I dont see any flaw in that logic.
this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2026
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says gaming, religion serve similar life purposes
Glad it's a Buddhist saying this. My knee-jerk was to compare the benign influence of violent videogames to the radicalizing influence of violent religions.
This may just be my lack of familiarity with Buddhism, but my understanding is they're generally pretty chill and actually make a positive impact on society. Other religions, not so much.
This reads like an advertisement for Buddism, if written by Larry David.
"Try Buddism. It's pretttyyyyy pretttyyyyyyy chill."
I used to play Left for Dead 2 with a Buddhist monk back in the day.
I might have also sold him half an ounce of weed once, after getting a good deal for a whole ounce, but I wasn't smoking enough to warrant having that much on hand. Allegedly. I imagine the experience of handing illicit substances to a monk in full regalia might have felt surreal and kinda sinful to my Christian educated ass.
I feel like if you have to say it's okay,/good because your religion says so, it's cause you actually feel some shame about doing it and are looking for a way to excuse if to yourself and others.
I personally don't think there is anything wrong with gaming hobbies. Though some people are addicted. And then it's a problem.
Maybe he should just say he likes games. That's fine.
God told me it's good to play games.
God told me I should definitely take a 2nd wife and it should be that 15 year old Tina.
God told me I'm allowed to own everything and make everyone pay me for living on my land.
Rather Buddhist (I know Buddhism is atheist) or secular or whatever. Everyone always says their religion says they get to do what they want. Weird how it's always "God says I get to ". And "God says you can't". But never the other way around.
Religion is the counter strike of the masses
- Karl Marx
There was a gamming community many years ago named heat.com, their motto stuck with me:
'Kill pixels, not people.'
Don't mock the battle monk. At least it's not pedo priest/imam
power of god and anime is on his side
My mans playing CS2 what a goat
Rock on.
Y'all won't be laughing when he pulls off a hadouken or a spirit bomb.
how is this oniony
There's an Instagram account where a Japanese guy writes the Buddhist mantra (not sure if that's the correct English term) every time he kills an enemy in Super Mario. It's actually really funny.
Many people say playing CS, which is a violent and bloody game, will lead him to hell because it is not something a religious man should do.
He's a Buddhist, he's already in hell (since Buddhists believe that if you reincarnate you failed to achieve Nirvana and you are still suffering).
Buddhists believe in hell realms that are worse than Earth. Wicked souls reincarnate as hell beings, and it takes much longer than a normal human lifetime to work off the negative karma and have another chance at rebirth into a higher realm. Being born as a human is fortunate and rare in the cosmic scope of things.
Hell NG+
Finally, someone who just gets it!
I thought Buddhist monks have made a vow to live a life of nothingness with no technology and no outside influences. How did he get access to screens and technology? Wouldn't he be exiled from the monastery for bringing in such things?
I thought Christian pastors have made a vow to serve the Lord and abstain from monetization of the church. How did they get access to little boys holes? Wouldn't they be exiled from the church for raping kids?
Ah, you're likening this videogame-playing monk to those guys? Then clearly something ain't right here.
It's hyperbolic. An exaggerated example to prove a point.
A better example would be the Amish. There are multiple different sects that allow varying use of technology, with some allowing computers and phones.
Their whole thing about technology is it being a distraction from God, and different groups have different lines drawn.
I'd imagine that getting to interact with people from all over the world would fit in with Buddhism's quest for enlightenment for some monks, but not others.
I don't know about this dude, but also not all monks are, like, born into a monetary and raised in it. So probably he played videogames when he was younger, and argued as an adult that they're not that bad.
Nah, not all monastic orders are the same at all
That is the amish.
Some sects allow computer and cellphone use. I'd imagine there's different sects of Buddhist monks with varying thoughts on the topic.
Some monks may do that but it's not common to fully insulate themselves, or they may temporarily spend time away from society focused only on dhamma study but otherwise will read the news and engage in activism and wordly things plenty. They don't handle money and avoid alcohol, sex and drugs etc usually but still have recreation and even fight in militaries at times. Many monks and buddhist lay people specifically take a vow to remain in the worldly sphere (as a "Bodhisattva") so they can use their experience and conditioning to help guide other people out of the suffering of the mundane world.