No Bhuddist Freemasons?

Originally posted by LTD602
As of next month I will hold an Honours B.A. In Classics and Theology. Buddhism is CERTAINLY NOT atheistic. Any University course on Buddhism (even religion courses in high school) will make that readily apparent in the first 5 minutes.

Gee, in all the hours I spent in guided meditation and services at the temple, this was not made apparent at all. Maybe I should take a formal University class, like Buddhism 101.

Hehe . . . . Believe it or not there IS a Buddhism 101 - well, Buddhism 100Y, close enough.

In any case, I believe, on the face of it, that a belief in a "Supreme Being" is the most inclusive you can get when it comes to religions. It seems to be so because it is such a nebulous phrase. It almost seems like an ultra-convenient answer, but it's purpose (brotherhood, fellowship), is sound.

Originally posted by Aelita
Gee, in all the hours I spent in guided meditation and services at the temple, this was not made apparent at all. Maybe I should take a formal University class, like Buddhism 101.

Couldn't you just test out?

Counselor Monkeys, not just for class scheduling anymore...

Hmmm, I've pretty much got the response I was expecting - all contradictory and mostly incorrect.
As to the spelling oh Bhudda or Buddha, well their both wrong but if I spelt it Puut which is close as it is actually spoken in Chineese none of you would know who I ment.
Bhuddism is generally atheistic (there is no "god" in Bhuddism) and the unofficial estimate for its "membership" is in excess of 1 billion people which most people would agree would place it slightly ahead of Hinduism, but it is clearly larger than Christianity and Islam.

I have had several Freemasons here in Thailand (ex-pat English) actually tell me that Bhuddists are not allowed to join the Lodge unless they have an additional religious belief, Bhuddism is the most tolerant of all religions as it allows its followers to profess additional religions.

Incidentally - the misspelling was deliberate - looks like someone took the bait a did the usual Masonic "I am a [insert word] and also a Mason"
Followed by the "I know a [insert word] who is also a Mason, and he is a really great guy]" routine.
Pathalogical Liars and Cowards?
You decide....

msnecros wrote:

Bhuddism is generally atheistic (there is no "god" in Bhuddism) and the unofficial estimate for its "membership" is in excess of 1 billion people which most people would agree would place it slightly ahead of Hinduism, but it is clearly larger than Christianity and Islam.



If you weren't just a troll you could have gone over here:

www.cia.gov...

which would have given these statistics:

Christians 32.79% (of which Roman Catholics 17.33%, Protestants 5.62%, Orthodox 3.51%, Anglicans 1.31%), Muslims 19.6%, Hindus 13.31%, Buddhists 5.88%, Sikhs 0.38%, Jews 0.24%, other religions 12.83%, non-religious 12.53%, atheists 2.44% (2001 est.)

Just goes to show. You're not even very good at making up your own lies.

[edit on 31-8-2004 by dr_strangecraft]

a poor typist

Originally posted by Aelita

Originally posted by Apollyon
I am a Mason and a Bhuddist sorry to blow your theory

You wouldn't misspell "Buddhism" if you were, sorry to blow your cover

[edit on 30-8-2004 by Aelita]

I'm quite big on the CIA World Fact book but its numbers on this matter seem very skewed - I assume they are ignoring the religious beliefs of Communist countries like China, Vietnam etc... and several other matters, because if you take these countries into account the inhabitants are either atheist or secretly Buddhist which leaves a big hole of about 20% of the worlds population unaccounted for.

Also strange that they have atheist as separate from non-religious.

Mind you I do generally rate the World Fact Book even though many of their estimates are wrong.

Don't see how this relates to me being a troll - even if you take their figures seriously it says there are about 200 Million Buddhists which is still a lot of people and also the second oldest religion in the world after Hindu.
(I assure you there are well over 1 billion though.)

On a side note - does Hindu have a Supreme Being - I'm under the impression it has several gods and Indra is the most powerful amongst them but he isn't omnipotent?

Originally posted by MrNECROS


On a side note - does Hindu have a Supreme Being - I'm under the impression it has several gods and Indra is the most powerful amongst them but he isn't omnipotent?

Hinduism is quite adamant on the subject of there being only one Supreme Being. All of the minor deities are merely expression of the one - they are merely pathways to the whole. The omnipotent god is Brahma.

By the way. I find it very odd, that after all of your supposed trouble with Freemasonry in the UK, you profess to freely associate with Freemasons in Thailand.
I suspect that you aren't telling the truth yet again.


Oh, and I was in Sri Lanka at the end of last year. Big Buddhist country. Plenty of Freemasons lodges and plenty of Buddhist Freemasons.

[edit on 31-8-2004 by Leveller]

I'm not friendly with Freemasons but they don't seem to want to leave me alone, even over here they are constantly trying to stop me in the street with their silly role-play antics.
Having said that, there are relatively few of them (ex-pats, on holiday and suchlike) and practically no Thai Masons, so as long as I keep away from the tourist areas then I get very little grief out of them.
Dunno much about Sri Lanka although it is strongly Buddhist as well, but I think there is a much larger "British Residue" from it being a former colony unlike Thailand, the only country ion Asia to have never been colonised.
The only Thai Freemasons I have met (3 of them) are heavily westernised and profess to being at least partly Christian.
Oh and they deny their affiliation with Freemasonry even to their own families.
But enough of that.
I'll have to look into this Hindu thing a bit more.

Originally posted by MrNECROS
I'm not friendly with Freemasons but they don't seem to want to leave me alone, even over here they are constantly trying to stop me in the street with their silly role-play antics.

Oh and they deny their affiliation with Freemasonry even to their own families.

Yeah, that makes sense - they're so secretive they keep pestering a complete stranger in the street.

And let's just look at what you posted in another thread today:

"Practically anyone you meet who actually tells you up front they are a Freemason (funny you know I've only met one who did) will try to talk down the significance of the higher degrees"

Yup. Loads of Freemasons act out their "role playing" in front of you - even though you've only met one who admitted his membership!!!!

Dude. You're full of it.





[edit on 31-8-2004 by Leveller]

Originally posted by dr_strangecraft
Well first off, Buddhism is not "the world's largest religion.

Have a look at the cia world fact book.

1 / 3 of the planet claims to be Christian

1/ 4 claims to be Muslim

Buddhists are a distant third.

But size doesn't matter. Especially in matters of truth.

Frankly, Buddhists AREN'T excluded. Non-believers generally exclude themselves, by being uninterested. I've never known of a candidate who was turned away do to the fact that they didn't acknowledge a supreme being (I'm sure it happens, somewhere, though.)

And it depends on the Buddhism, doesn't it? After all there is as much variety in Buddhism as in any other faith. The Atman, the Universal Self, is pretty much a supreme being, is it not?

In the Grand Lodge of India, one of the "volumes of sacred writings" used to initiate candidates is "The Dbammapada for the Mahayana Sect of Buddhists"

I got that by googling this site: members.tripod.com...

How much about buddhism do you really know?

Why do you care, anyway. It sounds like you've already made your mind up about masonry before "asking" the question.

Here's the link to the Grand Lodge of India. Why don't you ask them?

www.masonindia.org...


[edit on 29-8-2004 by dr_strangecraft]

[edit on 29-8-2004 by dr_strangecraft]

i think that fact book is wrong. China has a very big populas and they don't see the need of a "God"

Originally posted by DaTruth
i think that fact book is wrong. China has a very big populas and they don't see the need of a "God"

Yes. I'm sure all of the people of China have co-operated with the atheism of the state entirely volountarily, and that no-one there would be religious if the prohibitions against religion were removed. Why, the experience of the Falun Gong proves that!

(Sarcasm)

So, the fact remains that I quoted a source. You don't like my source. It's "innaccurate." Of course, they have a whole department of sociologists who study these statistics professionally, and actually contact various governments, NGO's, UN, etc to arrive at their estimates.

But you don't like thier numbers. So they must be "innaccurate."

You don't reference anybody. You just "know it."

Well, your audience can judge by that exactly how serious you are with this whole disccussion, and how superficial your other arguments must be, as well.

ROFL.

Just ask a freaking Buddhist, will ya ??? Go to any temple and ask them if they believe in a "Supreme Being" or anyone/anything close to a Supreme Being, or whether they would have qualms with saying that they beleive in a Supreme Being. Ask them about Freemasonry, perhaps.

Try this: Go to www.canada411.ca. Search for "Saranapala." He's Bhante Saranapala, a Buddhist teacher, and a good friend of mine. He lives at a Buddhist temple in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, on Cormack drive, I think. He'll be more than happy to answer questions.

Sheesh.

[edit on 31-8-2004 by LTD602]

Oh and they deny their affiliation with Freemasonry even to their own families.

All the free masons I have read about and talked to say this, you cant be a freemason unless your spouse concede with it, this means if you wife doesn�t know you cant be a mason as interviews take place in the your own house, is this correct?

Bilbo

Correct. Actually, the next step in my application process is for my sponsors or other Masons to visit me at my house. Since I have no spouse, they won't need to talk to anyone but me, really. But I was told that if I HAD a spouse, they'd need to speak to her and basically ask her if it was OK for me to become a Mason.

Pretty clandestine stuff, huh ??

Originally posted by NeonHelmet

Oh and they deny their affiliation with Freemasonry even to their own families.

All the free masons I have read about and talked to say this, you cant be a freemason unless your spouse concede with it, this means if you wife doesn?t know you cant be a mason as interviews take place in the your own house, is this correct?

Bilbo

Not only that, but it would be nigh on impossible to keep your membership of Freemasonry secret from your close family.

Hiding the learning of ritual, hiding your regalia, telling your fellow Freemasons not to mention it in front of your family, hiding your charitable activities, making excuses for going out at night, hiding literature, keeping the social events quiet, hiding finanicial receipts, basically hiding a whole way of life - any Freemason trying to keep his wife in the dark would have to be James Bond.

Anyone that can hide the fact that he is a Freemason from his wife is most definitely not a Freemason.

Its just masonic critic tripe to claim we hide our affiliation from our families... I wear my great great grandfathers masonic ring every day, and a square and compass necklace and have a square and compass on my truck and in my window at home, and go to lodge at least once per week... so if my wife didn't know she would have to be deaf, dumb and blind, and she is none of those.

Every mason I know is openly one. Oh, do I keep the grips and methods and means of recognition secret from her? Well, yes, since that is my obligation. Do I keep the ritual from her? Yes, that is my obligation. But I certainly do not keep the fact that I am a mason from her... especially since she is helping me plan my installation as Master of my lodge in a year and three months...

Surely no one will try to refute this photographic evidence.
.