tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19835303.post8760484428079331957..comments2023-08-18T07:04:22.633-07:00Comments on Areté: Curse these cults!Lifewishhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07133804300464048756noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19835303.post-35958667623693236792008-07-23T04:56:00.000-07:002008-07-23T04:56:00.000-07:00I don't consider NKT a cult because of its bad pre...I don't consider NKT a cult because of its bad press. I'm aware of the bad press but, even by the most negative reading, the controversies surrounding NKT aren't particularly unusual.<BR/><BR/>I consider NKT a cult because it is based primarily on one individual's interpretation of religious texts, ideas and practices, with everyone else referring to that individual for guidance.<BR/><BR/>NKT is in illustrious company here - as I alluded to in my post, first-century Christianity would also qualify as a cult, as would early Islam. Basically, it's a cult when the individual held responsible for interpreting divine truth is still alive.<BR/><BR/>However, religious lineages that pass through such a one-man bottleneck tend to undergo a lot of changes (consider the reinterpretation of Judaism by Christians). They often tend to become more radical too. Both of these make me slightly nervous about placing my unconscious mind under a group member's control.<BR/><BR/>I did go along to the meditation sessions (I think there's a post on here somewhere), and I was OK for the first session. For the second session we moved onto meditating on a focus - world peace. I don't actually think that unqualified world peace would be a good thing, so I couldn't allow myself to go all the way into a meditative state. The experience left me with a headache, and I stopped going.<BR/><BR/>I'm aware that this may well not be NKT's fault - I'd probably have the same problem in a mainstream meditation class. But the experience of trying to resist "reprogramming" when in a semi-meditative state was decidedly unpleasant. I tried to alleviate the problem by talking through my issues with the group leader, but this was only helpful to the extent that the group leader herself had given them any thought, and it turned out she hadn't.Lifewishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07133804300464048756noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19835303.post-36905806354400669932008-07-21T01:55:00.000-07:002008-07-21T01:55:00.000-07:00on what basis do you say that the NKT is a cult? ...on what basis do you say that the NKT is a cult? There is a lot of negative information on the internet about this tradition due to other Buddhist groups who, out of jealousy and intolerance have an agenda to destroy the NKT. <BR/><BR/>For a refutation of this negativity, please read:<BR/><BR/>http://www.newkadampatruth.org/<BR/><BR/>Thank you!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com