solidstatemind said:
Actually, while I will agree that Exorcism movies are shit, usually for the reasons others here have mentioned, the subject is fascinating and not really "just one guy shouting prayers at another guy."
For instance, did you know that there are Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist versions of exorcism?
Okay, I have to ask, how the heck do you have a Buddhist exorcism when Buddhism is pretty much based on the idea that there are no supernatural forces, and that everything derives from oneself.
As I loosely understand things the basic idea of Buddhism is to pretty much become your own god and work towards ascension. If you die without getting into that state you pretty much wind up in Limbo waiting for a divine power to come along to rescue or punish you, when one pretty much never will because they don't exist. Only through the correct realizations and understandings can you basically free yourself by becoming your own god. Buddha himself being a guy who ascended and returned to earth to teach other people the past.
I'm no expert, and could have that wrong, but by Buddhist standards what do they exorcise from people is there is nothing out there that can possess people?
Islam is from the same family of religions as Judism, and Christianity and shares a lot of the same central beliefs so that makes sense. Hinduism has an entire pantheon of gods and assorted servants so, again that makes a degree of sense, however Buddhism is more of a philosophy than anything, even if it includes mystical elements.