Atheists: Why do you reject Buddhism?

This question is for those atheists who do reject Buddhism. There is no deity involved but from what I understand, there are enormous benefits through their meditation practices. Why are you not interested?

What dint atheists reject?

I'm happy with my own philosophy about life and meditation.

they don't, necessarily, do so...

many atheists are Buddhists


"there are enormous benefits through their meditation practices. Why are you not interested?"
hypothetical benefits are just as good as supposed benefits... that said. why believe when there's no evidence...

I don't have time to chant. Honestly, I don't experience random, "stream of consciousness" thoughts, anyway. It's very quiet in here.

I'd rather masturbate than meditate.

I do not believe in their belief of reincarnation, or the 8-fold path.

I do meditate. It is very calming, and in a strange way, very focusing as well.

After Siddh?rtha Gautama died things got too weird. Meditation seems to have a beneficial effect for many though

Personally I'm not convinced in reincarnation or any other supernatural things. Aside from that I'm very interesting in Buddhism and I'd love to learn that there's a sect that doesn't believe in reincarnation. If there was I'd consider joining.

also, where do you get the idea that atheists reject Buddhism? Has this ever been verified?

Buddhism also invokes the doctrine of karma and reincarnation. The opening lines of the Buddhist scriptures say that every individual is the sum total of what he or she thought in his or her past life. One of the collections of Buddha?s discourses is called the Anguttara Kikaya. Here are some thoughts:

?My Kama [past and present actions] is my only property, Kama is my only heritage, Kama is the only cause of my being, Kama is my only kin, my only protection. Whatever actions I do, good or bad I shall become their heir.?

(Take not that the Pali language of the Buddhist scriptures has a different sound to some words that have become common in English from Hinduism. Kamma, for example, carries the meaning of karma.)
Take a good example ? (a question presented to Jesus about the man born blind)

So, for Buddhism, too, the answer to the disciple?s question regarding the blind man?s predicament- ?Who sinned, this man or his parents?? ? would be, ?Both this man and his parents have sinned.? The suffering of the blind man is the inheritance of his past life?s sin, and it is the lot of the parents to inherit this situation.

They do have a difference, though. Hinduism argued by saying that behind the world of the transitory or non real lies what is ultimately real. Buddhism reversed that by saying that behind the real world is actually impermanence. This, the reason for all our craving is that because we think there is permanence, we have cravings. Once we know there is nothing permanent, not even the self, then we stop craving. In the state of ?Enlightenment?, the self is extinguished and all desire, and therefore, suffering, is gone. That is the goal of Buddhism

How can we end suffering? According to Buddhist teaching, if we can obliterate desire we will obliterate evil, In fact, the very word nirvana means the negation of the jungle of desire to which our rebirth have condemned us.

Can one resist asking, How does a world-view that consider everything to be impermanent even explain the origin of impermanence and the seduction of the mind to see these as permanent?

Sex is a real eyeopener and path to all sorts of enlightenment don't you agree?

I currently live in Nepal and because of that I've learned a lot about it.

Its true that there is no deity (though most Buddhists believe in one or more deities), but there is a lot of mythology involved and magical thinking. The idea of reincarnation and ending suffering by minimizing your connections to the world around you...

Lets just say it's not my thing.

Why are you so ignorant of what Buddhism is then?

BUDDHISM ? Religious teaching from Buddha and his followers that by destroying greed, hatred and delusion (the cause of all suffering) man can attain perfect enlightenment!

Without a god Buddhism is the largest atheist religion on the planet!

You are coming from a place of complete ignorance...
This must be very embarrassing for you.
Pathetic.

Oh, my wife is a walking the walk Buddhist.
Get a life.
~

I'm no Buddhist--i tend to believe there is no such thing as Karma--but I have still inquired more about Buddhism in the last 6 months than I had previously in my entire life.

Because of those orange robes.

Orange really isn't my co lour.

Why would I give up a religion that I'm already happy with (Taoism), however much I might admire Buddhism?

I've got no qualms with Buddhism, I don't even think it's ridiculous.


But I like sex drugs, and hedonistic behavior in general.

And I have activities that are not traditional meditation but accomplish the same thing for me. I don't feel a need to attempt to change any of this.

Because it is irrational. Examples; karma and reincarnation .

I don't believe in reincarnation.

I don't believe in karma, aura, Charis, reincarnation etc,I like to eat, have sex and wear fashionable clothes.Instead of meditation I'd waste my time on R&S

Because I've been there and done that. Buddhism is just another set of organized religions. All the baggage of Buddhism is unnecessary for meditation.

I am a Buddhist and an atheist. As for the subjects of reincarnation and other afterlife stuff, I am indifferent. I just know that chanting Gongyo and Daimoku make me feel deep inner peace and since I am only interested in what is tangible, I practice chanting to feel inner peace. Maybe in the same way that some atheists don't really believe in a god, but pray sometimes just because it makes them feel better.

buddhism is okie dokie by me

If you can contimplate the compassion of the Buddha, you can then understand the compassion of God through Jesus.They are the same eternal love for mankind from two different sources. The Tebetan Book Of The Dead is a source of guidance and compassion for anyone going through a death(spiritual death or otherwise) experience. Christians absorb the deity of Christ at his death, and they have him as a source of guidance and compassion through the very same death experiences. They both teach the phylosophy of eternal life and a eternal love that exists in this life and goes with you clear through to the next life. That is Buddha, That is God.