? Islam and Buddhism are more alike than you think

I am supportive of any religious group that helps the weak, needy and poor. But firstly, its not necessary to belong to a religion in order to help the weak, needy and poor. Secondly, when a religious group does help the weak, needy and poor, there is inevitably a bias within their efforts towards conversion of those people from their present religion to the helpers' religion: so their efforts may not be entirely charitable.

Thirdly, going back to my original point, I'm not weak, needy or poor. I just expect treatment as an equal. I still feel I am going to be treated less favourably because of their religion (not mine, theirs). This inference is borne out by your response to my post on how uncomfortable I feel dealing with very religious people - you went straight on to the post about the weak, needy and poor - people who can be and are widely looked down on - that's just how I feel next to very religious people - they are or are seeking ways to look down on me. and I don't like it.

Stay a little bit of long time with/in a "Safe" religious group should be a worthwhile experience to understand more about human nature, imo.
 
Personally, my observation has been the development of interfaith groups that are more concerned about social issues and justice towards the well-being of humans, community, society and the world.

Looks like whatever conventional holy books or any self-centered/ inwards-seeking dogmas would be gradually, sooner or later, becoming outdated, perhaps. Hopefully!

I don't know anything for sure, but I just guess! lol
 
Last edited:
1. Monks cannot kill. There are 4 major rules that if a monk breaks it, he is no longer a monk, which are 'killing a man', 'having sex', 'stealing', and 'lying about attainment of superior state of mind'. Therefore, the acts of monks in Myanmar are not religiously driven but instead politically driven. Islamist are religiously driven.

2. Islam propagate violence, there are many places written in the Quran as well as Hadiths. Chopping heads, killing infidels, prosecuting disbelievers, capital punishments on gays, adultery, infidels and so on. Also chopping off hands of thieves.

3. Buddhism has no God but did not deny the existence of a creator/creators. In certain texts, there is a hint that the creator is actually a bad guy, who created the Samsara (endless cycle of suffering). Buddha is a person who discovered the way to get out of the cycle through meditation, and after discovering the path, he taught others about them. He said the knowledge that he told to the world is similar to the amount of leaves in his palm, but the knowledge out there is like the leaves in the jungle. He only said enough to get humankind out of Samsara. The rest could be discovered by our own self through meditation.

4. Also read on Buddhist cosmology and see how accurately it is representing the number of galaxies in our universe. However, in Buddhism, there are uncountable number of Universes.
There are small sized universe, medium sized, and 'big' sized.

If I recall,
small sized = 1, 000 galaxies
medium sized = 1, 000, 000 galaxies
big sized = 1, 000, 000, 000, 000 galaxies.

According to https://www.space.com/25303-how-many-galaxies-are-in-the-universe.html, our universe consists of 200 billions galaxies. In Buddhism, it's 4 times more. Therefore, probably there are more to be discovered. Remember, this is just a cluster of galaxies, which our modern science called the Universe. In Buddhism, there are uncountable number of universe.

5. Also read on how Buddha mentioned about the size of an atom.

"Four krosha, each of which was the length of
One thousand arcs, each of which was the length of
Four cubits, each of which was the length of
Two spans, each of which was the length of
Twelve phalanges of fingers, each of which was the length of
Seven grains of barley, each of which was the length of
Seven mustard seeds, each of which was the length of
Seven particles of dust stirred up by a cow, each of which was the length of
Seven specks of dust disturbed by a ram, each of which was the length of
Seven specks of dust stirred up by a hare, each of which was the length of
Seven specks of dust carried away by the wind, each of which was the length of
Seven tiny specks of dust, each of which was the length of
Seven minute specks of dust, each of which was the length of
Seven particles of the first atoms."

Just say that a finger is 4 centimeters long. The Buddha's "first atoms" are, therefore, 4 centimeters divided by 7 ten times, which is 0.04 meter x 7 to the minus 10 or 0.00000000001416 meter, which is more or less the size of a carbon atom.

6. Would like to includes about aliens. In Buddhism, there are 4 major worlds which have living beings like human. Ours is one of them, so there are 3 more in our galaxy.
 
My guess is there are always some truly religious people, among the believers within a religious group, stand up and help the the weak, needy and poor. Even against many other believers' stance.

Just human nature! Truly Jesus' spirit!

Perhaps simply Human spirit!

https://www.affrenchfilmfestival.org/film/orchestra-class

" French Film Festival: ORCHESTRA CLASS (LA MÉLODIE - French with English subtitles)

Plucking at the heart (and violin) strings, Orchestra Class is a welcome reprieve from more challenging cinematic fare, ultimately offering an exalting viewing experience that vividly edifies the power of the human spirit.

Simon (the teacher in this film) makes a promise to his class to take them to perform at the Paris Philharmonic. But will they make it? "

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1633217/

1274183_orchestraclass_805400.jpg


 
" https://www.quora.com/What-does-Buddhism-have-to-say-about-the-origins-of-human-life
Gautama Buddha
Buddhism
Religion

What does Buddhism have to say about the origins of human life?
7 Answers

Rob Ferrin
Rob Ferrin, non-practicing Christian & practicing non-Buddhist.
Updated 308w ago · Author has 178 answers and 568.7k answer views

If you are up for it, give the Agganna Sutta a read: http://www.urbandharma.org/pdf/AggannaSutta.pdf

I have not studied it too much, but basically it posits luminous beings that descended to the Earth to feast on the vegetation. Over time, greed developed and the luminosity of the beings slowly changed to a ruddier, courser substance... muddy even. The evolving physical difference gave rise to comparative judgements between the beings. The path from luminosity to mortality continues to evolve from there. Taken literally, it seems a rather peculiar account of humankind.

...


Rob Myers, 30-ish years as a Buddhist beginner
Answered 308w ago · Author has 125 answers and 232.2k answer views

Essentially, nothing.

Disclaimer: Plenty of multiple-universes, multiple realms, and such can be found in various Buddhist traditions. The traditions vary so much that they often have less in common with each other than they do with Abrahamic traditions. So, of course, I see things through the lens of my conditions, which are colored with too much Zen literature and a deep enjoyment of scientific periodicals.

...

"
 
Last edited:


* Why Are Buddhist Monks in Japan Allowed to Get Married? | Japan Info
jpninfo.com › CULTURE › SOCIETY

May 12, 2017 - Not only are Buddhist monks in Japan allowed to get married and have children, they are also allowed to eat meat and consume alcohol. However, these only apply to some of them. Monks who have vowed to be celibate are not allowed to do the aforementioned things, whereas monks who have not ...

* Why can Buddhist monks in Japan get married? - Quora
https://www.quora.com/Why-can-Buddhist-monks-in-Japan-get-married

Jun 14, 2015 - In Japan, starting in the ninth century, they began a new form of ordination based on. ... But Zen, following in the steps of its Chinese tradition, upheld an original structure of mutual complementarity of the monastic and secular communities and thus did ... After that they can get married, but would no longer be a monk or nun,.
How can a foreigner become a lifelong monk in a Zen monastery in ...
19 Nov 2015
Can a Japanese monk get married?
21 Mar 2015
Can women be Buddhist monks?
8 Dec 2010
More results from www.quora.com

* Buddhist monasticism - Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_monasticism

In East Asia, monastics live in greater isolation from the lay population than is observed in most Theravada countries. Because of local conditions of geography and climate, as well as local attitudes towards begging, monks generally do not make begging rounds in China, Korea, Vietnam, and many parts of Japan. Instead ...
‎Monastic life · ‎Local variations · ‎Tibet · ‎East Asia

* Can Buddhist priest or monks get married ? [Archive] - Japan Forum ...
https://www.wa-pedia.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-4880.html

Oct 28, 2003 - I know that Shinto priest can get married (and even have bigger families than average), but what about Buddhist priest and/or monks ? Is there any differences between sects, or more broadly between Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism ? I was discussing with a Japanese friend about a current TV drama ...

* Japan's monks turn to wife matchmaking parties - Telegraph
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/.../asia/japan/.../Japans-monks-turn-to-wife-matchmaking-p...
Oct 26, 2011 - A number of matchmaking events involving Buddhist monks, who are permitted to marry and have families in Japan, have taken place in the capital. The daughters of temple owners without clear male successors have also been drawn to these events in order to meet potential monk husbands.




* Rules for Pregnant Nuns & Married Monks - Tricycle: The Buddhist ...
https://tricycle.org/magazine/rules-for-pregnant-nuns-married-monks/

In the vast library of books on Buddhism—or on any monastic tradition, for that matter—surely only one contains a chapter entitled “Nuns Who Become Pregnant.” It appears in Shayne Clarke's Family Matters in Indian Buddhist Monasticisms, an exegesis of rules governing monks' and nuns' family relations, contained in the ...

* monk | Glossary | SOTOZEN-NET
https://global.sotozen-net.or.jp/eng/library/glossary/individual.html?key=monk

However, in 1873 the new Meiji government reversed state policies concerning the Buddhist sangha that had in been in force during the preceding Edo period (1600-1868), and since that time monks belonging to the Zen schools have been allowed to marry. Most Zen monks today are the sons of Zen temple priests, ...

* Buddist Marriage (Buddha) - thailawonline
thailawonline.com › Home › Family › Marriage in Thailand

Interestingly, same-sex marriage is widely accepted in Thailand and traditional ceremonies are somewhat common, though such unions are not legally recognized. Another quirk is that monks are not allowed to be married but many events in a man's life may lead him to take the robe for a short period, such as the death of a ...
 
Last edited:
" totally human "???

https://www.quora.com/Is-Buddhism-inhumane

Is Buddhism inhumane?
22 Answers

Khiêm Bảo Thiện
Khiêm Bảo Thiện, Software Developer, Buddhist
Answered 133w ago · Author has 905 answers and 206.7k answer views

Let's start with a question:

Do you think a dog is born with desire for food, power and love?

1. If no, then why does it strive and fight for food, power (in the pact and against lesser creatures) and love (its relationship with the owner for example)?

2. If yes, then is desire for food, power and love reserved for human? Does it represent human nature? Or does it rather represent living sentient beings' nature?

Then does getting rid of desires for food, power and love means to strip one of human nature?

Now let's continue with another question:

Do you think that when a dog - in the process of striving/fighting for food, power and love, harming, killing and even eating other ones of its kind - merits to be a dog anymore?

In my country, we use another name for those dogs, marking them as "no more dog". The same applies to people who - in the process of striving/fighting for food, power and love - harming, killing and even eating other ones of their kind. We call them "no more human".

As you might have learned about or even witnessed inhumane acts people are ready to commit when they desperately strive and fight to satisfy their desire for food, power and love, is it against nature that the Buddha recommended us to give up the desire for food, power and love.

Know that it doesn't mean that you stop eating when you are hungry, that you do nothing in your power to help both others and yourselves, that you don't love and treat no one with respect and compassion.

Realize that, only by giving up the desire for food, power and love, replace it with appropriate acts at the right time, in response to the right requirements and in a right manner, you would become totally human.
 
Last edited:
1. Monks cannot kill. There are 4 major rules that if a monk breaks it, he is no longer a monk, which are 'killing a man', 'having sex', 'stealing', and 'lying about attainment of superior state of mind'. Therefore, the acts of monks in Myanmar are not religiously driven but instead politically driven. Islamist are religiously driven.
Through out history there have been accounts where a monk would set himself on fire, doesn't this count as killing?
 
Back
Top