We discuss the most interesting religious acts Sokushinbutsu

How the fuck is this /sci/ related?

>>1477863
This is /his/

I went to Dewa Sanzan. It was creepy.
Wanted to see these badasses but was bicycle touring and it was inclement weather. Something about god? Pretty sick IMO, and I'm Roman Catholic af desu.

buddhism seems pretty fucked, like a literal death cult where the goal is just to not feel anything
doesn't help that they pull shit like this and burning themselves

>>1477876
>where the goal is just to not feel anything

You can't seriously believe this right

>>1477891
>seems
it's just an assumption my dude

>>1477876
Aren't hospitals death cult too? Literally a place for people to die.

State sponsored too.


>>1477858
From the reading, it looks like this was practiced by the Japanese Vajrayana lineage. Meditating and fasting until you starve, and dying at the moment of intense meditation. And was practiced by the Tibetans long before too.

If you've read any summary of the "tibetan book of the dead", this should make things bit more clear. Although I don't know the exact reason, they most likely did this to control the nature of their next rebirth. As the buddhist emphasis the mental state right before their death to be very important.

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>>1477858
Its all over the Zen/Chan/Seon Buddhist world.

Pic related. Some Chinese monk did the same. And told his budds to put him in a statue.

>>1477858
He died wearing sunglasses?

>>1477873
>Roman Catholic af desu
Best way to describe it

>>1477913
hospitals are for saving people, you're thinking of hospices
i'd agree that those are some of the most depressing places you can go to

>>1477918
Maybe to remove the sight of his eyes

>>1477873
>The mountains were first opened as a religious centre over 1400 years ago in 593 by prince Hachiko
>links to the dog
dammit wikipedia

>>1477922
People die a lot in hospitals.

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>The most important Kalash festival is the Chawmos, which is celebrated for two weeks at winter solstice, at the beginning of the month chawmos mastruk. It marks the end of the year's fieldwork and harvest. It involves much music, dancing, and the sacrifice of many goats. It is dedicated to the god Balimain who is believed to visit from the mythical homeland of the Kalash, Tsyam for the duration of the feast. Food sacrifices are offered at the clans' Jeshtak shrines, dedicated to the ancestors.


This includes the Festival of the Budulak (buḍáḷak, the 'shepherd king'). In this festival, a strong prepubescent boy is sent up into the mountains to live with the goats for the summer. He is supposed to get fat and strong from the goat milk. When the festival comes he is allowed for a 24-hour period only to have sexual intercourse with any woman he wants, including even the wife of another man, or a young virgin. Any child born of this 24-hour period is considered to be blessed. The Kalash claim to have abolished this practice in recent years due to negative worldwide publicity.

At this crucial moment the pure get weaker, and the impure try to take hold of the (very pure) boys, pretend to mount them "like a hornless ram", and proceed in snake procession. At this point, the impure men resist and fight. When the "nagayrō" song with the response "han sarías" (from *samrīyate 'flows together', CDIAL 12995) is voiced, Balumain showers all his blessings and disappears. He gives his blessings to seven boys (representing the mythical seven of the eight Devalog who received him on arrival), and these pass the blessings on to all pure men.[17]

Can't say it's purely religious but it's interesting to post anyway

>>1477929
yes but the purpose of a hospital is to stop people from dying

>>1477876
it is
killing yourself by stavation for a religion is no better than jamestown

>>1477935
Like buddhism, the purpose of hospital/buddhism is to put people out of misery. They're both death cults.

>>1477948
>the purpose of hospital is to put people out of misery
but that's wrong

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>>1477918
The ultimate "Deal with it" meme.

There's always these godsforsaken places, where they drop in bodies and let the birds eat em, then the bones slowly roll into this pit creating this gigantic pile.

Makes failure to poo in the loo not seem so bad...

>>1477948
maybe i'm talking out of my ass again but it seems kind of weird to me how buddhism and other lads like schopenhauer believe that somebody who doesn't exist can be prevented from suffering
doesn't being able to not suffer presupposed existence?

>>1477948
What fucked up country do you live in?

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Ashura -Islamic Shia

It's a festive day in Islam, but unlike the rest of Islam. The Shia whip or cut themselves in the back to feel the pain of one of the Prophet's companions. It's recorded that even kids at the age of 7-11 do this.

>>1477935
Just like Buddhism! Checkmate atheists!

>>1477932
Sounds really interesting, I actually wouldn't have minded being there and being part of the mountains

>>1477954
That pic is fake, but yeah, imagine being a foreign conqueror who comes across it, you'd think they were demon worshipers or something like that

>>1477976
but anon this guy literally killed himself and it's/was a popular thing

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>>1477858
A town here in the Philippines famously reenacts the Suffering & Death of Christ with an actual (albeit monitored) crucifixion.

Also we still do medieval-style self-flagellation.

>>1477981
Yeah but if we assume that he achieved nirvana or whatever then he won't die again, will he?

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>>1477974
fun for the whole family

>>1477987
Kek

>>1477986
anon he literally stopped eating until he died

>>1477985
Does the crucifixion have the people dying as well?

>>1477994
Yes, they are inmates who volunteer for role.

>>1477997
Isn't that a sort sacrifice which if I recall vaguely is unlawful to the Christians?

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>>1477994
Nah. Its one guy and his crew doing it as a form of flagellation every Holy Week.

Gets protestants mad every time. Though the Catholic Clergy frowns on it too.

Some White Hippie volunteered to be crucified years ago and it was criticized to hell and back for turning what is a Sacred Play into a tourist attraction.

>>1477991
Yeah but if he achieved enlightenment then he won't have to do it again will he?

>>1478010
i guess not but he'll just be dead then won't he?

>>1477913
>>1477946
Can you idiots stop shilling trying to relate everything back to Western civilization?

Yeah I get it, we're such savages, right.

>>1477979
It isn't fake, a few Towers of silence still exist and are actively used.

>>1477858

Self-mummification was a rare feat that required a very difficult process that included consuming poisons to ward off larvae and promote mummifying. It's not some kind of death-worship, a monk would do it in late age and probably felt that he had fulfilled what he wanted to do with his life. Death is not shunned or avoided to the degree modern westerners are used to and can be an instrument of teaching. The point of the practice is partly an exercise in self-control, partly communicating the timelessness of buddhist principles, that they transcend the "minutiae" of ordinary folk such as life and death. A successful mummy is an impressive feat and attracts the curiosity and respect of students and laymen over years and years, maybe more than a teacher would be able to pull off over the course of a lifetime. For that reason they are considered to be bodhisattvas.

>>1478086
You're undoubtedly very knowledgeable

>>1478053
Everything is a deathcult once you stretch out the the definition. Once you stretch it out, it can be applied to anything.

>>1478079
Nice source m8

>>1478086
So basically it's the religious version of David Bowie's Blackstar?

>>1478112
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Silence#In_modern_times

Just put 18.959488, 72.805621 into google maps

>>1477948
Are you retarded? Hospitals are for treating people and trying to save them from death, extend their lifespan if death is assured, or at least let them have less shitty deaths.
And not even that many people die in hospitals compared to the amount of people that go in.
Plus, people are born in hospitals so...

"I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:...

I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.

I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.

I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.

I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery.

I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at God.

I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person's family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.

I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.

I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.

If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help."

>>1478086
/thread

I wish this board wasn't so heavily lopsided towards Christianity, because then we would actually be able to have discussions about other faiths

>>1478206
This

>>1477863
How the fuck did you mistake /his/ for /sci/?

>>1478206
This so much.

I want to kill myself every time someone does the whole 'buddhism is nihilistic' routine.

>>1478206
>>1478215
>>1478940
>person senselessly (and quite painfully) killing himself just to prove a point
>muh christians
Nah you can fuck off. Self preservation is the strongest human instinct, to go against it to simply prove a point is perverse and bizarre

HIGH PRIIIIEEESSST

>>1478978

ha

We exist to create offspring, not to sit around being alive as long as possible. If this monk has injected his spunk in a few ladies, he's done his job.

Now celibacy on the other hand....

>>1478978

It's probably difficult to appreciate these types of practices if you don't share the associated values, but it's important to be aware that these historical circles considered the merit of making a lasting impact and providing some form of guidance for future generations, however unorthodox it may appear, to be quite important and certainly more valuable than holding onto a passing body for one's own sake. It doesn't mean that self-preservation is a bad thing, and most reasonable buddhists would probably just engage a teaching position to achieve a similar purpose - but existing mummies are quite revered in their comnunities and whoever takes heed to that guidance finds an effective pathway into alleviating suffering. People who obsess about fleeting materialities rarely do. This type of thing is a very rare occurence at any rate, I'm pretty sure not more than a few dozen self-mummifications have been found. But it's no rarity that many buddhists hope to pass away while seated in meditation, it's not such a bad way to go. I personally find myself awestruck by the length these types of individuals took their extraordinary practice.

>>1478978
Exactly, tha't's the point. It's bizarre and goes against our nature so it's a compelling form of protest.

Anyways, aren't they more or less an equivalent to saints in that they trade their life in the name of virtue?

>>1477876
It's not. The goal is to transcend your individuality and become something greater. Escaping the hedonic treadmill of our existence and achieving a state of absolute perfection/bliss.

>>1478086
Honestly I think it's kind of beautiful the strength of will they'd have to possess to see it through. But I've always been of the opinion that choosing when you die, provided you do so with a clear mind, is commendable.

>>1477948
Hospitals try their absolute hardest not to kill anyone.

You must live in Somalia.

>>1479858
Kek

>>1479858

Saying that is kind of a stretch considering the rampant adverse and fatal consequences of prescription drug side-effects, negligence or mistreatment, short-staffed facilities, resistent bacteria etc

t. medical professional

>>1477876
And just like that another thread is derailed into Christianity vs the world religions.

Wew.

>>1479954
Thank you for understanding how people ruined this glorious thread

>>1477876
>>1477895
why are you on /his/?

>>1477863
>>1477867
>>1478916
I nearly spit out my drink laughing

>>1477987
cool jeans

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>>1477876
every religion is both a life or death cult since most of them existed to explain those two topics

the difference between both is in the eye of the beholder: while some see everything impregnated with death other see everything impregnated with life.

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In response to Protestant Iconoclasms, some Catholics dug up some ancient Roman cemeteries and dressed up the skeletons in gaudy costumes, and gave them made up names, declaring them saints.

>>1477858
>"Shinichiro-san please! You have to take a break from meditating or you'll starve!"
>"Deal with it"

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>>1478009
is that satan himself posing as a roman legionnaire?

>>1480130
>smells like tuna

>>1477946
Killing yourself because you can and having the willpower to starve until your life is gone is the same as drinking kool aide.

Get outta here.

>>1477946
Many of those people were forced to drink that shit.
Nice comparison, retard.

>>1477858
those glasses aren't fooling anyone, he's dead

>>1479731
>It's probably difficult to appreciate these types of practices if you don't share the associated values

It's a genuine shame that people on this site are so narrow-minded and lack any form of general empathy.

>>1480195
"No, aki-chan! One must find true balance of nature after one's nurture. So fuck of will you?"

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>>1480504
More like they refuse to do any reading on the subject and just parrot what other uneducated goons have said, as shown by people posting shit like this >>1477876

>>1480530
I guess so. I can't tell you how often I've seen the almost exact same grossly outdated and plainly incorrect sentiments expressed about a certain topic. I genuinely don't think it's the same guy, but it just goes to show most people in general just take what they hear at face value and don't bother looking up if it's true or correct.

I know that not everyone here has had the actual chance to experience a wide variety of different cultures and peoples, and learned to keep an open-mind so as not form grossly inaccurate prejudices about entire countries, religions, cultures and topics.
So that's probably why we get a website that thinks Chinese people are not human, all Muslims are scum that deserve to be killed, Christianity is objectively the best thing ever, and that everything not from before 1950s and made by racially Pure Whites™ is degenerate. Despite the fact that the world is as globalised and connected as ever, no one here ever really chooses to try and understand others.

>>1477946
>jamestown

>>1480616
Well, 4chan is inherently contrarian, which is why common views don't tend to gain much traction here and conveniently having a group of people to hate and blame requires less effort than actually putting any amount of thought into certain issues.

>>1477858
Dust to Dust.

If people can't understand this rational of action, they probably wish they could live for ever.

A very revered practice for a true show of self dedication..

>>1477876
The goal is stop suffering and only feeling actual happiness. The goal however is not important, meditation is, achieving the goal is a byproduct of it.

>>1477913
>Aren't hospitals death cult too? Literally a place for people to die.

There are people this stupid and unable to draw appropriate analogies on /his/.

>>1479920

Poorly implemented regulations, oversight, and corruption is not the same as purposefully existing to cause such harm.

The function of the hospital is to prevent death or ease suffering (physical/mental) of the patient. How it's run and the people running it is another matter.

>>1477876

according to some schools of hinduism, buddhism is just a meme religion created by lord vishnu to fool the atheists.

>>1477979
they do worship demons

>>1484996
They worship fire, not demons. If you're going to assert demons, state what demons. Don't even think about saying satan.

>>1477987
>signsyourchildrenmaybeinacult.webm

>>1485025
Uhura Toyota.

>>1477876
Every religion is just an accepted cult.

>>1477876
You're describing ascetic practice, which Buddhism isn't. Buddha is said to have tried that kind of self-annihilation, which he found to be an unfulfilling extreme, same as his early life of luxury. Buddhism aims only to control the impulses that give rise to unfulfillment, not to deaden all emotion.

>>1478122
top kek

>>1484840
But Hindus are the second most ass-mad religion out there, second only to radical islam. Of course they would say something like that

>>1477954
I thought they were used because mountains lack suitable land for graves and alpine zones lack trees for pyres