Just out of Curiosity (Buddhism, beliefs, doctrine, preach, church)

[FacelessMage]

one more thing engyo,
i don't mean for this question to sound like a desire but
what attachment did i help you get rid of?

[FacelessMage]

to engyo
i realised that you had 644 post
dude, hopw long have you know about this place?

[Engyo]

FacelessMage -

I joined this forum very early (Oct2003), even though my current join date reads Mar'04. The attachment in question was wanting to somehow "correct " people's viewpoints and attitudes. I realized how futile that is to begin with, and also that it isn't my responsibility anyway; as well as that it was only ego gratiication anyway. So for all tehse reasons, it is an attachment best released ASAP.

As far as other Buddhists here, there are a few.......

If you need to talk to lots of Buddhists at once, try www.e-sangha.com. Thousands, from all traditions, as well as many flavors of independents.......I can't say how many of them will react to Falun Gong, though. Some Buddhists can be as fundamentalist as people from any other religion.

[peacefulness]

Originally Posted by Engyo

FacelessMage -

I joined this forum very early (Oct2003), even though my current join date reads Mar'04. The attachment in question was wanting to somehow "correct " people's viewpoints and attitudes. I realized how futile that is to begin with, and also that it isn't my responsibility anyway; as well as that it was only ego gratiication anyway. So for all tehse reasons, it is an attachment best released ASAP.

As far as other Buddhists here, there are a few.......

If you need to talk to lots of Buddhists at once, try www.e-sangha.com. Thousands, from all traditions, as well as many flavors of independents.......I can't say how many of them will react to Falun Gong, though. Some Buddhists can be as fundamentalist as people from any other religion.

Engyo, question for ya, why shouldn't you correct people when what they say is wrong. isn't that how we learn? I don't claim to know lots about Buddhism (although I have studied it for 6 years) but when I see someone post something about Buddhism that I believe is wrong, I am going to tell them about it.

[Engyo]

Originally Posted by peacefulness

Engyo, question for ya, why shouldn't you correct people when what they say is wrong. isn't that how we learn? I don't claim to know lots about Buddhism (although I have studied it for 6 years) but when I see someone post something about Buddhism that I believe is wrong, I am going to tell them about it.

Peacefulness -

The point was a bit different; I never claimed that I wasn't going to continue pointing out wrong views. What was happening was that I was becoming attached to proving that 'FacelessMage' was wrong, rather than concentrating on the views themselves. I let it become too personal. That was the attachment [my desire to be "the correct one"] which I needed to release.

Does this clear it up a bit?

[peacefulness]

Originally Posted by Engyo

Peacefulness -

The point was a bit different; I never claimed that I wasn't going to continue pointing out wrong views. What was happening was that I was becoming attached to proving that 'FacelessMage' was wrong, rather than concentrating on the views themselves. I let it become too personal. That was the attachment [my desire to be "the correct one"] which I needed to release.

Does this clear it up a bit?

as clear as crystle.

-Peace

[FacelessMage]

Originally Posted by FacelessMage

your question was what is buddhism and why are there so many types?
i am not a buddhist but i can answer you question. i a disciple of a high level cultivation system of the buddha school called falun gong for cultivating buddha-hood
the buddha school has nothing to do with buddhism and is not related to buddhism the only thing they have in common is their goal- cultivation of a buddha body.
please also keep in mind that i am not speaking for falun gong and only answering your question based on what i know at my level of awareness. and please aslo keep in mind that i am not trying to say anything bad about or belittle any buddhist.

buddhism is supposed to be a way of life and mystic practice which came from the teachings of an indian prince siddhartha who later changed his name to shakyamuni.

as to why there are so many types of buddhism- almost no one in this forum can answer this question because they either don't know what they're doing or don't know the answer because they're not serious about what they're doing.
first of all, buddhism as an established religion is not supposed to exist because buddha never wrote down any of his teachings. after buddha passed , people who recieved his teachings through traditional oral transmission. Some of them decided to write them down.
and while writing it down translated some of it to mean what they believed it meant at their level of awareness and based on the manifestations and phenomena of buddha law/tao they were able to know at their level of awareness because they were not on the same level buddha was at and therefore were unable to know the things buddha knew about buddha law/tao at his level nor the state of mind at his realm of awareness.
as a result some of what was written down was organised based on what was taught in them according to what levels they may be able to take one to .
for example there is theravada buddhism
this form of buddhism is not for becoming a buddha but for becoming a boddhisattva ( someone who chooses not to give up a body that can bring them suffering until all sentient beings attain some form of salvation )
the things written down also became mixed with things from other disciplines totally unrelated to buddhism .
that's why pure land exist and people call that buddhism.
pure land has nothing to do with buddhism, pure land is the discipline of buddha amitahbah. buddha amitahbah is not shakyamuni.
and then there are disciplines in buddhism that in the past could have saved someone but if used today won't work.
zen buddhism is the best example of this .
zen buddhism wasn't founded by buddha, it was founded by one of his disciples called bodhidarma. based on what i know, bodhi darma founded zen based on a high level sentence buddha said which was NO LAW IS ABSOLUTE.
dharma then came up with the theory of emptiness as a guide. he himself said that zen would only work for 6 generations and that after that wouldn't work.
does zen work today?
let's examine it.
if you go to a zen person and ask for teaching what do they do?
they'll take a broom and break it on your head. the reason being - they don't believe that the law/buddha law/tao can be taught and that if it's taught it won't be law anymore.
they do this because they believe only emptiness exist, but they also believe in enlightenment and buddha. now, i don't want to offend zen people, but tell me, how can one become enlightened if only emptiness exist? what would there be for one to use to become enlightend? is emptiness enlightenment? if buddha is emptiness what then is buddha? if only emptiness exist , why would a monk eat when hungry, sleep when tired or bleed when cut? these zen people don't even believe in their own existance.

anyways, i hope this helps in answering your question(s)

I'm just posting this to let anyone who read my other posts know that whatever is in them WAS ONLY MY PERSPECTIVE ON THINGS, they may be correct or may not be correct or may even have messed up things in them ( my understanding is that one is supposed to follow only one cultivation way until enlightened and you won't be able to become enlightened if you cultivate by adding in messed up messages to your cultivation ) due to me drifting away from the topic i was discussing or perhaps me not paying enough attention to what i was doing. I don't think i said enough earlier on those posts being the way i understand things etc and i just remembered i posted on this website a few days ago, so don't regard any of those posts i made as being what falun dafa teaches, get your own understanding through your own study of the practice of falun dafa, it's all free on the falun dafa website Falun Dafa (Falun Gong) - falundafa.org