Neither have I. If you could point me to these stories I'd like to read them. I've read about this Burmese monk, Wirathu. He's a racist and a nationalist. He basically hates the Muslim minority and the Burmese government encourages it. They're proposing laws to curb Muslim business ownership and trying to limit the number of children they can have. The whole thing really doesn't have anything to do with what's taught in Buddhism. They're not mis-applying a teaching or taking a teaching out of context. It's just not based on teachings at all.
Do you not believe that the reason Buddhists are following him is because he's a Buddhist monk? His authority and the reason they listen to him in the first point emanates from his position in that faith tradition. And it makes for a bastardization of what it is to be a Buddhist. I mean, I have a difficult time imagining anyone using Jesus, who literally prayed for the forgiveness of people who tortured and killed him, as a rallying point to heap violence on someone...but it happens nonetheless. People use that position of authority and it doesn't matter what they say, there are those who will follow...out of fear, search for power, "us v. them", etc. In this country, we had kids killing one another for colors...blue or red. Seriously. People will find anything to belong..and part of belonging is being able to point out at those who don't belong and demonizing. It's a huge part of why we can't keep peace at any point on this planet. It sucks.
This is a cop-out. Bin Laden had nothing to do with anything taught in Islam. Fred Phelps has nothing to do with anything taught in Christianity, etc. Any religion is a great way to motivate people to doing things they wouldn't do otherwise. From the outside, I don't give a rats @ss what Buddhism teaches. I remember a couple of years ago, I tried to discuss the Diamond Sutra in a thread, and a Buddist in one of these threads basically told me that it was a bunch of academic bull**** that had nothing to do with practical Buddhism. So in that vein, all I can tell you is that a bunch of people that describe themselves as Buddhists are murdering Muslims in the name of Buddhism, just like the self described Muslim bin Laden killed a whole bunch of people in the name of Islam. I mean, by your logic Islam has historical traditions about coexisting with other religions, so I guess we can't blame the bombing of the Buddhists temple on Islamists, right? I mean, I dare you to find the text in the Quran that says, "Kill all the Buddhists."
I can find many more passages just like this. Now find me teachings of the Buddha that advocate anything similar. So you sound like you're rather bitter. Quran (8:12) - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them"
Yeah, 10 seconds of Goggling makes it clear that you parsed off the part of the verse that renders this irrelevant to non-supernatural beings... but keep on trying! Also, I also love the "attack the messenger" angle. Kinda goes to prove my angle that people interact with their religion exactly the same, irrespective of what the religion is as that tact is usually one of the first ones taken in threads that express anything less than total deference to Christianity or Islam. And finally, you still miss my point. Buddhism is what people who describe themselves as Buddhists say it is. There is no Christian bible verse mandating the Crusades, yet a whole bunch of self-described Christians (led by the head of all Christianity, the Pope) became crusaders in the name of Christ. As a result, what is in the books is irrelevant. Practically, the Christians are responsible for the Crusades and it was motivated by religion, despite the fact that it is not in any Christian text. The religion is defined by what self-described followers do. To quote Bill Parcells, "You are what your record says you are."
Since context seems irrelevant... Arhats don’t know the Buddha. All they know are so many practices for realization, and they become trapped by cause and effect. Such is a mortal’s karma: no escape from birth and death. By doing the opposite of what lie intended, Such people blaspheme the Buddha. Killing them would not be wrong. The sutras say, "Since icchantikas are incapable of belief, killing them would be blameless, whereas people who believe reach the state of Buddhahood."
Context is little more than an inconvenience! I'll just read it all and let my personal disposition sort out the truth from metaphor. Religion, like a good suit, just feels right once it's been tailored for me.
There's no question his position as a monk provides him a platform with other Buddhists. I'm not arguing that he's not a Buddhist. Buddhists do bad things just like anyone else. I'm saying he's not misapplying Buddhist teachings or misusing the words of the Buddha to advocate violence while you certainly see this in other religions. If you listen to what he says, it's all racial anti-Muslim nationalist stuff. To say its Buddhist terrorism is just tying anyone's religion to any violence whether the inspiration is a religious teaching or not, misapplied or not. It's like if a Catholic priest led some type of revolt in which Christian teachings played no role in the inspiration you wouldn't say it was a Christian revolt. I just object to that. I'm not saying Buddhists don't commit violence or can't do bad. I'm just saying that isn't inspired, mistakenly or not, by any teachings of the Buddha. Buddhism doesn't focus on non-believers or converting people or being the sole belief so there's much less invested in asserting Buddhism as the "correct" belief.
Huh? Attack the messenger? You sound pretty bitter that some Buddhist was arrogant with you and that seems to play a role in your distaste. That's fine. If you don't care then why are we bothering? If it takes ten seconds of googling then you should be able to find a teaching from the Buddha pretty fast.
You could source it certainly like I did so I could see who wrote it. A monk making suppositions, if that's what this is, on teachings isnt really the same as quoting the Bible or the Quran. Can anyone provide Wirathu's justification for violence expressed by Buddhist teachings?
See below. Apparently I am sad, bitter, and totally devistated by some Buddhist, or something like that. Nothing could be further from the truth, but I guess you need to 'write me off' somehow. I do care how you act. That says a whole lot more than what you say. My experience is that the two rarely intersect. If I murder your mother for being different and then preach tolerance for difference, am I a murderer, or a tolerant person? I think in that case, most people would say I'm a murderer, and not really too tolerant at all.
dude... As someone who used to be Muslim I KNOW YOU KNOW there are plenty of more verses in the Quran that promote violence. Luckily most Muslims choose to ignore it. Same goes for the Old Testament.
http://www.abuddhistlibrary.com/Bud...hidharma/THE ZEN TEACHINGS OF BODHIDHARMA.htm It is from the Bloodstream Sermon.
Wow, that's awesomely intense dude!!! You were an Islamistist scholar no? One who has traveled the seven seas across the realm of Arabia. Listen to this guy Otto.
You don't have to do any of that... It just takes some common sense and 15 years of being an apologist for Islam where every violent, misogynistic, scientifically inaccurate verse in the Quran is answered with "it's out of context". After a while you pick up the pattern and realize that majority of Muslims do a fair deal of selective reading, which is actually a good thing. Christians do the same with the whole "Old Testament was before God changed his mind"
And I'm surprised you missed the part where Linji's "If you meet the Buddha, kill him." kicks in. It suggests treating Buddha himself as an illusion, "killing" isn't necessarily a physical action but rather a mental elimination.
The difference is Gautama actually encourages people to doubt him, actually he encourages his students to doubt everything, if they figure any of the teachings to be incorrect, correct him. Nothing like monolithic religions...Correct God? Pttt....you going straight down there!
Nothing to do with the ideology? Why does it happen all around the globe then? What is the common denominator? http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/2013/07/07/00/47/islamists-kill-42-in-nigeria-school-attack Gunmen believed to be Islamists from Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgent group killed 42 people, mostly students, in an attack on a secondary school in restive Yobe state, officials say. Eyewitnesses said some of the victims were burned alive in the attack, in Mamudo town. "We received 42 dead bodies of students and other staff of Government Secondary School (in) Mamudo last night. Some of them had gunshot wounds while many of them had burns and ruptured tissues," Haliru Aliyu of the Potiskum General Hospital told AFP. Mamudo is some five kilometres from Potiskum, the commercial hub of Yobe which has been a flashpoint in the Boko Haram insurgency in recent months. "From accounts of teachers and other students who escaped the attack, the gunmen gathered their victims in a hostel and threw explosives and opened fire, leading to the death of 42," Aliyu said. He said security personnel were combing the bushes around the school in search of students who were believed to have escaped with gunshot wounds. "So far six students have been found and are now in the hospital being treated for gunshot wounds." A local resident who did not want to be named confirmed Saturday's attack. "It was a gory sight. People who went to the hospital and saw the bodies shed tears. There were 42 bodies, most of them were students. Some of them had parts of their bodies blown off and badly burnt while others had gunshot wounds," he said. He said the attack was believed to be a reprisal by the Boko Haram Islamists for the killing of 22 sect members during a military raid in the town of Dogon Kuka on Thursday. Nigeria declared a state of emergency in three flashpoint states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe in mid-May as it launched a major offensive to end the insurgency. Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency has left some 3600 people dead since 2009, including killings by the security forces. Boko Haram which means "western education is evil" has killed hundreds of students in attacks on schools in the tense region in recent months
