Buddhism General /bg/

PREVIOUS THREAD:
We've had some interesting discussions so far, and people seem interested in the subject so let's launch thread #3.

Why Buddhism?

> Relieve yourself of attachment to the self (which is subject to manipulation by anything and (((anyone)))
> Is several thousands years old knowledge
> Promotes traditional values (respect the elders, wiser, family and community)
> Literally teaches you to control your dreams (the ones you have at night) which you can use to overcome fears and challenges.
> Simple techniques (don't believe the mumbo-jumbo, just sit down, close your eye and breathe, ask if you want specific [FREE] guides).
> Teaches you how to breathe (Why is this not taught since kindergarten level of education?)
> Literally teaches me how to be happy and cope with a seemingly shitty situation.

inb4 "it's pacifying you and teaching you to be obedient to the elites".
> A major part of Buddhism is "enlightened action", basically meaning once you've achieved some sense of calm and self-realization, you will enact on the matter which your inner self (not your (((ego))) deems to be the correct way of going about. I.e not sitting in silence when someone spouts garbage about someone being racist, something being 'fake news', but standing up for sincere beneficial values for humanity as a whole.

>Resources

ligmincha.org/index.php/en/
lionsroar.com/
edx.org/course/buddhism-through-its-scriptures-harvardx-hds3221-3x

>How do I meditate?
bayart.org/beginners-guide-to-meditation-for-everyone/
youtube.com/watch?v=Y-WIqtSteZs

OP specializes in Lucid Dreaming and Tibetan Buddhism, feel free to ask questions.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=imtPF2b2Q4M
meditateinsydney.org/art-of-forgiveness-dec
youtube.com/watch?v=T7XPsCypaDE
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimlessness_(Buddhism)
web.ics.purdue.edu/~buddhism/docs/Bhante_Walpola_Rahula-What_the_Buddha_Taught.pdf
dhamma.org/en-US/locations/directory
read.84000.co/#UT22084-046-001/title
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

Currently playing:

youtube.com/watch?v=imtPF2b2Q4M

Previous replies:

Indeed! Although (((Science))) should not be the deciding factor, but rather your own experience, which is much more convincing.

Thank you for the contribution. The thread was made impromptu, haven't really gathered my soruces, and the main post is mainly to get people engaged. If you have material you deem valuable, please post it and I will include it in the next thread.

isn't an essential part of the teaching that what we do to ourselves impacts us > then others > who affect ourselves again? I do not think that fapping is bad as such, but it comes down to circumstances.

QOTD:

>How is Buddhism being portrayed in MSM?

#
Dalai Lama is not from our Myanmar branch. We Theravada Buddhist including Myanmar and Siri Lanka are making alliance to repel the invasions of Islam by raising awareness within our community. Dalai Lama is mostly promoting around the world to shill for Tibet.

bumping for good discussions and comfy times

shilling for Tibet helps you. he says forced Han migration to Tibet is genocide. he says each people has the right to freedom and autonomy in their own country. thats what you want too.

Thanks to everyone contributing. If anyone feels obliged to keep the threads going after I go to sleep, I will join in later.

I don't really mind for shilling actually but it angers me that people in the west see him as he is the representative of Buddhism when he only looks for his own sect not the entire religion.

fair enough. its more out of ignorance than anything else.

>Mindfulness is covered in the Noble Eightfold path under right mind.
would a better description not be mindlessness?

>Relieve yourself of attachment to the self
explain why I would want to detach from myself

woops meant for you

Curious, how do you see the whole idea of DL being a reincarnation of previous DL's? Is it all a hoax? Should we just believe in the more earth bound teachers, or does he provide some valuable wisdom?

>btw
What are people listening to atm?

Myself it's
1 Hour of Epic Space Music: COSMOS - Volume 2
youtube.com/watch?v=imtPF2b2Q4M

meditateinsydney.org/art-of-forgiveness-dec
>im a first timer. what should i expect?

(You)
>it is difficult to imagine and even more difficult to actually practice. but if your goal is to kill the ego then you can imagine without an ego/self your actions would be pretty selfless by definition

That's the thing, how can action exist without ego? Ego is the controller, so to speak.

Vajrayana >mayahana

youtube.com/watch?v=T7XPsCypaDE

>Is several thousands years old knowledge
so what?

>Literally teaches me how to be happy and cope with a seemingly shitty situation.
I feel for you bro, most people are in a shitty situation these days, but we need to solve the shitty situations, not withdraw and stop wanting a better life

rejecting success does not lead to success

I would like to add that as with the bible, its teaching and claims parts have been re-written and/or often misinterpreted is most likely not something that is isolated to western religion/spirituality.

I wonder how much of what we are able to dig up throughout history is as pure and correct as we would like it to be?

>Not empty riddles, just riddles you are to underdeveloped to understand. I explained your misconception perfectly.
>Existence is too complex for a one-sided explanation. Its like a coin with two sides.
>It can not exist without the other side, and to perceive all of it you need to see both sides.

yeah, complete bullshit, and I am an expert on bullshit

what do buddhits think of jews?

you have never set aside your ego for anything?

It's not a "need" to help people, it's a recognition of the fact that helping others is a wholesome and morally sound thing to do and that there is no reason to not do it.

You still retain your mind once you recognize and cease to be affected by the illusion of self. You don't turn into a zombie, you can still think about things, you just aren't affected by cravings, desires, fear, anxiety etc.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aimlessness_(Buddhism)

self is just a concept. when you let go its more chill and fun.


mm ossification seems to be a problem with buddhism. i personally dislike the esoteric occult shit in tibetan buddhism and other such things because i think it detracts from the simplicity of the teachings, but i duno.

Nobody knows if the buddha even existed. I'm pretty buddhism was started by the poonigger equivalent of jews to destroy Vedic civilization.

Think of it as spiritual marxism.

>Can you just fuck off please? Very Buddhist asking nicely.
first you must tell me the colour you cannot see, describe the sound of no guitars, tell me the flavor of sleep and stop wanting me to fuckoff

>But its clear that most if not all enlightened folks stepped up into teachings. so there's defo something there that makes them do it.

Yes, but unfortunately my suspicion is that that "something" is delusion. In an attempt to cover their own insecurities with their constructed belief system, they teach others, give each other positions of authority, etc. In this way their views become more legitimate, more easily and effectively propagated, they gain supporters, etc.

Good question. Essentially; your self (in most cases) is an illusion. When Coca Cola, Disney and Hollywood in general is encouraging you to 'Be your Self', what are they referring to?

Simply put, what we normally consider as 'ourself' is not actually aligned with our true potential, nor our inner being. When you were a child, were you the same 'self' as you are currently? In most cases, the 'self' is equal to 'Ego' whose only purpose is to survive. If someone throws an insult towards you, your ego deals with it. If you are hungry, your ego deals with it. What the ego does not do is help you come face to face with your inner being. It actually does the opposite. The ego prevents you from crying because it shows an illusory weakness. The ego prevents you from being calm because it is strategically illogical to be calm when you need to be on guard in case of attacks. The ego is smart, and helpful in the journey through Samsara. Buddhist teachings are in large parts about learning to live alongside the Ego, and ultimately leaving it behind (in death) never to return. This is a brief and sensationalized description, I can go into more detail if you wish.

In our branch, we believe Buddha is a normal human beings when he transcends into enlightment.
Mahayana branch believes that Buddha is already enlightened since birth. But if we look at the timeline, Buddha still acts like normal human beings for 29 years. So I think Mahayana branch is taking a litttle out of context.

DL being the same person is not plausible beause all the good deeds he have done in the previous lives go nowhere. And how did they track the souls?

why are all you buddhists so obsessed with converting people when you have no desires to convert anyone, or for anything?

>self is just a concept
do concepts not exist? does self not exist?

what is the colour of one potato clapping before it was born?

>ossification

my engrish...
clarify this pls. google doesn't makes much sense in this regard.

there are many historical evidence for buddha. you have a narrow worldview if you think all liberal ideas have something to do with jews or marxism

Yeah I'm also a Sri Lankan buddhist. There was a incident a few years ago where the Muslims in Sri Lanka got rowdy and started some infighting. It turned out that they were being paid by Saudi's.

>Lucid Dreaming

OP how do you distinguish between lucid dreaming and meditation? Is one objectively better, and what are their purposes?

Congratulations, that's the most ignorant statement I've read on Sup Forums today. Quite a feat.

and what reason is there to do it, to someone who is, as they advertise, fundamentally unattached to material phenomena? I can recognize that my desk is disorderly, and that ordering it is wholesome and morally sound, but that situation still requires me to desire to do something about it.

OP you said you would include this link to the good intro book in the OP pasta, what happened!

web.ics.purdue.edu/~buddhism/docs/Bhante_Walpola_Rahula-What_the_Buddha_Taught.pdf

>would a better description not be mindlessness?
You can call it what you want, as long as you are are conscious of what actions you are doing.

>you have a narrow worldview if you think all liberal ideas have something to do with jews or marxism
it sounds like you want me to have a wider worldview(as if this is somehow better), yet this reveals that you hve not mastered the lack of desire required to truly be a buddhist

>your self (in most cases) is an illusion
can you prove that?

>not actually aligned with our true potential, nor our inner being
can you prove that?

>If someone throws an insult towards you, your ego deals with it
not for seasoned Sup Forumsacks. we are uninsultable

>The ego prevents you from being calm
is calmness always the best policy?

>and ultimately leaving it behind (in death) never to return
you don't need to be taught to leave your ego behind when you die, it's a consequence of dying

The concept of Mahayana is to save all the lesser beings while they aim for being Buddihistava.
They are neglecting Buddha teaching in a way that Buddha taught us to look for freedom not to struggle ourselves further more.

what gives you this suspicion? any related issues? teachings that are iffy at best?

and in which stories about Buddha was there one that was bathing in wealth and having a huge erection because everyone was agreeing with them because they where like a boss?

its usually the other way around so I am curious why you would think that way.

You've already proven yourself to be not very bright by saying Carl Jung was a Jew. Just leave

i think last thing we need is another civil war, this time with muslims!
however I do object to fundamentalist islamic nutcases. I'm fine with any peaceful religion which is not trying to destroy "non-believers"

>Ego is the controller, so to speak.
Ego is a boogeyman, stop trying to kill it/fear it

to stagnate, to become rigid, to die and become fossilised

lmao all i know is that i was in a lot of mental anguish before and am in a lot less pain now simply because of a few key ideas and paying attention to my breathing. it's helped lots of people before and can help every one to some degree i think.

nah concepts aint real.

the answer is: the fan is blowing on my legs (i can feel the air on my skin, that is my immediate reality right now, so that's the answer to the koan whose purpose is to help the student gain access to the present moment aka enlightement)

Perhaps coping is a poor choice of words. What it helps me do is deal with the situation in a helpful manner. Through meditation, I free myself from frustrations, and it 'plants seeds' which result in meaningful action which in turn improves the situation.

I agree with your statement that we have to deal with it, and the solution is not to withdraw, which contrary to common belief is not what Buddhism advocates (look up enlightened action).

I do perhaps believe that we have different definition of what success entails. For me it is about being a confident, honest and helpful person. What does it mean for you?

I think the teachings exist in many forms. You know it once you know it. Nothing can question my relief of anxiety, anger and depression, as the methods advocated by ancient Buddhist wisdom helped me achieve. There are many ways to the top of the mountain my fellow traveller.

There are vipassana centers all over the world where you can take a free 10 day meditation course to learn how to meditate.

the primary website is www.dhamma.org you can find out your nearest center at dhamma.org/en-US/locations/directory

I will be doing my 3rd 10 day course in february and I have also served a 10 day course.

There are many benefits and people see them in different order. Personally I have know began to see how much I try to control my body and how much tension that causes. How expensive it is in terms of energy to be constantly tense, and funny thing is we dont even see it.
I feel happier and my productivity from home has doubled.

you will see your own benefits in your own order. I highly recommend it

...

does it belong on Sup Forums?

(((Western Buddhists))) though.

>we need to solve the shitty situations, not withdraw and stop wanting a better life

This is what buddhism is trying to solve though

stop feeding the trolls user.

You can feel selfless compassion for your fellow humans without any attachment/karma involved.

>why are all you Buddhists so obsessed with converting people when you have no desires to convert anyone, or for anything?

1) This is Sup Forums we are talking about here, many people that post about Buddhism and Hinduism here are not that experienced with it and are just posting about the latest thing they think is interesting.

2) Very few Buddhists are "obsessed" with converting people. Muslims and Christians are the ones that send missionaries all around the globe trying to convert people, not Buddhists. Here on Sup Forums people don't even really try to convert much and most of the conversation comes from non-Buddhists who come into Buddhist threads and ask questions and debate/argue.

>to stagnate, to become rigid, to die and become fossilised

right. thx
well I'm a form believer in reincarnation so there's my escape route :p

Somebody asked for evidence, why the mind forms selfish desires to attain wealth and status to be superior, often acting against the true will of the soul to show compassion.
This is based on the evidence that countless monks found when they tried to bring their soul and mind in harmony with each other during decades of meditation.

Maybe the allegory of the paradise in the bible fits in here: In a perfect realm, where the mind forms no will and only the soul operates perfectly, there would be no free will.
After Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of knowledge though, they knew (understood with their mind) what was good and what was evil and now had the possibility to decide against the former "instinct" of the soul, effectively acting evil.

So the price we pay as beings with a free will and, is that our mind has to deal with the temptations of acting selfish and without compassion and sometimes gives into it.
It also gives us the possibility though, to overcome the also imprinted will of the soul to be rebirthed over and over again by realizing there is no gain in it and dedicating our life to spiritual advancement through meditation, ultimately achieving the peace we would never have had if our mind didn´t question the will of the soul.

Why this all is happening? Nobody will ever be able to tell you. Maybe some God tests your abilites to find enlightenment, who knows.

liberal ideas in buddhism meant some of the following,
- brahmins forbade anyone from lower casts to learn vedas, buddhism democratised religion.
- buddhism was open to females (female monks too)
- believes everybody has the potential to be great
- nobody is to be revered/feared because of his/her birth, only actions matter

I believe in those ideals as a buddhist, and I believed in them before I even learnt about jews or marx!
I don't profess to be an ideal buddhist though - far from it.

Because they're tired of waiting for plebs like you to catch up so we can finally live in heaven on earth.

It is hard to hold arms but sometimes enough is enough. Buddhists are human too. Remember King Asoka my friend.

>when you try to BTFO someone by dissecting their paragraph through replying to each sentence individually but just end up looking like a fool

bro there's nowhere to escape to. nirvana is samsara, samsara is nirvana. there is only every RIGHT NOW. the future isnt real, the past isnt real, theyr just ideas. you can never run from the present moment. just open up and let go. whatever you're feeling is ok, just let it happen.

my biggest issue with buddhism is that it encourages a placated population. it breeds good consumers and workers for the ruling classes. I can see how mindfulness/meditation/some teachings are useful, even liberating (I've experienced it myself), but the goal being complete detachment and pacifism stinks of suppression, of giving up the pursuit of your own self-interest. it sounds like "opium of the masses".

the buddha may not have had (much) material wealth once he became a monk, but he had everything he needed to stay alive, and more. add adoration and followers to the basic necessities of life and you're really cashing out.

>think the teachings exist in many forms. [snip]

agreed finfag. been involved in allot of different spiritual paths for over 25 years now, learned allot and I guess the best lesson so far is that no matter the teachings and angles, the essence is always the same.

and I guess rightfully so if not only because different individuals need different paths into the same realms.

for many faggots on Sup Forums all of the above is incorrect. so yeah, it belongs on Sup Forums

because mudslimes are an existential threat, and a bunch of cunts too

th-thats i-i-i-ignor-r-rant an-user! b-boo hoo

>You can call it what you want
not an answer to the question I asked

are there courts, laws, offences and sentences in buddhism/buddhist countries?

>saying Carl Jung was a Jew. Just leave
good as

>In 1900 Jung began working at the Burghölzli psychiatric hospital in Zürich with Eugen Bleuler. Bleuler was already in communication with the Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud. Jung's dissertation, published in 1903, was titled On the Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena. In 1906 he published Studies in Word Association, and later sent a copy of this book to Freud

>last thing we need is another civil war, this time with muslims
then they have to go home. this is OUR homeland, for OUR people and children

>am in a lot less pain now simply because of a few key ideas and paying attention to my breathing
I pay attention to my breathing, but I never realised that was exclusive to buddhism

>that's the answer to the koan whose purpose is to help the student gain access to the present moment aka enlightement
the koran? jesus

>nah concepts aint real
so the sefl isn't real? I don't exist? you don't exist?

surely you can prove this

Vajrayana do not exist out of context of mahayana. Tantrayana is a part of mahayana.

I would say so, on /his/ and /lit/ they are often talked about only in the sense of their texts or of the minutiae of various doctrines. This is sort of a general "cultural" board so I think its fine because we are talking about our personal experiences and the cultural implications etc. Keep in mind there are always a dozen religion related threads on Sup Forums at any time as well.

haha, he denounced all violence after he became a buddhist! don't forget that.
he conquerered far more with dhamma than with armies!

>you don't need to be taught to leave your ego behind when you die, it's a consequence of dying

Unfortunately, I cannot prove what I am about to say, but the ego does not leave your as you pass into the Bardo (in-between state of life and death). The ego will follow you into death and assist you in determining where you end up in the next life. If you are fully convinced that that you 'self' knows the way, you will follow the same patterns as you have in this life into the next. In extreme cases (if you have been making actions which align more towards an animal of some kind exuding certain characteristics) you might be reborn as something other than human. How one makes one's way back from that I have genuinely no idea.

This is not a scare-tactic, simply citing the little knowledge I have of the scriptures.

>your self (in most cases) is an illusion
>can you prove that?

By personal experience, yes, towards myself.

>not actually aligned with our true potential, nor our inner being
>can you prove that?

By personal experience, yes, towards myself.

It's quite simple. Shout your name out loud, who responds? Someone else shouts your name, who respons? We react differently, and take on different personalities in different scenarios, do we not?

When you are with your family, are you truly yourself? When you are with your friends at a party, are you truly yourself? When your are posting here, are you truly yourself? (probably moreso, because you are less subject to being judged on the basis of your egotistical restrictions).

This is what I mean by the self being an illusion. It is whatever you mold it into being. In meditation, you may bypass the barrier, you may connect with your inner being. In there, there is space, warmth and stillness. It is timeless. It persists through time and space, through life and death.

>look up enlightened action
shan't. make me

why do you desire me to do things? yet you have excised your self? you have no desires? truly a mystery

tell me of karma

> What does it mean for you?
removing all desire, wanting nothing, even food

>you can take a free 10 day meditation course to learn how to meditate
do you get what you pay for?

>This is what buddhism is trying to solve though
by removing desire for anything?

Gonna head to bed. These threads have very comfy hope to see them again

Mind you, Buddha was a prince before he seeks for enlightment and he had a prophecy to rule the world or become great teacher since his birth. His father, the king, makes him lives in comfiest palaces with best women in his kingdom to make Buddha won't even have the idea of walking his current path.

Buddhism heavily emphasizes critical and independent thinking

for sure. and even within the reincarnation notion this would also be the case.

here is the Mahayana percept on Buddha's life: read.84000.co/#UT22084-046-001/title

According to Mahayana percept Buddha never acted as ordinary being, he used what it takes to tame and convert beings

>then they have to go home. this is OUR homeland, for OUR people and children
in the grand scheme of things, we are just a tiny spec of dust, at least that's what i'd like to think when i feel down ;)

consumerism is the opposite of buddhist values.
People in the western culture consum overpriced gadgets, jewelry, cars and entertainment to get a temporary sense of satisfaction or to impress other people to create the idea of status.
Buddha teaches that there is no real satisfaction in material gain, it is an endless cycle.
Instead, you should find peace and realize what you really need in life, which will be much less than most consumers think.
That might also include the realization that they don´t want any unfair working conditions or politics any longer, so it basically is the opposite of opium for the masses, as it doesn´t intoxicate them, but wakes them up.

That opium would instead be christianity, where people say wishes to a unknown higher power and repeat texts mindlessly, called praying, hoping for that power to make everything right for them. Best recipe to get them to stay passive.

These threads are bullshit

The people who are really qualified to propound the teachings do not proselytize. Buddhist missionaries are not a thing.

I'm working with a couple of teachers with high realization in another city (in the Canadian prairies - I live in Cascadia) - they don't advertise or promote themselves or Buddhism at all. The place they use as a "dharma center" looks from the outside like a giant refridgerator - you wouldn't have any idea its being used as a meeting place for meditation practitioners. You either hear about them through word of mouth, or you can find them in the phonebook, if you are motivated enough to dig after something like that.

If anything, most experienced teachers put up obstacles to make it more difficult to find them and are picky about their students. There are a lot of damaged, flakey attention-seekers floating around spiritual scenes who aren't really willing to do the work (making progress in meditation takes a lot of effort) and will gladly waste a teacher's time if given the chance - kind of like hypochondriacs who visit therapists as an excuse to have someone listen to them talk about themselves.

>you can feel selfless compassion without attachment

ok, I can kind of understand just the feeling of it, but for someone to take action on that compassion, they have to see something that compels them to action, that creates a desire in them to act.

I have learned a technique for free (I have donated 300 bucks till date), and I can confidently report that it has doubled my productivity at home, and improved my length of time I spend in a state of happiness, which benefits me and my relationships,

So I think I got far more than what I paid for

>believes everybody has the potential to be great
can you prove that?

>I believe in those ideals as a buddhist
do you believe them because you can prove they are correct?

>Because they're tired of waiting for plebs like you to catch up so we can finally live in heaven on earth.
by not wanting anything? why try and progress technologicaly if no one wants anything?

b-baka. reeee

>just open up and let go
do they have toilets in buddhist lands?

the koan... a riddle from a Zen-master to his disciples. The understanding of it is a process that helps enlightenment

>He was normal human(a prince) before enlightment
>He becomes extraordinary teacher after enlightment
I didn't say he stayed ordinary after enlightment.

>it sounds like "opium of the masses".

Buddhism is absolutely anti-social thing tbqh. Main Buddhist concept is Sansara, if one believes in that, he'll never take seriously his nation, country, planet Earth, galactic and Universe lul. Only relief of endless suffering of all beings (or at least oneself) matter.

Don't get fooled by Commie shit. Buddhism is not communism.

so the evidence is what someone wrote down in a book, or otherwise said happened?

why would Adam and Eve, apparently in a perfect, will-less realm, will to eat from the tree?

without touching the actual enlightened state, we as humans following these kind of teachings/lessons open ourselves up to our true self.

if you would reach any level in such a journey you would automatically be much more aware of what is good for you and what not.
I doubt any next-level spiritual-whatever would accept suppression in any shape or form.

and if they would accept it it would most likely be part of the learning process.

there is an increasing positive vibe in these teachings, the deeper you go the stronger you get.
its the price you pay/gift you get for trying to truly understand oneself.

>Keep in mind there are always a dozen religion related threads on Sup Forums at any time as well.

report those too

you are absolutely right that you have to be careful about picking teachers because there are many charlatans out there.

speaking for myself, I'm not looking to convert/convince anyone here, but would like to answer to the best of my knowledge as a lifelong buddhist only on simple things i might know from studies from school, sunday school, or my own reading.

I've recently become very interested in Buddhism and am starting to see more things online. I know that would usually be an echo chamber effect but that can't really be said to be the case for Sup Forums

Paradigm shift?

He had a prophecy? Would you say we all have prophecies, that we all have roles to fulfill, determined at birth?

I am a practising buddhist and I have a university degree in buddhist philosophy. If you ask me any questions I can try to answer them in an informed way. Also this thread is painful to read on account of how many things are completely misrepresented here.

The 8-fold path in Buddhism includes right-action which can be simplified as doing the right thing always (right in the sense of Buddhist morals). The right thing would be to help people by providing them with a teaching that would allow them to greatly help themselves. This is enough to justify doing it.

what are the main misconceptions here and what are the correct alternatives?

A lot more Tibetan people travel to mainland China than visa versa

Do it Nepal bro. You are the nearest of the origin.

>implying people whom follow these teachings are inhuman/enlightened
>implying a Buddhist does not like to talk about this stuff
>implying a Buddhist can't get exited for red dead redemption2
>implying all Buddhist followers are exactly the same.
>implying even these Buddhist followers are not also simply trying to learn or see other perspectives.

>You can feel selfless compassion
no, there is no selflessness, all is selfish

you give to charity, but you get a good feeling in return. you help someone not dsiring any return, yet you get a nice feeling

>Very few Buddhists are "obsessed" with converting people
yet here you/they are posting about how wonderful it is to give up wanting anything

>often acting against the true will of the soul to show
hmm, an uprovable claim, there being a soul, and that soul having will

>Maybe the allegory of the paradise in the bible fits in here
let me explain my bullshit by pointing at some other bullshit

>t our mind has to deal with the temptations of acting selfish and without compassion and sometimes gives into it.
everything is selfish, even charity

Buddhism is the ultimate expression of narcissism and self-absorption. This can be useful for a few things in life, but ultimately it is a wasteful endeavor.

>by removing desire for anything?
No, by meditating and cultivating a wholesome life. You can let go of things, your house and car and it would accelerate your path.

Its not practical for us, non-monks, for sure.

> can you prove that?
what would you like to see?

I believe everybody has the potential to be great because in buddha believed and acted like that. he treated everybody equally - his own son and a street kid (i'm quoting real stories in buddhist lore). and i like to think that he's right on that ;). you can call it blind faith if you want to, but i'd rather think like that till a person convinces me he's not much different from an animal.

this is not to say everybody is equal. each and every one of us have different strenghts and weaknesses - some because of previous karma and some because of other dhamma like genetics! (yes buddhism accounts for that too). what buddhism believes is that every human has the potential to attain nibbana - whether you manage that in this life or not is a different matter.

this makes sense to me, but only when the "ultimate" goal of desirelessness or w/e is left out. That is, only as a method to train one's mind for the pursuit of material goals. (like worker's rights, alleviating poverty, w/e)

yes, I know, that is my problem with it. I think I don't understand what you're trying to say.

yes, but independent as long as you don't hurt anyone or pursue your self interests, which are "illusory".

its the trouble with spiritual evidence. most if not all is a personal spiritual path that starts small and ends up bigger in a lengthy process.

allot of what happens others can relate to because they crossed similar sections. hence the forming of groups and followings.

but its the opposite of science where only an outward world notion is being described.
in spirituality the essence is the personal path so its almost impossible to proof anything.

the evidence might come from a book but only after someone put it to the task and experienced what a teaching beholds and then experiences the effects and thus giving proof (to a certain extend)

Obligatory

I agree with your post except with:

>These threads are bullshit. The people who are really qualified to propound the teachings do not proselytize. Buddhist missionaries are not a thing.

There is nothing wrong with people just talking about it casually and answering questions about it which is mostly what is going on here.

There are many qualified and respected Buddhists teachers from both the Asia and the West who travel and speak at conferences and colleges and gives talks etc. If someone is being egotistical than obviously that is wrong but if someone is just trying to spread knowledge or discuss Buddhism with like-minded people there is nothing bad about that.

Make sure that in trying to avoid being egotistical that you don't inadvertently develop a superiority complex and start to look down on others as being inferior for not being as selfless or as experienced, I got that vibe strongly from your post.