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[Meta] Why Buddhism? (self.bad_religion)

17jododdProgressive Liberal Scientific Atheist Secular Buddhist が 投稿

Why is Buddhism so often the topic being discussed here on the sub?

It seems like every other time someone on this website bring up or discussed buddhism, it fits the criteria to be linked here. Why are anti-theists so quick to dismiss every other religion but Buddhism, which is indeed full of supernatural elements?

Is it due to a lack of understanding or familiarity, since most users here are westerners? Is it a sign of hypocrisy on the part of raytheists, in that they claim higher intelligence than religious people but will often hold Buddhism and Buddhists apart from the other religions they throw out as "stupid"?

Most of the misunderstandings I see aren't even largely debatable either. Some people bring up the misconception that the Buddha taught that, "this is how I, personally, escaped suffering, but you should follow your own path if it works for you", despite multiple suttas asserting that the eightfold path is the only way out of samsara?

What causes this fascination with this one certain religion, when people dismiss all others immediately?

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[–]woxihuan 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

It seems to be pretty trendy and watered down in the West, too. I've lived in the East and the West, and what "buddhism" I see Westerners doing is generally a weird interpretation by woo woo people who just enjoy being alternative for alterity's sake.

In general, they don't have a very deep understanding of it. I knew a lot of Westerners that would stay at the Disney-style local temples for weekend retreats and come back really... Just... Weird and breathy and "connected" and stuff.

I know a lot of practicing Eastern Buddhists who are just like Western Christians in their practice, in terms of how relaxed their interpretation of the daily role of Buddhism in their lives.

[–]Ryan_K321 3ポイント4ポイント  (0子コメント)

Buddhism is an experiential religion that encourages people to directly verify its teachings. Westerners who see that immediately think that the buddha must have been an atheist since the teachings resemble the scientific method.

[–]Unicorn1234The Dick Dork Foundation for Memes and Euphoria 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Lack of familiarity with the subject matter. I've noticed that there's a lot of romanticisation of Eastern religions, and it's often done by the same people who tend to have a romanticised view of ancient 'pagan' (for example, Greek and Roman, or Classical) societies as well. This isn't anything new either; even back in the 18th century there were those who, despite being critical or hostile toward Abrahamic religions, would still hold either ancient societies or eastern ones as models of 'rationalism' and 'enlightenment'. I think it's primarily due to lack of first-hand experience. Your average Westerner gets fed caricatures of meditating monks and mountain hermits, so there's a general lack of understanding of how Eastern religions might look in day-to-day life or how they may influence a society overall.

[–]tangowhiskeyyy 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Im going to have to disagree with your "misconception." Upaya is a well established thing and while some sutras might be holding up the 8 fold path there are others holding up the ideas of upaya https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upaya

But as far as your original question i think its a mix of a few things from buddhisms general acceptance of "science", unfamiliarity with dogmatic buddhism, and the idea that its a philosophy not a religion. Its just from a misunderstanding of the entire concept.