On Zen Buddhism
It can never hurt to have some Zen in one’s life. According to some of the research I’ve only begun, Buddhism can be seen as a religion or philosophy, or both. In addition, Buddhism is a non-theistic religion/philosophy, so it’s right up my alley. I cannot succumb to an artificial supernatural being, yet am trying to find a new kind of inner peace. This slightly explains my recent poll of “Love Vs. Money.” To me, love and non-materialistic goods should be valued far more than money and materialism.
This has affected me so much that I decided to rename my blog, though the URL will remain the same. There are many immoral aspects of major religions, but I no longer choose to focus on the negative aspects.
As a side note, I also threw in “Jewish” because I was raised reform Jewish. I still feel a huge connection to the Jewish race/heritage, community, and history.
I know, for a fact, I need some zen in my life. I was raised in a total OCD (as well as materialistic) habitat. Seeing it all around me for so long caused me “rebel” as they’ll say. But to me, it’s growing beyond.
Some call the Atheist movement the Second Enlightenment and that’s exactly what I am attempting to do: reach enlightenment. Any thoughts on Atheist Buddhism?
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I’ll just leave my 2 cents worth! I like the name change. Who says you have to pick just one and stick with it?
BTW, LOVE the Lewis Black video. He is my absolute favorite. I would actually pay money to go see him live.
You Inspire Me.
I *love* the name of your blog.
The Zen Buddhism I’ve studied seems more agnostic than atheist, although, less on the side of “we don’t know if there’s a creator” to “it doesn’t matter one way or the other if there is one.” Which, I’m not sure falls under agnostic or atheist.
Gonna link to your blog in my post tomorrow.
I am an atheist/Buddhist and aside from having to answer a lot of questions, it works for me.
I grew up Catholic and am familiar with the OCD upbringing, Like you, I was looking for a little balance.
I find Buddhism allows me to temper my activist atheism with humanity and a sense of positivity.
I’d say studying Buddhism has made me a kinder, better person than I was before, although I still have a long way to go.
Best of luck in your search
Buddhism has a lot to recommend it. It seems like mostly a peaceful centered worldview. My only quibble with it is that it generally involves a belief in reincarnation which I no longer, after researching the subject, believe in. And it seeks to annihilate the “self” as far as I understand it. But since we’re only here for a short time, why would I want to do that? I like myself well enough not to, and as long as I am here it seems as if I would want to experience as much as possible.
Hi! Neat blog. Sorry to come in late to this conversation. I run a blog that is precisely grounded on a Zen Humanist perspective. My take on Zen Humanism is under development (a new post coming up soon on this subject), but it is of course, non-theist, atheist. I must add a bit of revision to the commenter who mentioned reincarnation. The belief in reincarnation is not Zen Buddhist. In fact, not all Buddhists believe in reincarnation, as that notion is more properly one that belonged to the Vedic religions that shared the stage with the development of Buddhism. Zen Buddhism’s three dharma seals explicitly dismiss any notion of permanence or lingering of any essence — the key notions being emptyness and impermanence. The annihilation of the self refers to the fact that the self is but a construct. Annihilation means recognizing that such is indeed the case. It is not permanent, it is contingent and recognizing its illusory/constructed nature frees us to understand interconnection and living the present moment. : )
Thanks!
N
WoodMoor Village