What If Buddha, Jesus, And Prophet Mohammad Were Bloggers?
Before I meditate and write about awareness and religion (as per my promise in my comment), today I will share my thoughts on the topic: What if the enlightened ones were bloggers?
Let us start with Buddha. If he had a blog, readers would be bored in no time. All posts on his blog would have the same message, "Day 1... I sat under a tree and meditated." "Day 2... I sat under a tree and meditated." "Day x... I sat under a tree and meditated." You get the point.
Jesus, in my opinion, would be a great blogger. A bit like Instapundit and David Copperfield merged into one. His blog would have posts about unbelievable miracles everyday. And his "About Me" introduction would start with sentences like, "I never had a father to start with. Well, in a way, I did, but that's too complicated for you to understand."
Of course, posts on his blog would highlight miracles he performed everyday. For example, "I taught a blind man how to fly a B-52 on IFR (Instrument Flight Rules)." Or how about, "I helped a lame man run and win the Olympics' gold medal."
And his early morning entries would be, "I spent the entire night drinking vodka from one bottle. And the bottle kept pouring itself whenever I finished my drink."
And what about Prophet Mohammad's blog? It would be like Freddy Krueger Online!
"Chop the heads of infidels!" ... "Chop more infidels!" ... "And while you are busy chopping, circumcise your dicks! That's extra skin he forgot to remove when he made you. And castrate those who don't want to be circumcised!"
You think all this sounds funny? Well, perfectly sane looking people seem to believe it for more than two thousand years.
I know I will receive hate mail for this post. I might even have my head chopped off by fanatics on the streets, this afternoon. But I am not afraid. The voice of reason should brighten the dark crevices of sick human minds. And I am that voice.
Think about what I have written. And consider it as a brief introduction of my upcoming threads on enlightenment and wisdom.
Peace.
Let us start with Buddha. If he had a blog, readers would be bored in no time. All posts on his blog would have the same message, "Day 1... I sat under a tree and meditated." "Day 2... I sat under a tree and meditated." "Day x... I sat under a tree and meditated." You get the point.
Jesus, in my opinion, would be a great blogger. A bit like Instapundit and David Copperfield merged into one. His blog would have posts about unbelievable miracles everyday. And his "About Me" introduction would start with sentences like, "I never had a father to start with. Well, in a way, I did, but that's too complicated for you to understand."
Of course, posts on his blog would highlight miracles he performed everyday. For example, "I taught a blind man how to fly a B-52 on IFR (Instrument Flight Rules)." Or how about, "I helped a lame man run and win the Olympics' gold medal."
And his early morning entries would be, "I spent the entire night drinking vodka from one bottle. And the bottle kept pouring itself whenever I finished my drink."
And what about Prophet Mohammad's blog? It would be like Freddy Krueger Online!
"Chop the heads of infidels!" ... "Chop more infidels!" ... "And while you are busy chopping, circumcise your dicks! That's extra skin he forgot to remove when he made you. And castrate those who don't want to be circumcised!"
You think all this sounds funny? Well, perfectly sane looking people seem to believe it for more than two thousand years.
I know I will receive hate mail for this post. I might even have my head chopped off by fanatics on the streets, this afternoon. But I am not afraid. The voice of reason should brighten the dark crevices of sick human minds. And I am that voice.
Think about what I have written. And consider it as a brief introduction of my upcoming threads on enlightenment and wisdom.
Insanity is a disease. And one form of insanity manifests itself in the form of religious fanatics.
Peace.
posted by Wan Ker-Sin at 8:56 AM
7 Comments:
You got me confused on this one. Are you typing while you half meditate?
Brother Hua, read again, carefully, what I have written.
It will be obvious that followers of Buddha are not attracted to materialism, or rather anything that is apparently temporary and/or illusionary. Which is why the act of meditating (continuously)? And therefore a boring blog.
Followers of Jesus will spend their entire lives impressing others by their claptrap, and in doing so, they will try to establish how smart and important they are. You can consider that as a synonym for materialism and the pitiful farcical lives they live.
Followers of Prophet Mohammad, on the other hand, seem to be constantly attracted to violence and terrorism.
They are masters at chopping the heads of chicken or (now) humans and they seem to find great pleasure in doing so, especially when they utter "Bismillah" while performing such acts without any compunction whatsoever. "Bismillah," roughly translated, means "In the name of God/Allah/Blah/Blah."
If a "God" asks people to sacrifice and/or kill animals or other life forms to appease or please him or her, you have to stop and think what kind of mentality he or she possesses. A creator wouldn't want anyone to destroy its creation.
The other grey area in this equation is Judaism. Study Judaism and Islamism (yes brother Hua, Islamism is a valid word). You will find more similarities between the two; compared to say, Christianity and Judaism or Islamism. While you are at it, also compare Kosher vs. Halal, etc. Same belief systems (sort of), with different angles.
Back to my hypothesis, if I can call it that, it should be obvious that no creator of any religion or belief-system would want their followers to behave like lunatics, or, in some cases, murderers.
But pushing religion aside for a while, let us concentrate on a different question:
How many people know or remember their great grandfather's father's name. And how many know or remember his wife's name, siblings, sons, where he lived, what he did, etc.?
Well, some people do trace their family history and family tree (I have). But still, that comprises a very small percentage of people on this planet.
See where I am going?
If one doesn't even care to remember such details about one's own origins, what is the point in worshipping or talking about some people who may or may not have existed two thousand years ago?
And why focus on such "imaginary" entities and kill each other, or deceive each other right now?
Doesn't make sense to me. Does it to anyone else?
I danced with the crowd because everyone else was dancing. Oh, what a folly!
Peace.
http://www.todayonline.com/articles/100882.asp
Buddha images are only representations
Letter from Shen Shi'an
Chief Editor, Web Department
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery
I refer to the Straight Talk commentary, "Understanding the Muslim reaction" (Feb 9). It was written that, "Muslim participants at an inter-faith session held at Darul Arqam Singapore last year learnt more about Buddhism from a Buddhist practitioner from Kong Meng San Monastery".
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As the abovementioned speaker during the session, I would like to clarify that Buddhists do not worship the Buddha in the sense of appeasing a higher power, since the Buddha neither requests nor needs any material offering, or even allegiance by any devotees.
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Thus, the voluntary offerings before Buddha images are reminders for Buddhists to cultivate generosity and other specific virtues that they represent, and not for the Buddha's actual "consumption".
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The custom of having Buddha (and Bodhisattva) images and bowing before them is a practice of expressing personal humility and gratitude for the Buddha's teachings.
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Buddhists are well aware that the images are only representative of the Buddha and not the Buddha per se.
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They can be seen as "mediating tools" in the sense of being "instruments facilitating worship", not "instruments (or idols) that are worshipped".
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Buddhist images are thus more akin to being objects of inspiration, instead of objects of devotion.
Brother Hua, I am very much aware about the teachings of Gautam Siddharth (or Siddharatha) Buddha.
Like I have said on this blog, albeit in its very short history, Buddha was (or is) not a "God" in conventional terms.
You are right that Buddha never asked anyone to give him anything, including respect - though anyone who knows about Buddha can have nothing but respect for him.
Let me divert a bit. I would say that Albert Einstein can, and should also be, termed as a Buddhist.
It is simple. Buddha insisted that everything is temporal and illusionary. That can be, in a scientific way, equated to the theory of relativity.
I will not, at this stage, go in those details. But I believe my reader knows what I am talking about.
The reason I delayed posting my thread on awareness and religion, is due to the fact that I, and you my dear reader, might dive deep into the depths of what is apparent but consciously ignored.
I know the above sounds a bit pretentious, but I pray you allow me to write all of that in words. Only then, we will be able to decide whether I am simply ranting, or I do have a point.
She smiled at me and said, "no one can conquer me." I looked at her and realized that she was none other but Kali - Time personified!
Peace.
Brother Anonymous,
"Allahu Akbar," I think, means "God is great."
It is different from "In the name of God."
Peace.
OK I am waiting. And you do have some intersting arguments.
Religious debate (parody)
Scene: Our host (me) sits in a comfortable chair in a well appointed conference room. The walls hold 4 large flat screen televisions displaying the images of teleconferenced religious leaders from the Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Buddhist religions. The following dialog ensues:
Host: Good day to you gentlemen. I welcome you to our informal discussion on the state of the world’s major religions. Let me start off by asking a simple question from all of you. In 20 words or less please describe your religion.
Christian: Christianity’s goal is to bring the light and wisdom of God to the world. Whether they want it or not.
Muslim: First off, I want to protest that the Christian was allowed to speak first. This is obviously a biased western farce and the Muslim religion will get no fair representation here.
Host: Muslim, please try to keep to the subject at hand.
Muslim: You insult me, my family and anyone who has ever followed the true word of the blessed Allah. I spit in your face and I will now explode killing many women and children so that I may demonstrate my god’s love.
Muslim: Large explosion.
Host: Okay, I think now is a good time for a commercial. We will be right back.
Scene: Several minutes go by and the show returns and a new face fills the screen representing the Muslim religion.
Host: Welcome back. Do to “technical difficulties” our original Muslim religious leader is not able to re-join us. Thankfully, this is a teleconference. And we are now joined by a new representative of the Muslim religion. So let’s resume our topic.
Jewish: As long as there are Palestinians in the holy land, there will be no peace.
Host: Jewish, please try to remain on topic. Tell about your religion in 20 words or less.
Jewish: God came to us, made us his chosen ones, gave us his word to teach and told us that we would be the only ones to ascend to heaven.
Christian: Ditto.
Muslim: Ditto.
Buddist: (Insert chanting here.)
Host: Ummm… Okay. How about you Buddist? You haven’t said much.
Buddist: No gods here. Sorry. Be good, be nice, learn, let go and expand your mind. And try the tea. It really is nice.
Christian: Heathen. You are all heathens. We should have wiped you all out in the crusades.
Jewish: We are the chosen ones, we will find the Promised Land, buy expensive cars and make you all jealous and control the worlds politics from behind the scenes.
Muslim: We will kill you all. We will rain down the fire upon your cities and remove you from the planet like the plague you are.
Buddist: Whatever. (Takes a sip of tea and goes back to chanting.)
Host: Well, that is about all the time we have. Thank you all for joining us today.
Christian: Thank you Host. It was a pleasure being here today.
Muslim: Have a great day, I hope that we can do this again soon.
Jewish: Next time, you must all come over to my place. We will do BBQ.
Buddist: Whatever. (Takes a sip of tea and goes back to chanting.)
Host: Please join us next time when our guests PETA, World Cattle Growers Association and UNICEF will discuss world hunger and the possible solutions that will make everyone happy.
Scene: Room fades to black with smiling faces of religious leaders chatting peacefully among themselves.
John
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