In Reply to: the "red letter "religion.. posted by ray on July 06, 2003 at 21:12:16:
I must admit I haven't studied Buddhism as much as I would have liked to, and certainly not as much as I have devoted to Christianity. But from spending most of my life amongst a so-called Buddhist country, the way of life is much more peaceful, humble, respectful of others. Though the offical religion of Japan is Taoism, Buddhism plays a very large part, admittedly though the Japanese are actually not very religious at all. Ceremonies are observed on main holidays, but they don't hold much to religion. It is said that:
A Japanese person is born a Taoist, married a Christian and buried a Buddhist. Christian weddings are the 'fad' in Japan, but it doesn't mean the participants are Christians. But everyone is buried a Buddhist with the whole ceremony and rigamorale that goes with it, and I think that when Japanese think of the afterlife they tend toward the Buddhist view.
But the people themselves are quite amazing and self-controlled. Westerners often scorn the Japanese, seeing them as puppets with no original thought, clones of the school and society, easy to be walked over. The truth is, the Japanese are strong, strong enough to know when to give and when to put up a fight. They know that not every fight has to be fought, and to save their energy for the important things. They know that they must live in harmony together in order to keep their sanity and survive as a country.
I respect Buddhist priests because of their air of humility. I practice aikido regularly with a Buddhist priest and he is very self-effacing with an inner strength. It gives you a peace to be around such a person, and you feel a self-confidence that you don't have around a pushy and opinionated person. The Japanese seem to have learned that in effacing themselves and saving your face, they are also strengthening themselves, and that you don't have to use a show of force to display your inner strength.
I don't know about the road to enlightment, I'm not really searching for the road to enlightment, and if such a road exists, I imagine that one day I'll find it, whether in Heaven, or reincarnation, or however.
But yes, the feeling that it advocates kindness without self-righteousness. You rarely see a SR Buddhist. People are who they are, and they don't make excuses for it, neither do they consider another person better than themselves simply cause that person has a greater capacity for giving or goodness. So often I have seen Christians who do their good deeds for the world to see so they can receive the acclaim they desire. Or, as in the Family, living their life 'in fear of punishment or hope of reward after death' (that is Einstein's saying, not mine). That to me is not true living and I don't believe in a God that would expect this of His subjects.