Maddie

No its not, because that's not what it is.

The Buddha's view was also individualistic. One of his famous sayings is that "we are all the owners of our own deeds."

Delusion

I started off on my path via qigong/Taoism and like many westerners I assumed the two were practically synonymous. Then I discovered Taoism differed drastically depending upon whom you asked. If you asked many westerners Taoism was qigong or internal alchemy. If you asked someone from China or Taiwan the answer tended to differ drastically being that Taoism was doing ceremonies at a Taoist temple. To be honest I didn't like this because it seemed "too religious". To further complicate matters since I first got into all of this when I was a history major in college, I asked my eastern studies professor about what Taoism is and she made it sound like a philosophy of reading and studying the TTC. To this day I still don't really know what Taoism really is or is supposed to be. Honestly it was largely due to this confusion amongst other things that caused me to drift towards Buddhism eventually. So that being said what is Taoism, and how does one practice it?

I'm kind of a non-denominational Buddhist but if there's anything that I've studied the most then it's probably been Theravada Buddhism.

Is what you're saying that some people think things are okay when they're actually not? If only there was a word for this type of thinking 🤔

If someone doesn't like Buddhism or want Buddhism I could care less. If someone is going to misrepresent Buddhism I'm going to speak up about the truth.

It's that Rockstar lifestyle of mine lol, I'm a Buddhist baby! 😎

Yes I'm sure forsaking all possessions becoming celibate and begging for one meal a day is a great way to become rich LOL

I've been baffled today with the various negative responses to Buddhism. I've never had this much negativity to it in my life! I even had one person think that was I said about Buddhism was so outrageous that they no longer wish to speak to me. Pretty extreme but also weird lol. Today was weird.

You don't cook much do you? lol *recipe -10 points from Gryffindor.

Exactly. Why try to reinvent the wheel when its already been done?

The teachings of a Buddha are already in our world though, but of course you can do what you wish :-).

The Buddha said it is technically possible to figure it out by one's self (Pacceka Buddha) but very difficult and unlikely.

How would people know what the heck they were doing, or that there even was an enlightenment to attain to?

The Buddha said that enlightenment is realization of the four noble truths is what causes enlightenment. At least that is the Buddha's definition.

The first two parts of the eight fold path as taught by the Buddha are "Right View" and "Right understanding". The eight fold path is what the Buddha said to do to become enlightened. A correct understanding is vital.

Forgive my ignorance as I don't really understand a lot about Daoism, but is escaping Samsara part of it?

What on earth did I walk into? lol

Knowing suffering leads to less suffering Knowing delusion leads to less delusion Knowing bitterness leads to less bitterness These things will lead to enlightenment

Maybe so because very little of that book makes sense to me.

I would have not guessed in a million years this topic would get so many people so upset lol

It's called keeping focus on the point of the conversation and not being diverted from it by "whataboutism".

1. As to why. Because it causes suffering. 2. As to dealing with it directly. The Buddha said mindfulness is the direct path to dealing with this directly.

I think the thing that has surprised me isn't that the topic has drifted from the original post, this is an internet forum after all, these things happen all the time. The thing that has surprised me the most is that a relatively straight forward and rational topic of something that is basically cause and effect has become so controversial on a forum that is dedicated to topic such as this.