Questions on Buddhism

I have been listening to Damma talks and reading about what Zen is not fot quite a while. I see a lot of sense in what I have read and learnt so far but I am rather pedantic and have a few questions regarding the beliefe structure. If anyone could help me out I would be really grateful.

P.S. If you are a Buddhist I want you to know that I mean no offence at all, I just have trouble accepting things at face value.

1. Regarding Harmlessness: Is it really OK to pick flowers to decorate your shrine when thoses flowers are living beings themselves and home to aphids. Does removing theses living beings from Nature not adverslesy affect the original environment of the flowers? Is this not harmful?

2. Why is there so much gold and possetions on the shrines if ownership is looked down on?

3. Trustworthyness. If it is not OK to take without being given who gives the flowers? Who is the giver of the aphids?

4. If a person stays on retreat at a monastry what does a recommended donation of £25 cover? If everything at the monastry is given by leity what does the £25 pay for?

5. Sobriety. Why is it OK for monks to drink caffeine and eat cocoa if these substances affect the mind, even if only in a small way?

6. Why do people worhip the Buddah?

&. Why were the Boddhidharmas words not written for 500 years?

7. What are the Dalai Lala's connections with the CIA? What are the implications of this?

8. Why did the Buddists in Sri Lanka attack a mosque?

9. What can be achieved from self immolisation against a goverment whoses main concern is overpopuation?

10. Why does the Dalai Lama reincarnate?

Thank you to anyone that makes any attempt tp help me get around these questions.

There are different sects of Buddhist just like any other religions. They all do things a little different but their core belief is usually to walk the middle path and respect all of God's Creatures. Does not mean to not eat, use to decorate, or cut down a tree...If those things are done out of meanness then you collect a black mark/karma for your next life...or the sect I am slightly familiar with thinks so....Kinda like the movie Avatar and the killing for food or the protection of a village without the floaty white things.

You are born 7 times to learn before you can leave the birth and death cycle; Bardo....You can do it in less but you can get stuck for many cycles if you are a dense dummy and refuse to learn. The purpose behind the Buddhist bardo states after death is to provide the dying an opportunity to become enlightened and attain Buddha-hood, or if enlightenment is not attained, to secure a favorable rebirth. As it is with Buddhism, the goal to be attained during near-death experiences is to become one with God. Experiencers have described this as a "merging" process and "becoming God." This loss of ego and at-one-ment aspect involved in near-death experiences and the Buddhist bardo journey seem to be identical. Near death experiencers seem to parallel his teachings..I asked my wife who was born into a Buddhist society what happens after the 7th time and she just said she was not sure because she has not gotten there yet...the way she said it was funny....

The temples around here you can go sleep in at night and you do not have to pay anything....

The Buddhist killing Muslims or anyone else for that matter is usually a way of protecting their temples, families, or farms from those who would do them harm..Buddhist do not necessary turn the other cheek like the movies portray...

The Mahayana Buddhist monastery or maybe better known as the Shaolin monastery I think was founded about 500?A.D..... Chinese martial arts, and particularly Shaolin Kung Fu has been and still is used today.....Buddhist are not pacifist or the ones I know do not seem to be...However a devoute Buddhist seems to have a calm and deeper understanding when they beat your butt or kill you if that makes one fell better....hahaha

Killing is usually brought about by a past history and many Buddhist countries I am familiar with are very good at it.. Some get tattoos to protect them and some wear Buddhist stones around their neck for protection in battle...They die just like everyone else but it makes them feel better and gives them bravery.

The Buddha taught people to try to understand their fears, to lessen their desires and to calmly and courageously accept the things they cannot change. It is not surprising that with so many different religions spending over many centuries and trying to prove the existence of their gods..... that still no real, concrete, substantial or irrefutable evidence has been found. Buddhists suspend judgement until such evidence is forthcoming. So you could say they are not God fearing but Karma indebtedness fearing (which works out to keep them in line about the same way) Simple really for them... Some claim that god is necessary in order to give man salvation. This argument only holds good if you accept the theological concept of salvation and Buddhists do not accept such a concept. Yet they pray or Wah Buddha for good luck and good life?? Buy anything from a car to a house and have a monk bless it..etc etc.

Based on his own experience, the Buddha saw that each human being had the capacity to purify the mind, develop infinite love and compassion and perfect understanding. He shifted attention from the heavens to the heart and encouraged us to find solutions to our problems through self-understanding.

www.religionfacts.com... is a site that discusses some of the different sects..

Temples or anyother religious place of worship is for man not their god...The Buddhist temples used to be community temples where the farmers went every day/week to give offerings of food to the monks and listen to stories about the Buddha..Again different sects do things different but they are all suppose to teach the thoughts of the Buddha..

Originally posted by Onami

6. Why do people worhip the Buddah?

Buddha means the enlightened one. It is not a person or object of worship.

Originally posted by Itisnowagain

Originally posted by Onami

6. Why do people worhip the Buddah?

Buddha means the enlightened one. It is not a person or object of worship.

hahaha I guess we answered the questions for the OP.....?....... otherwise it might have been a drive bye posting!! ??

reply to post by Onami


I don't consider myself a Buddhist but I find his teachings interesting. I will answer just for fun.

Originally posted by Onami
1. Regarding Harmlessness: Is it really OK to pick flowers to decorate your shrine when thoses flowers are living beings themselves and home to aphids. Does removing theses living beings from Nature not adverslesy affect the original environment of the flowers? Is this not harmful?

Animals and humans are conscious beings. They know when they are in danger and then they are put in fear. When a flower is killed it doesn't have to go through the fear because it happens quickly.

Whether it is a flower or an animal being eaten as food, it is more compassionate to have it done quickly and not have them in fear.

Originally posted by Onami
2. Why is there so much gold and possetions on the shrines if ownership is looked down on?

It's a trap for the materialistic mind. It sees the gold, and it understands it to be something of importance. It gets the mind interested, and then when the person learns Buddhism, after a while it can transcend into higher thoughts.

Originally posted by Onami
3. Trustworthyness. If it is not OK to take without being given who gives the flowers? Who is the giver of the aphids?

They give the flowers water.

Originally posted by Onami
4. If a person stays on retreat at a monastry what does a recommended donation of £25 cover? If everything at the monastry is given by leity what does the £25 pay for?

We live in a world ran by money. It costs money to keep temples/churches, it takes money for clothing.

Originally posted by Onami
5. Sobriety. Why is it OK for monks to drink caffeine and eat cocoa if these substances affect the mind, even if only in a small way?

If you don't eat/drink a lot of it, it doesn't really affect the mind.

Alcohol affects the mind even if you take a little bit (whether you realize it or not). That is why even if you take a few sips of alcohol you are not supposed to drink, and they are so strict with testing the amount of alcohol in the body.

Originally posted by Onami
6. Why do people worhip the Buddah?

Bowing down, is not worship. It is a form of greeting and respect. Before people started giving each other germ-filled handshakes, they would just slightly bow to someone. If someone was a king, ruler, or a teacher, they would do the bows that you see in Buddhism.

Originally posted by Onami
&. Why were the Boddhidharmas words not written for 500 years? [/quote[

Buddha didn't want any statues made of him, and if a book was important, Buddha could have written it himself.

This is how most religions start. A wise person exists, that tells people the way to inner happiness. They tell people not to worship them or make statues of them. They pass away, and for each new person that comes to learn this path for inner happiness, they tell them the basic life of the wise-person who lives and the teachings they taught.

After a while, the next generation will write down a book about what they heard about the wise person and their teachings. Sometimes, they will even make statues, take ideas from other religions, or turn them into gods when this was not their original intention.

However, even though these holy books are stories that come from an oral tradition where one person tells another relying on memory, and over time changes, it still has some truth and wisdom.

Originally posted by Onami
7. What are the Dalai Lala's connections with the CIA? What are the implications of this?

He is like the pope.

Originally posted by Onami
8. Why did the Buddists in Sri Lanka attack a mosque?

They were over taken by anger. Buddhists are not Buddhas themselves, they are in a learning process.

Originally posted by Onami
9. What can be achieved from self immolisation against a goverment whoses main concern is overpopuation?

The empathy and compassion of the people.

Originally posted by Onami
10. Why does the Dalai Lama reincarnate?

The role of The Dalai Lama is to help others. Apparently, Buddha could have reincarnated too, just to help others. Being enlightened does not mean that you can't choose to come back.