was this? Was it on yesterday??

>>5204101
>Of what value is Buddhism, to man or beast?
Don't they, like, worship cows or something? That must be of value to cows.

>>5204101
>Then one day, whilst sitting in meditation under a tree, he got "enlightened" and declared that existence is suffering, due to desire, and the only way to "free one's self", is to become completely detached from the world.
> This was a man who never had a job, or did a day's work, in his entire life; he was a worthless drifter and free-loader. Of what value is Buddhism, to man or beast?


You know litteraly nothing, nothing, about Gautama . Especially when you think he was simply born into wealth etc, he was a prince and his father would not let him outside to preserve his safty and well being.

He also never had a wife nor a child, he never even married. He didnt beg unless for alms and he sat under a tree because he was lost in his journey with the sanghas point of enlightenment which was Hindu. It was when he sat there for a long time and eventually dossed of into a non-dualist state that he achived a similar state of moksha in Hinduism.

And his second name wasnt Buddha but Siddartha, Buddha is Sanskrit for 'Enlightened/enlightened one'.

>>5204352
He is also called the Tagatha, the Arhat, the perfectly enlightened one.

>>5204105
But muh protestant work ethic

How can anyone take you seriously as a human being if you have never spent 8+ hours a day sitting behind a desk or standing in front of a cash register? I mean, that is totally the purpose of life and what everything is all about, and if you disagree with me your some kind of dirty fucking hippy.

I don't know where this came from but it is clearly a crosspost and a b8

please do not get b8ed by buddhism because i have noticed a lot of you do not know much about buddhism and it also differs so much buddhism can literally argue with itself

please sage

>>5204352
I think I came across that guy on wizardchan.

>>5204101
OK. I'm posting this in /lit/, rather than /ck/, because strictly speaking, the Bible IS literature, NOT a sandwich.
Last night, I watched a BBC documentary on the life of this individual. He was born into togas and sandals. As a young man, he abandoned his mother and job, to go find himself, on the road. For decades, he was an indigent wanderer and beggar.
Then one day, whilst sitting in meditation in a desert, he got "baptized" and declared that life is futile, due to sin, and the only way to "free one's self", is to become completely detached from the world.
This was a man who never owned a flame t-shirt, or bounced on a pogo stick, in his entire life; he was a worthless toga-wearer and sandal-owner. Of what value is Christianity, to man or neckbeard?

Every single fucking Buddhism thread devolves into the same exact fucking argument. You're one of the two. Either:

>The Buddha was right, desires are what makes life bearable. Life is hard, and you need to build up your defenses if you're going to survive it.
>The Buddha was wrong, desires are what makes life worth living. Life is hard, but you need to build up your defenses if you're going to enjoy it.

Fucking pick which one of these you agree with, accept that it will put you at irreconcilable odds with the other side, and get along with it.

We all read Brave New World. Some people thought it was a utopia. Others thought it was a dystopia. Figure out which side you're on, and get over the fact that the other half will never agree with you.

>>5204450
>declared that life is futile, due to sin, and the only way to "free one's self", is to become completely detached from the world.
No he didn't

>>5204450
Shit. Should have had this image. Which was the entire point of making that stupid thing.

>>5204426
Lol u could say the Buddha was a sage :^)

>>5204475
rofl m8ey he probably knew a thing or two about four leaf clovers amirong

>>5204101
there's enough dogma in buddhism to make it a religion. the western idea of buddhism is mostly new age-y BS that doesn't have much to do with real (asian) buddhism. i read an article by some guy who taught at a buddhist school. he said pupils were shamed for being dyslexic because that meant they had been bad in their past lives.

>>5204481
The karma ran over the dogma.

>>5204421
This is my dad so much. He claims to be atheist but was brought up Protestant. How do I show him he's been brainwashed?

>>5204421
why would a buddha mind if you're taken him/her seriously? he's gone, out of definitions

>>5204101
Make one thread at a time, you autistic faggot.

SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE

>>5204546
There is a problem with the board, OP is not at fault.

>>5204546
>board is taking a dump
>it's evident in every thread on page 1
>technical problems and whatnot

you're the autist, friend. calm your tits.

Op here. Cause some of you guys misunderstood me i want to say that english is my second language and that is why i made this thread

>>5204101
> Buddhism IS a philosophy, NOT a religion
It's both, religions don't have to be theistic in nature.

>Last night, I watched a BBC documentary
Oh boy.

>He was born into wealth and privilege.
Yes, he was a prince.

>As a young man, he abandoned his wife and child, to go find himself, on the road.
He didn't try to "find himself on the road". His father stopped him from knowing how people suffered outside of the palace. Once he became aware that all beings experienced pain, disease and death, he became obsessed with the idea of finding a method through which all of this suffering could be overcome. That's why he left, to help everyone.

You also mention that he "abandoned" his wife and child as if he never came back. The first thing he did once he attained enlightment was coming back for them, his son became a Buddhist monk too.

>For decades, he was an indigent wanderer and beggar
Gautama left the palace when he was 29 and he became a Buddha when he was 35, it wasn't "decades".

He also wans't an indigent and beggar, at least not in the modern connotation. He joined several different meditation schools looking for a method through which all suffering could be erradicated. The title for "monk" IS literally beggar, but it doesn't mean he was boozing it up doing nothing. He was learning philosophy and meditation, which of course will look like a waste of time if all you focus on is on economic production.

>>5204352
>He also never had a wife nor a child
Siddhartha married Yasodhara and had a son named Rahula.

>>5204722
That analogy sucks balls and feminism is a stupid ideology.

>>5204743
...what?

>>5204781

she likes little boy penis

all neckbeard women (aka girls on 4chan) like little boys

I'm a fucking retarded that dusn't know nothin', but I have this picture saved, and this might be a good time to post it.

>>5204743
Yeah, sorry. Obviously, unintentional.

Freeing oneself from desire is a desire in and of itself, thus it is self-refuting, thus Buddhism is wrong.

Marx was a freeloader too, yet he gave great insight into his field.

Just because someone doesn't work does not mean that their viewpoints can't be legitimate.

Also I'm not a Marxist, in case you thought I was a shill for anti capitalism

>>5204837
the original word means "thirst" or "craving"; the goal is not freeing oneself from thirst, but rather being unaffected by it.

>>5204837
There are Buddhist texts that are entirely devoted to this issue.

>>5204875
Isn't having a goal in some sense a thirst? I'm a complete Buddha noob I'm not trying to be a dick, honest.

everybody in america is a freeloader to some extent, especially the people who have easy jobs, more so than the unemployed who have to deal with the negatives of being unemployed, treated with no respect and given no freedom. whereas with an easy job, people are tricking you into thinking you are helping the world when really the economy is straining under the weight of giving useless people like you a wage

with that said i have always felt a little weird about the fact that monks tend to live on donations, is that appropriate? should they not be subsistence farmers, or even manufacturers like how christian monks used to brew alcohol to fund their existence??

>>5204891
It's a positive desire, and is a vehicle to the big Unbinding. You leave the raft once you cross the river, so to speak.

>>5204900
>with that said i have always felt a little weird about the fact that monks tend to live on donations, is that appropriate?

The idea is that by relying on donations they are able to devote more time to study and meditation as well as forge a relationship with the lay community. The lay community also earns good karma by donating to the monastic community.

Furthermore, if they were to farm or manufacture something, they're more likely to be tempted to make a surplus, which would lead to greed and clinging.

>>5204922
I used to, then I did acid and lost my ego, so now I'm cool with it

>>5204891
It's different, and the different categories of desire/thirst actually address your question. There's three kinds of thirst: thirst of senses (craving pleasure, mostly) thirst of being (craving to be something or part of something), thirst of not being (craving to stop existing or stop feeling). All of these cause suffering because they can never be fully satisfied. Monks don't have a "thirst" to not experience thirst, because thirst is defined as being spontaneous. What monks have is "desire".

The word for "desire" or "interest" is actually used for wholesome goals and wishes that aren't cravings. For buddhism, the desire of using or improving yourself to help others, to alleviate suffering without fueling it, that's "desire" in the positive sense. It is controllable, deliberate, and it can reach a conclusion, unlike thirst, which is spontaneous and neverending.

>>5204982
Let's consider the notion of actuality/potentiality of which you speak with counterfactuals.

[]p -> p
~([]p -> p)
1.1 []p
1.1 ~p
1.1 p

if p necessarily exists, then with kripke semantics we can say p exists. If we treat potentiality as some object existing in some possible world, then we beg the question: why speak of existence if all things have some counterfactual existence? Certainly "human thought" as you say certainly relates to the world, but it is not a one-to-one correspondence. "human thought" or "language" is expansive in that what could be the case may still be treated as what is the case. Because morality has the potential to exist because language doesn't seem to preclude this potential is empty if we are merely speaking of possibility. What is important is:

A. What is necessarily the case
B. What is the case in this possible world.

When exactly did Buddhism ceased to exist in India as a major religion? What is Buddhism called in indian (yes I know not a language)?

>>5205046
You mean hindi? It's called Buddha Dharma, "way of the enlightened" or "law of the enlightened".

>>5204900
Christian monks have been known to beg as well.
That is where the mendicant friars came from.