@TheMiddleWay That's why bookish knowledge is dangerous in this world. I am familiar with all stories of Buddhism since childhood. I grew up among many Buddhists and remember all BS they are taught and believe in. Seen it all up close.

@TheMiddleWay I wouldn't say none of these, but certainly not all of them are part of buddhism.

@TheMiddleWay You are not aware because you have not lived in the land of Buddha - Bihar in India. What you have seen is like Chinese food in America like Garlic Chicken that is not a Chinese dish in China.. lol

That is why I always believed that bookish knowledge is good in a classroom but it fails to relate to real life quite often. When I said something about Buddhism, I said because I knew it all first hand. Did you?

@Tiramisu I think you have constructed an image of what you think Buddhism is and made a judgement on that. People may look at the Soviet Union and conclude that communism is a murderous ideology, but they would not have understood what communism is. I feel that you have fallen into the same trap.

@Gareth Do you know faith is sold differently in different lands? The Chinese food is different in different lands?

@Tiramisu Yes. If you have a point to address to me try to frame it in clear and concise language as riddles are not my thing.

@Gareth I thought I laid it out point by point above.but you did not agree. Your views can be different than mine and it is ok. We both may be correct because our experiences are different.

@Tiramisu It's not just that I don't agree - it's that I think many of your numbered points are wrong if you are applying them to Buddhism as a whole. Bad practices can accrete to good ideas (eg communism) but that does not invalidate the ideas. As for miracles, supernatural beings, rituals and general woo - they aren't in any way essential to being a Buddhist as they seem to be in the Abrahamic religions.

@Gareth Essential or not, those are there and practiced heavily in Buddhism. You may have seen the Western version of Buddhism but I have seen how Buddhism is practiced up close. It is full of the same ugliness that is common to all other religions.

@Tiramisu I think we have come back to my original observation re: communism.

@TheMiddleWay I agree that the poster is mixing up religions, certainly. But Buddhism is not what it is in theory but what it is in practice. I lived in Thailand for many years so I've lived in a Buddhist country. Many western middle class Buddhist types know Buddhism from their books and a one week holiday playing tourist and temples. Buddhism does include worship like other religions; it does include supernatural belief mystical assertions and all the stuff religions have. It is what it is in practice. Buddhism is a philosophy not a religion, is a nice illusion in the west but it's false. I'm not really disagreeing with you, but let's not sanitise Buddhism the way some western people do.

@David1955 correct, how religion is practiced matters, not what is written.

That's cornering the market. Jehovah's Witness do it calling the ancient Bible characters JWs and Islam does it too calling them Muslims.