Doni experiences Buddhism in Taiwan
Hey everybody! Buddhism, as you may know, is a religion seated in happiness and prosperity. At some point however, upon my initial investigation and first hand accounts, I believe they may cross the line into a religion that is heading towards insanity.
Don’t be shocked. Many “reformed Christians” believe Buddhism is their answer to life. Yes! We all want to be happy. Yes! Christmas has gone pop (commercial). But, is another religion that originated (as most did) in roughly the same era the answer to your current disdain for your old religion? Maybe not, unless all you value is your own superficial happiness; which, sadly, many do.
Why do I think Buddhism is bad? Well, I don’t think it is all bad. Like Christianity and most religions , there are good things to be learned and taught. My opposition isn’t to the entire religion or any entire religion. In this case, I am nitpicking to demonstrate the current state of hypocrisy in this world.
And now on to why I think Buddhism may have lost it’s way (at least the Taiwanese version, there are several divisions of Buddhism and to be fair I have not had a first hand account of those thus far):
Every weekend, all the temples across Taipei hit the streets in the form of what I have come to term as “Buddhism street teams”. They go around playing really loud music that I cannot find the melody in no matter how I try; but this is not my gripe. My gripe lies in the fact that these street teams must set off millions of firecrackers every weekend.
You may think this is a rather trivial fact. But think of the waste this creates. Imagine on every block, every 30 minutes, there are a whole ton of firecrackers being set off for the enjoyment of Buddhists in the area (which is most people in Taipei, at least). That’s alot of paper going to waste in my opinion. You really have to experience it to see what I am talking about. Also, firecrackers create smoke. Not much when it’s just one firecracker, but they set these things off 50 at a time; and on every block as I mentioned before. Think of the amount of smoke that creates. Undue environmental hazard for the limited kicks witnessing firecrackers really produce.
Another smoke producing practice that Buddhists purvey is the burning of “fake money” which is supposed to be sent to the gods or dead people who need it in heaven. Again, this happens on every street corner. People burning wads of paper endlessly in these like brass fireplaces. The amount of smoke that is cumulatively created between this and the firecrackers is insane. It creates an extra smoggy layer in the entire city. And for what? Some transparent religious benefit.
I think that if a religion truly valued happiness and prosperity, they would see what harm wasting resources and polluting the environment can do. And that’s that. Check out my Buddhism photo’s on my flickr page
