There are however Buddhist texts, up to the present day,
contain advice to rulers about how to govern well,
warnings about the dire consequences of ruling poorly,
and admonitions to avoid arrogance and
ignoring the needs of the common people.
In many other Asian nations,
Buddhism is an important ethical and religious tradition,
even if it is not explicitly incorporated into the political system.
Max Weber,
which saw Buddhism as being either apolitical or even antipolitical
and focused solely on releasing practitioners from the cycle of
birth, death, and rebirth (samsara)
Some Buddhist think it is a moral obligation,
particularly with regard to environmental and social justice.
“Engaged Buddhism”
is a contemporary Western term for the activity of practitioners
from various traditions who believe that political activism
on behalf of social justice
is a natural outgrowth of developing wisdom and insight or,
in the case of Mayahana Buddhists,
an outgrowth of recognizing the interconnectivity of all things.
The term “Engaged Buddhism” is attributed to the Vietnamese Zen teacher
Thich Nhat Hahn,
who was a leader of the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War
and worked with Martin Luther King, Jr.
In the years since,
numerous Engaged Buddhist organizations have formed,
including the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and the Zen Peacemakers Order.
This is what Buddhist do!
They do not follow ultra-right wing tRump supporting Project 2025 crap
like L Ron Gardner spues!!
In an attempt to expand my circle of spiritual inspirations
and meet kindred spirits that I may learn a bit from
and perhaps share my experiences…
I finally stepped out of my ‘cave of solitude’
and reached out in search of groups on Facebook.
Wow.
I joined a philosophy group that I quickly became a ‘top contributor’…
But,
It was filled with heaps of Christians or tRump supporting conservatives…
Sure,
Christians typically are forced to support the eternal suffering of humanity…
As history points out and support conservative politics…
But,
It’s a pointless pursuit to have a philosophic discussion
when someone that bases all their perspectives on
a make-believe belief system.
So,
They’d say:
“The proof of my perspective is that my belief is so strong…
That makes it true.”
After countless going nowhere rounds of this…
I dropped out of this and other groups.
I also had to weed out and drop out a number of so called
“Spiritual” groups.
Between the Christians thinking they are Spiritual
and the new age wackos…
Then,
I find this group:
Meditation-Consciousness-Spirituality
Administrated by someone that seems to enjoy the similarities
of that infamous Christian wacko L Ron Hubbard.
It gave me the creeps and red flags went up,
but I joined this group hosted by L Ron Gardner.
There were enough posts from others
that had some fairly interesting subjects.
But,
Each time this L Ron dude would comment,
whatever subject it was…
He was a self-proclaimed Master and expert…
So he’d rip into anyone that offered a post or comment on his page.
I’m not an expert on say the Kabala, or
this or that esoteric fringe tradition…
So,
I didn’t know if L Ron was justified to belittle so many others.
It certainly seemed he had a superiority complex…
But,
His research on many subjects seemed very well read.
A few days ago, someone posts:
METHOD OF CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY
Here is an inquisition mask
used to pierce the eyes of those who would not convert to Christianity.
The mask is exhibited at the inquisition museum in Europe.
Christianity DIDN’T grow to just preach love,
it grew a lot also torturing and killing people
in the worst ways you can imagine,
you just have to research the “Holy Inquisition”
and it wasn’t just the Catholic Inquisition,
there was also the Protestant Inquisition.
Actually you don’t know much about your religion,
you only know what they’ve told you.”-
I reply:
As travel along my ‘Path’…
the burning question of how anyone could overlook
the way over 100 million innocent people tortured to death
in the name an ‘all loving pro-life god’…
Through their share massive doses of willful ignorance…
it almost makes me feel that I’m a weirdo
for thinking that torturing to death even one person
for a make-believe sky god is… bad.
And they make me feel that,
for that despicably awful sin…
I’m am deemed to be unworthy to be a part of their cult.
Yet,
the ‘church’ claims, with a straight face that they are pro life…
so, they outlawed women’s right to their own bodies
in many of our states…
at the same time,
they feel that owning guns and the over 44000 senseless gun deaths
is a small and insignificant consequence compared to the joy the
under educated willfully ignorant white supremacist Christian nationalist
get to shoot the the shit out senseless things… it’s all …
senseless.
If they could retain even a tiny bit of critical thinking…
Then they would ask:
“WHAT ELSE ARE THEY WRONG ABOUT”!!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Then I get a comment from ‘ol L Ron:
Which has nothing to do with the original post or my comment:
you need to read my sociopolitical writings.
You will see why I don’t agree with you.
Check out my article Buddhist Politics 501 to see where I’m coming from.
I’m a staunch right-winger,
and I specialize in making mincemeat of leftist arguments.
Well, wow…
I thought he was supposed to be an “Enlightened” being…
The way he self aggrandizes himself…
Makes himself look exceptionally better than all others
and all others like worthless shit…
That’s the opposite of ‘Enlightened’!
But,
Now,
as a complete non-sequitur to the post and my reply,
he has to brag about how he
rips apart anyone that dares to care
about the human condition.
He assumes,
Anyone that cares about society…
Is a socialist!
And that’s bad.
If it helps humanity…
Then that’s a socialist.
BTW
Nothing in that long winded article mentions anything close
to why my agreement with a post he presents on his page
burns up his ultra right-wing ego.
Later down this category,
I will present my reply to his
ultra right-wing non sequitur rants about his made-up perspective on
“Buddhist Politics 501”
But
his completely Unloving kindness UN Buddhist retort was:
“Utterly ABSURD.
One has to be blind not to see what the American left,
utterly polluted by cultural Marxism and the “woke mind virus,”
has morphed into.
It’s pure EVIL, TYRANNY, and CRIMINALITY.
It couldn’t be clearer that you’re a sponge for Deep State leftist propaganda,
have effectively outsourced your mind to them,
and don’t pay attention to (what he narcissistically refers to as)
astute independent political pundits on the right.”
Please read my full thoughtful commentary on L Ron’s BS article about
“Buddhism and Politics 501”