Socialism & Communism

Casual conversation between friends. Anything goes (almost).
Post Reply
Nicholas Weeks
Posts: 4209
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:21 am
Location: California

Socialism & Communism

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

For those who prefer videos to texts, ponder (not react immediately, if possible) on these offerings:

https://www.youtube.com/user/VOCvideos
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Malcolm »

Nicholas Weeks wrote:For those who prefer videos to texts, ponder (not react immediately, if possible) on these offerings:

https://www.youtube.com/user/VOCvideos

Oh for lord's sake man. You're still fighting the cold war.
Norwegian
Posts: 2632
Joined: Thu Dec 01, 2011 7:36 pm

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Norwegian »

Nicholas Weeks, I have a very good book recommendation for you, related to this topic. You'll find it quite relevant and up to date for your interests:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0870212400/
Nicholas Weeks
Posts: 4209
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:21 am
Location: California

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Malcolm wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote:For those who prefer videos to texts, ponder (not react immediately, if possible) on these offerings:

https://www.youtube.com/user/VOCvideos
Oh for lord's sake man. You're still fighting the cold war.
For goodness sake, you really think it ended? The secular ideologues of much of the Left still prefer political so-called solutions to try and fix samsara.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
User avatar
dharmagoat
Posts: 2159
Joined: Mon Oct 19, 2009 8:39 pm

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by dharmagoat »

Nicholas Weeks wrote:The secular ideologues of much of the Left still prefer political so-called solutions to try and fix samsara.
We have brakes. Do we leave it to spin wildly?
Nicholas Weeks
Posts: 4209
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:21 am
Location: California

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

dharmagoat wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote:The secular ideologues of much of the Left still prefer political so-called solutions to try and fix samsara.
What else? Do we leave it to rot?
No, advocate and inspire people to ignore materialistic cravings. Instead turn them toward living the buddhadharma.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Malcolm »

Nicholas Weeks wrote:
Malcolm wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote:For those who prefer videos to texts, ponder (not react immediately, if possible) on these offerings:

https://www.youtube.com/user/VOCvideos
Oh for lord's sake man. You're still fighting the cold war.
For goodness sake, you really think it ended? The secular ideologues of much of the Left still prefer political so-called solutions to try and fix samsara.

You prefer the Christocratic Right?
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Malcolm »

Nicholas Weeks wrote:
dharmagoat wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote:The secular ideologues of much of the Left still prefer political so-called solutions to try and fix samsara.
What else? Do we leave it to rot?
No, advocate and inspire people to ignore materialistic cravings. Instead turn them toward living the buddhadharma.
Oh yes, and throwing in your lot with Fundamentalist Christians Like Pence is really going to advance that agenda...
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Malcolm »

Nicholas Weeks wrote: For goodness sake, you really think it ended?
Definitely. Capitalism won.
Nicholas Weeks
Posts: 4209
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:21 am
Location: California

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Norwegian wrote:Nicholas Weeks, I have a very good book recommendation for you, related to this topic. You'll find it quite relevant and up to date for your interests:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0870212400/
Thanks for the suggestion, but I am less concerned about military conflict than the soft socialism that the New Left promoted.

Try this small, yet potent work by a Eastern European who knows the power of the totalitarian Left is still strong and growing:

https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Democracy- ... +democracy
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Nicholas Weeks
Posts: 4209
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:21 am
Location: California

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

Malcolm wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote:
dharmagoat wrote: What else? Do we leave it to rot?
No, advocate and inspire people to ignore materialistic cravings. Instead turn them toward living the buddhadharma.
Oh yes, and throwing in your lot with Fundamentalist Christians Like Pence is really going to advance that agenda...
Ho Hum - straw man again...
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
DGA
Former staff member
Posts: 9466
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:04 pm

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by DGA »

Nicholas Weeks wrote:
Malcolm wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote:For those who prefer videos to texts, ponder (not react immediately, if possible) on these offerings:

https://www.youtube.com/user/VOCvideos
Oh for lord's sake man. You're still fighting the cold war.
For goodness sake, you really think it ended? The secular ideologues of much of the Left still prefer political so-called solutions to try and fix samsara.
Those Godless secularists! Convincing the children that the earth is round, that Creation is a lie and your uncle is an ape, that surgeons should wash their hands... Left unchecked, they'll end slavery, give women the vote, stop child labor, and they won't stop there!

<pearls clutched>

WILL SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN???
DGA
Former staff member
Posts: 9466
Joined: Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:04 pm

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by DGA »

Nicholas Weeks wrote:
dharmagoat wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote:The secular ideologues of much of the Left still prefer political so-called solutions to try and fix samsara.
What else? Do we leave it to rot?
No, advocate and inspire people to ignore materialistic cravings. Instead turn them toward living the buddhadharma.
One thing I like about living and practicing Dharma in the USA is that I am free to do so. We have freedom of conscience here and it is excellent. Want to practice Dharma? Go for it, man. That is a strength.

You seem to propose some kind of Dharmic theocracy in which Buddhist practice is mandated from the top down. Be honest with yourself: who would that convince? How effective would that be?

If we want to promote Dharma, we must do so through our actions: how we treat our neighbors, how we contribute to our society. Not by giving orders or castigating straw-man communists like it's 1951.
Nicholas Weeks
Posts: 4209
Joined: Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:21 am
Location: California

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Nicholas Weeks »

dga: You seem to propose some kind of Dharmic theocracy...
Not at all, never have I written such nonsense.

Straw men and red herrings, pitiable retorts.
May all seek, find & follow the Path of Buddhas.
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Malcolm »

Nicholas Weeks wrote:
Malcolm wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote:
No, advocate and inspire people to ignore materialistic cravings. Instead turn them toward living the buddhadharma.
Oh yes, and throwing in your lot with Fundamentalist Christians Like Pence is really going to advance that agenda...
Ho Hum - straw man again...
No, this is what conservatism means now, guns and Jesus.
User avatar
conebeckham
Posts: 5694
Joined: Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:49 pm
Location: Bay Area, CA, USA

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by conebeckham »

Malcolm wrote:
Nicholas Weeks wrote: For goodness sake, you really think it ended?
Definitely. Capitalism won.

No doubt.
དམ་པའི་དོན་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ཆེ་བ་དང་།
རྟོག་གེའི་ཡུལ་མིན་བླ་མའི་བྱིན་རླབས་དང་།
སྐལ་ལྡན་ལས་འཕྲོ་ཅན་གྱིས་རྟོགས་པ་སྟེ།
དེ་ནི་ཤེས་རབ་ལ་ནི་ལོ་རྟོག་སེལ།།


"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,
It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.
Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."
- (Kyabje Bokar Rinpoche, from his summary of "The Ocean of Definitive Meaning")
User avatar
Grigoris
Former staff member
Posts: 21906
Joined: Fri May 14, 2010 9:27 pm
Location: Greece

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Grigoris »

There is an alternative:

Image
"My religion is not deceiving myself."
Jetsun Milarepa 1052-1135 CE

"Butchers, prostitutes, those guilty of the five most heinous crimes, outcasts, the underprivileged: all are utterly the substance of existence and nothing other than total bliss."
The Supreme Source - The Kunjed Gyalpo
The Fundamental Tantra of Dzogchen Semde
tingdzin
Posts: 1933
Joined: Fri Feb 15, 2013 7:19 am

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by tingdzin »

I don't care if a cat is black or brown, as long as it catches mice. Unfortunately, neither capitalism nor socialism has proven to be worth a damn in that respect.
Malcolm
Posts: 42974
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2010 2:19 am

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by Malcolm »

tingdzin wrote:I don't care if a cat is black or brown, as long as it catches mice. Unfortunately, neither capitalism nor socialism has proven to be worth a damn in that respect.

Yes, and then there is the fact that neither system is ecologically rational.
User avatar
PuerAzaelis
Posts: 958
Joined: Thu Jun 02, 2016 1:37 pm

Re: Socialism & Communism

Post by PuerAzaelis »

It's taken me many years Malcolm but slowly I'm getting turned on to the deep ecology idea. This seems to be the only horse in the race which is not just another system of grasping.

I still don't think anyone can crusade under any of these flags however. It may be possible to try to persuade someone of the virtue of applying the brakes. But then, when that does not work, exit the vehicle. Will samsara ever really end?
Generally, enjoyment of speech is the gateway to poor [results]. So it becomes the foundation for generating all negative emotional states. Jampel Pawo, The Certainty of the Diamond Mind

For posts from this user, see Karma Dondrup Tashi account.
Post Reply

Return to “Lounge”