Philosophical Vegan Forum

This link jumps into the tape at the five minute mark. This gets straight into "the dirt" of the video, for those with a short attention span; I do have a prior background in the study of both canonical Buddhism and… uh… "real world" Buddhist institutions (for lack of a better term).

Atheism, Empirical Attitudes, and Buddhism
http://youtu.be/bjTr1hQ9_WY?t=5m43s

I speak somewhat slowly and clearly throughout the whole video, as I assumed that many of the people seeing it would speak English as their second language (there are a few captions in Chinese, etc.).

I made a separate video on Buddhist meditation, and the contrasts between the pseudoscience used to justify it, and what the religion really consists of:

Buddhist Meditation is NOT a Science of the Mind
http://youtu.be/EZZZFk3pYa0

Great video!

I think you meant ID, or Intelligent Design, and not Creationism in general (which includes the branch that rejects evolution entirely and involved YHWH creating Adam from mud instantly and Eve from his "rib").

Creationism:
-Young Earth literal creationism
-"Intelligent Design"; which rejects random mutation and natural selection as the sole source of genetic diverisyt, and asserts that 'God' guided evolution because it would be impossible on its own due to 'irreducible complexity'
-Acceptance of evolution entirely (like Ken Miller) but belief that the universe was set in motion by god with foreknowledge of the outcomes of natural processes and sometimes that our souls were created by god and put into early humans

Sure there is a lot of bullshit circulating in Buddhist circles that are completely unscientific, but there is much research going on lately on the benefits of meditation and mindfulness (having to do with stress, anxiety, depression, etc.). It's not going to give you any answers about objective reality, although most teachers and gurus try to do exactly that. But I think you can't just bundle meditation and mindfulness together with all the nonsense to dismiss it altogether.

Have you read Dan Harris' or Sam Harris' skeptical approach on the subject?

These meditation techniques were known in ancient India prior to Birth of Buddha. Even Buddha himself saw a man meditating when he first left his palace. Hence it cannot be attributed to Buddhism. I am not sure if it is appropriate to relate Yoga, Meditation to any religion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4uY8Gsa9a4

paresh wrote:These meditation techniques were known in ancient India prior to Birth of Buddha. Even Buddha himself saw a man meditating when he first left his palace. Hence it cannot be attributed to Buddhism.

That's true, but that doesn't take away the fact that a lot of practices, techniques and teachings have been developed as part of Buddhism.

paresh wrote:I am not sure if it is appropriate to relate Yoga, Meditation to any religion.

You can relate certain practices and techniques to Buddhism, but it of course doesn't mean they have a monopoly on it. Other religions, cultures or movements also have their own meditation practices. It seems that the Buddhist practices are the most commonly practiced ones though.

You guys never met the living Arhath (Enlightened One)
[link removed- don't spam the forum on your first post]