Buddhism as an alternative clearing path

I discovered the concept and practice of clearing in Scientology.

But I had so many disagreements that I had to leave, and I was looking for a way to continue clearing outside of the church.

Eventually I discovered that Buddhism is a workable clearing path.

Purposes

Buddhism and Scientology share several purposes:

- Happiness

- Freedom from sufferings

- Freedom from the burden of the past

- Spiritual freedom

Success stories

Buddhism includes teachings and techniques that allow reaching the purposes above. 

That has been demonstrated by 2500 years of success stories

I have been using Buddhist techniques since about 5 years and I noticed the following improvements:

• Higher tone level
• No more episodes of unwanted anger
• Many cognitions: I realized that the main incidents and sufferings of this lifetime were explained by Buddhist teachings.
• Improved confrontation.
• When I am going to be overwhelmed by unwanted emotions or a challenging situation, I solve it by opening a meditation session.

The workability of Buddhist techniques has also been demonstrated by several recent developments:

• Mindfulness meditation techniques are successfully used to heal depressive people.
• Scientists have demonstrated the following effects of meditation techniques:
  - Improvement of the immune system
  - Blood pressure reduction
  - Increase in gray matter density in the brain, possibly a protection against Alzheimer
  - Telomere protection, leading to improved longevity
  - Meditators miss 76 per cent fewer days of work

Scientology versus Buddhism

Origin of sufferings

Both Buddhism and Scientology consider that our sufferings in this lifetime come from our actions in past lives (karma).  But they differ in the techniques that are used to free the individual from this burden.

The goal of man

According to Buddhism the goal of man is happiness, when according to Scientology the goal of man is survival. That is sometimes aligned, sometimes not. From my observations, I find that the quest of happiness is the real drive.

Compassion

According to Scientology, compassion is a low toned emotion, and the Church of Scientology tends to have contempt for people who have "low conditions" and to not help them.

According to the Dalai Lama, compassion is with love at the top of the Buddhist scale of emotions, and that is impossible to improve on the spiritual level without having love and compassion for others.

That is one of the main changes when switching from Scientology to Buddhism: the emphasis on love and compassion.

Ethics

Both Buddhism and Scientology consider ethics as an important part of the way out. But Buddhism puts more emphasis on things such as right speech or right thoughts.

Scientology is using ethics to control and enslave its members, when in Buddhism ethics is a tool of personal improvement.

About the past

Scientology is exploring the past, looking for past incidents and considerations in order to erase them, when Buddhism is fully present time oriented. That is not necessary to have a good memory to practice Buddhist techniques.

Solo and not solo

Buddhist techniques are practiced in solo, when Scientology processing has to be applied by a trained auditor.

Dependencies

That is possible to use Buddhist techniques in any place and time, when Scientology processing has to be delivered in precise places and times. With Buddhism one is less enslaved by space and time.

Scientology depends also on the use of a technical device: the e-meter, when Buddhism does not depend on physical devices, so that it is possible to use Buddhist techniques in the desert or at the moment of our death.

Price

Scientology is expensive, when Buddhism is free.

Substantive changes in real life

Looking at my experiences in Scientology, I found that most of the changes were only pretense, delusion. There were some improvements, but the quality of my life did not improve very much, I did not solve the main issues that led me to follow the Scientology bridge.

The  Buddhist path already changed my way of life and boosted my tone level to a great extent.

Etc.

In brief

I don’t want to invalidate the Scientology bridge on the technical level, as some people are happy with it. However in my opinion it should be made affordable and free from the enslavement practiced by the Church of Scientology.

But I want to let it known that for people who cannot walk along the bridge of Scientology, Buddhism might be a workable alternative clearing path.

Version 2 - February 13, 2014