Yes I'm a Buddhists, any questions?
What kind of meditation do you do?
What do you think is holding Buddhism back from "mass-adoption" in the West?
Topic: Are there any Buddhists here? (Read 260 times)
What kind of meditation do you do?
What do you think is holding Buddhism back from "mass-adoption" in the West?
Thanks for the interesting question. 
Meditation was first.
Before Buddha invented Buddhism (which is just a philosophical framework, with some unique meditation techniques), he was a wandering Hindu ascetic. These guys (who still exist today) try to end their internal suffering by avoiding worldly pleasures. What this often means is, they do tormenting things with their bodies, for example raising one or both hands (for their whole lives, ultimately crippling them), taking vows of silence for 30 years, or in Buddha's case I believe, it was a restricted diet.
As the story goes, Buddha was eating one grain of rice per day, and basically starving himself. His thoughts of hunger were overwhelming is spiritual progress. Finally, he realized these ascetic extremes were detrimental, and he created the "middle path". It is basically a way to realize the true nature of suffering, impermanence, and the self without the extremes of asceticism.
Since this is tech oriented forum I think this analogy is apt: Hindus are cracking, trying many different variations, hoping one of them works. Buddhists discovered a backdoor, and try to exploit it.
Returning to the original question, even before Hinduism, people were probably already meditating, albeit less formally. My personal opinion is that shamans probably predate homo sapiens. Since I believe suffering is inherent in all life, and any conscious entity in the universe will try to solve it.
Meditation was first.
Before Buddha invented Buddhism (which is just a philosophical framework, with some unique meditation techniques), he was a wandering Hindu ascetic. These guys (who still exist today) try to end their internal suffering by avoiding worldly pleasures. What this often means is, they do tormenting things with their bodies, for example raising one or both hands (for their whole lives, ultimately crippling them), taking vows of silence for 30 years, or in Buddha's case I believe, it was a restricted diet.
As the story goes, Buddha was eating one grain of rice per day, and basically starving himself. His thoughts of hunger were overwhelming is spiritual progress. Finally, he realized these ascetic extremes were detrimental, and he created the "middle path". It is basically a way to realize the true nature of suffering, impermanence, and the self without the extremes of asceticism.
Since this is tech oriented forum I think this analogy is apt: Hindus are cracking, trying many different variations, hoping one of them works. Buddhists discovered a backdoor, and try to exploit it.
Returning to the original question, even before Hinduism, people were probably already meditating, albeit less formally. My personal opinion is that shamans probably predate homo sapiens. Since I believe suffering is inherent in all life, and any conscious entity in the universe will try to solve it.
Nice, thanks. I think meditation is any process where union of doer and doing exists, though these variables are not mandatory. Anything you do is meditation, that's how i look at it.
Yes I'm a Buddhists, any questions?
Thanks for the interesting question.
Meditation was first.
Before Buddha invented Buddhism (which is just a philosophical framework, with some unique meditation techniques), he was a wandering Hindu ascetic. These guys (who still exist today) try to end their internal suffering by avoiding worldly pleasures. What this often means is, they do tormenting things with their bodies, for example raising one or both hands (for their whole lives, ultimately crippling them), taking vows of silence for 30 years, or in Buddha's case I believe, it was a restricted diet.
As the story goes, Buddha was eating one grain of rice per day, and basically starving himself. His thoughts of hunger were overwhelming is spiritual progress. Finally, he realized these ascetic extremes were detrimental, and he created the "middle path". It is basically a way to realize the true nature of suffering, impermanence, and the self without the extremes of asceticism.
Since this is tech oriented forum I think this analogy is apt: Hindus are cracking, trying many different variations, hoping one of them works. Buddhists discovered a backdoor, and try to exploit it.
Returning to the original question, even before Hinduism, people were probably already meditating, albeit less formally. My personal opinion is that shamans probably predate homo sapiens. Since I believe suffering is inherent in all life, and any conscious entity in the universe will try to solve it.
Meditation was first.
Before Buddha invented Buddhism (which is just a philosophical framework, with some unique meditation techniques), he was a wandering Hindu ascetic. These guys (who still exist today) try to end their internal suffering by avoiding worldly pleasures. What this often means is, they do tormenting things with their bodies, for example raising one or both hands (for their whole lives, ultimately crippling them), taking vows of silence for 30 years, or in Buddha's case I believe, it was a restricted diet.
As the story goes, Buddha was eating one grain of rice per day, and basically starving himself. His thoughts of hunger were overwhelming is spiritual progress. Finally, he realized these ascetic extremes were detrimental, and he created the "middle path". It is basically a way to realize the true nature of suffering, impermanence, and the self without the extremes of asceticism.
Since this is tech oriented forum I think this analogy is apt: Hindus are cracking, trying many different variations, hoping one of them works. Buddhists discovered a backdoor, and try to exploit it.
Returning to the original question, even before Hinduism, people were probably already meditating, albeit less formally. My personal opinion is that shamans probably predate homo sapiens. Since I believe suffering is inherent in all life, and any conscious entity in the universe will try to solve it.
I am a Buddhist and have been following Bitcoin since around 2009.
For the last few weeks, I have spent much of my time designing a system based on Ethereum to facilitate a scientific approach to Buddhism.
What kind of meditation do you do?
What do you think is holding Buddhism back from "mass-adoption" in the West?
For the last few weeks, I have spent much of my time designing a system based on Ethereum to facilitate a scientific approach to Buddhism.
What kind of meditation do you do?
What do you think is holding Buddhism back from "mass-adoption" in the West?
Well i have a fundamental question then, what was first? buddhism or meditation?
I am a Buddhist and have been following Bitcoin since around 2009.
For the last few weeks, I have spent much of my time designing a system based on Ethereum to facilitate a scientific approach to Buddhism.
What kind of meditation do you do?
What do you think is holding Buddhism back from "mass-adoption" in the West?
For the last few weeks, I have spent much of my time designing a system based on Ethereum to facilitate a scientific approach to Buddhism.
What kind of meditation do you do?
What do you think is holding Buddhism back from "mass-adoption" in the West?
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