[driftdiver]

So you disagree with the historically accurate version of Buddha but accept the new age watered down version.

OK, doesn’t change anything about the religion. It does display your willful ignorance of the subject.

Buddha was born into a privileged family, the son of a king. He spent most of his time stoned which is where he got his deep thoughts.

[xone]

ph

[muawiyah]

Believe what you want. He belonged to the RULING FAMILY and spent most of his time trying out different ways to fast ~ as far as the coffee shop beliefs, please work with me here a moment. Are you talking about Northern Buddhism or Southern Buddhism?

And, within Northern Buddhism, are we attempting to 'splain ZEN, which seeks to work without a written scripture, or Ameda Buddha, which has various divisions devoted to certain specific scriptures identified by a commonly agreed upon numbering system. Within Ameda, which one?

Back about 200 AD the Hindu Revolution in India drove most Buddhists to the peripheral areas ~ although most Hindus will tell you "It was always that way, even when they lived in the middle of the country and owned everybody they really existed only in peripheral areas" ~ which is a rather strange Hindu belief, but they have it and it's not worth arguing out with them.

Buddha also was a near or actual contemporary of a number of other major religious leaders of the time.

I don't recall him ever hanging around a coffee shop. Now, about this guy Bourdain who went on a haj to India to find Marijuana laced milkshakes ~ I hope your understanding of India is not based solely on his "let's visit a restaurant TV show".