With reference to the article “Buddhists under threat to embrace Christianity in Arunachal Pradesh”
When a religion have a doctrine that said “Go fore and save all non-believers before they are casted into the fire of eternal hell”; it would be a matter of time before some really committed or fanatical Evangelists would take up the challenge to do so with whatever means that is at their disposal. For the Buddhists, at the receiving end, it is a sad occasion.
Throughout human history and to this day, when certain religions survive and flourished, it is due in large part to the patronage and support of the government in existence then, or some powerful person of the period with all its resources available to be used when and where necessary.
Undesirable as it may be, but where extremists and militants existed in a religion, it acts as a deterrent to prevent other faiths from trying to convert the followers of that faith. When religions have Commandments, and when the breaking of such Commandments would entail immediate punishment, it also ensures that followers stick to their particular faith. The Buddhists in the north eastern and other regions of Arunachal Pradesh do not have all these means at their disposals. At best, living conditions are likely to be rudimental.
To keep Christians Evangelists from carrying out further conversion of Buddhists in that region, there is certainly a need for the Indian Government to send someone influential, who is sympathetic to the Buddhists to put a check on all these forced conversion by the Evangelists presently in this area.
Most importantly, charitable Buddhist organizations with the resources, and also committed, experienced Buddhists in social works or with some life skills should come forward and offer their services in Arunachal Pradesh as well.
If no outside Buddhists and their organizations are prepare to come forward to serve as volunteers like the Christian Evangelists do, than it is inevitable that eventually the whole regions will be Christian dominated.
Organized religion is the highest plight (as well as a flight) of human consciousnes and an individual search for existential expereince. Inner ''truth'' cant rest on the commonality of knowldege. However, one going inwards and sequentially when the sense of self is no longer a participant but a witness, a watcher to what is truth descends as it is! Truth spoken is truth negated. Behind the facade of roles/prjections truth abides to indivisibility. The questions/answers transcended truth simply IS.
Organized religion is collectively organzied and altogether a different affair. Authentic religion is always an individual expereince and in that ''indivisibility'' of individuality it transforms one''s experience to that of being authenthic. Truth when ''organized'' dies. It is reduced to a dogma, a belief system, a theology, a philosophy, though the truth is may be expereinced it is not longer authenthic but an adulterated expereince. How can a crowd expereince truth!
It happens only to individuals. It is akin and can be likened to love. One cant have ''organizations'' of love and where it is organized one need not bother; the organization will take care, the ''priest'' will love on one's behalf. That is what seems to be happening in religion (especially organised ones). When one discovers the truth, immediately one of the most cunning parts of humanity manifests itself lah, the priests encroach. They start accumulating words; they interpreting words. What is divisive is that they start making it clear that if one want to know truth, one has to go thru them and assume a role of being a mediator, a medium to Truth, God (any label does not matter). The reality is, self-appointed they circumsribe, they dictate.It is exploitation behind the facade behind the cloak of religiosity. In fact it is politicised. When it is organised - one has to abide by and live by the four corners of the ''document''. This is the fallacy and undoing of organised religion. In fact it is politics but so very subtle.
sometimes i wonder why Buddhists are so passive.... afterall one of the core principles of Buddha's teachings is to benefit others in whatever way whether in the temporary or ultimate sense... is it that we are utilising our beliefs or spirituality as a convenient way to avoid responsibility or doing anything constructive?
as Chogyal Namkhai Norbu said...
there is a time for actively trying to penetrate experiential obstacles and a time for allowing one's experience to be as it is. If we are unable or unwilling to actively engage with our personal life issues, then letting-be could become a stance of avoidance, and a dead-end...
Frankly, it would be interesting to know what suggestions Buddhists Organizations here have to offer, in term of assistance to these helpless Buddhists in Arunachal Pradesh. It is just so unfortunate the Buddhists here do not have a centralized body to train and equip interested volunteers to act as missionaries for such oversea assignments, which in this kind of instants, are so urgently required.
Can't you see Buddhism has become a cult?Some Buddhists with a sound mind just can't accept the mentally ill doctrines of Buddhism.
Originally posted by Lg:Can't you see Buddhism has become a cult?Some Buddhists with a sound mind just can't accept the mentally ill doctrines of Buddhism.
May you live another 1000 years happily by carelessly insulting Buddhism :)
The more you slander ,the more issue you will get in your life .
take care .
Karma knows no friend or foe
I think the Mormons are way more effecient in evengelism.
Originally posted by Lg:Can't you see Buddhism has become a cult?Some Buddhists with a sound mind just can't accept the mentally ill doctrines of Buddhism.
They did not offend you in any ways, why you want to distrub them?
We often see it like - Buddhists gets converted because there is no support from the Buddhist community, and we are too passive... the reasons could be that..
1) Buddhist are more keen in practicing to develop the mind than in trying to get more Buddhist followers, and we accept other's believes instead of trying to convert them all the time,
2) it could also be that no matter how the situation is now, nobody can really run away from Buddhism, in this life you are not a Buddhist, but in future lives when the causes and conditions ripen, you will still become a Buddhist.
3) Sometimes causes and conditions ripening in this life preventing the learning of Buddhism cannot be avoided - as it is said, it's difficult to come across the Buddha-dharma.
4) We are living in the Dharma ending age, it is not in the dharma proper age where ppl will die for what they believe in, in the Dharma ending age, you just have to tell people not to believe in Buddhism and they will gladly follow your advice.
No matter what happens, if you are truly Buddhist, you will still have Buddhism at heart even if you are persecuted, forced-converted and have no assistance from anyone. They cannot convert the heart of a true Buddhist.
If we really want to protect Buddhism from declining, it has to start from observing the precepts and correcting our faults, that will make Buddhism flourish, and naturally, people will come to believe in Buddhism. In fact, for all religions, if the followers keep their commandments and correct their faults, their religion will naturally flourish.
Originally posted by likeyou:
They did not offend you in any ways, why you want to distrub them?
isnt that always the behaviour of a certain religious group?
Originally posted by laurence82:isnt that always the behaviour of a certain religious group?
Agreed.
Trying to stir up the calm water.
BadzMaro……Not just the Mormons, in general it is my belief that the Christians are way ahead of the Buddhists in their missionary capability and capacity. It may be due to the inherent nature of the religion itself. A good example can be seen in what “zero thought” have stated above, the Buddhist usual non-confrontational and forgiving ways. Well and good, if everyone plays the game fairly. But this is precisely what the competitors would like to see in their opponents, because they have already won the game even before it gets started.
As far as I know, buddhists usually don't actively convert others. So does that mean we are passive?
Furthermore, buddhists know Heaven is not the final destination, so will they still convert to other religions?
If they convert, I assume they did not know well enough or maybe they prefer other religions?
If one is being Buddha-like (Buddha consciousness) that is an end unto one''self'' (being). Why bother who is keeping up with the Joneses or why sow the seeds of competition (discord).
I am amazed at this stance lah.
One who is religious does not choose, does not discrimate. Does the rain choose whom or where to rain on?
Beware the fallacy and the politicising of .....
Originally posted by Fugazzi:If one is being Buddha-like (Buddha consciousness) that is an end unto one''self'' (being). Why bother who is keeping up with the Joneses or why sow the seeds of competition (discord).
I am amazed at this stance lah.
One who is religious does not choose, does not discrimate. Does the rain choose whom or where to rain on?
Beware the fallacy and the politicising of .....
I think it's not about the competition, it's about whether Buddhists are doing their part in educating and informing the masses about the essence of the teaching and how to apply it in their lives.
The Buddha informed his sangha to 'evangelise' by not staying at a particular place but going forth in all different directions to spread the teachings to the lay people. I wonder whether we are doing what the Buddha and his sangha did in the old days. Just look at how many people nowadays actually know about Buddhism beyond superficial level and the countless misinformation and misunderstandings.
Whether they decide to 'convert' then is entirely up to them based on their understanding and inclinations, after we explain the teachings to them... at least, we did our part.
If there were no such evangelism effort in Buddhism, we will die out fast. We have to be proactive or die...
And who/what is responsible if Buddhism fails to take root? The selfishness of those who know, but don't tell others.
If there is a need to educate someone - it has to be a sharing, a presence. A flower in the garden does not hanker for attention. When it blossoms it is free to anyone to partake of its fragrance.
Godliness, friendliness and being Buddha-like would attract anyone - of course, it presupposes the other(s) are willing to and of their own volition.
When the student is ready, the teacher shows up - and in every way every moment - from an old man to a cat and stranger - they all teach us something. It is all dependent on the one who there - is he/she availabe to that moment! If one is willing - just a leave dropping suffices. If one is not - a whole tree can fall - nothing doing!
U say :The selfishness of those who know, but don't tell others.
The truth is that selfishness arises from one is deluding /assumping thatoneself is complete, one has it one is fulfilled. What the mind does not see is in invisible bowl begging to ....
IF one is really fulfilled (self-complete) one would overflow, the abundance, that would be a fragrance of one's being .... A flower does not care whether it has someone to be there or something to there to partake of its fragrance. It simply abides to being a flower - giving out when it is overflowing, in this instance - blossoming!
Sadly, many are impoverished from within and this is cos of lack of understanding of oneself. The human mind is not one but multi-psychic and the tendency is to rationalize n justify with ....
I m in no way berating anyone or implying but stating what is the state of humanity today.
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:I think it's not about the competition, it's about whether Buddhists are doing their part in educating and informing the masses about the essence of the teaching and how to apply it in their lives.
The Buddha informed his sangha to 'evangelise' by not staying at a particular place but going forth in all different directions to spread the teachings to the lay people. I wonder whether we are doing what the Buddha and his sangha did in the old days. Just look at how many people nowadays actually know about Buddhism beyond superficial level and the countless misinformation and misunderstandings.
Whether they decide to 'convert' then is entirely up to them based on their understanding and inclinations, after we explain the teachings to them... at least, we did our part.
If there were no such evangelism effort in Buddhism, we will die out fast. We have to be proactive or die...
And who/what is responsible if Buddhism fails to take root? The selfishness of those who know, but don't tell others.
Maybe we need more people like Purna today? The top 10 disciples of Buddha who was foremost in expounding Dharma...
lol
Originally posted by 2009novice:Maybe we need more people like Purna today? The top 10 disciples of Buddha who was foremost in expounding Dharma...
lol
Speaking of Purna, my Master, Ven Shen Kai when asked which of the top 10 disciples he wanted to emulate, reply without hesitation that he wanted to emulate Purna, foremost in expounding Dharma.
My Master had an uncanning ability to teach the dharma in a way that is very easy to understand (as he himself put it: even a 12 year old child can read and understand his writings) yet very applicable to ordinary people's lives.
He had tens of thousands who took refuge under him, he was able to spread the teachings to many countries both in Asia and in ang moh lands (e.g. USA and Australia)... too bad he passed away so early.
Originally posted by Aik TC:
Frankly, it would be interesting to know what suggestions Buddhists Organizations here have to offer, in term of assistance to these helpless Buddhists in Arunachal Pradesh. It is just so unfortunate the Buddhists here do not have a centralized body to train and equip interested volunteers to act as missionaries for such oversea assignments, which in this kind of instants, are so urgently required.
In my understanding Christians also do not have 'centralized body' as they are very sectarian and denominational, but many churches are proactive in missionary work.
My Buddhist organisation is also quite proactive in missionary work and we're expanding to new countries over the years.
Originally posted by An Eternal Now:Speaking of Purna, my Master, Ven Shen Kai when asked which of the top 10 disciples he wanted to emulate, reply without hesitation that he wanted to emulate Purna, foremost in expounding Dharma.
My Master had an uncanning ability to teach the dharma in a way that is very easy to understand (as he himself put it: even a 12 year old child can read and understand his writings) yet very applicable to ordinary people's lives.
He had tens of thousands who took refuge under him, he was able to spread the teachings to many countries both in Asia and in ang moh lands (e.g. USA and Australia)... too bad he passed away so early.
oh.. *respect*... *respect*...
to teach Dharma in layman terms is a skill
but I think clearing up the myths and mistaken views of Buddhism is most important thing to do right now
To spread the Dharma, first, without question is understanding the Dharma.
Second, develop deep compassion and strong aspiration to sustain the effort.
Thirdly, raising awareness and wisdom, to garner skillful means and ability.
Let's focus on the third:
1) Gather understanding of prospective devotees, layman practitioners, and monks. Anthropology: Mindset and social science.
Understand the people, the country, the community, economy ,the culture, physical, mental and spiritual needs. learning to engage the people in a effective and positive manner.
2) Learn proselytism methods of different religions. especially the cultic type of mind reinforcement .
Understanding their core beliefs, indoctrination, and it's relative effectiveness..
Studying initial short term, and long term integration methods:-
Isolation techniques, new identity creation , etc...
Soft power of proselytizer of dominant host country, and of course, cold hard cash, understand its appeal to people living in hand to mouth as compared to conversion in affluent country like ours.
Another effective method to study, is the Hearts and Minds used by the special forces, in recruiting the marginalised peoples.
3) Study effective Buddhism movement current in use, effective historical periods where Buddhism was thriving and expanding. Example cultural exchange and patronage, both royal and private. Also understand its decline, especially in peaceful times.
4) Understand reasons of Buddhism spreading to West in modern times, and Western beliefs to the East. See the level of social consciousness, flow of knowledge, and values.
Spreading the Dharma is like applying the appropriate medicine to affliction.
Different ways of approaching it is preparing for war or defence, for example, Singapore's Total Defence. Another, is venturing to a new business market.
With these we have tried and tested working models
These are the organisational aspects, easily understood and applied.
But It needs to be pioneered by a person endowed with the first two requirements.
Another way, it to affiliate with a current functioning Buddhism charitable organisation, or just join them.
There are inspiring role models to emulate, but to emulate their commitment is not easy.
whatever the opinion, i hope that we should all question ourselves and stir ourselves to do something, not just talk. It is fair that we also ask what can we do for Buddhism, rather than only what Buddhism can do for us, our personal problems and issues...
it is not that we are just trying to preserve our Buddhism at all cost, as some people often accuse religions of trying all means to self-perpetuate or self-preserve at the cost of all other values... but we should ask how we can bring the wisdom and compassion components of Buddhism as a means to benefit others, the cultural or human-nature aspects can be adapted, but the essence should be preserved for future generations... the emphasis is always on what benefit it has for all beings... and of course, for those of us who have practised, there is absolutely no doubt about the benefit/truth of the teachings... it is just a matter of one's own degree of application, that's all.
Fugazzi…..The whole issue here is not about keeping up with Joneses, or about being religious, or about the Buddhist doctrines. It is about the very survival of Buddhism in the North Eastern region of Arunachal Pradesh. In the longer term, it is also about the survival of the religion as a whole. As Buddhists, we would certainly like to see many, many future generations of Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, enjoying the teachings of the Blessed One.
In regard to a centralized organization responsible for missionary activities, it would certainly be more advantageous to have one single body responsible for such work than having several smaller ones operating independently. Imagine the resources, support and the level of contacts that will be available for volunteers if such an organization existed under the auspices of the Singapore Buddhist Federation.
Being Buddha-like in one's being kind, in one's being loving, in one's being compassion to all and sundry suffices!
One's mirror that is thick with the dust of the past, cannot see clearly what is. One only sees what one wants to see, hence one misses! One cannot respond to what is. One merely reacts and all one does is use the past. Of course, the past is dead, it is only alive in the mind. The wise knows and accepts that the illusion of certainty cannot co-exist with existential uncertainty. At the most, one is clutching at straws of certainty!
What can i say when the mind is utterly divisive which is the case lah - truth spoken is truth negated. Beliefs bind and what is being true (now) liberates.
Yes, it may seem like it is a digression. I dont care for rituals, I dont care for scriptures, be it buddhist, Christian, Hindu. I do care for one who is BEING Christ Being Buddha, Being Krishna.
The irony of it all is that Buddha never said he was a Buddha. Christ never uttered that he was a Christian and ....