what's wrong with this picture?
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come join me. satanism is the way.
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Hey.....relax man.....neon tetra already said that please do not make this a flaming tread...as for the "concept" he just said, he just want to voice out his opinion lahz....nothing serious....and his views may not be "narrow mainded" just that perceptions maybe different, he said that christmas is a christian affair, yes.....to him cos he celebrate chrismast in a christian way.thefore, he can Compromise with the aspect that non-christian think that christmas is just a public holiday...but not non-christian's thinking that christmas is a day of caring and sharing and giving your joy to others and celebrating the birth of jesus. coz if you're not a christian how can u celebrate the birth of jesus if u do not believe in the first place?/
Too bad for him, the attitude he is displaying deserves tis treatment. Wat is the intention of showing the picture ? It just meant he felt tat buddhist/taoist r beliving in christ in their heart or something ! And all because of tat picture and his very poor interpretation of it. Is it wrong to specify the date as christmas eve ? Is he trying to imply tat only christian can use the phrase "christmas" ? Maybe non-christians have to call it "the festival-tat-cannot-be-named". Com'on man.. if all non-christian r barred from using the phrase "christmas", then next we can see the muslim stopping people from using the crescent and stars for any decorative purpose.
As for the picture i think all this deduction just sums up to nothing,it shouldn't be post in forum in the first place, maybe because to me it doesn't signify any meaning.
Sorry man, I stated in my earlier post tat it isn't a flaming thread to attack neontetra as well. If such feeble apology or warning works, then we won't need policemen. -
On one hand, Satanism shares a same concept with Buddhism: avoiding dogmas, "right or wrongs" (our mind sets perspective), blind faith.Originally posted by HENG@:come join me. satanism is the way.
On the other hand, Satanism is actually quite the opposite of Buddhism. Satanism recognises that "Self" is the most powerful thing, Buddhism recognises that "Self" is the most dangerous thing, in fact, it is our Biggest Enemy. It is the source of the 3 poisons. It is the source of Samsara...
"Better than the defeat of 1000 men, is the defeat of your Self." -
mmmmOriginally posted by An Eternal Now:On one hand, Satanism shares a same concept with Buddhism: avoiding dogmas, "right or wrongs" (our mind sets perspective), blind faith.
On the other hand, Satanism is actually quite the opposite of Buddhism. Satanism recognises that "Self" is the most powerful thing, Buddhism recognises that "Self" is the most dangerous thing, in fact, it is our Biggest Enemy. It is the source of the 3 poisons. It is the source of Samsara...
"Better than the defeat of 1000 men, is the defeat of your Self."
*sacrifices virgins to satan* -
*tie virgin heng@ to an altar*
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Please make distinction then --- but first get your facts rightOriginally posted by NeonTetra:ya...i agree with u. i nv impose mah....i want ppl to make a decision regarding Christmas (not jus buddhists) but all who do not believe in Jesus and christmas. Christmas is a christian festival....its make known but why u all still wanna celebrate? because celebrating mean u accept the meaning behind it which is Jesus.
i want to make distinction only.
II Origins of Christmas
Historians are unsure exactly when Christians first began celebrating the Nativity of Christ. However, most scholars believe that Christmas originated in the 4th century as a Christian substitute for pagan celebrations of the winter solstice. Before the introduction of Christmas, each year beginning on December 17 Romans honored Saturn, the ancient god of agriculture, in a festival called Saturnalia. This festival lasted for seven days and included the winter solstice, which usually occurred around December 25 on the ancient Julian calendar. During Saturnalia the Romans feasted, postponed all business and warfare, exchanged gifts, and temporarily freed their slaves. Many Romans also celebrated the lengthening of daylight following the winter solstice by participating in rituals to glorify Mithra, the ancient Persian god of light (see Mithraism). These and other winter festivities continued through January 1, the festival of Kalends, when Romans marked the day of the new moon and the first day of the month and year.
Although the Gospels describe JesusÂ’ birth in detail, they never mention the date, so historians do not know on what date he was born. The Roman Catholic Church chose December 25 as the day for the Feast of the Nativity in order to give Christian meaning to existing pagan rituals. For example, the Church replaced festivities honoring the birth of Mithra, the god of light, with festivities to commemorate the birth of Jesus, whom the Bible calls the light of the world. The Catholic Church hoped to draw pagans into its religion by allowing them to continue their revelry while simultaneously honoring the birthday of Jesus. The Eastern Orthodox Church took a slightly different course. By the end of the 4th century the Eastern Church in Constantinople had also begun to acknowledge December 25 as JesusÂ’ birthday, but it emphasized the celebration of ChristÂ’s baptism on January 6 as the more important holiday.
Over the next 1000 years, the observance of Christmas followed the expansion of Christianity into the rest of Europe and into Egypt. Along the way, Christian beliefs combined with existing pagan feasts and winter rituals to create many long-standing traditions of Christmas celebrations. For example, ancient Europeans believed that the mistletoe plant held magic powers to bestow life and fertility, to bring about peace, and to protect against disease. Northern Europeans associated the plant with the Norse goddess of love, Freya, and developed the custom of kissing underneath mistletoe branches. Christians incorporated this custom into their Christmas celebrations, and kissing under a mistletoe branch eventually became a part of secular Christmas tradition.
During the Reformation of the 16th century, Protestants challenged the authority of the Catholic Church, including its toleration of surviving pagan traditions during Christmas festivities. For a brief time during the 17th century, Puritans banned Christmas in England and in some English colonies in North America because they felt it had become a season best known for gambling, flamboyant public behavior, and overindulgence in food and drink.
From: http://encarta.msn.com/ -
Hey Kids - Santa Claus is coming to town!
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http://nichirenscoffeehouse.net/Ryuei/SantaMaitreya.html
Santa is the Future Buddha
by Rev. Ryuei Michael McCormick
Here is my yearly tongue-in-cheek holiday rant about Santa Claus. Santa Claus is an amalgamation of Pagan lore and Christian legend. On the Christian side, he is related to Saint Nicholas who was a 4th century bishop in Turkey. He was known for giving anonymous donations of gold coins to those in need and he later became a patron saint of children. Santa Claus later became known for his sack full of toys.
On the other side of the world, a 10th century vagabond in China named Pu-tai was also known for his jolly demeanor. He in fact became the model for the Laughing Buddha. His name means Hempen Sack, and in fact he was also known to carry around a sack from which he would distribute gifts to children. Pu-tai was known as a Ch'an (Zen) Master and after he died it was believed that he was an appearance of Bodhisattva Maitreya.
Now, it seems obvious to me that Pu-tai and Santa Claus share many of the same characteristics, and in Buddhism that means that they are likely appearances of the same celestial bodhisattva, in this case Maitreya. Now Maitreya is the future buddha who is waiting in the wings (so to speak) in the Tushita Heaven. It would appear then that Santa Claus is in fact the future Buddha and that the North Pole is actually the earthly manifestation of the Tushita Heaven (which only bodhisattvas and buddhas can see in its true aspect).
And on that note, I will end this with the supreme mantra of generosity and loving-kindness: Ho Ho Ho! (Which means "Dharma Dharma Dharma!" in Sino-Japanese)
Copyright by Ryuei Michael McCormick. 1997. 2001.
NOTE: Maitreya/Mettaya Bodhisattva literally means "Loving-Kindness Bodhisattva" -
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Please note: Tu^!*@a is actually T U S H I T A , but it seems like the vulgar language filter is pretty "mono".
Anyway, Maitreya Bodhisattva's Birthday is on 1st January, Chinese Lunar Calendar. But if I'm not wrong, my master said that the more accurate calculation would be form the Western Calendar.
Please, Naruto, correct me if I'm wrong. My memory is quite terrible. -
Yes, please make a stand. People who want to be Christian fanatics must of course have a firm stand. What claim of exclusiveness do christians have on Dec 25? Dec 25 is birth date of the Pagan god Mithra (Sun God) and the Sun is worshipped all over the world in ancient time long before Christianity was even conceived. It is not incident that worldwide there are celebrations during the december period which is near the Winter Solstice .Originally posted by NeonTetra:A stand must be taken, no matter how encompassing one may seemed to be. It's like i ask if u believe Jesus being God's Son, things like tt need a stand.
Being narrow minded, Christmas must die-die be a Christ-centred festival and so on is what absolute truth is about. You cannot agree with everything when these everything dun agree among themselves. There is no grey areas when it comes to such.
The Bible never said that Dec 25 is the birth date of Jesus, in fact, dec 25 contradicts the facts in the Bible itself. See http://www.ucg.org/booklets/JC/prophecy_jesusborn.htm
Why did the Son of God become the Sun God?
In the Old Testament , God is fear-inspiring and his messengers come to kill. In the New Testament, God is loving and his Son comes to be killed. Then Christians takes the birthdate of the Sun God to celebrate as the birth date of the Son of God , who said his father is a loving God. Somehow this loving father is also the same as the God whom everybody used to fear. Whew! That is a lot of grey areas. 3 Gods is 1 God and we are not talking about the Trinity yet. At least the pagans have gods that specialise in their respective areas. So can you tel me what absolute truth this is? I can only say that this "truth" is absolutely absurd. -
So?Big deal.Why can't the photographer say this was taken on Christmas Eve?And only an inward looking fool would consider this a religious transgression.Sigh,Wars happen when we are too sensitive over things that are not life-and-death nor bread-and-butter issues.Will it kill you to have a Christmas Eve notation on this pic?And please do not impose your views on others.As a Christian, I'm terribly ashamed at how most practioners of the faith today are so intolerant and ready to pick on others at the same time.Why not circumsise yourselves and joind the ranks of Laskar-E-Janghvi or Abu Zarqawi?Originally posted by NeonTetra:the 'wrong' here is tt christmas eve dun go well with a buddhist pic. i commented because i wanna emphasize Christmas is a christian festival so for a stauch photographer who take this picture, he shouldnt even mention about the holiday.
like i said....read the 'NB', this is not a finding fault thread in case u assume thats my hobby. sorry...i dun do such thing. In other theads, i point out the 'error' using the word of my God...things that hurt u doesnt mean its from the person who typed it. If anything hurts, its the double edged sword-the Bible that brings out the truth that provokes, shocks, irritates. -
And I suppose you would love meeting those Bible-thumping evangelists from Southern USA?Where is the tolerance and forgiveness that Christ has taught us?Buddhism is one religion that is a champion of peace and tranquility.I respect them greatly.I hope more of our kind can be tolerant and look beyond the small details into the larger fabric which is humanity.
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Sigh...
What the point anyway? Already told him many times liao, as if he will listen..
Wanna people to respect your faith or even convert others, I only can give this advice - change oneself to influence others. Only when people see the power of God or even the beneficial change in you as his believer will then you be able to spread his Gospels. Similarly, in Buddhism, I can see its also applying the words of Buddha in daily life.
One may use the Bible, the sutras, the Koran, whatevernot as the 'authority' that people must convert to your beliefs. But one thing to note - you view it as the authority because you believe in it, not because its the Universal Truth to everyone. Make an issue out of this, you will get something as endless as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Btw, if this thread is solely flaming the topic starter, its doesnt seems to help, and run in contrary to the reasons why we are here in the first place - to discuss Buddhism. I propose closing this down.
Cheers. -
Precisely!Originally posted by laurence82:Only when people see the power of God or even the beneficial change in you as his believer will then you be able to spread his Gospels. Similarly, in Buddhism, I can see its also applying the words of Buddha in daily life.
Okay. I think it's about time.
FOR PEACE & WITH METTA (LOVING KINDNESS),
This thread is closed.