Posted on 09/18/2013 3:12:41 AM PDT by markomalley
In the aftermath of the Navy Yard shootings, gunman Aaron Alexis’s interest in Buddhism seemed at odds with conventional Western stereotypes of blissed-out meditators.
Buddhism scholars and bloggers were quick to note that Alexis’ spiritual profile didn’t fit with the image of someone unloading a gun and killing 12 innocents in a crowded military office building.
Yet some saw a chance to challenge the peaceful stereotype and unveil some topics Buddhists discuss amongst themselves. Is the peaceful Buddhist an illusion? Do Buddhists and Buddhist temples deal directly enough with the topic of mental illness? And in fact might Buddhism in particular attract the mentally ill?
“As Buddhism has spread in the West, it has put forth and maintained an image of being a peaceful religion,” Buddhist ethicist Justin Whitaker, author of the American Buddhist blog, wrote Tuesday. “This is a myth.”
Buddhism can seem particularly appealing to “mentally unbalanced people seeking to right the ship of their lives, to self-medicate, to curb their impulses, or to give them a firmer grip on reality,” Clark Strand, a contributing editor to the Buddhist publication Tricycle magazine and a former Zen monk, said in an interview.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hinduism and deities? Way too many...and each have way too many appendages and appendages of strange animals.
yeah Buddhists don’t have a Deity. does that make them NOT a Religion? all religions are in fact philosophies to a point. I don’t see how they are not a religion.
Not every nutjob is motivated by religion.
SHEESH
“As (Islam) has spread in the West, it has put forth and maintained an image of being a peaceful religion,” Buddhist ethicist Justin Whitaker, author of the American Buddhist blog, wrote Tuesday. “This is a myth.”
Do you have a citation on that? This is an important fact.
And whatever we do, lets not discuss that he was a classic Paranoid Schizophrenic.
When muzzies yell ala achbar and shoot the place up it is “workplace violence”. When a so called Buddist convert shoots the place up it is religious violence. /sarc
“The nut job murderer wasn’t a Buddhist.” No, he was an Obama worshiper!!!
Buddhism is a philosophy not a faith. Buddha can’t save anyone and doesn’t claim to do so.
“I know and have worked with Buddhists(all of Asian extraction). They are gentle people.”
I attend the Zen Buddhist service occasionally as I enjoy the meditation aspects of the religion. From first hand experience I can say that some of the angry female Buddhists are as legalistic as the jihadists! (funny my spell check gave me a misspell on jihadists and when I hit for correct spelling it gave me “sadists!!”)
Buddhist my *ss.
If he was a Buddhist, then I’m Czar Nicholas the First.
What a crock.
“all religions are in fact philosophies to a point. I don’t see how they are not a religion.”
Very true. They are philosophies into the anatomy & physiology of the human soul.
-And whatever we do, lets not discuss that he was a classic Paranoid Schizophrenic.-
This. Mental disorder. If it was a Christian that had a mental disorder and did this, we’d be screaming that they are trying to attack Christians.
There were black victims:
“The dozen victims in the Washington Navy Yard had one thing in common — each was inside Building 197 at 8:20 a.m. Monday when the shooting started:
LJ, I’d be interesting in reading your thoughts about this.
Man, Satan’s servants are quick to defend his religions. Buddhism is a terrible practice. Go live in Southeast Asia for a while and see what happens in a society where that religion is practiced. Islam is even worse. Go live where it is dominant and see what happens. I am so tired of lies and ignorance.
Over a million Buddhists have been murdered by the communist Chinese since their invasion of Tibet in 1949. That they may be resisting Muslim hedgemony in Myanmar and other such countries is not surprising. Violence against Christians is minimal.
Personally... I think it’s less a case of “Buddhist” and more a case of a mentally-ill guy just LOSING it and deciding “Yup....Today’s THE DAY!!!”
We have a severely mentally-disturbed black male with feelings of racial persecution, lefty political leanings, and some good old homicidal rage thrown into the mix.
And he just lost it. Pretty cut and dried.
The media will try to assign ANYTHING they can to it to keep milking it for a few weeks - it takes attention off of The Boy King’s miserable failures in policy - Syria, Benghazi, Obamacare, etc.
Our common understanding of what’s ‘religion’ and what’s ‘philosophy’ is really shaped by our understanding of Judeo-Christianity concepts, e.g., the presence of deity. To some degree, it may put Christians in disadvantage when schools can teach Buddhism, and other non-deity-type teachings freely by arguing what you just said.
It appeared in an interview with one of the survivors, a woman who was among the first to get out and be interviewed. She said he was “selecting” his targets.
I have been hearing that southern Thailand has been having fighting going on between Muslims and Buddhists.
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