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Why So Many Americans Are Turning to Buddhism
The concept of impermanence
One of Buddhism's most popular teaching is the so-called 'impermanence. The term refers to the idea that everything has an end, no matter how difficult might seem to deal with at a certain point in time.
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Buddhism and its advantages
More and more people are turning today to Buddhism, in order to find back the quietness that everyday life makes them lose.
Moreover, individuals claim that Buddhism enables them to deal with their suffering and find joy within.
The miracle of the Buddhist practices
Whether it is about the 'secular' or the 'buffet' Buddhism, individuals admit embracing these practices as they prove more efficient both from an emotional and a financial point of view.se
The concept of impermanence
One of Buddhism's most popular teaching is the so-called 'impermanence. The term refers to the idea that everything has an end, no matter how difficult might seem to deal with at a certain point in time.
SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
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Key Ideas
The Zen View Of Morals
Evil cannot be destroyed, any more than good can, because they are polar opposites of the same thing. Destruction and creation, chaos and order; opposite aspects of reality, in tension with one ano...
The Zen View Of Life
For Zen practitioners, life is transitory and insubstantial. There is no security and thinking otherwise is a waste of time.
They also don’t believe in an afterlife. Reincarnation can be more accurately thought of as a constant rebirth, of death throughout life, and the continual coming and going of universal energy before and after death.
The Zen View Of The World
The word 'Zen' means emptiness or void. This is the basis of Zen — that all that exists is based on a dynamic emptiness. Which is also what quantum science says.
In this view, there is no difference between matter and energy. Look at anything closely enough and you will see that it is an event, not a thing. Furthermore, there is not a ‘multiplicity of events’. There is just one event, with multiple aspects, unfolding.
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Contemporary mindfulness
Research findings conclude that regular mindfulness meditation reduces stress and builds resilience.
Yet, those who practice contemporary mindfulness find, instead of engaging in ca...
Mindfulness critics
- Mindfulness does not demonstrate the truth of key Buddhist doctrines. The nonjudgmental aspects are at odds with Buddhist meditation, where people are supposed to actively evaluate and engage with their experiences.
- The goals of mindfulness attempt to reduce suffering, but Buddhism aims to escape the miserable cycle of rebirth altogether.
- Mindfulness has moved from therapy to commodification, and a corrupted version results from it.
Mindfulness is unsuited for self-understanding
Mindfulness is grounded in the Buddhist doctrine. It is a metaphysical denial of the self - there is no soul, spirit or any ongoing individual basis for identity. There is no 'self' or 'me', and consequently, no thoughts that are 'mine'.se
Western metaphysics holds that there is some entity to whom all these experiences are happening. We refer to this entity as 'I' or 'me'.
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Mindfulness meditation
It is based on Buddhist traditions and it's described as "the non-judgmental awareness of experiences in the present moment."
Sit in a quiet place with your eyes closed, focusing on yo...
How meditation works
- Attention regulation. Focused attention for an extended period of time.
- Body awareness. Paying attention to surroundings, thoughts and bodily sensations.
- Emotion regulation. Learning to observe your thoughts and accept them without reactive judgment while refraining from the habitual response.
- Change in perspective on the self.
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Mindfulness is not a magic panacea
The inventor of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction proclaims that mindfulness may "be the only promise the species and the planet have for making it through the next couple of hundred years...
Mindfulness has been repackaged
Although mindfulness originated from Buddhism, it has been stripped from most of its teachings.
What remains is nothing more than a self-help tool to help one get used to the very conditions that caused the problems. While is it a noble aim to reduce stress and anxiety, it is more important to acknowledge and address the underlying cause of the suffering.
The message of the mindfulness
The message of the mindfulness movement is that the underlying cause is in our mind - a "thinking disease" or a kind of attention deficit disorder.
Rather than discussing how attention is monetized and manipulated by corporations, mindfulness advocates to view the crisis as an internal battle. The result is that we meekly retreat into the private sphere without critically engaging with the causes of suffering in the structures of power and economic systems of capitalist society.
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