So, I'm a Buddhist now.

[Despanan]

"...“The Law” in “slandering the Law” refers to the Lotus Sutra. Of course, as Nichiren Daishonin made clear, the Lotus Sutra of the Latter Day means the sutra’s essence, the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo. But since the Daishonin expounded the Law of Nam-myoho-renge-kyo on the basis of the doctrines contained in the Lotus Sutra, when we examine the Buddhist concept of slander in terms of its doctrinal meaning, it is appropriate to take “the Law” to mean the Lotus Sutra. “A slander of the Law,” therefore, literally means a slander of the Lotus Sutra; it is speech or conduct that denies the teaching and ideal of the Lotus Sutra.

What is the teaching and ideal of the Lotus Sutra? The Daishonin expressed what he saw as the quintessence of the Lotus Sutra in the form of the Gohonzon, using the doctrine of the three thousand realms in a single moment of life (ichinen sanzen) as his theoretical foundation. Based on the Lotus Sutra, T’ien-t’ai expounded the doctrine of three thousand realms in a single moment to explain that all beings are entities of the Mystic Law, endowed with the Buddha nature. **In other words, the fundamental message of the Lotus Sutra is that all living beings have the Buddha nature and thus are infinitely precious and worthy of respect. The sanctity of life and the inherent dignity of all people are at the core of the Sutra’s teaching. From this perspective, we can define slander of the Law as any denial of the sanctity of life or the inherent dignity of all people**..."

http://sokaspirit.org/home/living-buddh ... tolerance/

[Rip]

"It's too bad that stupidity isn't painful."
- Anton Szandor LaVey

http://www.churchofsatan.com/nine-satan ... ements.php

[Despanan]

[Phantomgrift]

I denounce your denouncement on the grounds that your newfound religion is pie-in-the-sky hippy-dippy bullshit!

May our Lord Atom rain down from heaven and bless you, purifying your soul with his cleansing nuclear fire, returning life to that cosmic from whence it came.

[Despanan]

The world is hippie-dippy bullshit and it becomes more hippy dippy each and every year.

[dexeron]

Ain't nothing wrong with using a fictional character (or setting) as a framework to explain larger philosophical ideals you espouse. This is where I think Rip and Desp are closer in their approach than either would like to admit. (Assuming Rip's still a Satanist, I dunno dude, did you switch teams?)

Both espouse belief in something they both will admit isn't actually "real," but both view that "belief" as a useful tool with which to express those ideals that they do hold. In both cases, it's a metaphor, and both metaphors come along with specific rituals/language/habits that seem to have some kind of benefit for the person practicing them. If Rip wasn't getting a benefit from "hailing" Satan, he'd stop being a Satanist. Same for Desp; if he wasn't getting a benefit from meditating and Buddha-iznig, he'd kick that stuff to the curb.

I mean, there's still a world of difference between Desp and Rip. Like, a massive canyon of spikes and lava and mutant hellbeasts; your ideals are pretty much mutually exclusive. But the one area where you really seem to be similar is that you don't merely hold ideals, but you both believe that those ideals can often be expressed in ways that look pretty kooky and stupid to outsiders who don't realize that those kooky bits are just ways of making tangible some intangible esoteric mental bullshit.

Like, whoah, metaphors can be powerful tools, man.

(I'm the same; I don't literally follow the Path of the Avatar from a freaking 1985 computer game, but I do think it's a great metaphor for the ideals I do hold, so it's a fun way to express my philosophy of how to act, and be a super-dork at the same time.)

[Rip]

Blargh okay here. I posted the LaVey stuff in direct response to Despanan's proselytizing (you srsly just made an entire post out of nowhere that was the literal equivalent of showing up at our collective door with a friggin pamphlet) and hit you with something I haven't linked to since college. This is key, because it was meant to shame you by holding up a mirror. Instead you responded with the "so edgy" picture, which would mean I SHOULD have responded with a simple edit of the same replacing "edgy" with "spiritual" so we can continue the back n forth, but come the fuck on man, I'm over 30 now and if you didn't get it the first time then I've realized it likely ain't gonna work at all around here.

Dex, as per usual, is closer to the mark. These days I'd be more likely to illustrate my moral conceptualizations using superheroes over Christian mythology, and a lot of good philosophy can be summed up as "What Would Captain America Do?", but it's still strictly an atheistic viewpoint that blah blah blah who really cares.

This should be simple stuff in the Post ClanBOB world we all live in, but here's the follow-the-bouncing-ball-version. We're enlightened beings because we realize humans occasionally need their religion prostates rubbed, and however you get off is all hunky dory so long as you don't think yours is the best/only/most valid way because it smacks of losing sight of the wonderful diversity of human brains. Agent could cover himself in mustard and fart the tetragrammaton every night if he needs to, and I'm gonna support him to the fullest, and fight for his right to have his religious beliefs recognized and protected...up until the moment he tells me all non-mustard-rubbers "don't get it" and "need this" and "me liking this means it's right and everyone needs something like this or else". I'll still support him, just not too specifically now.

tl;dr I'm glad a cult touched you and I support their touching of you if it makes you happy, but your beliefs are wrong because mine are right.

[dexeron]

[Rip]

nono, you're still on the right track

[Despanan]