Mikeb85

Who ordained him? The founder of the sect he belongs was ordained in a Theravada school, but left, and studied under Tibetan teachers. He was later formally expelled from a Theravada Vihara, and began his own sect (Triratna Buddhist Community). The sect he belongs to simply isn't a Theravada school or community. This is pretty obvious, and they don't claim such to begin with.

I am not dismissing him, merely attempting to put his words into context, and show potential sources of bias (which there are). You are wrong that he is a Theravada Buddhist (he isn't, which is a matter of fact), and his other most notable work was a translation of the "Bodhicaryavatara" (which is most definitely not a Theravada work).

First, there is a difference between the acknowledgement of the existence of deities, and devotion to said deities for the purpose of some sort of salvation. Second, there is bias inherent in academia because donors (both private and governmental) have a say in which studies are pursued, and which aren't.

Are you incapable of proper criticism? The topic of this discussion is "The Skeptical "Buddhist"...Critical thinking & Buddhism..", yet you are merely blindly accepting the works of a specific academic who happens to share your viewpoint. Even more, not reading his words closely enough to see that his position is far from being 'definitive'. He doesn't even claim such. Furthermore, you are completely ignoring potential sources of bias in the work...

Except he isn't. He belongs to this group: http://bristol-buddhist-centre.org/, which is associated with the Triratna Buddhist Community: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triratna_Buddhist_Community, which, although taking certain elements of Theravada, also claims Tibetan Buddhist lineage and blends practices from Mahayana, Vajrayana and Theravada... The founder has also been accused of sexually exploiting young boys, and the group has come under other various criticisms (if you read anything about them you'll see why).

Anyone who's been involved in academia (I am right now btw) knows that there's politics at play in Universities...

Syncretic leanings? How about the blending of Buddhist doctrine with Hindu doctrines and devotions, and the teachings of the Mahasiddhas? This is pretty much the definition of syncretic, the fact it happened in India doesn't make it less so...

So the entire history of the Theravada-Mahasanghika schism is summarized by a sentence fragment, produced by a British academic who belongs to a questionable Western Buddhist 'sect' (which is more akin to a new-age cult)? If you read the evidence he particularly cites you can see through the bias, furthermore there are better sources for a study of early Buddhism than a 'concise' (ie. short) history...

You need to re-read those pages you referenced, they're actually available in a preview on Google books, I just read them, they don't support your case... http://books.google.ca/books?id=GEKd4iqH3C0C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false The author merely raised a few points that are contrarian to the orthodox Theravada view, in order to give a more complete picture. But in describing the contrarian evidence, the author also makes it clear that we know very little about the Mahasanghika, and the only remaining text from their sect is a Chinese translation. Another thing you need to keep in mind, is that 'academics' tend to favour Mahayana/Tibetan sects in their writings in part due to 21st century politics. The Dalai Lama is an 'image' of resistance vs. Chinese oppression, and the syncretic leanings of these sects are more politically correct within the structure of modern India. Edit - I see now that your information comes from Wikipedia, which cites Skilton's work in a less than thorough way...

Sri Lankan Theravada is the closest belief system to what was taught by the Buddha and his followers... Tibetan Buddhism is a supersessionist sect that is based on tantric beliefs that arose in the subcontinent circa 300 CE, around 800 years after the founding of Buddhism.

The historic understanding of Christianity has always been that everyone is judged individually, not unlike the Buddhist concept of karma being the effects of one's personal actions. In Orthodox Christian eschatology, the souls of the departed journey to Hades/Sheol (the abode of the dead), at which time they either remain close to God (an analogy is Abraham's bosom, spoken of by a parable in the gospels), or distant from God. This isn't a judgement so much as it is a result of the state of one's soul, which is attracted/repelled by God's presence. On the last day (ie. after the Apocalypse), or the day of Resurrection, every departed soul will be reunited with their physical body, and judged, and either given a place in Paradise, or thrown into Tartarus/Gehenna.

If there is no God, their fate will be the same as the rest of humanity. Even if there is a God, and the Christian God is correct, the American fundie Christians have a much different (and poorer) understanding of God than the first Christians, and Orthodox Christian churches...

Vegan diets lack some nutrients. Vegetarian diets that consist of dairy products however can provide every nutrient you need. The problem with a vegan diet isn't protein, but rather certian B vitamins that cannot be obtained from plants, but are synthesized by animals and we obtain them when we eat animal products (and note that every essential nutrient that comes from meat can be obtained in dairy products like cheese and yogurt).

Intelligence is quite important to a fighter. Boxing, kickboxing, Judo, and Kung Fu, etc.... The Klitschkos (HW boxing champs) are avid chess players, and Floyd Mayweather has repeatedly stated that intelligence is the most important thing in boxing. Chess or Go won't directly help you, but it does sharpen the mind (as do many other activities), which is always important.

Haha. The 'master' is obviously a con, and I think many people in general misrepresent/understand what internal martial arts are, and what Taoism is. Sanshou (ie. Chinese kickboxing) and Judo are a better real-life demonstration of these principles than most of the TCMA that don't practice much real application (ie. sparring and fighting). Also, I think the (looks like Karate) fighter in that video was a little brutal, he should have just thrown the 'master' and sat on him or something... Would still expose the fraud...

He hadn't held political office for nearly 20 years when he disclosed that he 'believes' in aliens. He was only defence minister from 1963-1968... He's also kind of a crazed left-wing nationalist, perhaps due to old age? I wouldn't put much stock into anything he says...

Stop thinking about everything. As Bob Marley said, "Don't worry about a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right..." Seriously though, there isn't necessarily a direct causal relationship between thoughts and results. When you meditate, don't worry about the results. Don't worry about whether or not you can even get into a meditative state. If you need to, just sit and listen to music, or go for a walk in the park. Many religious traditions have 'walking meditation' of sorts, just go out into nature and learn to appreciate the little things. Meditation, mindfullness, and enlightenment only come with practice, and often realizations about the world and ourselves come only by accident. Even experienced meditators may only have an 'experience' one time out of 10. Baby steps, if you can't meditate, learn to relax. Don't think about meditation. And then in time, you may come back to it with better results.

Associating deities with enlightenment was simply how Hindu kings got the Indian population to convert back from Buddhism (at one point Buddhism was the majority religious belief in the subcontinent), to consolidate their power. Hinduism has adopted all sorts of supercessionist tactics, taking, modifying and adding to Buddhist beliefs. Vajrayana is much the same, adding Hindu and Tantric beliefs to Buddhism, and then disparaging more orthodox forms. Devotion to deities is merely another form of attachment (and in some cases, slavery), which prevents us from attaining our true potential, and deludes us into thinking we're making spiritual progression. Neither the Tao te Ching, Chuang Tzu, nor Pali Canon encourage devotion to deities.

Yes, some people have the idea oats are 'contaminated'. I'm not sure how prevalent this is, I eat gluten so I also get regular (ie. cheap) oats. The problem with gluten free breads is they usually contain alot of starches (corn, potato starch, rice flour) and vegetable gums (xanthan, guar and locust bean gums), and your body will metabolize them into sugar much more quickly than it would breads made with more complex carbohydrates (like whole grain wheat, rye, spelt, buckwheat, etc...). Commercial gluten-free breads have the nutritional quality of several packets of white sugar... Gluten-free breads made in a traditional way are flat (due to lack of structure provided by gluten), so westerners generally don't like them. Examples are corn tortillas, injera, bajra roti, galettes au sarrasin... These are healthy, but harder to make into a sandwich.

Oats are always gluten free, as is rice, buckwheat (which has no relation to wheat apart from the name), quinoa, millets (including sorghum and teff), amaranth and corn. Soaking grains does make them more digestible, as does proper cooking (ie. don't under-cook). Beware pre-made products labelled 'gluten-free', often they have less than desirable nutritional qualities. If you're going to go gluten free, eat natural products that are inherently gluten free, as opposed to gluten-free 'substitutes'.

It was kind of uneventful. I imagined it as being some sort of big deal, in the end, it wasn't. It wasn't even particularly good, at least not in retrospect. Sex gets much better over time, especially if you and a partner are experienced together...

Very true, and most do denounce it (if they're aware of it). Unfortunately their message gets washed out by the media and the more vocal extremists. It's also important to remember that alot of 'extremism' is more due to a tribal mentality, where one group tries to dominate another, under the pretext of religion. You could clearly see this in the recent conflict in Mali, where extremists attempted to overthrow the government, impose their rule over the land, and even destroyed mosques and Islamic texts in the process, because moderate, traditional Islam conflicts with their extremist views. My wife is Muslim, I kind of am too, and everything I was taught about the religion is that it's one of peace. Daily Islamic life consists of prayers, community life, giving to the poor, and abiding by a strict set of moral principles. The Imam that married us, and all the other Muslims I met in my wife's community all embodied that spirit, as well as all the Muslims I've met in North America too. No doubt some bring their problems from distant conflicts to the west, but I don't think that has to do with Islam as much as tribal conflicts that are carried out under the pretext of religion. In some parts you also see lots of tribal conflicts between Sikh families turn into killings and acts which some might interpret as 'terrorism', and some of the world's most violent countries are 'Christian'. Heck, gang warfare in the United States kills more people every year than all the terrorist attacks combined... 12 000+ people are murdered every year in America, mostly by other Americans...

Some people, men and women, are very shallow. But I find they're the minority. Obviously though, some things associated with good looks like health, weight, grooming, dressing, etc... - are important, as they say something about your hygiene, intelligence, and ability to procreate - but anyone can do these sufficiently well (though not everyone does). You only need to step outside to see very good looking women with average to ugly men, and good looking men with average to ugly women...

Sometimes it's good to be grounded in the more worldly way of life. Often times one uses spiritual seeking as a sort of escape from the world, rather than a way of life. Of course, overly-materialistic women can be annoying, but finding one who is decently grounded and fun isn't too hard, and in my experience everyone has a spiritual side to them.

No, it really doesn't. (I'm married BTW). I'm not particularly good looking, but I've done pretty well at attracting women over the years...