Do buddhists know the real purpose of life?

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Many people wonder how life should be, and how it should be lived.

Buddhist seems to have found the way to live life. Very few buddhists are depressed, and they are very happy with very litle.

Of course one needs to grow up or live in such a buddhist society to live it themselves, or at least, it helps if the environment is buddhist.

I myself could hardly live as a buddhist if I was presented for the idea. I would find it nonsense. But this is only because I grew up with the capitalist and elitist lifestyle.

Of course one needs technology, and technology makes many things easier. I am not talking about abolishing technology, but abolishing money. It will be really hard, because we have money addiction.

If we could somehow manage to get a technological society without money (also known as Technocracy) many people, if not everybody, would be happy. Happiness will be easier to achieve.

We suffer from money addiction and entertainment addiction. What if we could achieve happiness without money and entertainment, like buddhists do?

It would be really hard, and I would propose buddhist doctors or buddhist psychologists to teach mankind how to live.

I think many western societies needs to adopt buddhism as state religion. Of course, to make it easier for the people, combine it with their already existing religions. A mix between Christianity and Buddhism makes up the perfect religion.

EDIT: I do agree with a lot of what you say!

Buddhism is best accompanied by 'meditation' and this is why people are relaxed or 'happier.' Its not the religion itself, but the religion stemmed from Meditative practices (arguable ALL religion did). Meditation will help you better understand your 'self.' As for lack of possession, again, once you have a mind capable of great things, the rest is secondary. All this technology when all we may actually need is our 'minds.'

Its debatable that Jesus and Muhammed were ALSO just like 'Buddha' but took different paths in their personal interpretations of what was going on with 'God' and/or 'Meditation.' Jesus was the only one who claimed to BE God, which in todays terms, would be interpreted as being 'crazy.' Buddha did not go this route. These individuals, in my opinion, were early meditators/spiritual teachers.

The mind is more then just a organic muscle. We have 'thought' and those 'thoughts' dictate our actions. I, today, posted about the Japanese style of living, before the 'West' changed and "updated" Japan in the 19th century. Everything was organized, polite, respectful, disciplined. Everyone did their own thing while contributing to society - they perfected themselves and their interests. They were very spiritual and just looking at Japanese lifestyle (via "Last Samurai"), I can only describe it as "making sense" - I, too, meditate, but do not belong to 'Buddhism' as I feel Buddhism needs to be updated.

This is a topic that deeply intrigues me. I'm interested in the power of religion and where it came from. Some studies indicate meditation as the practice has been around from anywhere between 10-50,000 years. Religion? Well, look into Hinduism as the oldest.

I'm also interested in the power of mind.

You're funny - I was going to post this EXACT same thing but I was going to be a lot more blunt and heavy with my accusations about greed and stuff. Glad you did as people would have been pissed off at what I would have written.

THIS is why I recommend meditation to everyone here for 99% of their problems. Depression, anxiety, greed, ego, pride, OCD, self esteem, problems they have, etc.

I probably borrow alot more from Buddhism than I do any other belief, though I prefer to not follow anything 100%..... Buddhism does offer alot in ways of self improvement, spiritual enlightenment, and philosophy. I personally consider it more of a practice than a religion. Buddhism doesn't require that one follow everything it says, rather if encourages the individual to find their own path... It mainly gives them the tools to find their path.

I personally have a very deeply transformed perspective on mainline religions... That aliens had put us here, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Moses, and Ghandi were all chosen prophets to get the message out... Ultimately they all teach the same concepts of morality.
All the "miracles" in the mythologies could have easily been far advanced technology. They reffered to them in mythological terminology because it blew their minds, they had never witnessed such technology in their times.
I'm kinda in the dark about the aliens though, my findings have lead me to conclude that maybe some of them are good, but there are definately some that are evil. I can't really give a whole lot of info on the aliens because I haven't solidified many facts on them yet in my mind.

Yes, the part about "practice" is what I enjoyed about your post. Most religions dont have much in the way of actual 'practice' outside of a bunch of people sitting around and 'talking' about it. We all know how much work 'talk' accomplishes. This, in my opinion, is where religions fail miserably. No one practices what their religion actually is there to teach them.

Good for buddhists. They are free to be buddhists. I don't wanna be a buddhist though. I really don't care one way or another for their lifestyle so long as they don't interfere with my life.

Why do you think Buddhist act the way they do?

Because they are Buddhists and Buddhists act that way, duh.

Umm, a little more indepth please. They dont "act" because acting implies "lying." Tom Hanks 'acts' but these people do not.

Why do you really think buddhist act the way they do? They CAN be happier people (if they practice), so why do you think they are happier? Its hard to 'act' happy all the time.

NOTE: I separate other religions here as there isnt much practice to them outside of talking and following. And I generalize buddhists as all happy (I'm sure some arent but most who practice are)

It seems Buddhist philosophy is more or less the acheivement of peace of mind through negation. Part of it is metaphysically denying the value of this world in order to become unattached, and lacking any desire for anything in it. Accordingly there would not be any purpose to life except, once finding oneself in it, escaping it.

You used the term act as well unless you can't read the comment I responded to so don't attack my use of the term, and people do act, ducks act too "if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck and acts like a duck then it is likely a duck". Two, it is undoubtedly for the same reasons that Christians and other groups act the way that they do. They think that something is true and follow that truth, by that measure most religious people have better lives in some way shape or form, the Christian religious on average have longer lifespans should we start having a duel between Christianity and Buddhism now? Or should we just recognize the human desire for truth and move on past that? The Buddhist benefits are similar to the kit n' caboodle offered by other beliefs.

I was going to argue they meditated more. You know, if you get in touch with that mushy hippy spirit stuff, I think you may change your mind.

I could also change my mind by removing a small part of it as well, but changing my mind is not necessarily the aim here. The aim ends up being whether or not something is necessarily true and Buddhism, despite less claims isn't necessarily true and is not a science in any form or fashion.

Since I'm a Buddhist I will put in my ten cents worth. The peace that Buddhists tend to feel comes not only from meditation but also from insight, which has the result that one's desires are reduced because one comes to understand that they are pointless and unnecessary. With reduced desires comes reduced stress and pressure, greater acceptance and equanimity.

If you meet Buddhist monks you will find that they laugh a lot and have a good sense of humour.

I would say that the gnostics seem to have had a stronger view of reality and life, but the truth is that there is no single group that has found the truth alone. Even Christianity, beyond the gnostics-- also holds the value of the spirit and meditation(PRAYER). It's just that Christianity has become rather watered-down in the intangible areas-- mainly due to spread and historical moments.

...That, and few people seem to ever read all of the book and follow it up with other moments in that time period.

I have come to the same insight in the last year though I never new Buddhist had the same idea. Instead of meditation my brand
of Buddhism uses Prozac.