Thai People

Thai people are often referred to be happy people. Hence Thailand called by the name of “land of smiles”. They always have a smile in their face, well almost. If you go to a shop or a restaurant you will see how welcoming they are. It is very rare to see an angry shop owner when you ask the prices of 1001 goods and then not buy a single thing. If they don’t have what you looking for they will tell you where you can find them.

As soon as you go there they will greet you saying “kap koon kap” if it’s a man and kap koon ka if it’s a woman. They will join their hands together and keep it to their heart and bow to greet. Like we Sri Lankans say “Ayubowan” except the bow part.

Buddhism and the idea of a God

Essentially Buddhism does not believe in the idea of a god and there are several reasons for this. Buddha, like many psychologists and theologians saw that many religions and the belief in a god has its origins in human anxiety and fear. Primitive beings found themselves in a dangerous and hostile world with many natural phenomena such as volcanoes and thunder. Without the knowledge of how to explain these incidents, primitive beings created the idea of a god to provide them with some understanding and security. To this day we still find that people become more religious in times of crisis and stress. The Buddha taught us to try to understand our fears and accept the things we cannot change; he replaced fear with rational understanding not with irrational belief.

The second reason that Buddha did not believe in a god is because ether does not seem to be much evidence to support the idea. There are many religions that claim to have the words of god preserved in their scripts. The various religions are satisfied that there is ample evidence to support the idea that their individual god exists. Despite so many religions using so much ingenuity over the centuries there is still no substantial, irrefutable or concrete evidence for such an existence. Buddhists suspend judgement until such evidence exists.

The third reason that the Buddha did not believe in the existence was because he felt that such a belief was not necessary. Some claim that a belief in a god is necessary to explain the origins of the universe, but scientists have convincingly explained how the universe came into being without having to introduce a god. Buddha’s explanation for the origins of the universe correspond closely to the scientific view and describes the universe as being destroyed and revolved over millions of years and that all processes were without beginning or end and set in motion by natural causes.

Some claim that it is necessary to believe on a god in order to have a meaningful and happy life. However there are billions of atheists, free thinkers and Buddhists who live happy meaningful lives without believing in a god. Some claim that because human beings are weak they need a god to assist them to overcome difficulties. However the evidence suggests the opposite and many people manage to overcome handicaps and difficulties through their own efforts without resorting to a god belief. Some claim that god is necessary in order to give salvation, but this idea only holds true if you accept the idea of salvation which Buddhism does not. Buddha said that each individual has the capacity to purify their own mind shifting attention from the heavens to the mind and encouraged us to find solutions through self understanding.

Many people claim that miracles prove the existence of a god. But we never get independent scientific or medical confirmation of these miracles. Wild claims and second hand reports of miraculous recovery are no substitute for solid evidence of miracles and such evidence is very rare. While unnatural and unexplained happenings do occur, our inability to explain them does not prove the existence of a god, it only serves to show that our knowledge is incomplete. Before the advance of modern medicine many believed that god sent disease and cure, however advanced modern scientific knowledge has provided rational and natural causes for these events. And the future of science may very be able to explain scientifically what is currently unexplainable.

The fact that so many millions of people believe in a god is often put forward as proof of its existence, however the amount of people who believe in something id no measure of its truth or falsehood. For example, there was a time when the vast majority of people believed that the earth was flat but the reality was nowhere the belief. The only way we can determine truth from falsehood is by looking at the facts and examining the evidence.

Instead of believing in a god, Buddhists believe in humanity and that; each human being is important and precious and all have the potential to develop into a Buddha and a perfect human being. Human beings can outgrow ignorance and irrationality and see things as they truly are. Hatred, anger, spite and jealousy can be replaced by love, patience, generosity and kindness. Everything is within the grasp of every person if we make the effort guided and supported by their fellow Buddhists and inspired by the example of the Buddha, as he himself said

“No one saves us but ourselves

No one can and no one may

We ourselves must walk the path

But Buddha’s clearly show the way”

The Purpose of the religion

What is the purpose of a religion? Is it to encourage its followers to kill those who are not followers? Is it to make humankind intellectually blind? Is it to be used as a tool to judge others according to an individual’s point of view and condemn them because they are not like you? It is fair to assume that the purpose of a religion is the opposite of the above and its true purpose is to promote peace not war, love not hatred. However the current interpretation and application of a variety of religions is resulting in hatred, condemnation, slaughter and war.

 

Christians argument for god’s existence (part 2)

god is perfect. that fact shows in universe he created.

the universe is very complicated and complex design. even our human body is an amazing design. so Christians claim that the genius behind this is god. for a moment we’ll assume that god created the universe. god almighty is perfect, know everything and cant be wrong. in that case the universe he created should be perfect.

is the universe perfect ?

rain give us water. it is essential that it rains. but sometimes it rain too much and people lost their lives and homes. and some times it isn’t rain and millions die because of drought and famine. is this perfect design ? i am not going to write many as i could to prove that universe is not perfectly designed. for a wise person one example is enough. so in this case i will let Christians to say that god created the universe because it proves their god is not perfect.

way to go Christians and the god almighty who is PERFECT

Christians argument for god’s existence (part 1)

The authority of the bible

         if you tell any christian to prove that god exists, very fist thing they will do is point out the bible.and will say that best proof is bible. but why should we accept bible and not Hindu, Sikh, Jain scripts. whats so special about bible. we can prove with the help of bible it self that it is a highly unreliable book. simply book of lies.

The existence of the universe

       if they fail first attempt with bible then it goes to universe.they will say that the universe didn’t just happened someone has to create it. so the Creator is god. again why should we believe god of bible and or the god of Christians create it. it may be the god of Islam or Hinduism. may be a god of a tribal group. there are lot of groups say that god created universe.

        when we see it rains do we ask who made it rain ? when we see a  smooth stone in a river do we ask who polished it ? natural causes like heat,evaporation, precipitation make it rain. abrasive action of water and sand make stones smooth. like wise universe is not created by a god but caused by natural phenomena.

come on Christians you have to do better than that to prove god exists.

may god help you

to be continued…………..

Addicted to alcohol

     There are these six dangers of being addicted to alcohol; loss of wealth, increase in quarrels, ill health, loss of reputation, indecent exposure and impaired intelligence.

                                         by Lord Buddha

 

 

 A yogasana that need lot of practice

 

same yogasana with no practice but by using beer 

 

photos nidokido.com

 

Taste Of Buddhism

          Just as the great ocean has one taste, the taste of salt, even so this dhamma (teachings of Buddha) has one taste too. it is

The taste of freedom

Homosexuality, Buddhism and Srilankan Society

Before we discuss what Theravada Buddhism says about homosexually, it is important to understand that in Buddhism people are encouraged to look into inwardly when seeking guidance or a solution to a problem. In the words of Lord Buddha himself “be a lamp to yourself” which simply means do not search for wisdom outside of yourself, rather you should let your conscience be your guide and it is here that the teachings and scripts of Lord Buddha can be of assistance.

 

Anger and disappointment

It’s useless if you find a person who has not experienced anger. No matter how hard you try you will not be able to find someone like that; it’s natural that you get angry. It’s useful to discuss about anger, because it’s common among us. What makes you angry?

 

Easy to say but not to do it

It may seem very easy to say that I am going to disrobe (Leave the monetary); but actually doing it is not as easy or straight forward as moat would think.  In East Asian Buddhist countries it’s a tradition to be a monk at least 3 months raining period, (pansa / vassana) After this short period of being a monk the vast majority return to being a lay man, this is both accepted and expected in their culture.

 

In countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia monks are well honored in the society and their culture. Monks never have to wait in queues; in public transportation they always have a seat. No one will sit when a monk is standing. There are lots of things like this, presidents, prime ministers or even a king has to bow to monks and respect them, even to a 7 years old novice monk. It is not only the monk who climbs to the top of the society, the position of his family will also rise in the social order.     

Because of this position a monk has they are always expected to be a kind of holy man by the society. This is not fair, Sri Lankan society cannot see this holy man wish to become a normal man again. 99.99 % of people in this cruel society are not mentally strong enough to become a monk, so society wants someone else to become who they can’t be, and if that someone fails they think it’s their failure. The anger goes to that someone else. The society treats men that disrobed as a piece of shit.

Seventy percent of Sri Lanka is Buddhist, but this is not Buddhism.  In Buddhism you are always encouraged to look into your self, look into your heart. Buddha told us not to believe anything just because society believes it, written in books, tradition or even because Buddha said it. We are expected to question everything.

If you want to disrobe you should be strong enough to challenge and tolerate all the disagreements and disapprovals of society and be ready to be treated like a piece of shit at least for a while, I hope it is only for a while, but I have no ides how long I will be treated like a piece of shit because all the monks who want to disrobe either do not, or do so in secret.   

I am ready to be treated as a piece of shit. Because I know I am strong and I have my best friend C. J. with me all the time. His friendship and love doesn’t change according to the clothes I wear or my position in society.