Post by skyliner12 on Apr 25, 2009 23:36:32 GMT -5
I'll start this thread first by mentioning that this is a discussion. I realize that yes, it is in the debate forums, and I am willing to listen to other views on the topic with respect, I will not stand for my personal beliefs or ideas being bashed. Please also understand that I write this with no intention of "converting" anyone to Buddhism, or vegetarianism. Your beliefs are your own, and I'll give you due respect for them.
Travis was playing Jade Empire this afternoon and asked me in chat if I was a vegetarian. I responded yes. Then he asked me what my reason for it was, and I responded that I was a Buddhist. A little scuffle occurred in chat, and I decided to sit down and write a thread to let you all know where my train of thought and belief system is on this matter.
As best I can remember, I stopped eating meat in September of 2001, when I was 11. It was around this time that I was really starting to get into Japanese culture, and beginning to branch away from being just an anime fan to becoming more of a Japan freak. And with that, I started reading more and more about Japan as I watched more and more anime. I think I was about 12 when I saw Princess Mononoke, and that really just clicked with me for a lot of reasons. It's still one of my favorite films to this day. I just didn't really understand how someone could make that kind of film, something so open and clear, with such a strong message. I began wondering how people start their thought processes, how it is one person can look at something and think, "Oh, here's a film. That's nice." Or a different person can look at a film and think, "There's a lot of story here, there's a lot of heart and spirit."
I think a lot of how we percieve things is contributed to how and where we were raised. I simply think that Japan does.. a more "healthy" way of raising people than many other countries do. I began to admire that, and I studied it more and more through films and books. Why is it that the Japanese decide to do (this) instead of (that)?
For example, why not solve your problems through violence instead of diplomacy? It's sure a hell of a lot faster. You punch a kid out if he's bugging you, that kid isn't going to be coming around pestering you again.
Somewhere along the line I just taught myself how to step back and look at situations from every angle possible, and I attribute part of that to my studying Buddhism and Asian/Japanese lifestyles. Alright. There's someone bugging me. The first thing I realize is that I have many options available to me. Nothing needs to be rushed, I know if my mind is calmer I can handle a situation and have no regret with my decision after it's over. I search for information. I want to know why I've been chosen by this person to be "pestered". Who is this person? What are they speaking/acting about? Then I try to drop any preconceived notions I have. Is this person honestly perstering me? Do I feel actual hate or anymosity towards this individual? I feel an emotion that has risen because of my desire to either want to be alone, or work alone, or not have this person around. I attempt to push my own desires aside and find what it is that this person requires of me. It may simply be attention, they only want to speak and be heard. That's okay. I can take some time out of my day and listen to what they have to say. Maybe they are angry with me, maybe I have done something to upset them. I'll just have to let them speak, and then defend my actions and explain myself as I explained to myself when I did them. Maybe they just want to pester me. They want to see me get angry, they want attention, they want to get some sort of rise out of me, they want to win my emotions. In that case, I simply feel bad for that person. I don't know where in their life things went wrong and you honestly wished for other people to suffer, to feel pain. I am sorry that these things happened to the person. However I do not try to take their problems and make them my own, it's not my responsibility to fix people after they've been broken. Even though I will admit that there is some weird maternal bone in my body that does want to fix people like this. And I will admit that I am drawn to... "broken" .. people on occasion. But that's kind of a personal issue that I have to deal with.
I suppose I digress.
Buddhism is what I choose as a philosophy system, as a general handbook to live my life by. I do not consider it a religion, I am not devout nor do I believe every word of the many books of Buddhism. But there are some things that I believe in very much. Buddhism has a priniciple belief of the Four Noble Truths, and within them are what is known as the Eightfold Path. Within the Eightfold Path is where the mortal law of karma exists. I realize that karma has become a common Western word, and many people think they believe it means one thing and in reality most people would be incorrect.
I mold for myself what I believe out of Buddhism and karma. I do, in a sense, believe in a certain karma system. I believe that for every action taken, there is a consequential action delivered. However, what I'm finding through life, is that many times the good or bad karma you deal out may not come back to reflect upon you directly.
For example, if you murder someone, it does not mean you will be killed. I don't think anything in the world is black and white like that. But when a murder is committed, there is an incredible amount of possibilities created by the karma of that action. The negative action of causing someone's death may trigger another murder, which only creates more death. Or it may create sadness, which, in turn, only creates more sadness and suffering. Or it may create intense guilt, which may lead to more actions that create different kinds or amounts of anger, or death.
The same actions may be applied to positive karma situations. Every once in a while, usually when I go out to eat, I drop my spare change in the parking lot before I get in my car. I know that there are possibilities that my change will never be picked up, and was simply a waste of energy on my part. But I like to believe that a simple action I made was someone finding a quarter and two pennies, which made exact change when they went into the restaurant after me. Or maybe a kid steps on a penny and believes he or she will have good luck for the rest of the day, and then has a positive outlook. Even if it's just for a couple of hours. If my dropping 35 cents in a parking lot makes someone happy they had exact change, or a little girl thinks she has good luck, or a kid uses the quarter to buy a gumball, or even if someone just notices, "Hey, a quarter, cool", then I have created a positive karma situation for myself and for others. I am happy, because I think my actions will affect others positively, and others are happy, because they have gained something.
I digressed again.
I don't eat meat because I think it's unnecessary for me to do so. All of the nutritional values that meat holds can be obtained by other means. There are plenty of other ways for me to nourish myself without eating meat.
Don't misunderstand, however. I do miss meat from time to time. I'd like to go and get a chicken teriyaki sub sandwich, I'd like to drive through McDonalds for once and pick up and entire meal. It'd be convienent, quick, and nice. The fact that it's easy to do doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, though.
I also really enjoy cooking. Not being able to cook meat cuts out a LOT of cooking choices. Then again, I have made some interesting adjustments to recipes.
In the end, I think I decided to stop eating meat simply because I didn't want to. I have other options. I don't have to eat a dead creature to sustain my life. It simply isn't rational, to me. And I think somewhere, in the back of my head, I think that it's a bad idea. That by participating in eating the death of something seems like giving off negative karma. I realize as I type this that it sounds silly, and if someone else typed it I'd be quick to hit reply and call him/her out on it. But this just happens to be what I think. And I've been living this way for so long that it's a common belief to me and I am satisfied with the choices I make in life.
I have a good life at the end of the day. I'm in good physical and mental health, I have family, I have friends. And I know how to get through tomorrow, and the day after that, and if I struggle, I have a back-up system in Buddhism that hasn't let me down. Stuff's good.
Travis was playing Jade Empire this afternoon and asked me in chat if I was a vegetarian. I responded yes. Then he asked me what my reason for it was, and I responded that I was a Buddhist. A little scuffle occurred in chat, and I decided to sit down and write a thread to let you all know where my train of thought and belief system is on this matter.
As best I can remember, I stopped eating meat in September of 2001, when I was 11. It was around this time that I was really starting to get into Japanese culture, and beginning to branch away from being just an anime fan to becoming more of a Japan freak. And with that, I started reading more and more about Japan as I watched more and more anime. I think I was about 12 when I saw Princess Mononoke, and that really just clicked with me for a lot of reasons. It's still one of my favorite films to this day. I just didn't really understand how someone could make that kind of film, something so open and clear, with such a strong message. I began wondering how people start their thought processes, how it is one person can look at something and think, "Oh, here's a film. That's nice." Or a different person can look at a film and think, "There's a lot of story here, there's a lot of heart and spirit."
I think a lot of how we percieve things is contributed to how and where we were raised. I simply think that Japan does.. a more "healthy" way of raising people than many other countries do. I began to admire that, and I studied it more and more through films and books. Why is it that the Japanese decide to do (this) instead of (that)?
For example, why not solve your problems through violence instead of diplomacy? It's sure a hell of a lot faster. You punch a kid out if he's bugging you, that kid isn't going to be coming around pestering you again.
Somewhere along the line I just taught myself how to step back and look at situations from every angle possible, and I attribute part of that to my studying Buddhism and Asian/Japanese lifestyles. Alright. There's someone bugging me. The first thing I realize is that I have many options available to me. Nothing needs to be rushed, I know if my mind is calmer I can handle a situation and have no regret with my decision after it's over. I search for information. I want to know why I've been chosen by this person to be "pestered". Who is this person? What are they speaking/acting about? Then I try to drop any preconceived notions I have. Is this person honestly perstering me? Do I feel actual hate or anymosity towards this individual? I feel an emotion that has risen because of my desire to either want to be alone, or work alone, or not have this person around. I attempt to push my own desires aside and find what it is that this person requires of me. It may simply be attention, they only want to speak and be heard. That's okay. I can take some time out of my day and listen to what they have to say. Maybe they are angry with me, maybe I have done something to upset them. I'll just have to let them speak, and then defend my actions and explain myself as I explained to myself when I did them. Maybe they just want to pester me. They want to see me get angry, they want attention, they want to get some sort of rise out of me, they want to win my emotions. In that case, I simply feel bad for that person. I don't know where in their life things went wrong and you honestly wished for other people to suffer, to feel pain. I am sorry that these things happened to the person. However I do not try to take their problems and make them my own, it's not my responsibility to fix people after they've been broken. Even though I will admit that there is some weird maternal bone in my body that does want to fix people like this. And I will admit that I am drawn to... "broken" .. people on occasion. But that's kind of a personal issue that I have to deal with.
I suppose I digress.
Buddhism is what I choose as a philosophy system, as a general handbook to live my life by. I do not consider it a religion, I am not devout nor do I believe every word of the many books of Buddhism. But there are some things that I believe in very much. Buddhism has a priniciple belief of the Four Noble Truths, and within them are what is known as the Eightfold Path. Within the Eightfold Path is where the mortal law of karma exists. I realize that karma has become a common Western word, and many people think they believe it means one thing and in reality most people would be incorrect.
I mold for myself what I believe out of Buddhism and karma. I do, in a sense, believe in a certain karma system. I believe that for every action taken, there is a consequential action delivered. However, what I'm finding through life, is that many times the good or bad karma you deal out may not come back to reflect upon you directly.
For example, if you murder someone, it does not mean you will be killed. I don't think anything in the world is black and white like that. But when a murder is committed, there is an incredible amount of possibilities created by the karma of that action. The negative action of causing someone's death may trigger another murder, which only creates more death. Or it may create sadness, which, in turn, only creates more sadness and suffering. Or it may create intense guilt, which may lead to more actions that create different kinds or amounts of anger, or death.
The same actions may be applied to positive karma situations. Every once in a while, usually when I go out to eat, I drop my spare change in the parking lot before I get in my car. I know that there are possibilities that my change will never be picked up, and was simply a waste of energy on my part. But I like to believe that a simple action I made was someone finding a quarter and two pennies, which made exact change when they went into the restaurant after me. Or maybe a kid steps on a penny and believes he or she will have good luck for the rest of the day, and then has a positive outlook. Even if it's just for a couple of hours. If my dropping 35 cents in a parking lot makes someone happy they had exact change, or a little girl thinks she has good luck, or a kid uses the quarter to buy a gumball, or even if someone just notices, "Hey, a quarter, cool", then I have created a positive karma situation for myself and for others. I am happy, because I think my actions will affect others positively, and others are happy, because they have gained something.
I digressed again.
I don't eat meat because I think it's unnecessary for me to do so. All of the nutritional values that meat holds can be obtained by other means. There are plenty of other ways for me to nourish myself without eating meat.
Don't misunderstand, however. I do miss meat from time to time. I'd like to go and get a chicken teriyaki sub sandwich, I'd like to drive through McDonalds for once and pick up and entire meal. It'd be convienent, quick, and nice. The fact that it's easy to do doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, though.
I also really enjoy cooking. Not being able to cook meat cuts out a LOT of cooking choices. Then again, I have made some interesting adjustments to recipes.
In the end, I think I decided to stop eating meat simply because I didn't want to. I have other options. I don't have to eat a dead creature to sustain my life. It simply isn't rational, to me. And I think somewhere, in the back of my head, I think that it's a bad idea. That by participating in eating the death of something seems like giving off negative karma. I realize as I type this that it sounds silly, and if someone else typed it I'd be quick to hit reply and call him/her out on it. But this just happens to be what I think. And I've been living this way for so long that it's a common belief to me and I am satisfied with the choices I make in life.
I have a good life at the end of the day. I'm in good physical and mental health, I have family, I have friends. And I know how to get through tomorrow, and the day after that, and if I struggle, I have a back-up system in Buddhism that hasn't let me down. Stuff's good.
.
