China’s urbanites rediscover Buddhism

[FarCenter]

BEIJING - Quan Zhenyuan discovered Buddhism by accident. After the owner of a vegetarian restaurant here in the Chinese capital gave her a book about the religion, she became hooked. Today, Quan is one of a growing number of urban Chinese turning to the religion for spiritual fulfillment.

"I always used to believe Buddhism was a kind of superstition, but I changed my mind completely after reading the book Recognizing Buddhism”, says Quan, 32, an executive manager at a tourism agency in Beijing. She says Buddhism has taught her how to better solve problems and cooperate with employees and clients. "Buddhism gives me peace of mind."

China, an officially atheist country, is experiencing a Buddhism revival.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/LL02Ad01.html

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At least they are taking up an indigenous and sophisticated religion, rather than one of the three great Middle Eastern superstitions.

[bluetrain]

1. Great, throwing away the best thing they had going for them.....

http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/your-delusion.htm

[Hannah Bell]

2. buddhism as a whole is no more "sophisticated" than christianity.

both religions have their high esoterica & their low popular streams.

[FarCenter]

11. Yes, Christianity's esoterica includes killing each other over disputes re the nature of the Trinity

[Hannah Bell]

26. um, the buddhists in asia served exactly the same function as the catholic church in europe.

if you don't know about the violence in buddhism's history, you don't know much about buddhism.

http://tkcollier.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/history-of-buddhist-violence/

Armed Buddhist monks in Thailand are not an exception to the rule; they are contemporary examples of a long historical precedence. For centuries monks have been at the helm, or armed in the ranks, of wars. How could this be the case? But more importantly, why did I (and many others) hold the belief that Buddhism=Peace (and that other religions, such as Islam, are more prone to violence)?


Monks With Guns: Discovering Buddhist Violence

The publication of Buddhist Warfare, a book I co-edited with Mark Juergensmeyer, is a bittersweet experience as it marks the culmination of a journey that began with an exploration of the peaceful aspects of Buddhism only to end up chronicling portions of its dark side. This journey, which consumed much of the last six years of my life, began in 2003 when my wife and I spent a little over a year in Thailand. It was then that I began to research Buddhist social activism which was going to be the topic of my dissertation.

http://www.religiondispatches.org/books/2158/


Though traditionally regarded as a peaceful religion, Buddhism has a dark side. On multiple occasions over the past fifteen centuries, Buddhist leaders have sanctioned violence, and even war. The eight essays in this book focus on a variety of Buddhist traditions, from antiquity to the present, and show that Buddhist organizations have used religious images and rhetoric to support military conquest throughout history.

Buddhist soldiers in sixth century China were given the illustrious status of Bodhisattva after killing their adversaries. In seventeenth century Tibet, the Fifth Dalai Lama endorsed a Mongol ruler's killing of his rivals. And in modern-day Thailand, Buddhist soldiers carry out their duties undercover, as fully ordained monks armed with guns.

Buddhist Warfare demonstrates that the discourse on religion and violence, usually applied to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, can no longer exclude Buddhist traditions. The book examines Buddhist military action in Tibet, China, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, and shows that even the most unlikely and allegedly pacifist religious traditions are susceptible to the violent tendencies of man.

http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Sociology/Religion/?view=usa&ci=9780195394832

[eShirl]

3. An indigenous religion?

China is not where Buddhism originated.

[HEyHEY]

5. It did in the area though

[eShirl]

9. India, China, what's the difference?

right?

[HEyHEY]

14. It developed throughout Asia

[eShirl]

28. .

:eyes:

[HEyHEY]

30. I hope you're rolling your eyes at yourself

Cause I'm right. It did develop all through Asia and I'm not the only person on this thread to point that out. But hey, roll your eyes if doing that opposed to explaining to me why I wrong is easier...

[FarCenter]

12. Although it originated in India, various schools of Buddhism evolved in China

Over a time span of many centuries.

[eShirl]

29. By that logic, Christianity is indigenous to Europe.

[HEyHEY]

31. It has been in China for thousands of years. Taoism is similar to it, and that was developed here

And the two interwove in certain areas and Chinese people contributed to its development and there are many prominent Chinese characters in the religion, if that doesn't make it indigenous, then what does?. Again though, I certainly don't expect you to qualify your snarky responses.

[some guy]

4. Is it really a religion if it has no god/goddess?

I think of it as a philosophy, rather than a religion.

[JI7]

6. it still involves belief like reincarnation

[some guy]

10. hmm, okay, I'll accept that.

At least tentatively.

It seems like a weak answer, though I'm not going to pursue that sense right now. :hi:

[JI7]

7. it still involves belief like reincarnation

[greyl]

18. It's a salvationist religion. nt

[some guy]

19. ???

• ( Salvationist) of or relating to the Salvation Army.

apparently either you're confused, or I shouldn't highlight that word and "look it up" in my browser's dictionary. :)

Please expand on what you're trying to tell me.

[greyl]

21. It's based on the notion that all humans are born divinely flawed,

and that it(Buddhism) is the means of overcoming that inherent flaw.

[some guy]

24. okay, but then you use the word

divinely and that goes back to some sort of god/goddess, and Buddhism doesn't have any.

[Hannah Bell]

27. depends on which strain; plenty of gods & goddesses in popular strains of buddhism.

there is no *one* buddhism.

[AndrewP]

8. As a Buddhist, I'm biased even though I shouldn't be

I like this story

[Speck Tater]

13. The Buddha taught only two things: The cause of suffering and how to end suffering.

On the subject of gods or goddesses the Buddha was silent because such matters have no relevance with respect to the cause of suffering and the means to end suffering. As such, they were of no interest to the Buddha, and of no interest to Buddhists.

Granted, some offshoots of Buddhism have dragged local deities into their particular version of Buddhism, such as the various ghosts, demons and nature gods of the Bonn religion that got dragged into Tibetan Buddhism. But pure Buddhism, as taught by the Buddha in the Pali Canon has no need for gods or demons or similar superstitions.

(Disclaimer: practicing Theravada Buddhist for 50+ years.)

[lise]

15. and Jesus Christ

didn't teach much beyond "love your neighbor as yourself".

but that didn't stop generations of Christ's followers from heaping a whole lot of other stuff onto Xtianity.

I've lived in China and , trust me, the "Buddhism" that you describe bears little resemblance to what is practised in China.

MANY deities, and most practitioners are mainly praying to this that and the other deity for material favors. (get me $$$, get my daughter into the best school. etc. etc.)

I love the Buddhist philosophy. But foreigners who think that Buddhism is somehow "purer" than Xtianity or any other religion when it is practised by it's native practitioners are kind of naive.

[Speck Tater]

17. I agree.

Even in Thailand where they supposedly practice a very pure brand of Theravada Buddhism you have the peasants buying charms and spells from monks for protection. In a high-profile case from the 1970's a Thai general in the army bought a charm from a Buddhist monk that he believed made him immune to bullets. He ordered his aide to shoot him to prove how well his Buddhist magic charm worked. The bullet killed him.

It's a dirty shame, really. The irony is that some of the "purest" Buddhism, i.e., Buddhism practiced without gods and superstitions, is the Buddhism of the West in such places as Europe, Australia and America in places like the Buddhist Society of Western Australia, Insight Meditation Society (MA and CA, USA), Birken Forest Monastery and Gampo Abbey (in Canada) and through such Western publications as Shambala Sun Magazine and Tricycle Magazine.

As a Western Buddhist I can honestly say that in 50+ years I have never been personally exposed to any of those kind of theist superstitions in any of the many groups with which I have practiced here in the U.S. We Americans, being less likely to swallow goofy traditions just because they are traditional, have tended over the last half century to gather together the best of the Buddha's teachings from a wide variety of different lineages and left behind the "occult" baggage that has attached itself to the teachings in so many less sophisticated places.

[David__77]

16. Scientific outlook is a plus for China.

Hopefully the religious tendencies keep within that framework, away from irrationalism.

[HEyHEY]

20. They're plenty irrational without the religion

[JVS]

22. Smashing the olds was hard work, it would be a shame to have to do all that over again.

[HEyHEY]

23. Go more basic

You should see a subway car empty here, it's like someone threw a stink-bomb into the car and everyone just ran out.

[David__77]

25. I agree.

China's current economic progress is founded upon the smashing of feudal culture, which was a painful but necessary process.