For me:>Buddhism: bullies are acting out of inner turmoil, insecurity or ignorance>all my bullies are successful 6 figure earners with kids and a family
Thanks for letting us know you're a loser OP.
>>24826164Their Karmic Seeds have merely bared fruit, they were either planted in this life or a previous life, but you must remember anon, impermanence is key, they will have their families and wealth for a time, but not eternally, also they do not have their wealth in and of itself, their wealth and prosperity came to them through various causal links. and as such, various causal links will cause them to lose their wealth and families
>>24826164You can earn 6 figures with a spouse and kids and have all of those.
>>24826164OP: The root of all suffering is ignorance. People suffer because they are ignorant to how they should feel about external factors and/or because other people, motivated by ignorance, do bad things.What makes a person "bully" other people? These bullies are ignorant to the fact that other people are living lives already full of suffering and are deserving of compassion by the simple fact that they are sentient beings. They are ignorant to the fact that wealth and material things do not bring lasting happiness, and they continue to consume, and consume, and consume, endlessly, because their contentedness with what they have fades and they think they can have happiness by stuffing more material objects into the void left behind by the previous fleeting happiness they had. Greed is such an insidious thing because it grows continuously and compels a person to buy more and more extravagantly, which compels the person to try and make even more money, which compels the person to game the system and screw over the people beneath them and around them.>>24827913This is also true. Consider how many people live lives like this and still cheat on their spouses, neglect their children, or commit suicide. Obtaining material things doesn't give a person lasting happiness and while a family is a wonderful thing to have, a family does not bring happiness in and of itself.I would not want the life of a person who has all of the material things they could ever want -- or at least, that they think they want -- and still sees it necessary to bully other people. That is a poor, unpleasant, pitiable life. Extend some compassion toward them once you realize they are suffering in their own ways and won't find a way out of their suffering if they keep delving deeper into their own materialism.
>>24827965I agree, not OP but what of things like justice? I do not speak of vengeance or some childish impulse to 'get back'at the person, but what of restorative justice? Harm must still be reduced? Harmony must be realized
yeah. philosophy was that life is good. I lived and it refuted itself.
>>24827981Justice is a difficult topic in Buddhism because generally people can't be trusted not to turn justice into vengeance, like you said.Buddhists do believe in justice, in a form. Extending compassion to a person does not mean allowing them to do whatever they wish when they have the intent to cause great destruction onto themselves and/or others. Bodhisattvas have been described in some texts to have killed people in order to prevent them from doing horrible things, but the same texts are very clear that regular people can't be trusted to make the judgment of a bodhisattva.Basically if a person's gonna do bad stuff, try and reason with them and if they can't be reasoned with then lock them up so they can't hurt themselves or others, but the conditions of their prison must be fair and humane in order to reduce their suffering and provide for them an environment where they can grow to become better people, and not worse people.I think often about a hypothetical scenario in which one person is held up at knifepoint and uses a gun to shoot and kill their attacker. Theoretically this is a bad thing to do, because the person defending themselves is attached to their body and their life, not reasoning with their attacker, and violating the first precept (do not kill sentient beings). However, the intent in the killing was attachment and not malice, and the person defending themselves is still preventing their attacker from sewing seeds of negative karma. It's pretty widely agreed that only people like ordained monks have let go of attachment of their own lives to such an extent that they'd not resist an attacker's attempt at their life.There's no such thing as "sin" in Buddhism but every single cause has an effect and it is up to the individual to take responsibility for their own karma, which is to say, to accept that their causes have effects.Do you think that answers your question or do you need any more specific details?
>>24828921nta and tourist here, what books and read order would you recommend for people new to buddhism?
>>24829087I recommend reading in the following order:>What the Buddha Taught - Walpola Rahula>The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching - Thich Nhat Hanh>In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon - Bhikkhu Bodhi>A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma - Bhikkhu Bodhi>Process of Consciousness and Matter - Rewata DhammaOutside of this prescribed sequence of books, read the Dhammapada (I like the translation by Eknath Easwaran), probably after What the Buddha Taught, and according to your interests, read any of the following:>The Tibetan Book of the Dead, if you are interested in some aspects of Tibetan Buddhism and some of the concepts of death in Buddhism>The Buddhist Cosmos - Punnadhammo Mahathero, if you are interested in the theological or cosmological aspects of Buddhism. This is hosted as a free ebook here: https://www.arrowriver.ca/book/cosmoBook.php>The Lotus Sutra, if you are interested in Japanese Buddhism>The Sutra of the Medicine Buddha, if you are interested in deepening your spiritual approach toward nirvana>A guide to the Bodhisattva's way of life, if you are interested in becoming more compassionate toward others and all sentient life>The Sutra on the Original Vows of the Attainment of Merits of Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva, also if you are interested in becoming more compassionate>Zen Flesh, Zen Bones - Paul Reps, if you enjoy zen koans>Any of the books by Thich Nhat Hanh, if you're interested in the "self-help" aspects of Buddhism; I recommend Answers from the Heart since it answers simply a lot of questions people might have about living a Buddhist lifestyle as a layperson and gives readers a general idea of how to answer questions about Buddhism for themselves by thinking deeply about them>Any of the books by Stephen Batchelor, if you're interested in secular Buddhism; I recommend Buddhism Without Beliefs even though it's pretty controversial among nonsecular Buddhists>The Library of Wisdom and Compassion - Dalai Lama XIV & Thubten Chodron, if you're interested in having a very extensive view of Buddhism culturally and its many practices. This is a very long series of books, however
>>24826164every truly meaningful experience i've been graced with feels like a debunkation of Schopenhauer. the hedonic treadmill is real, but it's only our wretched capitalist society that tries to reduce life to the hedonic treadmill.
>>24829301I should clarify, A Comprehensive Manual of Abhidhamma and Process of Consciousness and Matter are both pretty difficult books, but talk about what I consider to be the most critical matters of Buddhism.
>>24826164>Schopenhauer: Pleasure is never a positive experience of itself, it is only the absence of discomfort>me, jerking off to furry porn: I think not
>>24829306You don't think people would still have desires that go unfulfilled without capitalism?I do agree, capitalism is objectively awful, but I think even in a better system people would still suffer a lot just by virtue of having desires that cannot be fulfilled. I wouldn't know, though, because I've only ever lived in a capitalist shithole my whole life.
>>24826164They're acting out of ignorance of the nature of their reality and cannot conceive of the ways everyone's lives are made worse by living in a society where bullies like themselves are who thrives
>>24829344Capitalism is the worst form of economics. Except any other.
>>24829301>>24829308Thank you for the comprehensive answer and taking the time to type all that!
>>24826164I think you have a comically shallow understanding of Buddhism, which might be related to the fact that you sound like you are still in high school.
>>24826182Gottem. Fpbp.
>>24829087I have Edward Conze - Buddhism: Its Essence And Development but I plan to get more.
>>24830520you're welcome!
