Out-dated Buddha

mindatrisk

I remember reading that Stephen Hawking proposed that the law of physics could change / evolve over time, which made me wonder whether, given the law of impermanence, that reality could change in such a way that the Buddha's teachings became irrelevant / wrong?

David

Perhaps when and if awakening is instinctual and not something we have to work at. We would have to fully accept and not be bothered by impermanence in any way or lose our sense of self awareness.

However, impermanence is a big part of the dharma so unless things stop changing...

Tosh

I guess the main part of the 4 NT is the last one, the path. Living an ethical life, the practise of compassion and the development of wisdom.

In what way do you think that could become irrelevant or wrong?

lobster

@mindatrisk said:
I remember reading that Stephen Hawking proposed that the law of physics could change / evolve over time, which made me wonder whether, given the law of impermanence, that reality could change in such a way that the Buddha's teachings became irrelevant / wrong?

Here is my understanding:

We have a way to go yet.

The cessation of suffering is not yet possible. The eight fold path or similar civil ethics is not the norm. When they are, then the dharma will be irrelevant (not wrong) and the Maitreya will introduce the Dharma in a relevant form.

genkaku

Whatever the outcome, I think most of us are content that the present usefulness of Buddhism is indeed useful. Anyone who has a wider and clearer view is welcome to exercise his or her vision.

What-if is clearly a waste of time. Do it or don't do it ... nuff said.

DairyLama

@mindatrisk said:> I remember reading that Stephen Hawking proposed that the law of physics could change / evolve over time, which made me wonder whether, given the law of impermanence, that reality could change in such a way that the Buddha's teachings became irrelevant / wrong?

I think it unlikely that problem of human suffering will be solved any time soon. Also the Buddhist teachings on conditionality seem pretty solid in the light of modern science.

federica

I believe that HH the DL is fairly on the same page as Mr Hawking on this, in that he stated that if anything in Science (whichever field of that broad term you might choose) can disprove, or discredit anything within the scope of the Buddha's teachings, then of course, Buddhism would have to consider modification.
As far as I am aware, so far, nothing of any great significance, has.....

shadowleaver

Buddhism means many different things to many different people- just on this board you'll find completely different opinions about the same thing. I doubt that the gigantic sea of beliefs and practices found under the Buddhist umbrella will ever become outdated entirely.

Also, given the focus of Buddhism on personal suffering and ways to ease it by adjusting one's attitude and behaviour, it is especially hard for any objective discipline to disprove it. I mean what is there to disprove about being less self-centered, more compassionate, not acting like you know everything, learning to see through personal biases, not following every whim etc? The Cosmological tidbits, just like the ones in Christianity, are easy targets but all the psychological stuff(which is what attracts people to begin with) is in a totally different realm than science.

vinlyn

I think @federica makes a good point. I don't think it's so much that the most basic aspects of Buddhism would change (but keep in mind, at least in my view, Buddhism is a set of principles), but that how man approaches Buddhist principles might change. We certainly see this as we look at Buddhism in different parts of the world.