Re: virus: Free thought and control

Sodom (sodom@ma.ultranet.com)
Fri, 17 Oct 1997 22:54:57 -0400


Marie Foster wrote:
>
> Robin Faichney wrote:
>
> snip
>
> Just a bit of Marie
>
> > > Before the bb *nothing* existed. No time. No space. No matter.
> > >
>
> Robin who got the joke...
>
> > I like it! :-)
> >
> Robin continues
>
> > If you're interested in the equivalent in experiential, as
> > opposed to intellectual terms, Buddhism may be for
> > you. Its endpoint is sometimes characterised as "The
> > Void". On the other hand, I've also seen it described
> > as "neither something nor nothing", or words to that
> > effect.
> >
> > And, despite my division between intellectual and
> > experiential, I do believe there's an important
> > connection between these -- more, in fact, I think
> > the nothing you're talking about, and the endpoint
> > of Buddhism, are the same, if seen from different
> > points of view.
> >
> > Fascinating stuff, though, eh? :-)
> >
> > Robin
>
> My Buddha spirit agrees. Someone on the list said that Buddhism is a
> philosophy rather than a religion. I did not comment then, but I will
> now. I just consulted with WWWebster and got the following quote "a
> religion of eastern and central Asia growing out of the teaching of
> Gautama Buddha that suffering is inherent in life and that one can be
> liberated from it by mental and moral self-purification"
>
> While I disagree with the definition, I believe that dictionaries do
> capture the majority understanding of a word. Not that numbers matter
> either. I have practiced Buddhism for quite a few years and I
> personally consider it a very good religion. Not that my opinion
> matters either :0)
>
> Marie

I said it was a philosophy, or more like a way of life. I got this Idea
from the book "Living Zen" by Robert Linssen. It was given to me by a
Buddhist friend. I love the book, you probably would too.

Sodom