Maybe its possible that the great distances separating us lead to some of the key morals of Eastern religion being lost, or lost in translation. Maybe we missed information about which lessons are valued most and considered more important. Maybe the weird personal interpretations of the particular person bringing over the text will be weighed equally with more established interpretations. Maybe the random unfiltered opinions of the person who brought the text over will be assumed to be part of the teachings of the religion, just because the person shared their opinions at every opportunity.

You need a strong and diverse two-way communication channel for a religion to move from one place to another, otherwise things are going to get corrupted. If your religion spans half a dozen books and hundreds of pages then it's practically guarunteed that the religion will end up worse after it's travel.

Shoot, even traveling through TIME can heavily mutate religions.

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nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq4pa5q2kqs8ygfxuat02w88ezsle9wzwnu0meu7z2785t8rl0hhcsahhd4m nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqwcf6srj73muaspe5hvyve6af6ep236xzqvfepr6j4vut4c8nkj6sj2grcp nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqau5ea8kup6utzyfxqjyh233ndzxzde02wqzcqvagawse3yxszztsz9l9qk nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpq67ku22z88qys24pp8vxeqmuwzyrlcremz9933prku8kahm59eyssdvdyq8 nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnddaehgu3wwp6kyqpqm8d6pcrjhke48hasqgx7zkgjdt68u60px04frw753697mcmnyr3qdm9w7h Early studies of Eastern religion were pretty bad but I don't think communication is the issue at this point. The West has done more study on these religions than their native practitioners ever did. We're solely responsible for reviving several of the world's major traditions.

Most Buddhism was so diluted by syncretism is was basically extinct until Western scholars applied historical methods to the surviving sources and extracted orthodoxy from the decaying ruins.

But that's just the scholarly end. They aren't the ones practicing. The Westerners who practice Eastern religion just hate Christian morality and want to subvert it, and the powers in these foreign religions aren't relevant enough here to stop them from turning it into a butt sex cult.

And some people only consider themselves religious as a way of signaling that they like "christian" morality. It goes both ways. Once it becomes a battle between good and evil, it stops being a battle between correct and incorrect.

It's really unfortunate for both sides I think. Many people's religious beliefs are for purely intellectual reasons; the factual statements just seem true to them. Unfortunately, many of the people "agreeing" and "disagreeing" with these statements don't think they are worthy of respect except as a tool in their personal culture war?

I refuse to use religious beliefs as a tool. I will present only what I believe, even if every other person who believes it is a gay loser. It's far more respectful to everyone involved.