Christmass Message

[dotlj]

https://reason.com/volokh/2017/12/22/ho ... -bad-or-go
A little late, but still on Christmas, and it applies to every day of the year. Funny.


You'd better watch out,
You'd better not cry,
You'd better not pout;
I'm telling you why.
Santa Claus is tapping
Your phone.

He's bugging your room,
He's reading your mail,
He's keeping a file
And running a tail.
Santa Claus is tapping
Your phone.

He hears you in the bedroom,
Surveills you out of doors,
And if that doesn't get the goods,
Then he'll use provocateurs.

So–you mustn't assume
That you are secure.
On Christmas Eve
He'll kick in your door.
Santa Claus is tapping
Your phone.

[n_hologram]

Well, since somehow a Christmas thread derailed into Western Buddhist criticism, I'll attempt to find a middle way between the two belief systems...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSircOd1w4

[Capitain_Jack]

When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.

John Lenon

[golinux]

Well, since somehow a Christmas thread derailed into Western Buddhist criticism . . .

Criticism? Hardly. Try conversation. I may be a westerner but my guides have been primarily Burmese and Sri Lankan monks. Can't get closer to the source than that. I instinctively knew to steer clear of the Western adaptations.

I'll attempt to find a middle way between the two belief systems...

Good grief! Talking heads only muddy the waters. Buddhism as it was intended is most definitely NOT a dogmatic belief system. It is a practical guide how to break through the blindness and bondage of self-delusion. Few actually try to do that though . . .

[alan stone]

^ Thanks for the reference and contribution to my -ness.

May the Source (Code) be with you.

[debiman]

Well, since somehow a Christmas thread derailed into Western Buddhist criticism, I'll attempt to find a middle way between the two belief systems...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmSircOd1w4

unholy crap.
20s into the video he claims that jesus said "I am god".
he never said that, even in the wildest bible mistranslations.
guy must have been listening to TV preachers.

also thanks to golinux for keeping us informed on what buddhism REALLY is.

to clarify, i previously said there's a big difference between buddhism as such, and the religion that was created from it - not in the West but in the (far) East. I prefer the real message, and not a church's struggle for power. Same goes for Jesus btw.
though, as far as institutionalised religions go, buddhism is probably still better.

[n_hologram]

Wow, well that's the last lighthearted comment I ever make here. Om mani padme hum...

@golinux: It is not my intent to argue about what Buddhism is or is not, since you are clearly more qualified to do so, but I certainly never said it was a "dogmatic belief system" (as, for example, Roman Catholicism is dogmatic), and it was never asked that I clarify; however, one could read the Siddhartha myth as a myth, despite the myth's intent: a practical guide, in your words (although this is the intent of most myths, for the cultures from which they emerge). Also, I wasn't referring to you, specifically, and i surely would not argue you given your credentials; I just find it odd how the conversation seemed to nosedive from the former to the latter. Lastly, I thought the video might be entertaining, not mortifying, so i apologize to anyone whose top hat is coated in mud.
If the counter is that i should not have limited Buddhism to the Siddhartha narrative, I'll accept that criticism in advance. However, I speculate, without the germinating myth, would Buddhism really exist in its current form, or even a similar one?

@debiman: Lol, far from a "wild interpretation"...

Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am.

This is not reflexive (ie, "Jesus is"), but rather an assertation that Jesus is the great "I Am": the answer YHWY gave to Moses when Moses asked the Abrahamic deity who he was.
This assertion aggravated some serious theological issues.
There is a very long and historical argument about the whole, well, "son of god" thing: whether Christ was just a man with divine blessing or insight, the actual incarnation of god himself, and everything in between and beyond. The gnostic interpretation, for example, is that Jesus was the "son of god" in a similar way that (DON'T SHOOT ME DOWN GOLINUX) Siddhartha became (or realized he was (please clarify if needed lol)) the Buddha: in other words, that God (or some level of transcendence) is within all of us, and we therefore have the same potential to be as Christ himself; consequently, this "wild interpretation" (which really transcends gnosticism itself, and has been around as long as Apostolic Christianity, that awkward phase before it was institutionalized) constitutes a close analogue to the Siddhartha myth, which is often used as a talking point for Buddhism, especially in the treatment of myths.
Whether you realized it or not, your point and Campbell's point are actually pretty similar.
Campbell's ambition for comparative mythology, by the way, far from tv evangelicism, was to treat differences with respect while attempting to find what world myths have in common. I think you might appreciate some of his ideas if you gave it more than twenty seconds.

[arochester]

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