What Would Buddha Do?

WWBD.

What would Buddha do?
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Well, I dunno, but I can tell you what Buddha wouldn't do.

He wouldn't start a war that kills 600K+ people.

He wouldn't torture people.

And he wouldn't drive for 12 hours with a caged Golden Retriever strapped to the roof without food, water, or a place to relieve itself.

And that's just for starters.

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But for those of us who are on the path stopping for a moment of reflection before we do things on impulse, you know, like before invading countries that have not actually invaded us, to thoughtfully inquire within, "Hm.  In this situation, what would Buddha do?" -- there's now a WWBD refrigerator magnet to remind us!

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Remind yourself to be mindful, and support BuzzFlash while you're at it.

Comments

[Account Deleted]

You're absolutely right. The Buddha wouldn't have done any of those things.

But what would be his reaction to them, once they're done? Now, here, today, they have been done. What should be our reaction? Horror? Contempt? Anger? Voting Democrat? (sorry, kidding)

Renegade Buddha told me once that the challege before me is to find the perfection in all those things. To see them in a more compassionate light than I'd prviously been prepared for. If, then, I can do this, then I become a more compassionate being than I was before, and therefore something good has come of those terrible things.

It is a challenge. There are other political statements made here, with which I must disagree, but I'll leave those comments for some other time. I just don't have the head for them right now, ya know?

[Account Deleted]

Besides, I don't have time for those comments, because I have a new book to read :) :) :) thank you :)

[Buddhist Jihad]

Wow. Did you just get that? Did it ages ago. Amazon's usually a lot faster. Yikes. Hope you like it.

I'm not understanding how one can find perfection in torturing sentient beings.

One feels compassion not only for the torturee, but also for the torturer, for the torturer is damaged by those actions as well. (Not that the giving and receiving of torture are equal events, by any means).

I don't see RB's point at all.

[Account Deleted]

Well, RB wasn't talking specifically about torture when he said it, but I think he meant it for all horrible things. I think we were discussing child neglect and other crimes.

It's my understanding that people who torture dogs and other animals do so because they fail to understand the nature of sentience as we do. I think they just don't see that the dog is a living, feeling, self-aware creature, the way you and I see it. It's not always done out of anger or mean intent. I'm not talking about that politician in your (and NBfH's) post, just in general. I don't know anything at all about that guy.

I am noticing that a lot of the offenders appearing in you guys' posts are conservative Republicans. I should certainly hope that an aversion to mistreating animals doesn't automatically come with a party afflitation attached to it. I might have trouble with using hateful speech to denounce hateful actions. Let's be careful to denounce the act of animal cruelty without making it a political issue, yes? Because things can be said about all politicians, not just those on one side. Let's not pretend that only the ones on one side of the aisle have ever exhibited staggering cruelty.

The book was delivered on Monday, I think. It's actually quite funny, because we couldn't figure out where it came from at first. ;) It is turning out to be a fascinating read, though.

[No Blood for Hubris]

1. Are we talking about the same book? Pema Chodron's?

2. Kids who torture animals are angry. Very angry. As are people who torture people, abduct and torture people, etc. etc.

I'm not sure which offenders have appeared in posts here -- Mark Foley comes to mind, not a convicted offender, but someone who appeared to be grooming underage pages for sexual reasons. The most disturbing part of that, to me, is that he was on a committee dedicated to preventing the exploitation of children.

I'm not aware that those favoring cruelty to animals, sadism, or pedophilia have any political bias, in particular, at least not inherently.

And certainly Romney's single-incident mistreatment of his dog pales beside torturing and the mass killing of war.

I am happy to speak out against torture, killing, and mistreatment regardless of the political party membership of anyone acting in such a way.

[Account Deleted]

No Blood for Hubris~

1. Nope, different book. "Happiness" by Mattheiu Ricard. Buddhist Jihad's got it in her links at the right. It's kinda a heady, intellectual look at what defines happiness, what happiness is, and how to develop the skill of attaining and maintaining it. I've only just begun to delve into it.

2. I disagree. You can't tell me what's in the mind of every kid who tortures an animal, or every terrorist, black-ops guy, police officer, or criminal who abducts and tortures a person. You can't just say they're all angry. There's much more to it than that.

Oh, and...Regardless of political party membership? Yeah, right. Check out your blog and you tell me - which one of those people you've bashed in, say, the last month, is not a conservative Republican? Now, I'm not lambasting you for it; I honestly beleive that a good chunk of your posts would be accurate if you'd cool your jets a little. And, I tend to do the same thing, to a degree. But don't try to tell me you're an equal-opportunity griper.

Thousands - yes, thousands - of Africans and Europeans were detained, arrested, imprisoned, tortured and forced to confess to crimes against the United States under the Clinton Administration, but if I were to bash Clinton for it (I know, I've seen me do it) I'd be ridiculed. Any newspaper or online article decrying THEIR myriad misdeeds gets dragged through the mud on blogs like yours. So let's not pretend we're being fair, okay?

Live with a peaceful heart, my friend.

[Buddhist Jihad]

I forgot. That was indeed me. Hope you enjoy it -- I think it's a great book.

I'm not aware of the stories you mentioned, but I'm interested. Can you post links?

I lampooned Mitt Romney, definitely. I will review and count up others I've lambasted here, and try to engender more equanimity. I actually try to keep party politics to a minimum on this blog out of respect for your sensibilities (truly) as dharma brother.