Buddhism #2

This lecture was really confusing. It seemed so contradicting at times. It said that you shouldn't desire. Then there was a story about a teacher who told his student not to desire but then the student said that he couldn't stop desiring to stop desiring. I think it would be so hard to not desire. There is always something that we as humans want. Whether it's new clothes, accessories for our cars, or even something to eat, we always want something. Alan Watts also brought up the white and black thing, whether or not its a white background on a black canvas, or a black background on a white canvas. It is a good question that I thought about for a while. I do not think that I could be a Buddhist because there are so many things that are double sided in their religion, but they can not question it. They do not question it. To them, it is just what they know. I think that I would constantly wonder which one it really was. I hate not knowing. It also reminds me of the story about the child wondering what was in the empty fist, which related to philosophers outsmarting each other. I thought this was a good example of out witting each other. I agree with Watts though because religions try to disprove every other religion by deceiving. Their thoughts on life after death were interesting too. It is wierd how Brahma forgets who he is and acts as someone else for all those years and then remembers for the same amount of time. I do not know if I believe in reincarnation like that. I believe that we do go to an after life, but I do not know about another life. I think it is possible and I have thought about it before, but I almost do not want to believe it because I can not remember anything from my previous life if it is true. All in all, though, I thought this lecture was interesting. I did not know that much about Buddhism and I think it is really interesting, but I could not follow the religion because there are too many rules and stipulations.