Every religion is a mash-up of wisdom and utter nonsense, and Buddhism is no exception.
While the Buddha’s core message is timeless and forever up to date, it often comes wrapped in a variety of corny legends and exaggerations that make me want to pluck my eyes out.
Anyone with a rational background cringes when they read in traditional texts that Siddhartha Gautama was born out of the right hip of his mother or that the world is flat with four continents.
Yet, mixed with its folks tales and funky cosmology, this spirituality shelters 2500 years of mind exploration: a roadmap covering every facets of consciousness and a comprehensive tool-chest of meditative tools. That can’t be found anywhere else.
Those who confused Buddhism with a philosophy are often deterred by the religious hogwash. As a result, they run away, lured by modern gurus whose spiritual claims aren’t backed by any tradition.
Others refuse to interpret the original texts for fear of warping their message, their obsessive concern with purity is already present in theistic religions under the name of fundamentalism.
What a waste… All the more as you don’t have to fall in the extremes of nihilism or blind faith.
My Buddhist teachers advised me to take the path one step at a time, they also told me that I didn’t have to believe in the whole theory to benefit from it.
In Buddhism (as well as other fields) it often makes more sense to start with what you’re comfortable with, and dig further.