Im not big into buddhism as a path for me to follow..too contradicting and nihilistic. I am not into monastic celibacy and all that because I find it weird an unhealthy..and the whole idea of doing no harm and causing no suffering etc-well sounds nice but the Dali Lama himself eats meat..its just sort to say cause no suffering and then eat meat when there are obvious alternatives..and I am not saying it is wrong to eat meat, just that I find some hipocracy there.

I definatly do not vibe with the idea that "life is suffering"..what a crappy trip that is to go on carrying around..life is just as much joy, love, sex, drugs and rock and roll as it is anything else.

At one point I was really into buddhism and read shambhala sun all the time and was really into meditation..I found alot of the "buddhists" I met to be sort of single minded quacks as well..but that is not saying a whole lot as yoga and buddhism tend to attract alot of trendy people like any other trend..

I do like some of the philosophy behind it..but buddhism came out of other shamanic traditions far older that I personally find much more interesting. Buddhism to me is a religion, and it definatily has a not so perfect track record in terms of being innocent, though not as bad as some religions.

Also..the idea of enlightenment as something you work forever to attain is silly I think. I think that is a lie or delusion. I have been enlightened..and so have most of the people here at some point in time. It is like an orgasm..or a DMT trip..a moment of illumination..the real work in in the integration of that moment of realization..again and again and again. I dont think there is a final stage and I think that this is a truth that any true follower of a mystical path, buddhists included have known for a long long long time.