Any WRers ever study in depth or adopt some Eastern religion / thought system?

By Eastern I mean mainly either Hinduism or Buddhism or some direct derivative of them.

But also: (this is a copy and paste from wiki)

1 South Asian philosophies
1.1 Hindu philosophies
1.2 Jain philosophy
1.3 Buddhist philosophies
1.4 Cārvāka
1.5 Sikh philosophy

2 East Asian philosophies
2.1 Confucianism
2.2 Neo-Confucianism
2.3 Taoism
2.4 Legalism
2.5 Shinto

3 Modern developments
3.1 Neo-Hinduism and Hindu modernism
3.2 Buddhist modernism
3.3 New Confucianism
3.4 Maoism
3.5 Juche

For the sake of narrowing focus I am EXcluding inquiry into Eastern forms of Christianity and Islam. I am actually just plain curious, no ulterior motive, this is just not a topic you often see visited in the War Room. I myself am a traditionalist Christian but have done some reading here and there within Eastern systems, nothing in depth.

Anybody ever journeyed through any of them and either stayed or moved on.

NOTE: I intended a kind of free ranging discussion of Eastern systems in general. All posts even inflamatory ones are welcome within the WR rules.


East Asian Religion major in college. Studied Japanese as well. Worked in a rural Japanese town for 3 years in early '90's. Got involved with local monastery and also really into the Japanese folk-tails and animistic religions out of curiosity.
 
I live in Thailand and my wife is a pretty devoted Buddist. In general, it's even more retarded than Christianity.
The only plus is they don't really try to recruit more people.
Yeah... believing meditation is a way towards enlightenment is so retarded compared to drinking the wine blood and eating the bread flesh for the atonement of sins committed by the garden of eve people that were tricked by the talking snake
 
Been reading up on Confucianism. I have to say, I had a lot of preconceived notions about it that have proven completely wrong.
 
One also has to realise that Hinduism is a blanket term given by foreign invaders to sum up all religious and spiritual practices present in India at that time..

There are even Athiestic and Hedonistic schools of philosophy within the Hindu blanket term..

But as a rough summary the aim of the theistic school is Liberation from the cycle of rebirths.

there are a couple of main schools of philosophy based on the psychological makeup and personality of the seeker..

Path of Bhakti (Devotion)
People are most familiar with this path with its hundreds of deities and forms and Temples.

This practice is mainly for those who prefer emotional bonding..so devotion is the path..

This path recognises that God is formless and impersonal but you can choose a form that is relevant to you..

and what you seek and the form gives you something to focus your attention on though you are supposed to know that isn't god and just a tool.

Other paths include the Path of Jyana ( self enquiry ) and the Path of Yoga ( meditation )..
 
I don’t believe that it is, but the question was if I had heard it referred to as Hindu Heresy. I believe the reasoning for this is that Buddhism rejects the Hindu caste system, and Siddhartha Gautama (Gautama Buddha) was a Hindu who broke away from Hinduism and the Vedic tradition.
It is not the Hindu Caste system but the Indian Caste system.

Caste is not mentioned in the Major doctrines..India was divided into classes back then Priests, Royals, Merchants, Peasants as with any ancient culture. People generally remained in their own classes.

One of the author of the Vedas was a sage called Vishvamitra who was a former King who left his royal clan to become a sage (priestly clan).

So people could move from the clan they were born from to another.

It was only in the Middle Ages that teachings were modified and the caste system came about in Indian culture.

Buddha even mentioned the ancient sages by name who taught the Vedas purely without modifying them..

He was against the corruption of the teachings by the priests in his time..
 
I know this multi-millionaire day trader who is an ultra Star Wars fanatic.

he used to always go on these mega diatribes about how "the force" is basically inspired by Buddhism & Hinduism.
 
In college yes, I read every Taoist* and Buddhist (especially Zen) book I could get my hands on.

*The only one worth actually reading is the Tao Teh Ching though, specifically the John C.H. Wu translation, which you can find here.

I read some about Hinduism but overall it was too muddled a religion with too much going on, like trying to find some sort of cohesive philosophy in Greek myth.

If you have any questions about Taoism and Zen, let me know.
 
I pulled the trigger and committed to Shakta Hinduism about 9 or so years ago.
 
I know this multi-millionaire day trader who is an ultra Star Wars fanatic.

he used to always go on these mega diatribes about how "the force" is basically inspired by Buddhism & Hinduism.

I used to think of the Jedi like they were the Shaolin Monks of that universe.
 
East Asian Religion major in college. Studied Japanese as well. Worked in a rural Japanese town for 3 years in early '90's. Got involved with local monastery and also really into the Japanese folk-tails and animistic religions out of curiosity.

Are you a Shaolin Monk?
 
I have a Buddha in my fish tank. The convict cichlid keeps attacking it though, and spitting rocks at it.
 
I pulled the trigger and committed to Shakta Hinduism about 9 or so years ago.

Looks kind of kinky to me:

1920px-3_Shaktism_goddesses_Devi_collage.jpg
 
I live in Thailand and my wife is a pretty devoted Buddist. In general, it's even more retarded than Christianity.
The only plus is they don't really try to recruit more people.

Most forms of Buddhism are actually Buddhist teachings infused with local traditions/religions.

Most of the mystical stuff is related to the region that adopted Buddhism rather than Buddhism itself.
 
The far east is admittedly one of my weak spots when talking history and politics. I mean, I get Japan in broad strokes because i'm a weeb, but my overall knowledge is admittedly shit.

@deltapapha, any literature recommendations? Any particular region helps, though I do have a fleeting interest in South Asia.
 
I've started studying Hinduism but can't claim any actual knowledge worth discussing.
 
By Eastern I mean mainly either Hinduism or Buddhism or some direct derivative of them.

But also: (this is a copy and paste from wiki)

1 South Asian philosophies
1.1 Hindu philosophies
1.2 Jain philosophy
1.3 Buddhist philosophies
1.4 Cārvāka
1.5 Sikh philosophy

2 East Asian philosophies
2.1 Confucianism
2.2 Neo-Confucianism
2.3 Taoism
2.4 Legalism
2.5 Shinto

3 Modern developments
3.1 Neo-Hinduism and Hindu modernism
3.2 Buddhist modernism
3.3 New Confucianism
3.4 Maoism
3.5 Juche

For the sake of narrowing focus I am EXcluding inquiry into Eastern forms of Christianity and Islam. I am actually just plain curious, no ulterior motive, this is just not a topic you often see visited in the War Room. I myself am a traditionalist Christian but have done some reading here and there within Eastern systems, nothing in depth.

Anybody ever journeyed through any of them and either stayed or moved on.

NOTE: I intended a kind of free ranging discussion of Eastern systems in general. All posts even inflamatory ones are welcome within the WR rules.

Yes, AMA
 
Buddhists also believe you can leave the constant cycle whereas Hindus believe that cycle is eternal.

Not really, they've had the concept of moksha for quite awhile now.
 
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