Jeffrey, I don't know whether you are "some kind of sociopath", but you do seem a little hasty to rush to harsh judgments of other people about whom you clearly know very little.
Interestingly, one of the key messages of Buddhism is that it's possible to overcome that tendency to harshly judge people without evidence; indeed, by doing tha…
Jeffrey, I don't know whether you are "some kind of sociopath", but you do seem a little hasty to rush to harsh judgments of other people about whom you clearly know very little.
Interestingly, one of the key messages of Buddhism is that it's possible to overcome that tendency to harshly judge people without evidence; indeed, by doing that, you also might stop harshly judging yourself, and that in turn might lead to greater personal happiness, leading in turn to a certain degree of gratitude, which tends to manifest as a greater interest in being kind and helpful towards others.
Some forms of Buddhism don't practice meditation at all; the Santi Asok sect in Thailand is one example of a very traditional, quite extreme form of Buddhism that bases practices on physical work rather than meditation. Others focus intensely on meditation; the Forest Monk tradition of Ajahn Chah being one good example.
Certainly there are a great many people contributing to Buddhist scriptures today. I mentioned Matthieu Ricard - a thoroughly decent man, who you are welcome to try to smear and insult by association with various other people, if you wish.
You may also have heard of some other great modern Buddhist teachers; I won't give you any more names, because I don't really want to read any more of your baseless insults about them.
You are under no obligation at all to study Buddhist practices or teachings, and you are welcome to continue insulting them if you like.
But in my experience, most people who take the time to study Buddhism don't seem to regret it; I know I don't. :-)
So before a lecture on not judging people harshly you imply that I may be some type of sociopath because I harshly judged someone you like? Did you learn that hypocrisy from studying Buddhism?
We clearly have different sentiments on Matthieu Ricard. The notion I have no evidence on his behavior — or lack thereof — is a bizarre assumption. He has already admitted to “regretting” it on his blog. Quite a long time after he engaged in it. The difference between him and I doesn’t seem to be the evidence, but the moral gravity. He feels hollow apologetics is sufficient. I do not.
It’s important to harshly judge people — especially when there is adequate justification to do so. Assuming a person doesn’t do the same thing as the person being harshly judged, a person neednt worry about judging themselves for it. And while people often times judge themselves excessively and too harshly, and can even be a manifestation of a brain illness, judging ourselves is *sometimes* part of the way non sociopaths can change and become better people. Some people actually don’t judge themselves harshly enough, such as Matthieu Ricard. That may sometimes be good for *their* “happiness”, but then again, much misery has come to others from people
with lots of power not judging themselves when they should — and people not judging people with lots of power when they should.
“ Certainly there are a great many people contributing to Buddhist scriptures today.”
Certainly there isn’t, except for the particular people who have decided to embrace that literature and call it “Buddhist scripture”, such as yourself. You are welcome to do so. And I am welcome to call that irrational.
“ You are under no obligation at all to study Buddhist practices or teachings, and you are welcome to continue insulting them if you like”
Perhaps you didn’t read my comment. I’ve studied Buddhism; I wouldn’t be surprised if I have studied it more than you. And I will continue to insult it. It’s deserved. Just like Scientology deserves to be insulted. And Nazism. Do you have a problem with insult in general or just of what you worship?
“ But in my experience, most people who take the time to study Buddhism don't seem to regret it; I know I don't. :-)”
I cannot say I regret studying Buddhism anymore than I can say I regret studying Nazism. Again, I am a curious spirit.
“ You may also have heard of some other great modern Buddhist teachers; I won't give you any more names, because I don't really want to read any more of your baseless insults about them.”
Great Buddhist teachers is a bit of an oxymoron, like Great Nazism teachers. Not all Buddhist teachers are horrible people, but preaching Buddhism is bad. Why don’t you want to read insults about the people you grovel? Sounds like “attachment” to me. You are failing at what your beloved teachers perniciously preach. Either you should futilely practice more or abandon the quixotic quest. I am guessing your devotion to the foolishness is way too strong for the latter, thus I will hypothesize you will proudly continue to eat your own face.
Jeffrey, I don't know whether you are "some kind of sociopath", but you do seem a little hasty to rush to harsh judgments of other people about whom you clearly know very little.
Interestingly, one of the key messages of Buddhism is that it's possible to overcome that tendency to harshly judge people without evidence; indeed, by doing that, you also might stop harshly judging yourself, and that in turn might lead to greater personal happiness, leading in turn to a certain degree of gratitude, which tends to manifest as a greater interest in being kind and helpful towards others.
Some forms of Buddhism don't practice meditation at all; the Santi Asok sect in Thailand is one example of a very traditional, quite extreme form of Buddhism that bases practices on physical work rather than meditation. Others focus intensely on meditation; the Forest Monk tradition of Ajahn Chah being one good example.
Certainly there are a great many people contributing to Buddhist scriptures today. I mentioned Matthieu Ricard - a thoroughly decent man, who you are welcome to try to smear and insult by association with various other people, if you wish.
You may also have heard of some other great modern Buddhist teachers; I won't give you any more names, because I don't really want to read any more of your baseless insults about them.
You are under no obligation at all to study Buddhist practices or teachings, and you are welcome to continue insulting them if you like.
But in my experience, most people who take the time to study Buddhism don't seem to regret it; I know I don't. :-)
So before a lecture on not judging people harshly you imply that I may be some type of sociopath because I harshly judged someone you like? Did you learn that hypocrisy from studying Buddhism?
We clearly have different sentiments on Matthieu Ricard. The notion I have no evidence on his behavior — or lack thereof — is a bizarre assumption. He has already admitted to “regretting” it on his blog. Quite a long time after he engaged in it. The difference between him and I doesn’t seem to be the evidence, but the moral gravity. He feels hollow apologetics is sufficient. I do not.
It’s important to harshly judge people — especially when there is adequate justification to do so. Assuming a person doesn’t do the same thing as the person being harshly judged, a person neednt worry about judging themselves for it. And while people often times judge themselves excessively and too harshly, and can even be a manifestation of a brain illness, judging ourselves is *sometimes* part of the way non sociopaths can change and become better people. Some people actually don’t judge themselves harshly enough, such as Matthieu Ricard. That may sometimes be good for *their* “happiness”, but then again, much misery has come to others from people
with lots of power not judging themselves when they should — and people not judging people with lots of power when they should.
“ Certainly there are a great many people contributing to Buddhist scriptures today.”
Certainly there isn’t, except for the particular people who have decided to embrace that literature and call it “Buddhist scripture”, such as yourself. You are welcome to do so. And I am welcome to call that irrational.
“ You are under no obligation at all to study Buddhist practices or teachings, and you are welcome to continue insulting them if you like”
Perhaps you didn’t read my comment. I’ve studied Buddhism; I wouldn’t be surprised if I have studied it more than you. And I will continue to insult it. It’s deserved. Just like Scientology deserves to be insulted. And Nazism. Do you have a problem with insult in general or just of what you worship?
“ But in my experience, most people who take the time to study Buddhism don't seem to regret it; I know I don't. :-)”
I cannot say I regret studying Buddhism anymore than I can say I regret studying Nazism. Again, I am a curious spirit.
“ You may also have heard of some other great modern Buddhist teachers; I won't give you any more names, because I don't really want to read any more of your baseless insults about them.”
Great Buddhist teachers is a bit of an oxymoron, like Great Nazism teachers. Not all Buddhist teachers are horrible people, but preaching Buddhism is bad. Why don’t you want to read insults about the people you grovel? Sounds like “attachment” to me. You are failing at what your beloved teachers perniciously preach. Either you should futilely practice more or abandon the quixotic quest. I am guessing your devotion to the foolishness is way too strong for the latter, thus I will hypothesize you will proudly continue to eat your own face.