what YOU believe Buddhism to be really about. obviously, there are sects and schools of thought that differ. i've already pointed out the ways in which Christians have similar differences in belief as far as the cosmology and hierarchy of the universe go. i don't see this as much different. now, personally, i DO believe in a form of reincarnation...but i don't see why it's so hard to accept that some Buddhists have considered the matter and don't believe in it.
you seem to have an attachment to the notion of reincarnation, which if you cling to it too tightly will impede your path. if it occurs, it does. if it doesn't, it does not. believe what you believe, follow your path and concern yourself less with other believing exactly what you believe. if you meet the Buddha on the road, kill the Buddha.
except that unlike L. Ron Hubbard, no major prophet in history has profited off of their message. many were shunned, tortured and killed. so why persist in "duping" people if all it gets you is persecution and death?
my comment about the "point" could have been clearer...i meant the point of discussing faith and various beliefs, not the point of the individual faiths themselves. hope that clears that up.
how am i hypocritical? i'm not dismissing your beliefs or calling them dumb. i AM criticizing your attitudes towards faith and people of faith. i applaud skepticism and critical thought. i think it's an important element of true faith. i don't blindly believe in anything arbitrary. i constantly question my beliefs and my faith and struggle with the nature of God and the universe. so to have someone dismiss all beliefs simply on the basis that they ARE beliefs as "dumb" is rather insulting, yes. you can question and poke and prod all you want, but you don't have to act like a prick about it. saying "i don't believe in reincarnation. i've never seen any evidence to support it" is an important step away from "no, it's dumb and made up and you're dumb for believing in it."
honestly, i can understand a little reactionary douchebaggery towards Christians because of what utter bastards fundamentalists and televangelists act like, making the rest of us look bad...but what the hell did Buddhists ever do to you? lol
(and for the record, i never claimed to believe in the LITERAL truth of the Norse myths, any more than i've claimed to believe in the LITERAL truth of my own faiths. i said they were stories meant to reflect certain spiritual truths and values metaphorically and symbolically. so try reading ALL of the words i post before responding, thanks.)
to my mind, very little. hell, i consider John Lennon and Bill Hicks to be modern day prophets, alongside Kahlil Gibran, Jack Kerouac, Thich Nhat Thanh and Martin Luther King Jr.