buddhism is a very non violent and peaceful religion. but they have not been all that popular . why?

Question

u find wars , terrorists , violence in people of every faith . there have been the crusades among christians, terrorists among muslims, fanatism among hindus, and so on. But u never read of this among buddhists. should not the world try to know of this great and less popular religion ?

Answer 1

Absolutely. However the problem may lie in Evangelism. I've never had a buddhist ring my door bell to promote their church. I've never been accosted by one at an airport and I don't believe that they're currently involved in any Holy Wars at the moment.

I think the most important part of Buddhism is that, at its most basic, it is compatible with other religions. You can love and respect life and try to be the best person you can regardless of religion and I'm not aware with any part of the Noble Eigthfold Path.

Answer 2

Because Buddhism, which is a religion, is intellectually rigorous and requires practice. It isn't a religion that lends itself to the sort of superficial "believe a couple of things and pop into church every once in a while" attitude. Now in the West, where Buddhism has been watered down into a New Age joke that doesn't resemble what is actually being practiced right now in Asia or in serious Dharma centers in the west, maybe it is possible to label yourself a "Buddhist" and not really change your life and behavior or do any studying. You see this watered down fluff-bunny fake buddhism in the west when you see people say "Buddhism is not a religion" or "Buddhism is just about being nice to people" or "Buddhism doesn't have any real beliefs, just be good" and similar rot.

From a traditional Buddhist view, the Buddha said that the Dharma was a very, very rare thing among humans. Among humans, not all will ever even hear of the Dharma. Of those who do, not all will be interested enough to look into it. Of those who do, very few will have the excellent karma to find the pure Dharma and not just some half-baked version. Of those who do that, very few will have the excellent karma to be able to recognize its value. Of those who do, very few will be prompted to actually put the pure Dharma they have learned into real-world practice. Furthermore the Buddha himself predicted the death of the Dharma. He was the fourth Buddha of this age, ever hear of the other three? See what I mean? We are, according to sutra, in a degenerated age as far as the Dharma is concerned. In other words, not much of it is left. It takes a vast amount of very pure karma to keep the Dharma alive in the world, and that has to run out eventually.

I would also like to say that I see more false information on Buddhism than any other subject, especially on forums like this. Buddhism is not the wishy-washy vague New Age feel good happy go lucky loose set of beliefs that many Westerners seem to think it is. Not even Zen. It is a system with rigorously defined terms and definite propositions and theories, just like any robust science or philosophy or technical subject. At my temple we joke that Buddhism is a religion of lists since every theory is laid out in logical order with clearly defined terms and premises. We do have lots of lists to study. UGH :-)

Answer 3

Buddhists are not trained or taught to save or convert other people. The teaching is to find themselves only with the help of Buddha's teachings. There is no central church where the FUND is going and there is no CONTROL of people's lives and families by the church or monks. Buddhists are very free and do not need to pay or obey strict rules by the church. It is a very self ONE TO ONE religion. Every Buddhists has its own philosophy to deal with life and they are all contented by themselves. There was no war or crusade in Buddhism history since it understand people nature and that there is no need for aggression. Buddhists respect other religions and will pity people who are fighting for religion since it clearly shows how ignorant they are of themselves. The ILLUSIONS in this short life. The real truth is to CONQUER yourself and not others.

Answer 4

Oh, there has been violence linked with Buddhism. look up King Songtsen Gampo, the fifth Dalai Lama, as an party. yet popular, it is surely genuine that Buddhism is a lot a lot less violent than, say, the "Abrahamic" religions, quite Christianity and Islam.

Answer 5

Buddhism didn't enforce their spread by violence. That's the only reason the three religions that originated from the mid-east still exist.

It would be nice if others followed the true Prince of Peace, which was the Buddha.

Answer 6

It's quite simple. The religion demands to be a vegetarian and demands you to love all the beings on earth. I just think Western people cannot live without their beef and chicken or the turkey.

Answer 7

- It requires you actually DO something about your own existence and attitudes.
- It's pretty rough on cultures accustomed to instant gratification of any and all whims.
- It has no easy "believe in X and you are saved" formulas. You actually have to work at it.
- It generally regards most western creation myths as silly.
- It requires a longer attention span than most people cultivate.

Answer 8

There are fundamentalist Buddhists in Sri Lanka that have used terrorism to get their political goals. Strange, but true.

Answer 9

Buddhism is not a religion. It is a philosophy of life.
There are no gods in Buddhism, only teachers and enlightened ones.

Answer 10

yes i think so, and i have already started to study this philosophy and tried to spread the word of this amazing philosophy