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I felt a bit sympathetic to Buddhism up to the point when I actually visited a Buddhist temple and listened to the speeches of monks.
The amount of brain rot disguised as wisdom has made me feel Christianity ain't that bad after all.
Sorry in advance to any Buddhist out there, but it struck me how the common perception of it differs from the actual thing.
Late to the party, and no offence to buddhism, but i always loved this quote from Terry Pratchett
“Master, what is the difference between a humanistic, monastic system of belief in which wisdom is sought by means of an apparently nonsensical system of questions and answers, and a lot of mystic gibberish made up on the spur of the moment?"
Wen considered this for some time, and at last said: "A fish!"
And Clodpool went away, satisfied.” ― Terry Pratchett, Thief of Time
(copies the quote from https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/46982-thief-of-time?page=2 but i'm rather sure its correct, so i didn't check my copy).
It depends really. I grew up Buddhist and things were chill. Speeches I heard at temple were just telling us to be good people, be nice to people no matter their race or gender stuff like that, don't do harm to people or animals.
Even Abrahamic religions have good and bad spiritual leaders, some are cult like and others are just trying to get people to have decent morals.
Out of curiosity, which Buddhist tradition was this temple out of? I've had similar experience, but I get the feeling like Buddhist thought might be about as diverse as Christian.
It's much more diverse than Christianity, actually. Buddhism isn't so much a religion in the judeochristian sense as a characteristic that many religions have. There are Buddhist traditions that worship gods, there are godless Buddhist traditions that worship the Buddha,, and ones thay don't even worship the Buddha but just think he was a pretty wise dude. Some require you to meditate daily, others to chant some mantras, and there are Buddhist traditions like Zen that worship nothing and are all about getting your head out of your ass.
Isn't that just like the various branches of Christianity? Unitarianism, Quakers, etc.
I kinda lost my interest in Buddhism when I learnt that according to traditional Buddhist lore, women can't reach Nirvana.
When they've collected enough good karma, they are reborn as a man.
Surely that's not all sects of Buddhism.
I mean aint that different from what the old testament teaches. Not saying the choice is between Christianity and Buddhism, but I'd assume most religions have patriarchy vibes baked into them. Not that I agree with religion, I see them all as means of various levels of crowd control for the masses, and somebody trying to benefit from it, be it a spiritual leader or an orange clown.
As a Jewish person what on earth are you saying? Im pretty sure the words say that women have souls that are acturally closer to god (which is why they have less commandments). That obviously doesn't mean Judaism (or the old testiment) isnt patriarchal, it is (extremely) but its not comparable.
Buddhism's "Life sucks? Be nice and die and you'll get a better one" sucks but it's still better than "you should be nice to others, but that's too much to ask so go be as awful as you want and just regret it later and that'll be fine". But even that was better than whatever the fuck people are interpreting from religions these days.
are they just trying to fuck with white people?
Not just white people, but people in general.
Isn't Buddhism at least partially about a lack of desire? Buddha is enlightened, meaning he has no desires, therefore if you asked him what he wanted on his pizza, he'd be like "Eh, whatever's fine"
I think it's more about attachment. We suffer because we get attached to feelings, desire, etc. When we should realize, those, along with most things, are ephemeral, or "not real". I don't think it is that Buddhist can't have desire or are indifferent, but that they strive for lack of attachment. That's probably a gross oversimplification and, like most religions, there are many different sects.
Zen koans are basically ancient memes.
Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut only to discover there was nothing to steal.
Ryokan returned and caught him. "You have come a long way to visit me," he told the prowler, "and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift."
The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.
Ryoken sat naked, watching the moon. "Poor fellow," he mused, "I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon."
Before enlightenment, shitpost daily
After enlightenment, daily shitpost
One story that stands out to me is there were these warriors who fought a hundred dudes consecutively and then one guy who fought 100 of those warriors consecutively and then Buddha killed him instantly.
He was tired from fighting all those other dudes. Of course he killed him
Dopest shit I've ever heard. Bastards established powerlevels before the Roman empire
I don't get it.
There are things that cannot be communicated by reading alone.
Zen is said to be based on a "special transmission outside scriptures"
I suspect that actually looking at someone (preferably while you're together in the same room) lets you understand things better.