Summary of Buddhism (which also negates every religion in the world)

Buddhism = there is no self. YES! That’s it! The whole message! It is not a religion because it does not take a stance on the existence or nonexistence of God. A Buddhist can be an atheist or a theist. Similarly, a car mechanic can be an atheist or a theist.

Originally posted by wittgenstein
Buddhism = there is no self.

This is old and outdated.

Scholars say that atman really means something like "identity".

So everything lacks the identity imputed by mere conceptual labels.

You are right, that this is the major point of Buddhism though.

Originally posted by wittgenstein
It is not a religion because it does not take a stance on the existence or nonexistence of God. A Buddhist can be an atheist or a theist. Similarly, a car mechanic can be an atheist or a theist.

Madhyamaka is the strongest atheism on the planet. It actually disproves God, which is something even Richard Dawkins hasn't done.

Buddhists are not theists.

Great post NotReallyASecret!
That is why I am an agnostic ( in the original, Wittgenstinian sense of the term) . God is ineffable. God cannot be defined ( reified)? Something undefinable is labeled “X”. If I said, “ I believe that “X” exists” have I said anything meaningful?
" People are scared to empty their minds fearing that they will be engulfed by the void. What they don't realize is that their own mind is the void."
Huang-po

I've been a casual student of Buddhism for a couple years. To say it simply, its helped me live in the moment. I've learned to appreciate the feeling of a cool morning breeze on my skin. I can breath deeply and clear my mind of all thoughts without effort. It comes naturally now.

As for reincarnation, I've contemplated this debated part for the last few weeks. I don't have the exact quote but Alan Watts once put it this way. "What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up? What was it like to wake up after never having gone to sleep?" If you contemplate that quote you may understand, it's almost indescribable to me. The only way I can describe it is - it is not reincarnation of what you think of as your independent self, but if "you" could wake up after never having gone to sleep, "you" could wake up again manifested as something else.

Another quote which helps to describe this is contained in the classic book "Zen Mind Beginners Mind"

Tozan, a famous Zen Master, said, "the blue mountain is the father of the white cloud. The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain. All day long they depend on each other. The white cloud is always the white cloud. The blue mountain is always the blue mountain."...They are quite independent, but yet dependent.

“Alan Watts once put it this way. "What will it be like to go to sleep and never wake up? What was it like to wake up after never having gone to sleep?”
shangqing
www.youtube.com...
I want that video at my funeral. No speeches about what a great guy I was. Only that video!
I also want this www.youtube.com...
instead of a tombstone!

bump