http://youtube.com/watch?v=HPu7TI-XXXY
My Buddha! I was laughing the whole way through this short. This is a wonderful bit of comedy, Capt'. Perfect satire. Absolutely perfect satire. However, you should have made some sort of side note about the actual meanings of the Four Noble Truths.
Firstly, I'd like to point out that the four truths are oversimplifications and are the hashed up + simplified English translations of the actual Sanskrit. (Sanskrit = old language. Really old language.)
Suffering is in life. Suffering is a part of life. It is, basically, inescapable. Bump your toe = suffering. Losing money in the stock market = suffering. Suuufffeeering. It's with us every minute of the day. In Western countries people suffer over having the newest gaming system, or suffering over the fact that President Bush is an idiot.
Suffering is caused by desire. This is a case where the translation really hampers the true meaning. Let's take an example of a word in Sanskrit. 'Sem' is the word for 'mind'. It is also the word for 'thoughtfulness', 'thinking', 'wisedom', 'thought', 'intelligence', 'perception', ect.. ect.. Sem is a word with many English meanings. This second Truth has about 10 words in Sanskrit with equally complex words. It's simplified so that lower echelons of Buddhism can follow along.
However, getting back to the second truth, the desire to 'have what you cannot get' is what causes suffering. That is a drastic oversimplification, but its true. Desiring to have the world beneath your thumb or to have a harem in your basement, is desire to have the impossible. That creates suffering. But that's just one form of the translation. There's about five others, I think, all with their own lil' intricacy.
Third one, the Truth pertaining to ceasing suffering, is also complex. Whole books have been dedicated to it, and its following Truth. I'm getting lazy and don't want to write about this one as much, since you can already guess what it means by reading it. It's just the philosophical basis of Truth #3 that bogs philosophers down.
Truth #4: I'm going to say this one rather bluntly, actually. It's like 'Scientific Thought'. You know with 'Problem, Hypothesis, Results, ect' set up? This is Buddha's self help formula to setting yourself up so you can be happy. Or, at least, have a better chance at being happy. Most of these steps, however, are common sense to meee.. But to some people, like the peasantry or lower castes of India, these were mindblowing.
1. Right View
2. Right Intention
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelyhood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
These are common sense. Any self actualized, or semi-intelligent, human being knows these things. However, some people prefer to delve into suffering and avoid such a sensible path. Hm. But that's why Buddha began preaching- to halt unnecessary suffering.
Those monks were burning themselves because they could do nothing else against the destruction of their homes. They cannot kill, or harm, another human being. They had no other choice than to set themselves alight and prove their fortitude.
And that Buddhist killer? Pheh. Oh well. People kill people. That guy will have bad karma.
There is also a fundamental flaw to your argument. You are taking examples of negative things, and saying that they're bad. Buddhism is a religion of learning. Buddhism learns from previous mistakes and learns new things. Buddha himself, 2500 years ago, said that Buddhism will continue to grow and mature without him. And Buddhism is doing that.
You also seem to make generalizations about Buddhism. I'd like to note that there are multiple levels, and multiple forms, of Buddhism. Just like any other mainstream religion, Buddhism has its high brand of Buddhists ('Sthavira') and lower form ('Mahasanghika'). Then there's a couple hundred other sects. You can't, frankly, say that Buddhism is one religion, and one set of beliefs, since it is -quite- diverse in its philosophy.
[Funny Sidenote: The U.S.A. is a Christian Theocracy. Just for your information. Bush answers to god not the American polls/people. So the government is a Theocracy.]
-Humbra
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Humbra
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