It would be safe to say that religion itself has killed more people than any gun. From the crusades to Iraq, established faith has cost the lives of millions of men and women. Faith has put mankind eternally apart from one another, each person fighting for a religious purpose that is not not his own. It has conditioned the individual to live accordingly and not according to the individual's perception. It has closed minds, waged wars and has nourished stubborn people. There is another faith though, one that rejects a picky God, an elite following and a harmful ego.
"Some of the worst wars have been waged upon the smallest difference in religion." Will Durant
Buddhism has sparked a whole new realm of interest for a wide range of people across the world, probably because of it's broader stand point. People young and old have been eagerly learning meditation or internal visualization. It has even become a rich literary topic for both published and unpublished authors as well. Truth-seekers everywhere seem to be turning on to Buddha and the simplistic, bare-bones approach to God. Most importantly though, Buddhism is not an established faith. Monks would argue that it is the renunciation of handed down ideas and the surrender to everything individually internal. Buddhism is by no means a 'religion' but is more a way of life. I use my faith to direct myself morally but never conciously. It is always my decision what happens in my life.
The spiritual relationship is internal. The confusion begins when it is assumed people need to externalize, or evangelize, their faith. Evangelism is set upon the idea that to change the way of things, we must set into motion "outside" an effort to teach people. A very interesting motivational speaker refered to this as "Combing the mirror." It does not so readily occur to people that the effort for change must be aimed inward. "Afterall, when you want to fix your hair, you don't comb the mirror do you? No, you comb yourself."
The most notorious evangelistic faiths are Islam and Christianity. Both of these religions claim to be the truth and both condemn those who would choose to go against it. This is a faulty mindset because it proclaims that unborn children, the mentally handicapped and even Buddhist monks are doomed to hell. For the longest time my grudge against faiths like this have kept me away from the majority of the North American South. That was, of course, until Buddhism came along.
Hey kids, all religion is valid. God simply wants you to find out who you are and to keep your interpetations where it belongs, in your own heart and soul.
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Yeah i find that many people especially in western society mistake the first buddha as a god. People assume alot about his philosophy without doing the reasearch, I have been ordain by a monk as a buddhist. I still have allot to learn. I go on retreats to a vietnamese buddhist community. Where I learn about mindfullness and meditation. The hard thing right now is the language barrier, Compared to everyone else I am twice as tall, Im usually the only american there and I am black. Although I stand out completely, that has never stoped the community from welcoming me to join their place of retreat. Because their beliefs they truely try to treat each other as respected individuals and its in the right to look pass the differences because we are all from the same sorce. The monks are very calm but also very nice. Mostly everyone their can speak english almost fluently and that makes me eager to learn vietnamese I think its because I owe them the same respect they give me. I cant say much because Im still learning so Im no expert.
Buddhism presents many problems though such as it being the most anti humanitarian religion or as you say "way of living" According to buddhism, people that are suffering cannot be helped because they somehow messed up in their "past" life, so they will just have to deal with their suffering until the "next" life. I myself am a Christian and I disagree with how you say that Christians "condemm anyone that goes against it." Christians do evangelize because Christ himself told us to go out to "Judea, Samaria, Jeruseleaum, and to the very ends of the earth." I also have problems with buddhism's origins, morals, meaning to life, and destiny in life, but I will speak about that in an upcoming blog that I'm working on about these four issues in atheism, buddhism, and christianity.