Peeping Tom Buddha

I am attracted to what I hear about Buddhism. Those cute/profound/ sayings that folks post on FB.  They're all TRUE!  The Truth Lies Within.  Yes!  Be Where You Are or You'll Miss Your Life.  OMG, I love it! But when I went trolling the net to find out more about the nitty gritty of it all, I found as much sub-strata and angel-dancing-pin-parsing in Buddhism as I found in the Big 3, so I won't be taking the pledge.  My feeling about rules is that they are there to be gotten around--like the tax code if you're a corporation.  If you follow the rules, you can be a good Whatever and still be the meanest unhappiest person alive. I see it everyday in judgmental buttholes who glom on to some probably-mistranslated paragraph in their holy book and use it to justify their less-than-loving dealings with both creatures and the earth.  Argh.  And I had such high hopes for Buddhism.  One of those Power Point slides that someone posted on FB had to do with how Buddhism says you don't need rules, you already know what's right and wrong.  I mean, right?  If you're about to bludgeon someone or steal their iPhone or their husband you don't have to go to the rule book to find out what the elders have to say about it. Your gut is already producing more-than-usual bile and your voice is squeaking out things like "they deserve it!" "they don't need it".  So I thought that Buddhism was different.  But it turns out that it's not.  Some clever marketing person is taking the bullet points and throwing them out there without commentary, which is probably what all religions should do to make themselves more attractive.  The commentary kills the deal.  I could go for a religion, for example, that says "love your neighbor as yourself" and then shuts the heck up.

picture from www.funkyjunk.com