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General Buddhism => General Buddhism => Topic started by: yontenjamyang on January 06, 2012, 08:14:20 AM
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As a Buddhist, we are always confronted with the idea of God. Is Budhha God. Why so many Buddhas but there is only one God! God created everything including us.
I would like to hear from everyone in this forum. Hope that we can have a better understanding to be able to explain to other, especially non Buddhist the idea of God in Buddhism.
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Thank you Yongtenjamyang for asking this question.
I was a Christian baptised when I was 1 month old. I was educated in a Christian school and my mum used to ask me to go Sunday school at the church. All these did not fascinate me and as a matter of fact, I was always the one in class who questioned the teacher, "Where did God come from? Why was there only one God? And if he is so mighty and great, I want to become like him? Can I?" The teacher never gave me a satisfactory answer and just said "God is God, he is the mighty one."
Then I would go and asked, " Why did he make some good person suffer?" The teacher would answer " Becasue God loves those and wants to test their patience." Again, I was not contented with the answer.
So I guess you would know why I am a buddhist now, becasue Buddhism provides me with all the logical answers. If I want to be a buddha, I can be one by practising the path, the law of karma provides answers to all my questions.
Sometimes it is hard to explain to a real born again Christian that God perhaps is just a label cos in Buddhism we have the God realms which is just one of the realms of existence. It may be best to tell them, I respect your religion as long as you find solace and peace in the belief and that it propels you to do good things for the society, others and yourself.
Of course, this approach is aimed at those born again Christian whose head is a bit hard ;)
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I too like triesa was baptised a catholic when I was born and I must say, it was not a choice I would have made if I had the choice. As beautiful the bible and the teachings of catholicism are, there are for me, fundamental "flaws" in its interpretations (what can one expect if it is done by man). Two things that do not make sense for me are:
1. If there was truly one God and he loves us equally, why are we then not literally created equal? Why the disparity? Why create suffering in your own creation? Would it not be better to create complete and utter equality? Then again, that would be "boring" as hell and the question would then be why create more than one if we were all utterly identical... this never quite gelled with me from the start.
2. The Act of Contrition. Whereby in confessing one's sins one is given absolution after some recitations of prayers. Surely it cannot be as simple as that? I can steal and then go to church on Sunday, confess, say a few prayers and then I am all pure again? This made no sense to me as a child. Yes I was a strange child in that I never liked the easy way out. If there was one, I would question why this and why that.
On the other hand, the 10 commandments are beautiful interpretations of how we can live our lives without harming ourselves or others. So lets take the good and not dwell too much on the bad...
Then again let me add by saying, Catholics believe in the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit... sounds awfully close to the 3 jewels if you ask me... ;) :P
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As a Buddhist, we are always confronted with the idea of God. Is Budhha God. Why so many Buddhas but there is only one God! God created everything including us.
I would like to hear from everyone in this forum. Hope that we can have a better understanding to be able to explain to other, especially non Buddhist the idea of God in Buddhism.
My thoughts on the subject:
I think we must be skillful when we discuss these questions with fellow spiritual practitioners of other faiths.
This is not about us being right or wrong, or about us winning a debate over the existence or non-existence of a creator God...
This cannot be about us being right (and the other being wrong), and the reciprocity.
This cannot be a debate that reinforces our ego and pride.
Sometimes I do not find it useful or constructive to debate God with Christians or Muslims, as they see Him.
Why?
Because it sharpens their perception of apparent "contradictions" between their faith and mine and sometimes leads to animosity towards the Buddhist faith and even concern over an "evil" practice.
NOT constructive.
When I sense that, I try to find a constructive way to discuss God.
How?
We find that the qualities of God (*) and the qualities of a Buddha are similar.
We find that when the teachings are translated into practice, these practices are just the same.
When we find that our practices are just the same, we can practice together.
How can we practice together? By engaging together in actions of compassion and love, in actions of spiritual education, in actions that see further than my flesh and pleasures, further than the life of this body.
True spiritual practitioners get along without any conflict.
Whatever war arising between practitioners of different faiths always arises out of worldly causes, not spiritual causes.
And even as worldly persons practicing a faith, whatever conflict we find ourselves in will be easily resolved if all parties refer to the teachings of their respective faiths with humility and with an open mind.
I do not recall ever seeing any Rinpoche debating with a Cardinal on why did God created us with inequalities? or on who created God? or that a God is not the most reliable refuge, etc...
If I have not seen more qualified debaters than me doing it, why should I do this with people I meet and potentially damage their faiths?
We live in a world where faith is in a pitiful state, and I personally think we should protect other people's faith valuing it equally with our own. And instead of discussing the "differences", discuss what we have in common and encourage each other in PRACTICING whatever faith they are engaged in.
(*) I refer here to the qualities of compassion and love, omniscience and wisdom to common aspects. On purpose, I do not touch on the aspect of "creation" or "monotheism".
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The Wheel of Life can answer this very clearly.
Gods, not God, exist, they are one of the 6 realms.
They do die and reincarnate into any of the 6 realms depending on their karma, unless they practice and achieve liberation from samsara.
Therefore, Buddha is not God because Buddha is already out of the 6 realms.
There is no creator God, there is not only one single God, these are false theory made up by other religion because they cannot explain many things in the universe, so they attribute it to GOD, made up in their own mind.
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Sometimes I think the Christian belief in God is actually another way of belief in Karma. Just substitute the word Karma for God in some quotes or sayings of God and it sounds like a Buddhist saying e.g. God works in mysterious ways, only God can judge us, God loves those who love themselves, God does not play dice, God: The most popular scapegoat for our sins...
I've tried explaining the God realm in Buddhism to a Christian friend (she asked about whether there's God in Buddhism) but I don't think they'll be able to accept it if they only believe in 1 human life and 1 eternal life in heaven / hell.
As for what Mana said these are false theory made up by other religion because they cannot explain many things in the universe
I have a Muslim friend who is apparently very staunch and well versed in his religion, he himself commented that the Imams/Islam just can't explain some things about life and death and the workings of God satisfactorily.
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I agree with you, Negra Orquida.
Whenever people of the Christian faith can't answer questions such as -
If God loves us all, why does he want to punish us who are His children?
If we are all created by God in his image , why some are born blind, handicapped ,etc?
A Christian will reply " it's God's will" , " God has a mysterious purpose". As Buddhists we understand and accept karma and this universal law explains all these questions perfectly and logically.
Buddhists know that we are responsible for our own happiness, we can create the causes for all the results we want and even when particular seemingly negative result ripens, by changing our own view our experience of the result can turn from negative to positive.
Buddhists understand that everything depends on our mind and that the only way to true happiness is through controlling our own mind. There is no external creator or destroyer. We create our own hell and heaven.
I also agree with HR that as a true practitioner of Buddhism, we must be skillful in explaining the difference of Christian god and Buddhist gods. Instead of focusing on the difference, we should emphasize on the similarities between different religions i.e. love, compassion, moralities etc. If religions can't bring about harmony and peace to humanity then atheism will prevail over spirituality.
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It is very clear in Buddhism that there is no creator God. All gods are are gods because of their "good" Karma. However, once their "good" karma is exhausted they fall the lower realms. Gods do not practice Dharma because the have great enjoyments and spent all their times enjoying themselves. There are small exceptions of course.
Thanks Mana for being very clear about this.
Negra Orguida, is also very true in my opinion that if we replace the word "God" with Karma, then Buddhist and non buddhist can have some common ground. However, I don't think non buddhist religions, preach karma.
For me I tell my non Buddhist friends that I believe in Karma instead of the one Creator God. Gods exists in Buddhism ie the gods realms. Many gods, not just one. Beyond that, I do not directly, point out the differences. I try to find common grounds. Surprisingly, many non buddhist can believe in Karma if we make it not so mysterious. Just use some examples of cause and effect that happens in this life.
That is all for now.
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There is no creator God, there is not only one single God, these are false theory made up by other religion because they cannot explain many things in the universe, so they attribute it to GOD, made up in their own mind.
Dear Mana,
I would personally try not to use / repeat the word "false theory", for it might be perceived as an hostile observation.
God, as I found out discussing this very topic with some Christian friends, is not understood by all Christians as an "entity" or a "person", but more as a universal concept placed onto a reality too mysterious for us to understand fully.
Where God then created the world or not takes a different light....
If the concept "God" emphasizes our collective and individual karma, then indeed God created the world.
The pitfall is to think that I had nothing to do with it and it was only God's decision for me to be black or white.
At the end of the day, we can simply put it like this:
CHRISTIANS:
Many Christians do not understand God as an "individual" that "created" the world, but have a more mystical, more inter-dependant view on the concept of "God".
AND BUDDHISTS:
Many Buddhists see the Buddha just as many Christians see God: as an independent powerful individual that we can rely on for help (with no further insight on the matter).
So I do not think that this a matter of one religion being right and the other one being wrong.
I don't think so.
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Something else that I think is good discussing with Christians, and that I do discuss with Christians is how some saints, and to start with Jesus Christ matches PERFECTLY the description of a bodhisattva.
Jesus has all the qualities of a bodhisattva, all the way to sacrificing even his body, a very powerful act of generosity.
The claim to be the son of God can be understood in many ways, and maybe that was a way that was suitable for the people that he was preaching to, skillful means...
Same parallel can be done with other figures, like saint Francis of Assisi or even Mother Theresa... and also pope Jean-Paul II!
I would certainly not want to confuse the "genres" here and get my mind mixed up, but neither would I wish to approach this topic with a mind trying to distinguish one "genre" as right and the other as wrong.
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As Buddhists, we must never put down followers of other faiths or their religion. Actually I believe some of the ' criticisms' mentioned here are based on superficial understanding of others religion. No religion including Buddhism is immune from critics . For example, non Buddhists accuse us of praying to idols, imagery and statues. Many who called themselves Buddhists also do not know how to explain it. The point is many religious followers are not true practitioners . Therefore those who ask questions from these people will not be able to get a satisfactory answer. Besides, spiritual matters cannot always be explained through logic etc. even in Buddhism.
Valid reasoning is useful to remove intellectual doubts which erode one's faith in one's practice. However, the Truth is beyond ordinary conceptions and hence if God , Nirvana , Universal consciousness, Emptiness taught by the holy masters and teachers has the same meaning , then debating and finding faults through rational thoughts will be futile although it is useful as knowledge and to cultivate an open mind.
HHDL was quoted as saying , I can accept the existence of a creator God as long as he arises from mind.
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As I can see between Christianity and Buddhist, God is equal to Karma like negra orquida mentioned.
Christian says God is the answer of all the questions you have, Buddhist says it's your own karma for all the questions you have. If you replace 'God' to 'Karma' every time people says "Oh my God" is actually making sense.
Although in Christianity says there's only one lifetime, it didn't state the life ends when we die, they also believe the life after death. If you believe in God, you go heaven, and if you are not, you go to hell. So when you believe in God, you follow what the God says ie to do good etc, this is actually similar to the karma concept.
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I have no idea what religion I was practicing for the past 20 years, but recently I turned Buddhist.
I don't know how to explain God in Buddhism... because as far as I know, I don't pray to a 'God' but take refuge in the Buddha, a wise teacher that shows me the path to liberation.
As I can see between Christianity and Buddhist, God is equal to Karma like negra orquida mentioned.
Christian says God is the answer of all the questions you have, Buddhist says it's your own karma for all the questions you have. If you replace 'God' to 'Karma' every time people says "Oh my God" is actually making sense.
Although in Christianity says there's only one lifetime, it didn't state the life ends when we die, they also believe the life after death. If you believe in God, you go heaven, and if you are not, you go to hell. So when you believe in God, you follow what the God says ie to do good etc, this is actually similar to the karma concept.
I've read somewhere before that states Christianity do have text that talks about reincarnation... but it was taken off the general bible so that the mass public that receive the teachings will not delay seeking redemption due to the believe that 'this is the only life they have on earth'...
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I like Poonlarp's basic explanation.
At the level of doing good and ascending to the heavens,whether one follows the principles of cause and effect in Buddhism or the advices of their saints/gods which talk about the same thing , all religions are the same.This is also the most practical and universally acceptable aspect of religion because it is essential to ensure harmony of the world.
What makes Buddhism stands out from the other religion is its profound knowledge beyond heaven and its gods and this worldly life to attain permanent happiness and peace.
Buddhist philosophy has no problem with dealing with the existence of gods as in the heavenly realms.The idea of a creator god or one god that is responsible for existence of everything is in conflict against fundamental Buddhist concepts . It is not about just being a name one can use interchangeability as mentioned above. Eg God and Emptiness or Karma.
The creator god concept cannot satisfactorily explain many human situations and conditions which we can observe and experience which can be answered only through adopting Buddhist views. Most importantly , it is consistent. When we practice these views we get the result. This is the ‘ proof’ of Buddhist teachings becos it is about the Truth that Buddha discovered, not mere doctrine or some smart ideas.
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I've read somewhere before that states Christianity do have text that talks about reincarnation... but it was taken off the general bible so that the mass public that receive the teachings will not delay seeking redemption due to the believe that 'this is the only life they have on earth'...
The main stream Christian faith do not preach reincarnation for the reason you stated.
However what you are referring to regarding the text on reincarnation came about from the early christian writings which revealed that there are more than just the gospels we are familiar with in today's bible.
There is a collection of gospels known as the Gnostic Gospels which comprises of many more other gospels which are hidden. These text were written down from the secret teachings given by Jesus to a smaller group of disciples.
These writings were discovered at different times but a huge collection of it was discovered in Nag Hammadi Library (by chance) in the 1950s. These writings dates back to the 2-4th century.
Interestingly, Gnosis means knowledge/enlightenment.. indicating that the Gnostic believers know the deeper meaning of resurrection that it is about attaining spiritual rebirths which cannot be attained in just one life time...thus, the believe in many rebirths, based on logic and not just faith.
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I've read somewhere before that states Christianity do have text that talks about reincarnation... but it was taken off the general bible so that the mass public that receive the teachings will not delay seeking redemption due to the believe that 'this is the only life they have on earth'...
The main stream Christian faith do not preach reincarnation for the reason you stated.
However what you are referring to regarding the text on reincarnation came about from the early christian writings which revealed that there are more than just the gospels we are familiar with in today's bible.
There is a collection of gospels known as the Gnostic Gospels which comprises of many more other gospels which are hidden. These text were written down from the secret teachings given by Jesus to a smaller group of disciples.
These writings were discovered at different times but a huge collection of it was discovered in Nag Hammadi Library (by chance) in the 1950s. These writings dates back to the 2-4th century.
Interestingly, Gnosis means knowledge/enlightenment.. indicating that the Gnostic believers know the deeper meaning of resurrection that it is about attaining spiritual rebirths which cannot be attained in just one life time...thus, the believe in many rebirths, based on logic and not just faith.
Thank you DS friend, that is very interesting indeed.
And to start with, even when one believes in life in heaven (or hell), then one believes in re-incarnation already... how otherwise?
I had been thinking about heaven for a quite a while before, what is heaven?
A place where one can relax and enjoy nice stuff, nice food, never getting sick, always leisuring, goinf for little walks... well, at least that is the picture I grew up to have of it, and it never attracted me (not that hell attracted me neither though!), and neither did I find attractive the "eternal life" described to me by Jehovah's witnesses.
But perhaps, heaven is like a "pure land" (in the Buddhist sense) in which one can move further on a spiritual path? In fact, what else could heaven possibly be!
So resurrection = "attaining spiritual rebirths which cannot be attained in just one life time", and sped up by creating conditions to go to "heaven". 8)
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I've read somewhere before that states Christianity do have text that talks about reincarnation... but it was taken off the general bible so that the mass public that receive the teachings will not delay seeking redemption due to the believe that 'this is the only life they have on earth'...
The main stream Christian faith do not preach reincarnation for the reason you stated.
However what you are referring to regarding the text on reincarnation came about from the early christian writings which revealed that there are more than just the gospels we are familiar with in today's bible.
There is a collection of gospels known as the Gnostic Gospels which comprises of many more other gospels which are hidden. These text were written down from the secret teachings given by Jesus to a smaller group of disciples.
These writings were discovered at different times but a huge collection of it was discovered in Nag Hammadi Library (by chance) in the 1950s. These writings dates back to the 2-4th century.
Interestingly, Gnosis means knowledge/enlightenment.. indicating that the Gnostic believers know the deeper meaning of resurrection that it is about attaining spiritual rebirths which cannot be attained in just one life time...thus, the believe in many rebirths, based on logic and not just faith.
Wow, thank you! That's very clear explanation. I didn't know that Christians believed in reincarnation until I read a book on past life regression... done by a Christian psychologist. The Dr actually accidentally tap into one of his patient's past life while hypnosis therapy. He then explained being a Christian, he found it difficult to accept initially, until he did more research on his faith where he discovered there are text that talks about reincarnation in Christianity. Unfortunately, he didn't elaborate the details in the book so I only know that much haha! Now I know more =)
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The Wheel of Life can answer this very clearly.
Gods, not God, exist, they are one of the 6 realms.
They do die and reincarnate into any of the 6 realms depending on their karma, unless they practice and achieve liberation from samsara.
Therefore, Buddha is not God because Buddha is already out of the 6 realms.
There is no creator God, there is not only one single God, these are false theory made up by other religion because they cannot explain many things in the universe, so they attribute it to GOD, made up in their own mind.
I think the philosophical belief in 'God' of the monotheistic religions of the Islamic Judeo-Christians and the 'Gods' of the polytheistic traditions of other major religions are fundamentally very different from the Buddhist belief in Gods and Karma. Whether mono or polytheistic of the non-Buddhist traditions, the belief system places faith and the creation process to a higher force outside of ourselves.
As for Buddhists, faith and the creation process is not placed to a higher force but onto the force of cause and effect of everyday actions called karma. The gods of the Buddhist tradition still exists but it is not the creative force like the God(s) of other faiths but powerful beings still trapped within the shackles of death and impermanence.
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By placing reliance on an external god, we actually deny ourselves the empowerment to liberate ourselves. We are in fact saying that we are incapable of doing anything for ourselves. "Worship" becomes the reinforcement of that incapability.
In contrats, Karma tells us that we are personally responsible for the creation of our own lives. That being the case, we are also capable of creating our own salvation. There is nothing "supernatural" about it and the ability to reach salvation is within the grasp of anyone as is the know-how and the training to attain such salvation.
In Buddhism, "Salvation" is not merely notional and once a person accepts that he/she is responsible for his/her own salvation, the person becomes an integral part of the process, not merely an anxious spectator.
In my opinion the single most empowering truth that the Buddha taught is that salvation/heaven/nirvana or any other name that one may call that special place that transcends this physical life of suffering, could be achieved by anyone if they trained hard enough for it.
This is very logical. To say salvation depends on a relationship with an external deity is to say that I don't have to train to win the race. Instead I will spend all my time developing a relationship with judge of the race. What if the "judge" of who wins is the tape across the winning posts. How do you develop a relationship with a tape?
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By placing reliance on an external god, we actually deny ourselves the empowerment to liberate ourselves. We are in fact saying that we are incapable of doing anything for ourselves. "Worship" becomes the reinforcement of that incapability.
In contrats, Karma tells us that we are personally responsible for the creation of our own lives. That being the case, we are also capable of creating our own salvation. There is nothing "supernatural" about it and the ability to reach salvation is within the grasp of anyone as is the know-how and the training to attain such salvation.
In Buddhism, "Salvation" is not merely notional and once a person accepts that he/she is responsible for his/her own salvation, the person becomes an integral part of the process, not merely an anxious spectator.
In my opinion the single most empowering truth that the Buddha taught is that salvation/heaven/nirvana or any other name that one may call that special place that transcends this physical life of suffering, could be achieved by anyone if they trained hard enough for it.
This is very logical. To say salvation depends on a relationship with an external deity is to say that I don't have to train to win the race. Instead I will spend all my time developing a relationship with judge of the race. What if the "judge" of who wins is the tape across the winning posts. How do you develop a relationship with a tape?
Thank you VT for this.
Actually, I had a friendly discussion with a Christian yesterday and that person told me that:
"the main difference between Christianity and Buddhism is that Jesus expiated all our sins (including Adam and Eve's original sin) through his suffering, so we only need to rely upon him to be saved, he has done the work for us; while in buddhism we still need to do the "salvation work" ourselves".
My thoughts on this then were:
On a karmic level, the only way this could possibly make sense is that the reliance in Jesus makes its followers engage in karmic causes to be reborn in a Pure Land (next life or further lives ahead) where Jesus would then make them continue their spiritual journey to attain arhathood or enlightenment. That explanation would also imply that Jesus would be a Buddha, or relies upon a Buddha.
Of course I did not share that with my Christian friend. Why would I do that? It would be perceived as me putting down her belief by integrating them into "my" "system".
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Reincarnation poses a direct challenge to the Biblical God, the creator.
Irregardless of religion, culture, race and age, there has been records of people recalling their past lives. It is much easier to have claims and proofs of people recollecting their past lives than to proof the existence of God.
However, for many there is no need to proof the existence of God but just to believe in the grace of Christ for salvation. Salvation is the reason why so many people believe in God. It's insurance for the after life without having to pay any premium.
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I don't believe in a creator god anymore, thanks to Buddhism and its perfect logic. But I do believe Jesus was a Bodhisattva who took rebirth out of compassion for the people in that particular time and place. I'm sure some Buddhist bodhisattvas today had been Christian saints before.
Funny, but the fact that Christians are still waiting for the second coming of Jesus proves that they believe in reincarnation. Sometimes I wonder why Jesus is taking so long to come back. Our Tibetan masters reincarnate within a few months or years.
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I don't believe in a creator god anymore, thanks to Buddhism and its perfect logic. But I do believe Jesus was a Bodhisattva who took rebirth out of compassion for the people in that particular time and place. I'm sure some Buddhist bodhisattvas today had been Christian saints before.
Funny, but the fact that Christians are still waiting for the second coming of Jesus proves that they believe in reincarnation. Sometimes I wonder why Jesus is taking so long to come back. Our Tibetan masters reincarnate within a few months or years.
Well, one thing most of all religion believes in is that we don't cease to exists after death...at least i have not come across any.
Different faith has different versions of what comes AFTER death...which foretells that we continue to exist.
If we cannot be "destroyed" after death even after we have shed off our physical body... then who are we really? Who were we before we entered our mother's womb?
Anyway, every religion has their own book written and message propagated, but in all the differences, I do find rest in thinking about the similarities which can be found. Afterall, aren't we all the same, one human race?
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The differences in the religions of the World today are due to the different beliefs that humans have. We have also seen many common characteristics of these religions. What causes these similarities and differences? Buddhism offers a clear explanation on these through Karma. Because of differing karma, humans perceive (and hence believe) things and their environment differently. Buddhism explains that every phenomenon that we perceive e.g. Buddha or God is merely a label. Hence, we should look into the functions or nature of a label instead of the labels.
In Buddhism, there are six realms of existence i.e. God realm, Demi-God realm, Human realm, Animal realm, Hungry Ghost realm & Hell Being realm. The beings of these 6 realms are sentient beings in the samsara.
Buddha is fully enlightened and hence out of samsara. But God and the 5 other sentient beings are not yet enlightened and remain in samsara.
There are many Buddhas and Gods. Buddha can manifest as God, hence God may be an emanation of a Buddha. But God cannot manifest as Buddha because God is not Buddha yet.
Practitioners of other faiths believe God is the creator of everything in Universe. However the Buddhists believe the creator of the Universe is our own mind.
Others believe their refuge is in the God. Buddhists' refuge is in the Three Jewels.
All authentic religion if practised correctly will lead the practitioners to its intended goal. Other religions bring their followers towards happiness of heaven etc. But the Buddhists strive for the ultimate happiness of a fully enlightened Buddha.
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All authentic religion if practised correctly will lead the practitioners to its intended goal. Other religions bring their followers towards happiness of heaven etc. But the Buddhists strive for the ultimate happiness of a fully enlightened Buddha.
I do think that all religions lead to the same excellence. In one life or in many lives.
A heaven created through the practices of love, compassion, generosity, patience, selflessness is not different according to the religion we belong to. Only the path is different.
Buddhism embraces all religions.
Heaven is not a place where we are born with a silver spoon in our mouth, I don't think so.
I think Heaven is an opportune environement to better ourselves and practice spirituality.
I beleive that by creating more and more conditions to better ourselves, we will access the teachings that will lead us to Buddhahood.
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Who is God? Why so many believe is God? How to explain God in Buddhism?
I had discussed this subject with others who believe in the one god creator and some who say they are 'free thinkers.' I think it would be better to discuss this, if it was brought up in work or social parties or anytime, depending on the person(s) who asked. It would be gentler to opine rather than to debate because I am not out to convert people. If the person believes strongly in his/her faith, then I give my opinions maintaining that he/she has total freedom to express his/hers. To have a heated debate with neither side wanting to 'lose' means losing in the end. Unless I have studied Buddhism for 20 years, engage in debates logically and passed Buddhist philosophy with a degree, I rather give my views.
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All religion believes in God. In some religion, God is the Creator or the Supreme. In Buddhist context, we believe the six realms of existence which include the Demi God and God realm. However we do not view this God as the Creator or the Supreme as they are not out of samsara.
Whether one believes in God or Buddha is dependent on one's faith. Every religion has their own method and approach, but there are some similarity in the teachings. As long as one practices correctly then the intended goal can be achieved. The only difference is that for those who believes in God, their intended goal is to achieve happiness, but for Buddhists the intended goal is to achieve ultimate happiness and Enlightenment.
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Who is God? Why so many believe is God? How to explain God in Buddhism?
I had discussed this subject with others who believe in the one god creator and some who say they are 'free thinkers.' I think it would be better to discuss this, if it was brought up in work or social parties or anytime, depending on the person(s) who asked. It would be gentler to opine rather than to debate because I am not out to convert people. If the person believes strongly in his/her faith, then I give my opinions maintaining that he/she has total freedom to express his/hers. To have a heated debate with neither side wanting to 'lose' means losing in the end. Unless I have studied Buddhism for 20 years, engage in debates logically and passed Buddhist philosophy with a degree, I rather give my views.
Actually SK, I do agree with you.
Until we know two "systems" or "methods" to the core we are not qualified to "compare" them.
We certainly are not.
However, I also think it can be good to give a try at this exercise with the aim to get more knowledgeable and strengthen our faith in Buddhism (as Buddhists), or in Christianity as Christians (for example).
And I think this can be done without invalidating another religion.
It is not a spiritual practice to put down someone else's spiritual vehicle.
We cannot validate something by putting something else "down", this is not logical, we can only validate something by establishing the causes for the validation and become convinced of their truthfulness.
My conviction that apples are good for my health is not based on the facts that I am allergic to pears.
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The Dalai Lama was quoted in an interview about God:
"Why did the Buddha not say anything about God? Because he talked about the law of causality. Once you accept the law of cause and effect, the implication is that there is no 'creator'. If the Buddha accepted the concept of a creator, he would not have been silent; everything would have been God! "
In the ame interview, he said:
"Talking of God, who created God? There is no point arguing. Dharmakeerti and Shantideva debate the existence of God and reach the conclusion that if we believe in a benevolent creator, how do we explain suffering?"
Just like to share this.
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Discussions about God usually involves the theory of a Creator-God i.e. that God or a God created the earth and everything in it, including us human beings. It is a very inviting subject to debate and usually the debate becomes heated because there just isn't any empirical evidence that a God created life etc.
I cannot remember the exact quote of whether it was the Buddha himself who said this but I remember this analogy very well and it explained why the Buddha refused to be drawn into the Creator-God theory, either to affirm it or to refute it.
The analogy is this: debating whether there is a Creator-God or not and whether a God created us, is like being shot by a poisonous arrow and refusing treatment until we find out (i) who shot the arrow (ii) why did the person shoot me (iii) what wood is the arrow made of (iv) where is such a tree that produces the wood that made the arrow (vi) what the shooter of the arrow is tall or short and so on. You get the picture.
Buddhism is practical. We are in Samsara and we have poison coursing through our veins. Instead of wasting time asking questions which are after the fact, we should just get treatment quickly. I would also like Christians and people of other faiths who believe in a creator-God to consider this two questions:
(i) If you found out that God did not create you and still insists that you can go to heaven "through" him, does that change your faith? Would you abandon your faith if you were not created by God?
(ii) Is it more beneficial to ourselves and those around us to focus on what has passed i.e. where we came from or what is to come i.e. where we are heading?
I find Buddhism applicable and it is crucial that we are able to apply our beliefs and observe the fruits of applying what we believe, otherwise religion is merely a notion.
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buddha shakyamuni mentioned that he is just a buddha of many buddhas because of vows based on libetating different beings or group of beings because of past lives affinity. the vow is to attain innate bodhicitta of all beings and buddhas. when buddha says buddhas, means that it can be either referring to form of living beings or buddha shakyamuni, medicine buddha etc, while bodhicitta is referring to its formless. these form and formless are inherently inseparable.
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The Wheel of Life can answer this very clearly.
Gods, not God, exist, they are one of the 6 realms.
They do die and reincarnate into any of the 6 realms depending on their karma, unless they practice and achieve liberation from samsara.
Therefore, Buddha is not God because Buddha is already out of the 6 realms.
There is no creator God, there is not only one single God, these are false theory made up by other religion because they cannot explain many things in the universe, so they attribute it to GOD, made up in their own mind.
Thank you for this post, I really like it as it is clear and concise. A very simple but powerful explanation with regards to Gods.
For Buddhists around the world, this explanation is perfect as they can relate to the wheel of life and the existence of 6 realms and reincarnation. However, for a Christian, this explanation suggests that their believe of God is wrong! Or that their God is a lesser being then what they believe his is!
So how do we help them to reconcile the two different views?
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I remember one famous Theravadan monk once gave a Dharma talk and he said the God is Maha Brahma, the first and most powerful god of gods in this universe of ours. The universe came into beings via the big bang due to our karma but when God being the first to "arrive", told other gods he created the universe.
Quite a funny story but logical. Gods have pride mainly as their delusion.
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The reality or validity of belief in god is based on man's understanding capacity and the maturity of the mind.
Many believe in God merely because they believe that there is someone to wash away their sins without suppressing their evil state of mind.
Buddhist are encourage to do good deed not for the sake of going to heaven.They are expected to do good in order to eradicate their selfishness and to experience peace and happiness.
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When I was young, I was very interested in religions. I would go for Sunday school and mass with my grandma. Dad's side are staunch Christians. Then I'd go to the temples as I found the statues interesting and their traditions unique. But as I grew up, some things did not add up to being logical. Thank Buddha for the Internet and Google! I'd take time to search for subjects I don't understand and debate among myself. With so many beautiful sites now, especially this one, many people like me will have tremendous benefits and sharing knowledge.
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When the Buddha was asked how the world started, he kept silent. In the religion of Buddhism we don’t have a first cause, instead we have a never ending circle of birth and death. In this world and in all worlds, there are many beginnings and ends. The model of life used in Buddhism has no starting place... It just keeps going and going.
Now having said that... If you’re a Buddhist it’s OK to believe God was the first cause... It really doesn't go against the teachings of the Buddha, his focus was on suffering... It's also OK to believe science has the answer… Like the big bang theory, etc... Some Buddhist’s don’t even care how it all started, and that’s fine too. Knowing how the world started is not going to end your suffering, it’s just going to give you more stuff to think about.
I hope you can see that God is not what Buddhism is about... Suffering is... And if you want to believe in God, I suppose it's OK. But, Buddhist's don't believe God can end suffering. Only the teaching's of the Buddha can help us end suffering through wisdom and the activity of compassion.
urbandharma.org
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Many believe that God is the universal creator of all living beings but there's no one special God in Buddhism. In fact, there are many Gods in Buddhism and yet they are not creator. We ourselves are the creator of our own existence in this world be it as human, gods, demi-gods, animals, ghosts and hell beings by the law of karma. All of these realms are subject to change and evolution which are non permanent in nature.
If there is God, why is there the disparity, sorrow, calamities, suffering, differences in each and every being? Shouldn't there be happiness all round? Well, it is not so as we all can see. It is our own deeds that create both positive and negative results according to the law on cause and effect.