Give me a brief description of Buddhism, Kabala, and Atheism?

Question

To the followers of these beliefs, what made you follow this path? And if anyone told you that this path is wrong, how will you defend your belief and what evidence will you use?
Please answer respectfully. No insults are intended to your beliefs I am just seeking information. :)

PS. don't trash and insult other religions and beliefs when answering.

Answer 1

I've practiced Buddhist meditation techniques and Qabalistic methods of exegesis, and I'm an atheist.

Buddhism is, at core, a system of non-dogmatic practices designed to help the aspirant attain "Enlightenment," which is best described as a state of being in which the Ego is destroyed and one is united with the "Absolute." No "faith" of any kind is required - by doing certain things, certain results follow. In fact, none of the terms I've used here can have any meaning save through direct practical experience.

Qabalah was originally a branch of Jewish mysticism, but its foundation, the geometric diagram called the "Tree of Life," is a nonsectarian method of classifying everything in the universe in terms of pure number. Again, only serious study and practice can possibly convey what this means.

Atheism is only a reaction against theism. We haven't had to invent a special word for people who disbelieve in leprechauns, because people aren't killing each other and robbing people of their basic human rights in the name of leprechaun-belief.

Answer 2

Atheism is the LACK of belief in a God. It is not a belief at all.

I've always been an atheist, pretty much. I never thought about it, but once I did, it made sense that there is no God. I would defend it by saying: It is human nature to go around anthropomorphizing everything. That is why nearly every culture everywhere has come up with their own God(s). Humans are also curious. They want to know how where we came from — where everything came from. People fear the unknown... they would rather have an untrue answer, than no answer at all.

Humans used to think that Gods or Spirits made the river flow, the rain fall, and the sun rise. We now know it's not so. God is always placed into the areas we don't have answers for. As science progressed, the need for the God patch decreased. It's still decreasing. God also happens to be contradictory. The bible is as well, which makes it obvious that it was written by humans. Anyways, having a God doesn't answer anything. You just get another question that way: where did that God come from?

One way to resolve this "issue" is to conclude that *existence* is eternal, and time was only implemented afterwards, for "our" universe (perhaps not the only one). But the truth? We don't know. There's a good chance we'll never know. Um... yeah. So, that's what I would say! lol. I hope I've been somewhat helpful.

Answer 3

Kabbalah is not a separate belief system than Judaism. It is the mystical deeper dimensions of the Torah. It is an integral part of Judaism, not something separate from it.

(this does NOT include the "Kabbalah Centre", which is a rip off - the man who runs it is NOT a rabbi and has been excommunicated from Judaism, stay away from that place, they do not teach real Jewish Kabbalah, but are more like used car salesmen.)

There is "Qabbalah" which is a later transformation of the original Jewish Kabbalah into the more Western Golden Dawn type of belief, which isn't connected in any way to Judaism. Basically they took a few of the Jewish concepts, changed them around to fit their Golden Dawn belief system, and made a whole new thing out of it.

Then there is "Cabbala" which is the more Christianized version, which may or may not include gnosticism and other deeper meanings underneath the base doctrines of Christianity. Some people who claim to follow this path also say they are Christian in the way that they "manifest Christ Consciousness" without the religious dogma attached. Again, this one has no resemblence to the original Jewish Kabbalah.

Hope this helps you out on the Kabbalah part anyway. I'm not a buddhist or an athiest, so I don't want to speak for them.

Here are some sources for authentic Jewish Kabbalah if you are interested:

http://www.kabbalahonline.org
http://www.ascentofsafed.org
http://www.inner.org
http://www.torahscience.org/sitemap.html...
http://www.chabad.org (look under Parshah In Depth)
http://www.koshertorah.com (look under the Library link)

Source: Me, Jewish

Answer 4

Buddhist with Hindu leanings. I chose Buddhism because it teaches a specific system of ridding one's self of suffering through altruism. (this is a very generic explanation but Buddhism is a lot to go into) I also chose it because it makes a lot of sense. It also gives me the freedom to question, explore and think. If someone attacks me I would just tell them that this is what they feel and to please try to be respectful. I don't need to defend myself nor would it be productive nor would it follow the dharma teachings. If they said I was on the wrong path I would again politely tell them that this is how they feel. Namaste (Buddhist Yogini)

Answer 5

in case you seem on the time line of those 2 religions you are able to detect some thing interesting: Buddhism started in Northern India around 500 BC. It replaced into based on the classes of Guatama Siddharta (or Buddha) who after gazing the hostility and suffering around him, searched interior himself for solutions and enlightenment. He performed the state of "bodhi", enlightenment. A buddha is merely one that has attained this state. there have been many "buddhas". He then travelled broadly with many followers spreading his teachings. This persisted after his dying and replaced into to blame for civilizing maximum of Asia and China (that have been exceedingly bababaric beforehand this time.) 500 years later christianity started interior the middle East. there's a lot similarity between the classes of Jesus and those from the East originated by Guatama Buddha. I easily have for my section in many cases questioned, considering there are no longer any information interior the hot testomony, what Jesus easily did beforehand he arrived on the scene on the age of 30 (approx). Is it achieveable that he travelled East , performed "bodhi" and delivered those teachings back to the individuals of the middle East ? i easily see little or no distinction between the issue-loose classes and ideas taught by Jesus and those of Guatama Buddha.

Answer 6

Atheism. I disbelieve in anything supernatural. I don't "follow a path". If anyone told me that my beliefs was wrong, I don't need to defend myself, as they tend not to do it themselves. :)

Answer 7

Kaballa is actually a special study within Judaism, concerning the mystical aspects of Torah reading and reunion with God...

http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_Kabbalah1.html

Answer 8

Nothing about Buddhism is very brief w/o the threat of something being misunderstood, therefore I direct you towards a great website that'll give you all the "lowdown" you want on Buddhism. www.buddhanet.net

BTW we're essentially atheist too.

_()_

Answer 9

Buddhism says be empty of self, while Jesus says be empty of self for the sake of being filled with the Holy Spirit. Kabala is like Hinduism in that it places self between two mirrors to imagine the self as an infinite god. Atheism is hatred of God with lots of lame excuses.

Answer 10

1. Tibeten mostly
2. Never heard of it
3. It means that they only believe something if the are looking for the proof and the proof is right in front of their faces. All except for the supernatural teaching of evolution, which they only believe because the liberals say so.