| May 2, 2001 I was visiting one of my favorite yahoo clubs "Elemental Spirit" http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/elementalspirit and found myself at one of the new posts. The post advertised a quiz that consists of 20 questions and usually only takes about ten minutes or so to answer. This quiz supposedly was going to tell me what religions are "right" for me. So of course I hopped straight on the bandwagon to take this quiz. (Which can be found at Beliefnet .... http://www.beliefnet.com). The results I found were absolutely amazing!!!! I did take the quiz twice, but I would rather only mention the latter as my answers to the questions were much more accurate. My score came out to be: 1) Mahayana Buddhism (100%) 2) Neo-Pagan (87%) 3) New Thought (86%) The list has a total of 27 possible choices. I believe the same religions are cranked out each time and you are told which ones fit you by priority and percentage. Upon seeing this 100% for Mahayana Buddhism I was suprised to say the least!!! I had never heard of Mahayana Buddhism before. So I have spent a great part of the last few days (it is now May 4, 2001) researching Mahayana Buddhism. I have found some very interesting things thus far. From what I understand the Theravada Buddhists have their main goal as completely reaching enlightenment and then going to Nirvana (not the band from Seattle). Whereas the Mahayana Buddhists also strive to reach enlightenment, only they decline to go to Nirvana, and instead they come back (reincarnation) to earth again and again to help others reach enlightenment. The Mahayana Buddhists will keep coming back to earth again and again until every person on earth has reached enlightenment. Another interesting idea is the idea of cleansing yourself in all you do. Things like virtues and non-virtues. I think physical non-virtues are like killing, beating someone up, sexual misconduct, etc... whereas things like hugging, holding, showing love and affection physically would be considered virtues. What really gog to me was the verbal non-virtues like lying, slander, and gossip. This has made me really think a lot over the past couple of days. Do I really want to be someone who gossips? I don't think so. So I need to really think about this and watch what I say, although, I must say, it already seems this will be a difficult task. As I learn I will most likely be updating the site on what I learn. I do hope some of you will spend time at the links. And please check out the quiz at BeliefNet !!! Love & Light, ~Velvet~ |
| Buddhism |