"Shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism" = not religions!
Russian or Chinese: Which Is More Worth Learning?
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Guest "Shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism" = not religions! "
This is a very narrow view of religion. A religion is at its core a set of descriptive and prescriptive beliefs. That is, it tries to explain why life is how it is and how one should live it.
Abrahamic religions happen to do it by invoking an omnipotent deity that must be pleased; Shamanism does it by invoking nature and/or many lesser deities to be pleased; Buddhism does it by deconstructing our sensory experience and urging us to see beyond it; Taoism does it by recognizing a universal balance and insisting that it be maintained.
They're all simply different solutions to the same questions.
This is a very narrow view of religion. A religion is at its core a set of descriptive and prescriptive beliefs. That is, it tries to explain why life is how it is and how one should live it.
Abrahamic religions happen to do it by invoking an omnipotent deity that must be pleased; Shamanism does it by invoking nature and/or many lesser deities to be pleased; Buddhism does it by deconstructing our sensory experience and urging us to see beyond it; Taoism does it by recognizing a universal balance and insisting that it be maintained.
They're all simply different solutions to the same questions.
That's too easy.
As an American, I believe in freedom of religion or freedom to refuse religion, but it doesn't make sense to say that these are solutions. I would say that they are attempts to explain, attempts to codify behaviour and attempts (at times) to answer universal questions.
They cannot ALL be solutions unless the questions are unimportant
because the answer is NOT the same in each belief system.
You cannot say that there is only one God and also multiple gods, for example.
I don't know what it is, but something is bothering me mathematically about your post.
I think your opinion is a popular one, but not mine.
As an American, I believe in freedom of religion or freedom to refuse religion, but it doesn't make sense to say that these are solutions. I would say that they are attempts to explain, attempts to codify behaviour and attempts (at times) to answer universal questions.
They cannot ALL be solutions unless the questions are unimportant
because the answer is NOT the same in each belief system.
You cannot say that there is only one God and also multiple gods, for example.
I don't know what it is, but something is bothering me mathematically about your post.
I think your opinion is a popular one, but not mine.
I think it's your use of "solutions" that bothers me. If "solutions" is like the answer to a problem, then I want to know what kind of math we are doing. Are we going for "close enough" or do we need a precise answer like we need in certain fields?
This is bothering me like a problem I saw in a math book by a man who is also (oddly enough) a polyglot/linguist. I can see where the problem is on the page in my mind, but I can't put it together. AAARGHHHHH!
I don't get you. What exactly is the problem? I suppose a religion is kind of like a set of axioms, and you derive answers on life and how to live from them.
KT
Your first paragraph sounds a lot like a rewording of my own, so I think you're getting too hung up on the word solution here.
When I said solutions I did not mean that they're all objectively "correct" despite clearly contradicting each other.
By solution I meant a personal one; not a universal one. For some people the suras and prescriptions in the Quran answer their questions, for others the 8-fold path in Buddhism rubs them the right way.
However, the notion that some and not others meet the requirement for being termed a religion is a very ill-founded one to my mind.
Your first paragraph sounds a lot like a rewording of my own, so I think you're getting too hung up on the word solution here.
When I said solutions I did not mean that they're all objectively "correct" despite clearly contradicting each other.
By solution I meant a personal one; not a universal one. For some people the suras and prescriptions in the Quran answer their questions, for others the 8-fold path in Buddhism rubs them the right way.
However, the notion that some and not others meet the requirement for being termed a religion is a very ill-founded one to my mind.
"When I said solutions I did not mean that they're all objectively "correct" despite clearly contradicting each other."
Okay, I got it. Thanks.
Okay, I got it. Thanks.
I've taken both Russian and Mandarin Chinese (weird story, but I won't waste your time with it)
Chinese is DEFINITELY more difficult. Especially if you're interested in reading/writing. Russian only took me a few years to learn and only about a month to learn to read/write it (after a week I could kind of read/write it.) Pronunciation is also much more simple.
I don't know if that was helpful, but hopefully it was. Good luck with your language endeavors!
Chinese is DEFINITELY more difficult. Especially if you're interested in reading/writing. Russian only took me a few years to learn and only about a month to learn to read/write it (after a week I could kind of read/write it.) Pronunciation is also much more simple.
I don't know if that was helpful, but hopefully it was. Good luck with your language endeavors!
"A religion is at its core a set of descriptive and prescriptive beliefs. That is, it tries to explain why life is how it is and how one should live it"
I'd call that philosophy, but whatever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy#Branches_of_philosophy
I'd call that philosophy, but whatever.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy#Branches_of_philosophy
<< "Shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism" = not religions! >>
The word "Taoism" is used to translate different Chinese terms:
Taochia / Daojia (道家): Laozi's Taoism or "Philosophical Taoism”is a school of the Tao refering to a group of scholars who studied the Tao. The First Master of this school is sage Laozi. This philosophical school based on the texts of Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi, ect. Taochia was a school of The Hundred Schools of Thought in the time of Spring and Autumn Period (770 b.c. - 476 b.c.). Philosophical Taoism was prohibited by the Emperor Han Wudi (141 b.c. - 86 b.c.) of Western Han Dynasty (206 b.c. - 23 a.d.) for teaching in the public educational systems and government's officers of the Great Han Empire.
Taochiao / Daojiao (道教): Zhang Daoling's Taoism or " Religious Taoism”is a religion based on a kind of folk religion with many practices of white magics and mixed with teachings of the texts of Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi. An organized Chinese religious movement originating from the missionaries of Celestial Masters during the late of Eastern Han Dynasty (25 a.d. - 220 a.d.) which trace back to the First Celestial Master Zhang Daoling in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Schools_of_Thought
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
The word "Taoism" is used to translate different Chinese terms:
Taochia / Daojia (道家): Laozi's Taoism or "Philosophical Taoism”is a school of the Tao refering to a group of scholars who studied the Tao. The First Master of this school is sage Laozi. This philosophical school based on the texts of Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi, ect. Taochia was a school of The Hundred Schools of Thought in the time of Spring and Autumn Period (770 b.c. - 476 b.c.). Philosophical Taoism was prohibited by the Emperor Han Wudi (141 b.c. - 86 b.c.) of Western Han Dynasty (206 b.c. - 23 a.d.) for teaching in the public educational systems and government's officers of the Great Han Empire.
Taochiao / Daojiao (道教): Zhang Daoling's Taoism or " Religious Taoism”is a religion based on a kind of folk religion with many practices of white magics and mixed with teachings of the texts of Tao Te Ching and Zhuangzi. An organized Chinese religious movement originating from the missionaries of Celestial Masters during the late of Eastern Han Dynasty (25 a.d. - 220 a.d.) which trace back to the First Celestial Master Zhang Daoling in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Schools_of_Thought
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taoism
I am sorry, but a real Buddhist wouldn't waste time with that:
<< "Shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism" = not religions! >>.
From my homeland, a man must attend to his Buddhist duties at least sometime in his life. They must be untouched of want (well said, Buddhism tries to urge you to live a good life, and then reach happiness, not as a reward, but a natural feeling) and love, to find happiness. So, a true Buddhist would not be on a computer or laptop to respond to the question. It is not a "scolding" to have love and want when you are a Buddhist, but, that is the whole idea you are trying to do. Get rid of the want. Or, suffering as some Buddhist books and teachers would say.
If the person "was" referring to Buddhism as a set of principles (or a philosophy), and NOT a religion, this would be wrong too. It can be both, but never only a set of principles.
Anyways, as I myself is from Laos, and the pronunciation is similar, I suggest Chinese, if you are under the Asian influence (East Asian, or Southeast). If you are a westerner, and not had an Asian influence, then Russian, but Chinese (Mandarin) is spoken widely like Spanish. China is becoming a Superpower, so learning Chinese maybe good. It also helps them attain some status as a country :)
<< "Shamanism, Taoism, Buddhism" = not religions! >>.
From my homeland, a man must attend to his Buddhist duties at least sometime in his life. They must be untouched of want (well said, Buddhism tries to urge you to live a good life, and then reach happiness, not as a reward, but a natural feeling) and love, to find happiness. So, a true Buddhist would not be on a computer or laptop to respond to the question. It is not a "scolding" to have love and want when you are a Buddhist, but, that is the whole idea you are trying to do. Get rid of the want. Or, suffering as some Buddhist books and teachers would say.
If the person "was" referring to Buddhism as a set of principles (or a philosophy), and NOT a religion, this would be wrong too. It can be both, but never only a set of principles.
Anyways, as I myself is from Laos, and the pronunciation is similar, I suggest Chinese, if you are under the Asian influence (East Asian, or Southeast). If you are a westerner, and not had an Asian influence, then Russian, but Chinese (Mandarin) is spoken widely like Spanish. China is becoming a Superpower, so learning Chinese maybe good. It also helps them attain some status as a country :)
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