Do you hate them yet?

[vlyons]

11. Buddhism is a non-theistic practice

Buddhist philosophy and psychology is a profound 2600 yr old path. We do not concern ourselves with whether there is a god or not. Buddhism only tries to answer the questions of how can we be happy, and what is the cause of suffering, and how do we eradicate suffering? We also do not proselytize and convert people. One must ask for teachings and actively seek out authentic Buddhist teachers.

A core belief of Buddhism is that the "self" is a made-up non-existent fiction that only SEEMS real. And emotions SEEM real, but they also are completely empty of any independent self-existent reality. Emotions, like concepts, are imaginary without mass. They can't be weighed on a scale, but they SEEM real. That in a nutshell is the Buddhist teaching on emptiness. I know at first that it doesn't make any sense. It took me many many years (I'm 72) of Buddhist study and contemplation to get insights into the Buddhist teachings on emptiness. As best I understand it, the only thing I can ever know is my own experience, which is completely subjective. There's what we tell ourselves about how things are, and then there's how things objectively exist independently of our subjective opinions and judgements.

I ask myself, what would the Dalai Lama see if he met Trump? Whatever that is, it's what I want to see also.

Or as my Daddy used to say, a difference of opinion is what makes a horse race.