Is a Buddhist really a Buddhist if when questioned he claims to be neo-pagan?

Now, I'm not one to discriminate against someone's religion, but there's a guy on my course who claims to be a Buddhist but everything about him is contradictory. For example, we were talking about enthuenisa(sp?) of animals and he started his sentance with 'As a Buddhist....' and I thought, oh okay, cool. But then the next day he said he couldn't wait to go home so he could have a beer, or a half bottle of vodka. I was under the impression that Buddhists didn't drink because it unpurified the body.

Then today he asked me what time the college bar opened and I simply said 'I thought you were a Buddhist' in a non-sarcastic way, but with a tone of mild suprise. And he got all defensive on me and started shouting at me asking 'do they not allow Buddhists into bars'. So I simple said that, as I understand it, Buddhists don't drink. So he turned around and said that he was actually a 'neo-pagan Buddhist'. Now, if he had said this to begin with I wouldn't have minded, but the way he said it makes it seem that he's only saying he's a Buddhist for attention and he's using neo-paganism as a loophole. Him adding that being neo-pagan meant he could do 'whatever the hell I want' really got me annoyed.

I have to put up with him in all my lectures and he's very annoying, always trying to corrected the lecturer, and not very well I might add.

Anyone have an opinion on this guy?

I have an opinion. Listen, tribal raven, there are allot of people in this world. And a high percentage of them are not for us. What I do is, I treat everyone with respect and decency. Because most of them you only have to get along with for a moment, and they really don't matter at all. The only people that really matter are the ones that we care enough to have in our lives. So I am sorry that you have to be around this guy, but don't let it bother you. Just reply to him correctly and respectfully, and then forget about him. If you leave it at that, you should be fine. I can talk to any one like they are cool. I know it feels kind of fake, but the thing is that, even though these people do not matter to us, it only makes us feel bad to treat them with anything other than resect and correctness.

And then just walk away.

If we can see people for what they are on the inside, & still be graceful to everyone, then we are doing good.

TR, it does not matter if he claims to be a Buddhist, neo-pagan Buddhist, something else, or why he's doing so. He's still an annoyance to people around him, no matter what label he prefers. If he irritates you that much, make communication with him minimal. Info asked, info provided, and that's it. Everything else is a waste of your mental and emotional energy.

BTW, Buddhism does not uniformly condemn drinking. The idea that it does comes from the fact that Westerners see Buddha's precepts (of which abstaining from alcohol is the 5th one) to be the same as Christian 10 Commandments. However, Buddhism denies such thing as authority, and precepts in its context are merely guidelines, not laws to stick to. So depending on which school of Buddhism we are talking about, drinking can be perfectly ok unless the person who drinks harms himself or others.

What Owl Said.... I've seen some Buddhists that really like to get down and party. ;-)

And, on another note, I remember when I first discovered witchcraft and Wicca. I went all out to label myself as Wiccan and a practitioner of witchcraft even though I was doing things that actually went against the Wiccan Rede (like casting love spells and hexes, not to mention doing lots of drinking [which harms the body] lots of smoking [which harms the body] and lots of drugs [which harm the body]). I was new to the way of life and even though I thought I was living it properly, many that had more experience than I on that path knew that I wasn't and I appeared to be a fake. I wasn't knowingly doing it, as to me I thought I was being true to my path.

Perhaps this person is under the same impression. Perhaps he thinks he's being true to the traditional ways of the path and being true to himself when in all actuality he's just new and doesn't understand it properly.

Just a thought. As Owl said, if he annoys you so much, just let it roll off of you and keep communications to a minimum. Unfortunately when you're in class with someone, you HAVE to be exposed to them to some extent but you control yourself and your emotions. He can't get under your skin if you don't allow him to. Send him energy of love, light and compassion and let it all go. :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Bam:
He can't get under your skin if you don't allow him to.

Exactly. Only I would block the bugger out. I serously lack in the general compassion department and have to watch where my limited resources go.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: CoffeeOwl,