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Snod: Wasn't ignoring your post, but I don't know anything about Buddhism and have just googled it.
It would seem that they do have a book of scriptures and also believe in an after-life.
From what you know can you add to that? Is it a philosophy as opposed to a religion or a way of living?

Had a breakfast with a friend who is a reverend and asked your questions - sort of as I hadn't printed them.
1 He told me it was predicted in the Old Testament that Jesus would be betrayed by one of his followers and then crucified by nails (at that time the Romans crucified by tying on with rope) and that none of his bones would have been broken as was the usual thing in crucifying.
2 Several of the disciples have been executed

ps this may interest you and others, free bibles and dictionary of bible words etc
e-sword

What about Spiritualism? Philosophy or religion?

Maybe just maybe I lean towards what Buddhists believe....although I'm misanthropic So I don't respect all life....to me animals are pure and man isn't.

Granny, I am at the very, very start of trying to understand Buddhism. As such I have started by reading web links to "Buhhism for children", and some of it is very good. Much to my amazement I also found a Wirral Borough Council .pdf document that discusses a wide range of ethnic groups and religions.

www.wirral.gov.uk/downloads/2311


Put that in Google and have a read. The whole document is a bit disjointed (I guess it has been a cut & paste job) but I pulled out all the bits about Buddhism/ Thailand and put them into yet another document for my own education.

My personal take out of Buddhism is that it is not a religion in the accepted sense but is simply a way of life that has at the core an understanding that you are responsible for your own actions and that your actions will always have consequences. They can be good consequences if your actions/ motivations are good, and bad consequences if your actions/ motivations are bad. In that sense it is a philosophy I suppose. Buddhists believe that this life we lead is only one of a chain of lives. Being good in one means you can come back to a better life in the next one - and vice versa!

There are zillions of texts about Buddhism but they all stem from two (linked) sets of "Thoughts/ Teachings"

The 4 Noble Truths
1. Suffering is part of life
2. Suffering is due to selfishness
3. Suffering will cease if selfishness is retarded
4. The way to stop selfishness is to follow the 8 fold path.

"Suffering" can have many forms and many of the texts about Buddhism expand on that - with many differing opinions

The Eightfold Path
1. Accept the four noble truths.
2. Think in the right way which leads you to help others.
3. Be kind in speech, avoid boasting, gossip and lies.
4. Do what is right.
5. Earn your living in a way which is good.
6. Avoid evil thoughts and actions and work hard.
7. Learn to concentrate.
8. Be at peace in your mind.

It is difficult for anyone to object to 2. to 8. in that list, although achieving them is another matter. In Buddhism meditation is a way to help.

Those teachings originated from Prince Siddhartha Gautama in India some 400-500BC. He was a person, not a God of any sort, but he CARED about people and was a good teacher. He tried to teach a "middle way" between between the ways of sensual indulgence and severe asceticism such as were then (and often are now) the extremes of lifestyles. It is he who people refer to as Buddha - that name simply meaning "the awakened one or "the enlightened one"

There is no special ceremony to become a Buddhist. If a person believes the Buddha’s teaching to be right, he/she simply follows the 8-fold path in their life and then he/she is a Buddhist. The Buddhist tries never to harm other living things, consequently many are vegetarian and do not believe in war.

Children are expected to look after their parents in their old age, to work for the good of the family and to look after money. Buddhist monks look after each other.

Seems all ok to me and those Buddhists that I know seem to have an inner peace that I admire.


Snod

Thanks Derek. The link is very useful.
Further to your reply about the Apostles and the terrible fates they had, it has never been easy to follow which one was which. The link below which I found, gives a good 'in a nutshell' description of each, how far they travelled, punishments and their deaths. If anyone is interested.
All I can think is that each one (as they were often on their own in their travels) had such true conviction. They could have easily denounced their Lord and saved their skins but they obviously didn't.

http://www.biblepath.com/apostles.html

Trying to answer two of you here. Memory has a short!

Snod: Buddhism is sounding very appealing, the way you describe and I think all these philosophies/religions seem to stem from the same basic rules and ideas. Praying and meditation are much the same really, just a different name and doing so, does release those negative energies that play with our minds, that in turn brings the inner peace.(I think so anyway)All the guides given in these texts are for our own well being. They are also very complicated to understand and follow, (for us novices), but that is what is so fascinating.
The only thing I can't necessarily go with on the Buddhism is their belief in 'continuous' afterlives. A chain of afterlives, must mean there is a pretty hard task ahead of each. Are we up to that??Maybe that's where the expression 'no rest for the wicked' comes from.

Rude: I don't know if Spiritualism is a religion, or even when or where it began, but have just found this site, which I haven't really looked at yet.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/spiritualism/beliefs/beliefs_1.shtml
There might be better information somewhere. Do you call it a religion?, It obviously brings you some comfort.

Granny

In my previous post on this subject I stated the 4 Noble Truths each of which included the word "suffering". That word suffering has many interpretations as said and with a bit more reading I have come across an expansion that makes sense.

Basically, use the word ANXIETY

Thai people use the word dukka. Dukkha tends to refer to anxieties experienced in the course of living. If you set a goal and are experiencing difficulty attaining it, this can be dukkha. If you love someone and that person does not reciprocate, that may amount to dukkha. If you try and control your child and that child seeks his or her own way, this could become dukkha. Let us say, dukkha implies a gap. There is nothing wrong with goals and gaps (Buddhism has occasionally been criticized for making people lazy or lackluster; and this is simply not true). It is when a gap cannot be managed that one experiences dukkha.

The goal of Buddhism is to rid our lives of the effects of dukkha/ anxiety. Due to the nature of our physical and mental being, we are still vulnerable to “slings and arrows” of existence, but we do not have to let these things hurt us deeply. As the song says, “I get knocked down, but I get up again.”

Often the metaphor for progress in Buddhism is a path. If you are not able to attain your goal step by step you may become frustrated. Again, the gap is not the problem, it is how you perceive it and how you deal with it that matters most.

Maybe that helps.

Personally I do not have any problem accepting the idea of "re-birth", or that the re-birth may be as a similar, higher or lower life form depending on your previous life. It is not as if you remember anything about the previous life. THAT could be worrying! Buddhism (or at least some branches of it) include a period/ state between lives (called bardo in Tibetan). The teaching is that you CAN (if a real goody-goody in probably lots of lives) reach a state of nirvana where you have reached full enlightenment and where you remain with no more re-birth.

Agreed, all of that is a bit hard to follow - especially for a beginner.

Snod

You have really explained beautifully. It sounds to be a very peaceful way of life in harmony with all that surrounds us.
Obviously Buddhism has it's roots in Hinduism.

Do you get taught how to meditate, as I understand there are so many different types of meditation?

Reminds me a little of the principles of Reiki. Although a form of healing therapy rather than a religion, living by the Reiki principles is as good an approach to life as any. We should all endeavour to achieve a more balanced/harmonious way of being, preferably unimpeded by the constraints of religious dogma...




The Five Reiki Principles


BY DR.MIKAO USUI


I - Just for today, I will not be angry.


Anger at others or oneself or at the whole world, creates serious blockages in one's energy. It is the most complex inner enemy.

Reiki is an excellent tool to remove anger blockages which have accumulated in the body over years, but it cannot remove the residue of current anger which occurs daily.

Letting go of anger. brings Piece into the Mind.



II - Just for today, I will not worry.


While anger deals with past and present events, worry deals with future ones. Although worry is not always a negative phenomena, endless worries may fill one's head, and each one bores a small hole in one's body and soul. While anger requires a focused Reiki treatment to remove obstacles, worry requires the energy to be spread throughout the entire body.

Letting go of worry, brings healing into the Body.



III - Just for today, I will be grateful.


Be grateful from your hart inward. Inner intention is the important element in this principle. Simple things as thanks, forgiveness, smile, good words, gratitude can improve others life and make them happy.

Being thankful brings Joy into the Spirit.



IV - Just for today, I will do my work honestly.


Support yourself and your family respectably, without harming others. Earn a respectable living, live a life of honor.

Working Honestly brings Abundance into the Soul.



V- Just for today, I will be kind to every living thing.



Honor your parents, honor your teachers, honor your elders.

Being Kind brings Love into the Will.

Thought this might be of interest to some.

The Epic of Gilgamesh. Written between 2750 and 2500 BC and thought to be the oldest written story/poem on earth.

Gilgamesh was the fifth king of Uruk, modern day Iraq (Early Dynastic II, first dynasty of Uruk), placing his reign around 2500 BC.

Tablet XI relates to Noah and the building of an ark. Much information .
http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab11.htm

Below is website with readings of 10 more tables, if you have time to. I don't know what they are about yet.

http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/

A bit more about their discovery.

http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/789473

Granny, not ignoring your reply to my post either. Just thinking....

Great thread Granny x

The way I see it is if across the world we CONTINUE to be cruel to animals and negate their suffering, as Ghandi said, man is the evil and we don't need to have a pantomime figures of a good man in a white beard and a horned red faced man with a trident.
If you watch "earthlings" its about US not them, how much lack of empathy we have and humanity...
for animals the holocaust continues....mass slaughter is mans hidden shame.
If we can be like that to them, then how do we treat each other!?
We as a race have been at war with each other for various reasons/pick a reason for 95% of our existence.
Pretty stupid.
As you can tell I have a very low opinion of the human race, when you look around ultimately were obsessed by our own advancement and profit no matter what, we have an arrogant view of our selves.
When mother nature shows us we aren't, it puts us in our place.
That's why I don't "do " religion, good and evil starts and stops in each and every one of us.
All I do is apply the same rules to humans....people say "animals slaughter, its the circle of life " a classic...so I apply the same lack of empathy to wars, tsunamis, floods, death, cancers, poverty, illness, lack of care of the old etc etc
I just say "its the circle of life"

I agree with an awful lot of what you say svenlock, and I do definitely believe in Karma (where it means when you act badly, it comes back on you in some way) but I cant see where you are coming from in your last 'circle of life' paragraph. Im with you in being frustrated when people treat animal cruelty as a fact of life that should be accepted, but why would you react in a tit for tat way and be like that over humans when you are capable of such enlightened noble thoughts over animals? To me it just seems you are being just like the people you criticize , but over a different species. ALL species of animals have nasty traits including the furriest , but all IMO deserve the same respect as a species. (not necessarily as individuals )

You may say you dont have empathy with human suffering, and maybe you dont when you see it from afar, but I dont believe when it came down to it close up, you would shut your heart-- I think its just bitterness speaking because you cant change people enough to make the world a better place for other species, and that I do understand.

I see your point but animals kill each other yes (usually only what they need) but we kill EVERYTHING we can, and then create a machine to process their death and speed it up on mass....so therefore they just are de based to being part of the process itself.
Isn't that what hitler did with the jews??
As ive said on here before im a defined misanthropic , and I find "modern people" like sheep and just consumers. if you really look at it deep, mans existence is meaningless....youre born ,consume, get raped of your money, get fat old, then return to a baby and die with nothing left really except experiences .
As they say, dying is part of living.
We think were the big cheese but we have as much impact as a gnat on a cows ass.
All you can do in life is experience it and survive, just like the animals we look down on.
Not many people I meet impress me with their uniqueness or originality or depth of thinking.