Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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appicchato
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by appicchato »

pink_trike wrote:
retrofuturist wrote:Greetings bhante, all,

...referring to formal meditation sessions which I also find hard to schedule given my work and family commitments.

...hopefully those who are taking the knife to Buddhism know how to differentiate between what is Dhamma and what is cultural accretion.

Metta,
Retro. :)
Yup...my challenge is finding time for consistent, extended formal practice sessions (half day, day, weekend, and longer).

Not a knife...just a screen to filter out the big chunks of 2500ish years of culture add-on.
Paul/ Pink,

Sorry fellas...sometimes I forget how 'easy' (comparatively speaking) I've got it...holding down a job, and holding up a family...and living in the West (I grew up in LA pink...) while practicing the Buddha's dispensation seems a monumental challenge...warm, sincere wishes for your peace and contentment...and progress on your paths... :namaste:
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Avery
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Avery »

Institutional challenges:
1. Conflation with superstition, such as astrology, which makes rationalists wary
2. As Southeast Asians move to the cities, they decide they don't need Buddhism anymore
3. People who try to hijack Buddhism to match their own ideology, turning it into a branch of Western psychology or a new religious movement

Personal challenges:
1. When I first became a Buddhist, I thought reincarnation and karma were elements I could deal with later. After a study abroad in Japan which focused exclusively on Mahayana, I see them as part of the overall philosophy, and Buddhadasa et al. don't do much to persuade me. I had a talk with the famous Japanese monk Sumanasara in which he explained karma in a much different way, but I don't know enough Japanese to read his books...
2. The modern world wants to make me constantly distracted and ignore my own dukkha :computerproblem:
3. Based on personal experience I have a weird idea that meditation "works" for some people but not for me. Nevertheless I still practice twice a week.
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Dan74
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Dan74 »

I think the biggest difficulty in lay life (as compared to monastic) is not all the daily challenges, but rather the absence of a supportive Sangha 24/7. This is what I really envy monastics for. Yes, practice never stops, if you really know how to practice, to pay attention. But for a layperson whose practice has not reached that level of insight and stability, it's more like a whirlwind of happenings with habitual responses and some self-control and occasional clarity and insight into the situation.

I used to have a friend who lived right next to the Uni when I was studying and I dropped in regularly for a sit (40-50mins) and discuss the dhamma/dharma (she is Theravadin, I am Zen) afterwards. That was great (it did do my knee in eventually, a small price to pay :smile: ) These kalyana mitras are so invaluable for a layperson like me.

So in answer to the original question:

Challenges to Buddhism:

1. Materialistic Culture translating to either disinterest and cynical approach to spirituality or acquisition mentality in relation to things spiritual and greed.
2. Addiction to information, external stimuli and thinking.
3. Big egos stroked from early age - "you are so special" mentality.

Personal Challenges.

1. Virtual absence of a supportive Sangha.
2. Laziness and force of habit.
3. Comfort-seeking rather than truth-seeking.

_/|\_
Last edited by Dan74 on Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
_/|\_
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Lazy_eye
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Lazy_eye »

Avery wrote: Personal challenges:
1. When I first became a Buddhist, I thought reincarnation and karma were elements I could deal with later. After a study abroad in Japan which focused exclusively on Mahayana, I see them as part of the overall philosophy, and Buddhadasa et al. don't do much to persuade me. I had a talk with the famous Japanese monk Sumanasara in which he explained karma in a much different way, but I don't know enough Japanese to read his books...
.
Avery,

So how did you end up resolving this issue? Or did you?

Metta,

LE
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Avery
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Avery »

Lazy_eye wrote:Avery,

So how did you end up resolving this issue? Or did you?

Metta,

LE
I haven't yet resolved it. Sumanasara pointed out that it's not necessarily true that we can observe everything which affects the physical world. He said the Buddha taught that karma and rebirth are unobservable by human eyes. So the question for me is, how is reaching a state where you intuit karma any different from reaching a state where you intuit God or gods? This is probably a question for a different thread, but after seeing a country full of Mahayana practices in general (even though I was interviewing Theravada monks) I felt a sort of futility that I hadn't known when practicing Buddhism in the U.S. So, I am starting to approach Buddhism in a different way than before.
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Ngawang Drolma.
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Ngawang Drolma. »

Avery wrote:
Lazy_eye wrote:Avery,

So how did you end up resolving this issue? Or did you?

Metta,

LE
I haven't yet resolved it. Sumanasara pointed out that it's not necessarily true that we can observe everything which affects the physical world. He said the Buddha taught that karma and rebirth are unobservable by human eyes. So the question for me is, how is reaching a state where you intuit karma any different from reaching a state where you intuit God or gods? This is probably a question for a different thread, but after seeing a country full of Mahayana practices in general (even though I was interviewing Theravada monks) I felt a sort of futility that I hadn't known when practicing Buddhism in the U.S. So, I am starting to approach Buddhism in a different way than before.
I don't mean to drag this off topic, but I find your story very interesting, Avery.
Please feel free to keep sharing as you continue to work with these subjects :anjali:
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Fede
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Fede »

thornbush wrote:A twofold question:
Name 3 challenges in our present age/time that you think Buddhism is facing now and why.
Name 3 challenges that you face as a Buddhist in daily life and why.

Thank you in advance :anjali:

Namo Amitabha Buddha!
Three challenges in our present age/time that I perceive Buddhism is facing:
Avarice
self-destruction
Hedonism.

These could all loosely be bracketed under the title of 'suffering'. Call me simple, but, "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...."

Three challenges that I face as a Buddhist, in daily life:

Disillusion, laziness, dissatisfaction.

Why?

Stuck in that great big hamster-wheel known as samsara...
I can spin it at varying speeds, and right now it's going like a thing possessed..... :tantrum: :cookoo:
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Ceisiwr
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Ceisiwr »

Three challenges to Buddhism


Western Atheists going to the extreme of viewing all religons/spirituality in the same way they view Abrahamic religious thought

People who try to teach Dhamma without the proper knowledge to do so

Superstition


:anjali:
“Knowing that this body is just like foam,
understanding it has the nature of a mirage,
cutting off Māra’s flower-tipped arrows,
one should go beyond the King of Death’s sight.”
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AdvaitaJ
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by AdvaitaJ »

thornbush wrote:Name 3 challenges in our present age/time that you think Buddhism is facing now and why.
1. Overcoming wrong perceptions based on ignorance and assumption. I'm convinced if more people understood the logical and practical nature of Buddhism, there'd be a lot more people in this country I could talk to!
2. Avoiding Christian persecution. For this one, I think the underlying reason is the ongoing conflict between Christian zealots and Islamic militants. I think many Christians here feel they are under attack by Islamics and, in their frenzy, they lump all non-Christian religions together in their threat-basket out of ignorance. Let me be clear: there are no direct threats from anyone, but they do keep track and take care of their own if they find out you're not of their tribe.
3. Acceptance of the non-conventional aspects: rebirth, devas, hells, etc. These things were probably givens in the Buddha's time and many are probably still widely accepted elsewhere, but we're "too sophisticated" here in the west to be very open-minded to such things. I will admit they pose a challenge to my agnosticism.
thornbush wrote:Name 3 challenges that you face as a Buddhist in daily life and why.
1. Time. Specifically, time for quality practice. When you commute 90 minutes/day and spend another hour-plus exercising because you work nine hours/day at a desk in a fabric-covered box, there isn't a lot left over. Some may ask why I don't change jobs and the simple answer is that I'm too close to the end to switch gears now. The old "give up a little now for more later" mentality.
2. Knowing where to best spend what time I do have. My list of reading materials grows with every visit to this forum!
3. Questions, questions, questions. The only reason I don't post more questions here is that I need time (see bullet 1) to read, understand, and follow through on the answers I've received to the questions I've already asked! And I'll say again how indispensable this forum is to my progress! Thanks to all for their help and guidance.

Regards: AdvaitaJ
The birds have vanished down the sky. Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me, until only the mountain remains.
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retrofuturist
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by retrofuturist »

Greetings AdvaitaJ,
AdvaitaJ wrote:2. Knowing where to best spend what time I do have. My list of reading materials grows with every visit to this forum!
This is one of the often unrecognised benefits of Internet forums... they help guide you towards what would be worth reading next.

Metta,
Retro. :)
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
green
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by green »

Manapa wrote:buddhism as a group
1. New age teachers who cherry pick the "feel good" parts, and or claim enlightenment
2. Teachers who have no Dhamma training and pass themselves off as experts
3. The idea Buddhism has a pope and all Buddhists fall in line with them.
You hit the nail right on the head. These are the biggest challenges to dhamma.

When I go to the book store, it is unfortunate that the Buddhism section contains more books by these same incompetent teachers rather than the word of the Buddha. However, the Christian, Islam section contains mostly the Bible or Koran.

Someday, maybe...the Buddhist section will only consist of rows and rows of the Tipitika! :anjali:
DarkDream
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by DarkDream »

The three challenges to Buddhism as I see it:

1) A brand of fundamentalism that refuses accept ideas from modern scholarship and science and persists in holding the religious texts as the final arbiter.
2) Diluting and masking the differences between other religions and different strands of Buddhism.
3) Inability to change in response to the modern world and the current level of knowledge in the arts and sciences.

--DarkDream
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Cittasanto
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Cittasanto »

green wrote:
Manapa wrote:buddhism as a group
1. New age teachers who cherry pick the "feel good" parts, and or claim enlightenment
2. Teachers who have no Dhamma training and pass themselves off as experts
3. The idea Buddhism has a pope and all Buddhists fall in line with them.
You hit the nail right on the head. These are the biggest challenges to dhamma.

When I go to the book store, it is unfortunate that the Buddhism section contains more books by these same incompetent teachers rather than the word of the Buddha. However, the Christian, Islam section contains mostly the Bible or Koran.

Someday, maybe...the Buddhist section will only consist of rows and rows of the Tipitika! :anjali:
You have a Buddhist section in the book store? I do most of my book shopping online now but when I do go into the stores it tends to be HHDL books and books like Buddhism without belief, nothing of any real relevance to the Texts, although I do agree with darkdream that closing off Buddhism could lead to degradation of the path, opening it up can also lead to the same thing, it is a case of shut up and do the practice, look at it, examine it and then decide for yourself, that is a fundamentalist Buddhist. but I think the 1st and 2nd contradict each other to a large extent as what is the difference between diluting traditions and schools, and doing the same with science, both are diluting the path and both done with right investigation can lead to something good, just as doing it blindly will lead to something bad.
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He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
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green
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by green »

Manapa wrote:
green wrote:
Manapa wrote:buddhism as a group
1. New age teachers who cherry pick the "feel good" parts, and or claim enlightenment
2. Teachers who have no Dhamma training and pass themselves off as experts
3. The idea Buddhism has a pope and all Buddhists fall in line with them.
You hit the nail right on the head. These are the biggest challenges to dhamma.

When I go to the book store, it is unfortunate that the Buddhism section contains more books by these same incompetent teachers rather than the word of the Buddha. However, the Christian, Islam section contains mostly the Bible or Koran.

Someday, maybe...the Buddhist section will only consist of rows and rows of the Tipitika! :anjali:
You have a Buddhist section in the book store? I do most of my book shopping online now but when I do go into the stores it tends to be HHDL books and books like Buddhism without belief, nothing of any real relevance to the Texts, although I do agree with darkdream that closing off Buddhism could lead to degradation of the path, opening it up can also lead to the same thing, it is a case of shut up and do the practice, look at it, examine it and then decide for yourself, that is a fundamentalist Buddhist. but I think the 1st and 2nd contradict each other to a large extent as what is the difference between diluting traditions and schools, and doing the same with science, both are diluting the path and both done with right investigation can lead to something good, just as doing it blindly will lead to something bad.

Well, you have an eastern religions section which includes Buddhist books...and yes they are mostly HHDL or fashionable Buddhism books...as a kid they really turned me off from Buddhism, I read the HHDL books and thought if Buddha was so smart, how come the 4 noble truths is so simplistic.

I didn't even know Buddhism had something called the Tipitika. I came across the Tipitika by accident in the library.

The bookstore is the reason why many people think Buddhism has no central text.
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Cittasanto
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Re: Challenges to Buddhism and as a Buddhist

Post by Cittasanto »

green wrote:Well, you have an eastern religions section which includes Buddhist books...and yes they are mostly HHDL or fashionable Buddhism books...as a kid they really turned me off from Buddhism, I read the HHDL books and thought if Buddha was so smart, how come the 4 noble truths is so simplistic.

I didn't even know Buddhism had something called the Tipitika. I came across the Tipitika by accident in the library.

The bookstore is the reason why many people think Buddhism has no central text.

No, Religion section and a small selection of Authors on Buddhism.
Blog, Suttas, Aj Chah, Facebook.

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them.
But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion …
...
He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.
John Stuart Mill
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