Lent

Yeesh, religion can have some pretty stringent requirements on these holy things. My hat's off to people who actually do these things. I certainly couldn't; not due to low willpower but more I wouldn't have anything to gain from it.

edited 27th Feb '12 1:18:33 AM by MarkVonLewis

During daylight, sure. But Ramadan allows for eating after sundown.

In any case, neither Christianity nor Islam are very strict, from the point of view of fasting and penance — that just does not fit the mood of Abrahamic religions, I guess. Compared to, say, Buddhists or Jains, we are pretty laid back from this point of view, I think .

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

How much experience do you have with Islam? There is severe pressure to honor fasting across the board for Ramadan including how restaurants and shops will refuse to service Muslims or even open. Even more secular Muslims will follow Ramadan strictly.

Ramadan follows the Islamic Lunar calendar so it shifts in the year. I assure you it is far harder to abstain from water when it is summer than winter. Considering the areas with the strongest Islamic populations are either tropical or desert, that sunset can't come fast enough.

"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur

I go to a Thai Theravada temple and align with that. Thai Theravada and Theravada in general are known for being the grumpy, old strict versions of Buddhism. While there are some Mahayana schools that give Theravada a run for its money strictness wise there are just as many that are less strict.

Fasting wise the only ones required to do this are the Sangha. Those who take the Eight or Ten Precepts for any reason also take up the fasting precepts. A typical taking of the former lasts only a week or so. With the Ten it's either life until you opt out or until you get accepted as a monk unless you opt out. You may only eat two meals from sun rise to noon. What these meals contain isn't restricted so long as it won't maim you via eating. You are however allowed to drink water and tea more or less as much as you like. Restrictions based on what sorts of food that you can eat are made by individuals themselves. The monks at my temple and indeed most are very far from vegetarian...

The commonness of fasting and food type restriction varies quite a bit in Mahayana. Mahayana's a bit less cohesive than Theravada.

Vegetarianism is respected in pretty much all forms of Buddhism though. Regardless of whether or not they require it to be performed. You are after all giving up a thing you enjoy and this very thing happens to be related to one of the big causes of suffering we'll never be able to fix. That being "Things tend to eat each other..."

edited 27th Feb '12 8:35:09 AM by Aondeug

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

Fair point, I had not considered the drinking issue.

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

Theravada is the original definition of Buddhism, evolving from Siddhartha Gautama himself. Mahayana is more strict due to their adopting practices from the other religions that adhere to some form of accountable deity.

Religion is such an interesting construct.

"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur

Stating Mahayana as a whole is more strict doesn't really hold. You have schools like Shin Pureland hiding around which were created for the express purpose of not being so damned strict in ENTER AREA HERE.

That may have been true on a whole at one point but it's not now. Mahayana's now just this incohesive gaggle of sects with a hardon for Bodhisatta.

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

I can only go from what the scripture and orthodox traditions entail, not how they are actually carried out. I only have time to deal with the ancient texts and evolution of history (for Mahayana) to about 1500 ad. Mahayana in foundation is more strict, but that doesn't mean it's carried out the same way the original teacher's intended.

"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur

I was never too good at Lent, even when I still considered myself religious. Props to anyone who successfully abstains from whatever they gave up for the full 40 days.

“Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

I seem to be giving up sleep.

Although I'd really rather not.

Charlie Tunoku is a lover and a fighter.

Sleep is for quitters

Devypu's~ Big Pony :3

In these things, I think that the important thing is to give an honest attempt. If one happens to slip up for some reason (absentmindedness seems to be the killer here, one just forgets about what they gave up), it's not a big deal, as long as they keep trying. I mean, it's not like you get any video game award if you go through all 40 days without making mistakes

(Technically, I'd have "failed" already due to me deciding on what to do only after the beginning of Lent, but who cares about that)

But they seem to know where they are going, the ones who walk away from Omelas.

Snacks, I made a promise that everything I eat has to be eat sat down.

edited 28th Feb '12 5:10:45 AM by joeyjojo

hashtagsarestupid

Milk. I can't get enough of the stuff. This makes breakfast much harder to deal with.

Also soda.

edited 28th Feb '12 5:37:25 AM by eternalNoob

If you wanna PM me, send it to my mrsunshinesprinkles account; this one is blorked.

Soda is pretty damn easy to give up.

I have not tasted Coke in months now.

Tea is best served with fellow monsters. | MAL

Ah. I currently lack a life (dear god someone actually respond to my applications...) and intend to devote a good portion of my life to studying as many aspects of Buddhism as I can possibly manage regardless so...Yeah.

I do think that knowing at least somewhat about the current state of affairs and how things are practiced is important though. Not a lot. Just enough to know that the branch is about cohesive as Protestantism is.

Though that's likely because I really hate broad brushes and generalization.

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

It's my chosen form of study, however my other Master's reqs are ruining the fun for me. In fact, I really need to get off the computer and hit the library...

If it's any consolation, I am in Grad school because I couldn't find a job that paid a living wage after my BA's.

I have faith in ya!

"Psssh. Even if you could catch a miracle on a picture any person would probably delete it to make space for more porn." - Aszur

Also it'd be kind of bad if I knew nothing about how it's actually practiced given I go to temples regularly...

IT WOULD SHOW THAT I OBSERVE LITTLE.

And I really should go back to exploring Thailand in depth. TO DISCOVER ITS GROWTH INTO WHAT I NOW PRACTICE.

If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan Chah

Haha, last year I gave up TV Tropes for Lent! That was long before I actually started doing anything here.
During that time, I apparently missed out on the removal of the complaint pages like So Bad, It's Horrible and Wallbanger from the main wiki. I'm not gonna miss something like that again!

I think I also gave up snacking and sweets… or maybe just sweets. Well, this year I'm giving up between-meal snacking, dessert, and all video games except StreetPass Mii Plaza, which is not really a time waster considering stuff only happens a few times per day when one of my siblings is home (every other weekend, pretty much), at the most. The last time I gave up video games I went mad from the Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii development updates, so I was reluctant to give them up ever again. It certainly didn't help that I was still abstaining from games even on Sundays.

I'm not crazy, I just don't give a darn!

Oh right, it is this time of the year again.

Last year, although I learned a bit late, I managed to abstain myself from TV Tropes and actually pulled it.

This year, I am considering doing that, but this time I also want to drop MLP:FIM as well...but the problem is that the season finale is this Saturday......

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Lent, what's that?

I ain't a Christian no more so I don't do that shit.

Trying to give up stupid pointless details for Lent. Unfortunately command doesn't agree.

Suck it up Private, Command never agrees.

trying to give up singing. on fridays. i already failed once today. haven't sung since.

i SHOULD give up the internet.

also abstaining from eating meat. on fridays. didn't eat lunch today because there was no fish. also too lazy. is poultry allowed?

edited 15th Feb '13 12:20:06 AM by Passerby

so much to do, and yet... here, it feels like one cannot do anything but lie here and sleep forever.

Giving up being awesome fizzy drinks and sweets.

ಠ_ಠ