Quote:
Originally Posted by livi
The very notion of ignoring all your natural cravings (money, more money, climbing the social ladder, materialistic resources, your neighbor´s wife) aiming to get a leg up in the gene pool race seems a tough path to wander. At least if one is serious about it.
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it doesn't have to be that hardcore
not everybody is cut out to become a Zen Master or Lama
the 4 Noble Truths and the 8 fold Path is just a way to make life easier
you can take em as serious as you like
you take em either as a loose guideline and live a life without terribly big compromises (unless off course you are an axe murderer, in which case i think it's not compatible without some pretty major compromise in lifestyle),
or you make em your life's goal, become vegitarian, study everything you can,give up your worldly possessions, say goodbye to everybody you know, and headover to India, Thailand, Japan
or basically any place you think you best work and meditate towards that goal
either way, Budhism really only requires you to accept the 4 truths
the 8 fold path and everything else, is just up for grabs
you can't do wrong either way, you can only try
there's no hell, no heaven
the "reincarnation" stuff doesn't even mean there is an afterlife or that your current "ego" will remain what it is
that's not what drives Buddhism in it's core, maybe Tibetan Buddhists focus more on that part, but that's just one "branch" of Buddhism , Zen Buddhism is completely different, different approach, different methods and neither "branch" is right or wrong as a whole, they might not be right for you, that's another story, but they all share the same Truth's and Path, they just try to work it out in a different way... one can either try to follow a way that exists, or figure out his own way, nothing wrong with that