For the buddhists

Look, buddhists:

1. No matter how many books you read, sitting beneath a tree nearly starving yourself to death just because you've got nothing better to do, will not make you the fucking all-knowing god of emos.

2. No matter how much you wish it were true, life will not compensate you for your losses, nor will it punish your enemies, you whining, hateful hypocrites. Karma is a LIE.

3. There is NO proof of rebirth, so no matter how much Buddha tells you to think rationally, he was clearly insane with the rest of them when he told people of past lives.

4. Just because you ACT all kind and compassionate, being kind and compassionate just to get YOURSELF a reward, is NOT really kindness and compassion. Putting on a robe and devoting your entire life to escape suffering instead of ending world hunger, makes you 100% EVIL.

5. Money or worldly possessions will not buy you happiness, but science has recently proven that the CHASE for money and worldly possessions WILL make you happy more than anything else. This disproves your beloved all-knowing guru fake.

6. Another word for meditation is "self hypnotism". Congratulations, sucker: The more real those things you experienced during meditation felt to you, the more PSYCHOTIC and WEAK-MINDED you are.

1. Still, this starving oneself doesn't raise someone above all doubt. If anything, given how starvation affects the brain, that should make him LESS credible. I can't see how people would believe in someones ideas just because he starved himself for awhile.

2. Reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karma_in_Buddhism I can't really see how this "cause and effect" differs from a western system of punishment and reward. It is common practice on E-sangha to bring up some wrongdoing in the news, assure one another that this guy will surely get what he deserves, and at best pretentiously "feel sorry" for him before moving on. This is simply transfering ones anger into taking comfort in glee. There really isn't any other reason (than glee or comfort) to believe in a "justice" system which otherwise is completely impossible to prove.

3-4. If even rebirth is allowed to be doubted (and even denied) in certain buddhist schools, I guess E-Sanghas strife to "maintain a high quality" is just their way of refining fanatic excrement and calling it "buddhism".

However, while one would think that monks possess more spiritual experience, I read the complaint of a monk who was apalled for the state of the temples he had visited, where monks just participated in a slave-master relationship, to serve the cravings of who had been there the longest. Since, I believe that monks are just buddhists in orange clothes. The rest they will have to earn.

5. Well I don't think that you can go after just "what has been formally recognized for over two millenia", because this goes for ALL religions. Foolishness over time really doesn't impress me as much as it used to. I would really like to know if they included "awakening" as an alternative in the study, but at least now one has to doubt the words of Buddha that desire equals suffering. I think when Buddha left the comforts of his palace, living BECAME suffering to him, because instead of wanting even more, he had to settle for less, leaving a hole in HIM. Sure, if one would CRAVE even MORE happiness than one gets from craving itself, then they're welcome to try, but then the whole buddhist thing becomes a pleasure-trip. Granted, I don't believe in hungry ghosts (in this way).

6. It's just that your desires, and especially the construct of your personality, is what blocks suggestions. You may find this suggestive state beneficial, but it still prevents you from going: "Hey, wait-a-minute: This Hyakujō guy is clearly just full of shit. Talking foxes? I mean come on! Who does he think he's fooling here?" You just accept these things as they bypass the systems you turn off to meditate. I don't think that we will be able to convince eachother on this point, though.

I don't think that you need to dig up articles (unless there's some obscured koan that I haven't yet solved). I've spent years in your school, and I have to say that Zen is the sanest form of buddhism I've encountered. It's just that I come from E-sangha, where all these doubts and false portrayals of buddhism has been bottling up on me.

Namaste. :)