Denying the sacred

betaboy

Every religion has something sacred in it - god, soul, spirit, heaven, etc. Buddhism does not care for any of this; it does not affirm anything sacred or divine, everything is mundane. Even the highest goal like nibbana is defined negatively in material terms, and not as a sacred thing. Does this make Buddhism unique, yes. But it baffles people, since it makes Buddhism appear like a form of materialism.

genkaku

@betaboy -- Just a suggestion: Don't worry about "people" -- pay attention to what you actually can know and correct. Things won't be so baffling that way.

gracelee

in Buddhism EVERYTHING is sacred... mindfulness is learning to see the sacredness of every little detail of our lives... this is my view anyway.

vinlyn

betaboy said:

Every religion has something sacred in it - god, soul, spirit, heaven, etc. Buddhism does not care for any of this; it does not affirm anything sacred or divine, everything is mundane. Even the highest goal like nibbana is defined negatively in material terms, and not as a sacred thing. Does this make Buddhism unique, yes. But it baffles people, since it makes Buddhism appear like a form of materialism.

I don't think you get around enough. You certainly don't say this from a perspective of Buddhism in much of the East.

lobster

Sacred - I bow.
Mundane - I bow.

Samsara - how wonderful
Nirvana - how wonderful

:clap:

Citta

I think you are wrong @betaboy. I think a closer inspection will show that in Buddhadharma nothing is mundane.

Jeffrey

From all of our actions we create karma. This is not just a concept, it is happening right now.

federica

betaboy said:

Every religion has something sacred in it - god, soul, spirit, heaven, etc. Buddhism does not care for any of this; it does not affirm anything sacred or divine, everything is mundane. Even the highest goal like nibbana is defined negatively in material terms, and not as a sacred thing. Does this make Buddhism unique, yes. But it baffles people, since it makes Buddhism appear like a form of materialism.

If you believe this, then you are just as "ignorant" about Buddhism as all these 'people' you mention.....

Citta

Jeffrey said:

From all of our actions we create karma. This is not just a concept, it is happening right now.

Thats needs qualifying @Jeffrey.
Our actions ARE karma.Thats what karma means.
From our actions come consequences, these are the fruit of karma. Karma-vipaka.
Karma -vipaka can be experienced as positive, negative, or neutral.
Much of karma results in vipaka that is from the subjective pov, neutral.

David

betaboy said:

Every religion has something sacred in it - god, soul, spirit, heaven, etc. Buddhism does not care for any of this; it does not affirm anything sacred or divine, everything is mundane. Even the highest goal like nibbana is defined negatively in material terms, and not as a sacred thing. Does this make Buddhism unique, yes. But it baffles people, since it makes Buddhism appear like a form of materialism.

It's only perspective which separates the divine from the mundane. For me, Buddhism has rendered both words meaningless because it is either all divine or it is all mundane and it doesn't really matter which.

betaboy

federica said:

betaboy said:

Every religion has something sacred in it - god, soul, spirit, heaven, etc. Buddhism does not care for any of this; it does not affirm anything sacred or divine, everything is mundane. Even the highest goal like nibbana is defined negatively in material terms, and not as a sacred thing. Does this make Buddhism unique, yes. But it baffles people, since it makes Buddhism appear like a form of materialism.

If you believe this, then you are just as "ignorant" about Buddhism as all these 'people' you mention.....

How so? Does Buddhism have anything sacred, like gods, angels, heaven, etc.?

how

Buddhist sacredness can be specific, everything or nothing at all.
I find Buddhism more useful as a practice
than as a personal definition.