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I have heard Buddha did not believe in God, Is this person right? link:
Comments
he sat in silence and that was his answer. Śūnyatā. Potential.
Lol
Both the question & answer here miss the mark, especially the question, which is trying to link the various doctrines together. Buddha was unconcerned with Shiva, Brahma, Vishu, etc, per se.
If we read the entirety of this sutta, the Buddha first describes the Brahmin priests as good for nothing blind men, because they all talk about Brahma or God without ever having seen Brahma.
Then, the Buddha REDEFINES "God", by saying "God is love".
The Buddha DEDFINES the way to God or the way to be "God-like"; that is, to radiant the Brahma Vihara, namely, universal love, compassion, appreciative joy & equinimity, in all directions.
What the Buddha taught here is the same as the following Christian teaching: With metta
People might argue about whether early Buddhists believed gods existed, or various heavenly realms, etc. The Dharma has nothing to do with gods, and that's all we need to know.
Thank you, Cinorjer. We can always count on you to put it well.
Great answer DD! Thanks.
/Victor
But first, I guess you need to know it, before realising you don't need to know it.
:crazy:
(I think I need to go lie down.....! )
No one else can save you except yourself. On that note, I have to say the Buddha is partially spot on on this one. You can still believe in God but it's up to you to do the work.
I like to repeat this. I feel better when I say it. It's sooooo obvious yet "nobody" (not enough people IMO) get it. Ready? here goes:
I don't know WTF (F=frick) people are talking about when they use the word "god." Yes, "supreme creator" is the dictionary definition.
What I mean is:
Q: How does an ant, a little ground-dwelling "engineer" understand a skyscraper?
A: It does not and never will.
Conclusion: Humans are sooooo arrogant thinking they can understand and know things absolutely beyond their comprehension!
How arrogant to think "the infinite and boundless endless universes" and all they contain, INCLUDING the highly presumptuous existence of whatever or whomever is behind all, can be comprehended and **even dimly** understood! Hilarious! :screwy:
I laugh and laugh it's extremely FUNNY! Seriously!! After I enjoy my laughter, like watching the funny animals at the zoo, I calm down and relax and clean their cages, feed them pet them and love them.
One more thing: you CAN perceive the absolute factuality of the HUGE-OSITY of "IT" through meditation. However, you will never be able to communicate it to others and you will never be able to explain it as long as you're living in our exclusively human realm.
Ahhhhh..., thank you for letting me express that. I can't explain why I feel better. I also sincerely hope it makes sense to somebody.
2. How many things that man contemplated back in Siddhartha's time has man since figured out? Things that were unfathomable at the time. Did you ever take an antibiotic? Curing disease through medicine was once thought to be impossible. Ride in a car? Fly in a plane? Did people in Buddha's time accept slavery?
First, he is vague as to his sutta source, which makes me suspicious. He only broadly refers to a certain book written in 1894 that "combines narrative of the life of Buddha coupled with his saying as recorded in the Tipitaka."
Second, it seems more likely to me that the poster is confusing Hindu beliefs about the Buddha with Buddhism, since Hindus do believe the Buddha was an avatar of the god Vishnu. I do not know this to be certain, but the story he presents seems far more likely to me to be a Hindu narrative.
Third, the suttas I know of clearly indicate that the Buddha consistently avoided discussing metaphysical questions, such as the existence or non-existence of gods. A number of examples of this can be produced, though many here I am sure have already read at least one of them.
http://www.leighb.com/dn13.htm
http://www.metta.lk/tipitaka/2Sutta-Pitaka/1Digha-Nikaya/Digha1/13-tevijja-e.html
It is unusual for the suttas in that it speaks about attaining union with Brahma as a real option. Elsewhere, the Buddha treats deities and anything in regards to them as not worth discussing.