Shouldn't Buddhists be more concerned about going out and helping people rather than sitting in meditation?

Question

Isn't just sitting there staring at nothing while people are outside starving kind of selfish and gay?

Answer 1

Who are you, the Buddhist police?

Answer 2

So you've gotten tired of trolling the Xies then?

Buddhist practice varies, but it's more like meditation replaces things like television, gossip and insulting other people. That level of non-attachment means helping others becomes truly second nature.

Answer 3

Nobel nominee Thich Nhat Hanh addresses the need for "Engaged Buddhism" in his books written largely for American Buddhists. He notes that Western culture focuses on "doing" while Eastern culture focuses on "being." Indeed there should be a balance, instead of one extreme or another. The same way American Westerners are criticized for imposing too much or focusing too much on individualism, the Eastern cultures can suppress the individual so much, always putting the family or elders first, there is too much passivity which, as the Dalai Lama discovered, makes it impossible to act to oppose oppression. So peaceful nonviolence has its limits, and at some point we must strike a balance between being passive and active.

As for meditation, as one Christian explains it, Christian prayer is like talking to God, while Buddhist meditation is letting God answer. So you need BOTH to have a conversation. I think it is wise to reflect objectively, to be aware at all times of one's thoughts, words and actions, so that these are always kept "in perspective" with the whole, with relation to others instead of acting or speaking blindly without recognizing the effect. That is the purpose of meditation, to be "mindful" of one's actions, of the patterns of cause and effect in life, so that you seek to be in harmony and not in conflict, to live with wisdom and compassion at all time in order to bring healing instead of adding suffering.

Doing nothing, or ignoring the ill impact on others, is as selfish as acting for one's own benefit at the expense of others. What is right and true at any moment is not only good for ourselves but others equally. The purpose in life is to achieve that balance and harmony, and meditation is part of that study and learning.

Answer 4

There's nothing gay about breaking the chains of material desire. Real gayness is being a slave to materialism.

Answer 5

When you sit there eating, shouldn't you be out there helping people rather than stuffing your face?

Answer 6

They said the same thing about Jesus!

Answer 7

Another homophobic question. Let me guess... you're christian.

Answer 8

Who says they don't?