Opera Nut

T'tother day I went on a bus trip sponsored by the local "wrinkle ranch" (community center). At first they wanted to throw me off the bus which they did temporarily, because I wasn't 50 which is their cutoff age. They reluctantly let me go on it, and when I got back I waved my magic handicapped driving tag at them and told them I have high blood pressure (which is true).

In the morning we went to a Hindu temple out in the boonies. A middle aged white lady explained it to us and gave us the tour of the different statues of deities. We saw a priest do a bit of worship. I was the only person who knew the slightest thing about Hinduism.

In the afternoon we went to a Chinese Mahayana Buddhist temple which I found really interesting. A middle aged white man named John gave us the tour. I think the people in our group (old conservative Xtians probably mostly) thought those guides would have horns or something, and they looked like the other white haired people with glasses.

In fact, somebody in the group asked John "Are you a Buddhist?". I would have fallen out laughing if it hadn't been such a stupid question. "No,lady, I'm a homeless bum. I come in here, put on a vest with a chinese character on it I can't read and pretend I know about this stuff"...... is what was going on in my head when he said "Yes, I have studied it for 3 years to be an educated lay person."

He did some extensive Q&A and asked if anybody had heard of Thich Nhat Han. I was the only one, and I also mentioned I read lots of Alan Watts & DT Suzuki, back in my college days. He asked if anybody knew what "Buddha" meant and I said "enlightened one" which is close. He said it meant "He who is awake or has awareness."

Both groups talked about dharma and I seriously doubt that very many of the people in our group knew about the relationship of Buddhism and Hinduism, or which came first. I was sitting in the back with a couple of old fat ladies with canes and one of them said "I wish they'd quit preaching. If they don't quit preaching, I'm gonna tell em MY BELIEFS sometime!!".

I thought "Lady, you're a guest in their house of worship, why are you going at all if you don't want to know about it?" I didn't say anything though.

I thought I saw some chuckles of superiority to these people with their animal headed deities and (horrors) Goddess worship. Nobody passed out in front of the statue of Kwan yin. Or the female aspect of Shiva or Kali Durga.

Sigh..........

I have this theory that the older religions have made the biggest contributions to morality and understanding of the universe since Sagan mentions the huge lengths of time in the Vedas, in Cosmos. I would give Hinduism a big chunk, Buddhism a bigger chunk since it predates relativity and uses the same concepts, and a smaller chunk for the more enlightened parts of Judaism (like being sex-positive), and I think things go WAY downhill when Jesus dies and the cult of personality rises up around him and starts doing the political & cultural domination game. And Islam is even smaller in its positive aspects as practiced today. I would give Christianity and islam both a zero score,except for Islam staying out of the Dark Ages and giving us numbers.

I'd like to tie all those people on the bus down to their chairs, block the exits and show them "Little Buddha" with Keanu Reeves as Mr. Prince Siddhartha Gautama himself. But they still wouldn't get anything out of it.

Bill Snedden

Although I enjoyed Little Buddha, I think they might get more out of Hesse's Siddhartha. I've read it about 10 times, but I still pull it back out every couple of years and re-read it again. It's one of the most powerful and moving stories I've ever read...

Regards,

Bill Snedden

Opera Nut

Yeah I know, Keanu Reeves is a lightweight. I was thinking in terms of people who don't read anything except Reader's Indigestion (gag) and Xtian stuff. A movie that is basically true to the concepts but is spelled out and explained and dumbed down. John explained how language fails us, how color is an illusion, how everything is maya, how waves and particles are not separable. He didn't get to the 4 noble truths and the 8 fold path but he did a pretty good job. The codgers seemed to not ask very many questions, and not be curious. I was pleased to find out that they had Xmas tree like things with little teardrop shaped boxes with an electric light and a little buddha inside that had names of the dead painted on the glass in Chinese -- very much like the electric yahrzeit walls in synagogues.

Some of the old guys who may have been in WW2 and Korea probably understood some of it and one lady who had been to China and swore that "all buddhas are fat and you rub their tummy for good luck" which sounded really stupid when John, our guide, said "Nope, not true -- look at this guy -- he's not fat" (great big marble skinny Buddha in the Great Hall, with a cloud waterfull coming over his shoulder. ) She was probably thinking of the guy Ho Tai, the fat guy with his hands over his head.

John explained who Prince Siddhartha was and how he went outside the palace walls and saw suffering and death. I saw the Indian movie version of Siddhartha back in the 70s.

I don't care what god or goddess I pray to, as long as I get results........ so far no results.

It was pretty neat seeing an actual Hindu priest come in with his robe over one shoulder, head shaved, white and red lines on his face, and ruby & gold earrings and beads. Even though the various gods were confusing. On the busafter the Hindu visit, I explained to the woman who griped about the preaching "They basiclaly have three gods, the creater, the preserver and the destroyer. You have to have a destroyer because every thing dies, like trees and plants and people and everything has to be recycled into the earth."

---Blank stare------ :banghead:

JerryM

I know little about Buddhism, but it is my understanding that the original form, developed by the Buddha himself, teaches that spiritual peace, or enlightenment comes from within ourselves. We do not need to worship or believe in dieties or supernatural forces. Buddha never claimed to be a god, and never asked for worship or prayer, to my knowledge. All the other trappings and hocus-pocus came as the various Buddhist denominations evolved later.

Godless Dave

Islam didn't stay out of the Dark Ages, they just entered them much later and haven't left yet.

Opera Nut

Yes Jerry, the guide explicitly stated that Buddha was not to be worshiped as a god, merely that he was a teacher who explained a philosophy. He also said that the main thing was the practice of meditation to quiet the mind.