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This weekend a question arose for me regarding the concept of ahimsa.

In Buddhist teaching the source of sorrow is seen to be the presence of desire. Sometimes it is even said that existence is sorrow.

As I understand this worldview, suffering and joy are states of mind caused by our being "invested" or entangled in the mundane aspects of material existence. I do not think it is accurate to characterize this teaching according to the common misconception that "material existence is illusion," but rather, that the attachments we have to bodily sensations and material items makes them seem more important than they truly are. It is joy and suffering that are illusory.

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Crossposting to buddhists

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( current Belief-O-Matic results )

Belief-O-Matic knows!

This is I think the most accurate set of results I've gotten yet. Jeez, I've only taken the quiz at least dozen times.

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Reading this for the first time today and sighing.

There are many logical traps and pitfalls involved with teaching that salvation depends on the belief in a particular concept, whatever that concept may be. Once you assert that, you pin salvation to a horrendously shifting base.

In order to achieve salvation this way, you have to have the right concept, and you have to understand it perfectly, which means you have to know exactly what the words that state the concept mean perfectly.

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Crossposting to challenging_god.

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"Reports that say something hasn't happened are interesting to me, because as we know, there are known unknowns; there things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."
--Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Secretary of Defense. This comment earned Mr. Rumsfeld this year's "Foot in Mouth" award for 'most baffling comment by a public figure.'

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( the color quiz thingy )