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Do Buddhists believe in Satan?
footiam
Veteran
I don't really know much about Satan except from movies, as someone very evil and sinister. What is this Satan to you and do buddhists believe in the existence of Satan?
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This is heaven, and this is hell....
...fabrications of our own personal perceptions....
Just imagine being a prisoner in somebody elses mind.
I've found when people make themselves 'seem' or 'look' frightening its usually because they are as afraid as we are.. (then again I live in a small community and I may be seeing things differently)
'treat everyone you meet as if they were your child'....
It really stuck in my head and when I feel myself being judgemental it pops up, then I feel more compassionately towards them.
We never know how our kids will turn out, we do our best but I think we all feel the same when we think about how we would like others to treat them.
Pitty the poor etherial being trying to defend themselves against such slander?
'Pitty the poor etherial being trying to defend themselves against such slander?'
@Dandelion, seven years ago as I was figuring out WHAT in the hell happened to my marriage, I came upon some literature about sociopathic people. It's a kind of personality disorder listed in the huge medical text of psychiatric disorders. It is the sort of personality without a conscience, ie, they don't feel guilty when they hurt someone else or do something morally wrong (according to their culture). They do whatever they need to do to get what they want, and it doesn't matter who gets hurt, they simply don't care. They don't see other people as 'real' people, only themselves are 'real' and worthy of respect.
In that same reading bit, there was a couple of paragraphs about OTHER people's reactions to sociopathic people, and your description of how YOU feel is classic! Some of us are more sensitive than others, but almost everyone, if they get too close to them, feel drained, 'not quite right', uncomfortable, threatened, or have extreme 'gut' reactions to them.
It's because we humans are social animals, and have 'mirror' neurons (well, most of us) that can perceive to a great degree the inner experience of others. When we experience the inner experience of someone sociopathic, it is VERY uncomfortable, like you are being observed for how tasty you might be roasted over a spit.
This is one of my little soapboxes here . . . but always listen to your gut responses, they are almost always right. They are built into the system to protect you. It's why we jump up on the table when we see a spider on the floor
Sorry for the derail, back to your regularly scheduled "What would you be if you could"
Gassho
Anyway, Jae, I was NOT one of those who were sensitive in my 'gut' to sociopathic types. I married one. I understand the mistake part.
As far as judging them, which I did not do to my own detriment, I guess now I DO judge them, in that I discern those qualities of sociopathy and then stay polite and distant. At the same time, I know that what creates a person with those capacities is not their fault, they think nowadays it is a difference in brain connections or 'missing' areas in the brain. Also, many never had a chance to develop empathy or respect for others due to lack of bonding with a parent. So I judge them as 'dangerous' but not as a lesser person, or 'beneath me'. Having had one nearly destroy my life I give myself that permission.
I've made horrendous mistakes and done sociopathic things (ie, immoral, not concerned with consequences to others). The difference is I have deep regret and have repented, to use a Christian term. I do them or things like them no more, am not even tempted. So what I have done wrongly still doesn't come close to the kind of destructiveness of a person suffering from sociopathy. My (significant) lack of perfection does not mean I shouldn't judge or discern when I ought to steer clear of someone or some thing. But it is deeply wrong to place myself, in my own mind, 'above' them in terms of worth as a human being, which is what I think is usually meant by 'judging' others
Gassho
Mettha
@jae
I think that attributing human strengths and failings to a separate persona or entity has only separated us from really taking responsibilities for them.
I need not look outside my own being for aspects of anything imaginable.
Maybe when I said 'I'm in no place to judge them' what I really mean is that I want to share with them that no matter what has happened there is hope, I thinks that's why I like to get to know people that others will steer clear of, I can see their pain xx
Can I ask you what you mean by 'without hurting others' sorry its late I may be being dim!
Well my point was simply that you had alluded to making mistakes in your life and are still dealing with them and basically felt you were in no place to judge anyone. That shows an element of self-reflection, and if you have overcome various problems with that attitude, the way you did it may be helpful to others who find themselves in similar positions. If such overcoming was accomplished without generating ill-will, that would be a truly helpful position to be in for the benefit of others.
I have no problem communicating with people, in fact I love communication. I'm going to a local samaritan's meeting next week they are looking for volunteers, it would be very good for my recovery to start giving back and if I manage to help someone that would be simply wonderful.
. . . sorry wrong forum . . .
Imagine you were totally selfish and happy about that . . .
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisocial_personality_disorder
Are such people bankers, 'satanic', world leaders, bakery visitors, needing treatment?
The two people who classed themself exclusively as 'satanists' that I have met both had mental health issues. One had just come out of hospital, one needed to go in. One was a follower of Thelema and Louise and one has converted to Christianity. I had no sense of evil from them.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelema
In Magickal Buddhism it is not unusual for practitioners to be given wrathful aspects of karma/hindrances to resonate with, bring up and dissolve. What fun for those unwilling to sit with their good and bad angles/Angels.
Satan features very much as a reflection in Sufism. I regularly bring Satan up to scare the faithless.
In Buddhism we come across conflicted and stressful emotive states. Lovely stuff for us to reflect on . . . not be underwhelmed by . . .
The funny thing is, at work, when we get a mentally ill patient, I always get assigned to them if their mental illness is challenging our ability to deliver medical care. Their active mental illness stuff doesn't bother me at all, it inspires compassion more than anything, but I'm so familiar with the symptoms having worked as a psych nurse for so long.
It's the people who strike me as cold and cruel and as enjoying other's pain . . . those are the ones I know INTELLECTUALLY are devastated inside, but having been really injured by one, I just can't go there yet.
Supposedly, the latter sort of person is mentally ill, too. They tend to end up in prison rather than the hospitals I used to work in.
If you can see their pain and still wish to reach out, bless you a million times. I just finished watching Dhamma Brothers, a documentary about a Vipassana meditation program inside of one of the worst US prisons. I think you would like that film a lot, I recommend it highly
Gassho
I'm so sorry to hear you have had that frightening and painful experience I understand why you feel that way.
Reflecting on this I've probably been fortunate not to have met anyone with that degree of suffering/mental illness... they say ignorance is bliss, maybe I'm just naive.
I will watch that film and you are right ... I do enjoy programmes like that x
Priceless!
An interesting take on the "do Buddhists believe in God" question
I'm currently working on re-interpreting the Boddhisatvas as Heros, their vows as Heroic goals-- i.e. a model to copy (I don't have much use for them devotionally, and I'm not sure I grok the use of a evil being in a purely devotional religion). So Mara would be the opposite of a Hero, a model sort of like the father in the Bernstein Bears kids book, who keep trying to explain something, screws it up and finally says, "that's how you don't do it"
If phrased, "Does Buddhism teach that there is a Satan?" it would be more appropriate.
@Jason
Not a surprising answer from a god emperor but beyond your avatar's character......
Does your posted view (one that I share) applied equally to Christian and Buddhist deity's?
It's true that, in some cases, he's portrayed as an actual being who apparently considers himself the head of the kamavacara (literally 'sensuous sphere') world, especially by traditionalists who tend to take a more literalist approach. Nevertheless, looking at the texts more critically, it's evident that, in most contexts, Mara is used in reference to death, the psychological clinging to the aggregates that gives rise to suffering, or to the mental defilements of greed, hatred, and delusion.
In regard to the story of the Buddha being assailed by the hosts of Mara under the Bodhi tree prior to his enlightenment, for example, G. P. Malalasekera's entry in the Dictionary of Pali Names states: I'm open to the possibility that more powerful and long-lived beings exist in various realms, and it's often fun to speculate about them (I've heard some entertaining stories about people who could see beings from these other realms). But I also think it's more useful to focus on what we can experience for ourselves in the here and now, and use our practice to try and transcend our mental realms in order to find a true and lasting happiness inside.