Why to Buddhists set themselves on fire?

[kimba1]

Since when does enduring high amounts of pain when committing suicide equate to not being a coward?

actually this would be a first that i have heard of this .

[Plane]

   Suicide being a cowardly act is a western point of view.

   Even so there are no cultures that can't appreaciate large self sacrifice for the greater good.

     Don't Americans admire our heros that risk death in good cause? Perhaps we are peculiar for not admireing the same when the death is certain.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Other than the fact Jesus has witnesses to his resurrection. There are no people coming forward claiming to touch or see a reincarnated person. Yet anyway.

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Jesus' reappearance was insufficiently convincing to Thomas, who demanded to put his finger in a wound. Though the usual way we recognize a person we have not seen for a while is their voice.

Note that every one of the supposed eyewitness accounts were written many, many years after the actual event.

There are indeed legends of reincarnated people. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation of the first one. The Lamas have tests to establish reincarnation at least as convincing as anything described in the Bible.

Fpor you to claim that everyone of the millions of people that believe in reincarnation is a "moron", and to claim that all the folderol surrounding the Jesus legend is true reveals far more about you and your lack of critical thinking than anything about the relative likelihood of reincarnation or resurrection.

Truth is, it boil down to this: there is nothing in either story valid enough to be admitted in any US court of law. Thomas is not available to testify, but every so often one of the monks that has given the tests to the future Dalai or Panchen Lamas might be available to testify as a witness.

The test generally consists  of a possible infant candidate (that was born 49 days after the death of the previous lama) identifying correctly various artifacts (glasses, canes, robes, bowls, etc) belonging to the previous lama from among a variety of similar items owned by other lamas.

You can argue that selecting only male candidates is invalid. You can argue that it is coincidence, but the test is more valid than putting a finger in a wound.

The fact is there is insufficient evidence to conclusively prove that the soul will eventually be resurrected and go to Heaven, installed in its resurrected body, OR that the soul is reincarnated in a recently born body. It is also possible, as Aristotle believes, that the soul survives, but its memory, all that makes a person what they are, simply vanishes like erased bits on your hard drive.

Calling people morons because they do not believe the rather outlandish tale regarding what happens to souls as believed by Christians is foolish.

Note that proving that Jesus was immortal does not in any logical way prove that anyone else is or was or will be.

[Kramer]

Other than the fact Jesus has witnesses to his resurrection. There are no people coming forward claiming to touch or see a reincarnated person. Yet anyway.

-====================================================
Jesus' reappearance was insufficiently convincing to Thomas, who demanded to put his finger in a wound. Though the usual way we recognize a person we have not seen for a while is their voice.

Note that every one of the supposed eyewitness accounts were written many, many years after the actual event.

There are indeed legends of reincarnated people. The current Dalai Lama is the 14th reincarnation of the first one. The Lamas have tests to establish reincarnation at least as convincing as anything described in the Bible.

Fpor you to claim that everyone of the millions of people that believe in reincarnation is a "moron", and to claim that all the folderol surrounding the Jesus legend is true reveals far more about you and your lack of critical thinking than anything about the relative likelihood of reincarnation or resurrection.

Truth is, it boil down to this: there is nothing in either story valid enough to be admitted in any US court of law. Thomas is not available to testify, but every so often one of the monks that has given the tests to the future Dalai or Panchen Lamas might be available to testify as a witness.

The test generally consists  of a possible infant candidate (that was born 49 days after the death of the previous lama) identifying correctly various artifacts (glasses, canes, robes, bowls, etc) belonging to the previous lama from among a variety of similar items owned by other lamas.

You can argue that selecting only male candidates is invalid. You can argue that it is coincidence, but the test is more valid than putting a finger in a wound.

The fact is there is insufficient evidence to conclusively prove that the soul will eventually be resurrected and go to Heaven, installed in its resurrected body, OR that the soul is reincarnated in a recently born body. It is also possible, as Aristotle believes, that the soul survives, but its memory, all that makes a person what they are, simply vanishes like erased bits on your hard drive.

Calling people morons because they do not believe the rather outlandish tale regarding what happens to souls as believed by Christians is foolish.

Note that proving that Jesus was immortal does not in any logical way prove that anyone else is or was or will be.

Regardless of all that boring drivel, suicide by fire is dumb, in the context that Buddhists tend to do it.

[kimba1]

didn`t a revolution in the middle east got started by a guy who set himself on fire? I think this year and it worked to the point it caused protest in other countries.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Yeah, change the subject when it gets over your head.

I would not set myself on fire. But I am not Chinese and I do not feel what the Buddhist in question felt.

To say it is universally "dumb" is simplistic. To charge a better armed enemy is considered heroic in the West, even when it is clearly suicidal. Of course, when a person sets himself on fire, he endangers no one but himself.

[Kramer]

Yeah, change the subject when it gets over your head.

I learned that technique from you.