/lit/ - Literature

>spent six years studying Christianity
>still doesn't understand it
>2mo later prefers his misunderstanding of a foreign mystical discipline
Anon, are you even aware that Christianity also has levitation and bilocation and incorruptibles?

>>13417237
If you're a Buddhist, what monastic sangha have you taken refugee with? If none, you are just a larper. Buddhism (non-larp) is all about monastic life, and your role as a layman is to support the monks and learn under their direction, not your own.

>>13417265
>Anon, are you even aware that Christianity also has levitation and bilocation and incorruptibles?
That shit is all over Buddhism too. Inb4 folk Buddhism is not real Buddhism.

>>13417293
That's why I said "also." It's obvious OP is a retard who wants something he thinks is cooler than his boring conception of Christianity.

i mean, assuming this isn't a bait thread (which it is)

>>13417237
Damn straight!

>spend 20 minutes skimming a book about Gnosticism
>realize it's the truth
Who else?

>>13417304
Or simply makes a lick of sense

>>13417278
buddhism is about that, but it wasnt about that in the time of the buddha, no arhats around currently so they are definitely doing something wrong.

>>13417458
Except there most definitely are

>>13417237
buddhism is just stoicism + modified hinduism, it has nothing truly enlightening or fulfilling, particularly not for some self-centered westerner
I suggest you read Pascal and Nietzsche.

>>13417509
Yikes

>>13417237
>buddhism is better
>literally Cuck Yourself Out of Existence: The Religion

>>13417536
Every religions ultimate goal is to unite with he divine as one.
How is nirvana different?

>>13417237
Protestantism isn't Christianity. That was your mistake. Read Merton and Augustine and you'll realize it's infinitely better than Buddhism.

>>13417237
Samuel Johnson said no such thing as that, to my knowledge.

>>13417578
Merton had very positive things to say about Buddhism

>>13417458
>buddhism is about that, but it wasnt about that in the time of the buddha

Tell me what Buddhism was about in the time of Buddha. Enlighten me. While I'm waiting, I'll decide whether the I'm gonna need a source meme or the tfw no proofs meme would be a funnier counter response to your reply. I'll wait.

>>13417638
Discovering a path to moksha moron

>>13417647
With no monks? Where did you discover this?

>>13417601
About their monasteries. Not their beliefs. The duality OP sees is false and predicated on Protestantism. Some western Buddhists ultimately come round to Catholicism like me.

Merton was a cuck.

>>13417659
Do you remember how soddhartha originally decided to keep his insights secret and not teach them?

>>13417672
The lama respectfully listened to the priest and replied: “Your religion is the same as ours”

>>13417680
If we're trading fairy tales of dubious origin (known only from monastic compilations) who was with Buddha when he died?

>>13417829
It’s all orally passed on so of course it’s dubious?
What’s your point other than to poke holes in a story we can only rely on as basically mythology at this point?
If we are to believe anything about him his ultimate goal was to discover a path to liberation, not to set up a series of momestaries

the good old "things from from outside is better than what I grew up with"

>>13417894
>tfw your family raised you a material Buddhist but you became a theist Buddhist

>REEEEEEEEEE STOP MAKING FUN OF CHRISTIANITY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND I THINK THE CRUSASER AESTHETIC IS COOL?!
No wonder /lit/ has the lowrst IQ of any board.

>>13417852
>If we are to believe anything about him his ultimate goal was to discover a path to liberation, not to set up a series of momestaries

You're correct that his goal want to set up a series of monasteries. It was to found an order of wandering renunciants. But I don't see that as meaningfully different for our purposes. The path to liberation was the Middle Way - not being addicted to sense pleasure, being a renunciant, but not going overboard like the Jains. The laypeople were there to support and be taught by the renunciants. There are texts about the virtues of laypeople, but they're all latter and affirm monkhood as primary.

The point is, Buddhism without a sangha - whether or wandering renunciants or monks - isn't Buddhism.

>>13417914
I agree but I think one can still take the teachings of siddhartha into his practice without taking refugee in the three gems.
But it’s like chrisitanity without the church, more appropriate for a hermit than anyone else

>>13417574
>unite with the divine as one
If you're OP holy shit hahah are you a fucking retard, that's not the point of Christianity at all- you're supposed to go to heaven while retaining your individuality, you don't "meld" with God or join some "collective conscious"


>>13417237
>6 years studying Christianity
>last 2 months showed that Buddhism was superior
Maybe you just like Buddhism more

>>13417947
>Protestantism

>>13417914
As a Westerner who agrees with the foundational tenets of Buddhism, and wishes to live by them without becoming a full-blown monk (at this time, anyway), why may I not call myself a follower of Buddhism? I believe in the cosmology, the metaphysics, the practices and lifestyle, and the path itself - all of which aligns with my own pre-existent conceptions and values - so why must I be a formal Buddhist monk just to identify with the culture, or else be considered a roleplayer?

>>13417979
Monastic life is a huge part of Buddhism and essential for all Buddhists to undertake at at least one point on their life.
It’s like calling oneself catholic without getting baptized.
That said do what you want no real Buddhist cares

Did you study the Theology of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church or did you limit yourself to Western """Christianity"""?

>>13417979
You don't have to become a monk, you just have to find a sangha near you and "take refuge" with them. Otherwise you're no Buddhist.

>>13417265
>you should keep following Christianity even though they have got all their metaphysics, epistemology and ethics wrong just because there are 12 people somewhere following a wildly considered heretical Christian doctrine of whacky Christian mysticism and levitation
So this is the power of Christian apologetics, huh? People have started viewing Christianity as so wildly unbelievably that Christians are forced to try and latch on to literally anything to try and stay relevant.

>>13417966
>Protestantism
No. All of Christian denominations believe you keep your individuality. Stop pretending Christianity can be justified through non-dualism and/or Monism. The only reason you're doing this is because you've lost authentic faith in the Christian religion but you're too afraid to just get off the ride.

>>13418398
t. polemical dumbass.

>>13417237
This but with starting with Buddhism and realizing Vedanta is better

>>13418466
This but after starting with Buddhism and then realizing Vedanta is better, you should take the Jonang pill. The chad Tibetan Buddhist-Advaitans that were oppressed and shut down in the 17th century and thought to be completely wiped out but then several monasteries were "rediscovered" in the 20th century.

>>13418466
Siddhartha for morals though

>>13418520
Advaita for metaphysics. Nietzsche for morals.

>>13418554
I chose the morals siddhartha preached then

>>13418519
Jonang and Dolpopa are absolutely based, I regard it as being basically on the same level as Advaita though and that they complement each other, I don't regard one as better over the other. If forced to choose I'd pick Advaita because of the way longer history and for the way more written material it has but in essence they are nearly identical teachings. Dolpopa is probably closer to what Buddha actually taught than any other Buddhist thinker IMO.

>>13417237
You realize the exact same occurance has been happening for hundreds of fucking years. O g buddhism is from fucking asia and its fucking exotic o g man i just wanna fuckin c h i l l out like some fucking monks o g christianity is s o fucking t o x i c.
kys fag

>>13418732
Have you ever considered looking at religion as more than just a cool tag you can brag about on 4chan and actually whether or not it’s fundament ideas resonate with you?

>>13417446
Even though socrates was christ before
christ

>>13417638
Gotama taught the path to the cessation of suffering, nowadays people just practice a set of rituals, call it meditation and think it will lead them somewhere.
Gotama's teachings restored the essence of the upanishads and vedanta, because the dhamma was corrupted by the ritual seeking, non comprehending "priests" or "monks" at the time.

Now go read your bhikku bodhi and comprehend nothing.

>>13419365
>because the dhamma was corrupted by the ritual seeking, non comprehending "priests" or "monks" at the time.
Interesting. That's pretty similar to the Christian criticism of Judaism. Christ rebuked the pharisees multiple times for this.

>>13419434
i would like perennial philosophy to be a lie, but somehow it is very true.

>>13417278
Have you ever heard about enlightened laymen in Zen?

>>13417237

My issue with Eastern ascetism is that the idealized practicioner is essentially inhuman. I'm reading Aristotle for the first time, and the concept of a totally abstinent person from sense-pleasures, an insensate being, makes me think of cloistered monks. You exist for a brief period of time as this Animal/Spirit entity (not Aristotle now), and you're not really trying to understand your role as a human being if you spend the entirety of your life cringing away from your materiality (or in total indulgent degeneracy); running out of the arena forever doesn't make you a good boxer, it doesn't teach you anything about self-restraint or edification.

“It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.”

>>13419365
>bhikku bodhi
reee what do I read then?

>>13420042

http://booksdescr.org/item/index.php?md5=13F18D2D71FE6FB33901F0130342BDDE

>>13419434
>>13419672
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia
Seek help.

>>13420088

>>13420042
The idiot ridicules what he can not comprehend.