Because the Buddhists Believe in God? --by Kusala Bhikshu.
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"If I were a Christian, and thought like a Buddhist, I probably would go to Christian hell." (Kusala Bhikshu) The right way! If all Christian believers that know think like Buddhists, never believe blind, quáng information on all religious bullshit--as many more that the "Apostles" were "revealed" and recorded in his book "Holy Bible"-, then for sure they would be able to open his eyes, and further steps on the path of wisdom-though they will certainly be threatened that "must eternal life in hell by Christian "!
Because the Buddhists Go to Heaven--
by Kusala Bhikshu
Because the Buddhists Go to Heaven--
by Kusala Bhikshu
I've had the good fortune of speaking about Buddhist afterlife to a number of Christians. One of the things that prompted me to investigate Buddhist afterlife was giving a talk at Central Juvenile Hall. A Catholic girl said I was going to hell, because I didn't believe in God and Jesus Christ.
After some reflection I had to agree with her. .. If I were a Christian, and thought like a Buddhist, I probably would go to the Christian hell.
But, as Buddhists even go to Christian heaven or hell in the first place? Or do Buddhists have their own afterlife, complete with heaven and hell?
A question arose in my mind... If a good Catholic married a good Buddhist and they lived happily ever after, when they died were they going to the same place ? Most Catholics I have asked... answer, "Of course, there is only one place you can go."
I thought to myself... not so fast... where did all the Buddhists, Hindus and goddess worshippers go before Christ came to the world? Was the Christian heaven already in place even before Christ was born? Have all the pre-Christians ended up in Christian hell ?
This train of thought prompted me to investigate Buddhist afterlife.
The Buddhist contribution to afterlife, it turns out is Nirvana. Nirvana is the end of suffering while you're alive, and the end of rebirth after you die. The Buddha said all forms of life are unsatisfactory because of birth, sickness, and old age; eventually you will end up suffering if your alive.
Ok, so what happens to a Buddhist if he doesn't reach Nirvana in his or her life time ; where does he or she go ?
The Buddha borrowed from the Brahmanic tradition : the concept of karma had been established in India by the time of the Buddha, and heavens and hells were part of the cosmology as well. The Buddha used these concepts to explain Rebirth, and life after death.
I brought these ideas up in a conversation with a Catholic friend, and he said in an amusing way, "Maybe a skillful Buddhist will go to heaven, and a really skillful Buddhist will go to Nirvana." As it turns out, he hit the nail right on the head.
Buddhists do go to heaven if their practice is skillful, and to hell if it's unskilful. But, never to Christian heaven or hell.
How many heavens and hells do Buddhists have ? ... A lot !
There was a book published in 1997 called... Buddhist Cosmology, Philosophy and Origins, by Akira Sadakata, Kosei Publications. It goes into a very detailed explanation of the various heavens and hells. I've found as many as 33 heavens and 33 hells listed as possible destinations, but I'm going to simplify it, and talk about the six realms of existence.
Buddhism has a best heaven. Everything is just the way you want it to be. In this heaven, there is no reason to change anything. You are ultimately happy. The problem is that it's not permanent, as is everything in Buddhism. One day in the heaven realm is equal to 400 human years, and your stay is four thousand heaven years, so you will be there a really long time.
But, one day the karma that put you in this heaven will be used up. You are only in heaven as long as your Karma account has merit in it. You can only draw from your Karma account while in heaven, because there in no way to make a deposit. You can't practice generosity or compassion, and you're not striving to gain wisdom. When the karma that put you in heaven is used up... you're reborn... And that would probably make a lot of folks really unhappy. Who wants to leave a perfect place ?
The second heaven realm, which is a lower one, is where things are almost perfect. I call this the Donald Trump heaven. It could be better, if only you owned one more building or house. You see, there is still some desire associated with this heaven realm, and so it can't ever be perfect.
The next realm is the human realm, where all of us find ourselves in this lifetime. This is the best place for us to be, because this is the only place we can become enlightened. We cannot become enlightened in heaven, things are too nice, and we have no reason to strive. We cannot become enlightened in hell, because things are so bad, all we do is suffer.
In this human rebirth, we have enough happiness and joy to keep us from taking our own lives, and we experience anxiety and fear to keep us striving. We cannot relax too long in any one mental state as a human, because all things are in a constant state of flux.
The next lower realm, is the animal realm. The animal realm is marked by wanting to have sex, wanting to have food, wanting to have sleep, and being totally confused. Those are the four characteristics found in the animal realm. So you can see, we are not likely to become enlightened as an animal.
A Zen question-- Does a dog have Buddha nature ? -- comes to mind. Yes, a dog does have the potential to become enlightened, but only in the human realm.
Can animals be reborn as humans beings ? Yes, if they come into contact with the Dharma, see a Buddhist temple, or smell incense burning. The contact can plant a Dharma seed which takes root when they're reborn as humans. They can achieve their full potential and become enlightened, but only as a human being. So, it's up to all of us to help our pets be reborn in the human realm.
The next realm is called the hungry ghost realm. The hungry ghost is often pictured as a giant creature, with a large stomach and a pinhole for a mouth. It can never end it's hunger no matter how much it eats, it never finds satisfaction.
In the hell realm, the worst place, you find the most suffering. Your are given little hell bodies when you enter. Then, one day you might be walking through a forest, when all the leaves on a tree turn into razor blades and fall, cutting you into a million pieces. You cry out in pain, and your hell body resurrects, so you can be killed over and over again.
The only way to get out of the hell realm is to burn through the karma that put you there. Suffering is the only act of purification in hell, and much suffering is necessary before the next rebirth.
So, do Buddhists go to heaven ? ... Yes they do !... Do Buddhists go to hell ? ... Yes they do !... Do Buddhists go to Christian heaven or hell ? ... No they don't ! ! !
In the Buddhist model of afterlife, there are specific practices necessary to achieve rebirth in heaven, and more important, there are specific practices necessary to attain Nirvana.
The Buddha did not leave afterlife up to chance. Just because a person says he's a Buddhist does not ensure rebirth in heaven or Nirvana. The Buddhist path to afterlife is a labor intensive practice that requires personal responsibility.
It's no surprise that we are going to die, but how many people think about their next lifetime ? If you're a Buddhist it's important to look at life as a continuum, as a process of birth and death, a constant state of becoming, and a chance to practice.
To explain rebirth, I like the analogy of going to an airport with a suitcase. I put the suitcase on a conveyor belt so it can be loaded into the luggage compartment of the airplane. But, I am not getting on the plane, just the suitcase. The suitcase contains my karmic energy. When the karmic energy gets to its new destination, my next lifetime picks up the suitcase. But, I didn't get on the plane, because my ticket had expired... It's not really me that picks up the suitcase... It's because of me the suitcase is picked up.
The suitcase may be almost empty because of a past life of unskillful activity. It may have only one set of clothes and no shoes... But, I'm not predestined to be poor and homeless. Through acts of kindness and generosity, I can start filling the suitcase. I can turn rags into riches through good thoughts, good speech, and good actions. I'm in charge, and my life is what I make it.
When all is said and done ? For a Buddhist heaven is not the real answer, just an option.
Nirvana is the answer to suffering and rebirth !
Practice everyday... There is very little time left. Think about death often, it will give your life urgency. Exercise and good health allow you to die in the slowest way possible. May you see nirvana in this very lifetime.
But, as Buddhists even go to Christian heaven or hell in the first place? Or do Buddhists have their own afterlife, complete with heaven and hell?
A question arose in my mind... If a good Catholic married a good Buddhist and they lived happily ever after, when they died were they going to the same place ? Most Catholics I have asked... answer, "Of course, there is only one place you can go."
I thought to myself... not so fast... where did all the Buddhists, Hindus and goddess worshippers go before Christ came to the world? Was the Christian heaven already in place even before Christ was born? Have all the pre-Christians ended up in Christian hell ?
This train of thought prompted me to investigate Buddhist afterlife.
The Buddhist contribution to afterlife, it turns out is Nirvana. Nirvana is the end of suffering while you're alive, and the end of rebirth after you die. The Buddha said all forms of life are unsatisfactory because of birth, sickness, and old age; eventually you will end up suffering if your alive.
Ok, so what happens to a Buddhist if he doesn't reach Nirvana in his or her life time ; where does he or she go ?
The Buddha borrowed from the Brahmanic tradition : the concept of karma had been established in India by the time of the Buddha, and heavens and hells were part of the cosmology as well. The Buddha used these concepts to explain Rebirth, and life after death.
I brought these ideas up in a conversation with a Catholic friend, and he said in an amusing way, "Maybe a skillful Buddhist will go to heaven, and a really skillful Buddhist will go to Nirvana." As it turns out, he hit the nail right on the head.
Buddhists do go to heaven if their practice is skillful, and to hell if it's unskilful. But, never to Christian heaven or hell.
How many heavens and hells do Buddhists have ? ... A lot !
There was a book published in 1997 called... Buddhist Cosmology, Philosophy and Origins, by Akira Sadakata, Kosei Publications. It goes into a very detailed explanation of the various heavens and hells. I've found as many as 33 heavens and 33 hells listed as possible destinations, but I'm going to simplify it, and talk about the six realms of existence.
Buddhism has a best heaven. Everything is just the way you want it to be. In this heaven, there is no reason to change anything. You are ultimately happy. The problem is that it's not permanent, as is everything in Buddhism. One day in the heaven realm is equal to 400 human years, and your stay is four thousand heaven years, so you will be there a really long time.
But, one day the karma that put you in this heaven will be used up. You are only in heaven as long as your Karma account has merit in it. You can only draw from your Karma account while in heaven, because there in no way to make a deposit. You can't practice generosity or compassion, and you're not striving to gain wisdom. When the karma that put you in heaven is used up... you're reborn... And that would probably make a lot of folks really unhappy. Who wants to leave a perfect place ?
The second heaven realm, which is a lower one, is where things are almost perfect. I call this the Donald Trump heaven. It could be better, if only you owned one more building or house. You see, there is still some desire associated with this heaven realm, and so it can't ever be perfect.
The next realm is the human realm, where all of us find ourselves in this lifetime. This is the best place for us to be, because this is the only place we can become enlightened. We cannot become enlightened in heaven, things are too nice, and we have no reason to strive. We cannot become enlightened in hell, because things are so bad, all we do is suffer.
In this human rebirth, we have enough happiness and joy to keep us from taking our own lives, and we experience anxiety and fear to keep us striving. We cannot relax too long in any one mental state as a human, because all things are in a constant state of flux.
The next lower realm, is the animal realm. The animal realm is marked by wanting to have sex, wanting to have food, wanting to have sleep, and being totally confused. Those are the four characteristics found in the animal realm. So you can see, we are not likely to become enlightened as an animal.
A Zen question-- Does a dog have Buddha nature ? -- comes to mind. Yes, a dog does have the potential to become enlightened, but only in the human realm.
Can animals be reborn as humans beings ? Yes, if they come into contact with the Dharma, see a Buddhist temple, or smell incense burning. The contact can plant a Dharma seed which takes root when they're reborn as humans. They can achieve their full potential and become enlightened, but only as a human being. So, it's up to all of us to help our pets be reborn in the human realm.
The next realm is called the hungry ghost realm. The hungry ghost is often pictured as a giant creature, with a large stomach and a pinhole for a mouth. It can never end it's hunger no matter how much it eats, it never finds satisfaction.
In the hell realm, the worst place, you find the most suffering. Your are given little hell bodies when you enter. Then, one day you might be walking through a forest, when all the leaves on a tree turn into razor blades and fall, cutting you into a million pieces. You cry out in pain, and your hell body resurrects, so you can be killed over and over again.
The only way to get out of the hell realm is to burn through the karma that put you there. Suffering is the only act of purification in hell, and much suffering is necessary before the next rebirth.
So, do Buddhists go to heaven ? ... Yes they do !... Do Buddhists go to hell ? ... Yes they do !... Do Buddhists go to Christian heaven or hell ? ... No they don't ! ! !
In the Buddhist model of afterlife, there are specific practices necessary to achieve rebirth in heaven, and more important, there are specific practices necessary to attain Nirvana.
The Buddha did not leave afterlife up to chance. Just because a person says he's a Buddhist does not ensure rebirth in heaven or Nirvana. The Buddhist path to afterlife is a labor intensive practice that requires personal responsibility.
It's no surprise that we are going to die, but how many people think about their next lifetime ? If you're a Buddhist it's important to look at life as a continuum, as a process of birth and death, a constant state of becoming, and a chance to practice.
To explain rebirth, I like the analogy of going to an airport with a suitcase. I put the suitcase on a conveyor belt so it can be loaded into the luggage compartment of the airplane. But, I am not getting on the plane, just the suitcase. The suitcase contains my karmic energy. When the karmic energy gets to its new destination, my next lifetime picks up the suitcase. But, I didn't get on the plane, because my ticket had expired... It's not really me that picks up the suitcase... It's because of me the suitcase is picked up.
The suitcase may be almost empty because of a past life of unskillful activity. It may have only one set of clothes and no shoes... But, I'm not predestined to be poor and homeless. Through acts of kindness and generosity, I can start filling the suitcase. I can turn rags into riches through good thoughts, good speech, and good actions. I'm in charge, and my life is what I make it.
When all is said and done ? For a Buddhist heaven is not the real answer, just an option.
Nirvana is the answer to suffering and rebirth !
Practice everyday... There is very little time left. Think about death often, it will give your life urgency. Exercise and good health allow you to die in the slowest way possible. May you see nirvana in this very lifetime.
Photo - Bob Heide
A Meditation on Death - an interpretation of the Pali
Like the flame blown out by the wind,
This life of ours is headed for destruction.
Seeing the cycle of birth and death in all things
Mindfulness of death is a skill we need to use.
Just as people who have achieved great wealth and fame
Must surely fall in death.
This thing called death will not leave me behind;
Death is always beckoning me to follow.
Death is the true companion of birth
And never far behind,
Searching for an opening
Like a samurai in battle.
It's course cannot be changed
This life we call our own,
Is rushing to its end
Like the sun moving form east to west.
Death takes those from us who are great in strength and wisdom,
No need to speak of one like me.
Because this life of mine lacks in so many ways
I die in every moment with little chance of a good rebirth.
Our life is filled with so much uncertainty
Its length cannot be known.
It is difficult just to stay alive, each day
Filled with the fear and anguish of the death about to come.
There is no chance that life shall not end in death.
Having reached old age what can be next,
Death is part of our true nature.
As the nature of fruit is to fall when ripe.
Just as a potters jar must break and turn to dust
So to these bones of ours will one day break and end the same way.
The young, the old, the foolish and the wise,
The hand of death is always open;
The end is known for sure.
Impermanent is all conditioned things,
All things rise and fall away,
Conditions give us birth,
Conditions give us death.
This body and mind of ours, will soon be lying on the ground
Like a useless piece of drift wood, washed upon the shore.
Our consciousness will vanish, the mind will not be there,
Just like a bubble bursting on the water, turning into air.
We came into this world without an invitation, and
We don't need to ask permission when its time for us to leave.
We rise to birth that always ends in death; we come just as we go.
Like the flame blown out by the wind,
This life of ours is headed for destruction.
Seeing the cycle of birth and death in all things
Mindfulness of death is a skill we need to use.
Just as people who have achieved great wealth and fame
Must surely fall in death.
This thing called death will not leave me behind;
Death is always beckoning me to follow.
Death is the true companion of birth
And never far behind,
Searching for an opening
Like a samurai in battle.
It's course cannot be changed
This life we call our own,
Is rushing to its end
Like the sun moving form east to west.
Death takes those from us who are great in strength and wisdom,
No need to speak of one like me.
Because this life of mine lacks in so many ways
I die in every moment with little chance of a good rebirth.
Our life is filled with so much uncertainty
Its length cannot be known.
It is difficult just to stay alive, each day
Filled with the fear and anguish of the death about to come.
There is no chance that life shall not end in death.
Having reached old age what can be next,
Death is part of our true nature.
As the nature of fruit is to fall when ripe.
Just as a potters jar must break and turn to dust
So to these bones of ours will one day break and end the same way.
The young, the old, the foolish and the wise,
The hand of death is always open;
The end is known for sure.
Impermanent is all conditioned things,
All things rise and fall away,
Conditions give us birth,
Conditions give us death.
This body and mind of ours, will soon be lying on the ground
Like a useless piece of drift wood, washed upon the shore.
Our consciousness will vanish, the mind will not be there,
Just like a bubble bursting on the water, turning into air.
We came into this world without an invitation, and
We don't need to ask permission when its time for us to leave.
We rise to birth that always ends in death; we come just as we go.
Does the candle shed a tear when the flame goes out ?
Don't be sad, be mindful.
Don't be sad, be mindful.
* * * * *
Do Buddhists Believe in God ? -- by Kusala Bhikshu (A talk given at a high school in Los Angeles.) Why is it... The Buddha never talked about the One God of the desert, the Judeo-Christian God ? Does this mean that all Buddhists are atheists and don’t believe in God ? Did the Buddha believe in God ?
These are some of the questions I would like to try and answer today.
The Buddha was born 500 years before Christ, in what is now Nepal. His dad was a king, his mom was a queen, and his dad wanted him to take over the family business (the kingdom) when he got older.
The kind of world the Buddha was born into was magical. Everything seemed to be alive. The trees, mountains, lakes, and sky were living and breathing with a variety of gods in charge. If you needed rain you asked one god, if you needed it to stop raining you asked another. The priests of India did all the religious work, and got paid for it.
In India at the time of the Buddha you became a priest if you were born into the right family, and not because of the school you went to, or the grades you got.
There were other kinds of religious people as well.
Mendicants were men who left their family, friends, and jobs to find the answers to life. They did not live in homes or apartments, but lived under trees and in caves, and would practice meditation all day long. They wanted to really be uncomfortable, so they could understand what suffering was all about.
Many kinds of meditation were practiced by these mendicants. In Tranquility Meditation for instance, you think about just one thing, like looking at a candle or saying a word over and over. When the mind becomes focused in oneness, you experience a great peacefulness.
Even if the mendicants were sitting in the rain on a cold day, they were still content. They found in their meditation practice the essence of happiness.
Renunciation is when you give up all the things that make your life pleasant. Sometimes the people with money and power in India would buy a lot of stuff to make themselves happy and their lives more comfortable, thinking that happiness and comfort depended on what they owned.
When the mendicants could see their own suffering clearly, after many years of renunciation, they understood that happiness was not dependent on the things they owned, but the kind of life they lived.
Even all the gods in India could not end the suffering of one human being.
At the age of 29, the Buddha stopped praying to the gods to end his suffering and the suffering of others. He left his family and friends, went to the edge of the forest, took off all his clothes and jewelry, covered his naked body with rags of cloth, cut off his hair and started to meditate.
He became a mendicant, and It took him six years of hard work and much suffering, but in the end he was able to stop his suffering forever (Nirvana) and help others stop their suffering as well.
Did the Buddha believe in God, the One God of the desert, the God of the Christians, Jews and Muslims ?
Well... No... He didn't... Monotheism (only one God) was a foreign concept to the Buddha, his world was filled with many gods. The creator god Brahma being the most important one.
At the time of the Buddha, the only people practicing the religion of the One God of the desert, were the Jews. Remember, it was still 500 years before Christ came into the world.
The Buddha never left India. The Buddha walked from village to village... In his entire lifetime he never went any further than 200 miles from his birthplace.
The Buddha never met a Jew... And because of this, he never said anything about the One God of the desert.
There is also nothing in the teachings of the Buddha that suggest how to find God or worship the god's of India, although the Buddha himself was a theist (believed in gods), his teachings are non-theistic.
The Buddha was more concerned with the human condition: Birth, Sickness, Old age, and Death. The Buddhist path is about coming to a place of acceptance with these painful aspects of life, and not suffering through them.
Please be clear on this point... The Buddha is not thought of as a god in Buddhism and is not prayed to. He is looked up to and respected as a great teacher, in the same way we respect Abraham Lincoln as a great president.
He was a human being who found his perfection in Nirvana. Because of his Nirvana, the Buddha was perfectly moral, perfectly ethical, and ended his suffering forever.
Does that mean that every Buddhist in the world is an atheist ?
No ! ! ! I have met a lot of Buddhists who believe in God. I have met a lot of Buddhists who don’t believe in God... And a lot of Buddhists just don’t know.
All three points of view are OK if you’re Buddhist because suffering is more important than God in Buddhism.
Sometimes a student will ask me how everything in this world got started... "If you don’t have God in Buddhism then who or what caused the universe ?"
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, as some Buddhists do, 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.
In his whole life and in all his teachings the Buddha never said anything about the One God of the desert.
Also by Kusala How I Became a Buddhist
Because the Buddhists Believe in God
The Problem with Sex in Buddhism
Buddhist Enlightenment vs. Nirvana A Buddhist Approach to Health Care.END=RESEARCH BUDDHIST DHARMA BY THICH CHAN TANH.MHDT.VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUNS=GOLDEN LOTUS MONASTERY=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.7/11/2012.NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).
These are some of the questions I would like to try and answer today.
The Buddha was born 500 years before Christ, in what is now Nepal. His dad was a king, his mom was a queen, and his dad wanted him to take over the family business (the kingdom) when he got older.
The kind of world the Buddha was born into was magical. Everything seemed to be alive. The trees, mountains, lakes, and sky were living and breathing with a variety of gods in charge. If you needed rain you asked one god, if you needed it to stop raining you asked another. The priests of India did all the religious work, and got paid for it.
In India at the time of the Buddha you became a priest if you were born into the right family, and not because of the school you went to, or the grades you got.
There were other kinds of religious people as well.
Mendicants were men who left their family, friends, and jobs to find the answers to life. They did not live in homes or apartments, but lived under trees and in caves, and would practice meditation all day long. They wanted to really be uncomfortable, so they could understand what suffering was all about.
Many kinds of meditation were practiced by these mendicants. In Tranquility Meditation for instance, you think about just one thing, like looking at a candle or saying a word over and over. When the mind becomes focused in oneness, you experience a great peacefulness.
Even if the mendicants were sitting in the rain on a cold day, they were still content. They found in their meditation practice the essence of happiness.
Renunciation is when you give up all the things that make your life pleasant. Sometimes the people with money and power in India would buy a lot of stuff to make themselves happy and their lives more comfortable, thinking that happiness and comfort depended on what they owned.
When the mendicants could see their own suffering clearly, after many years of renunciation, they understood that happiness was not dependent on the things they owned, but the kind of life they lived.
Even all the gods in India could not end the suffering of one human being.
At the age of 29, the Buddha stopped praying to the gods to end his suffering and the suffering of others. He left his family and friends, went to the edge of the forest, took off all his clothes and jewelry, covered his naked body with rags of cloth, cut off his hair and started to meditate.
He became a mendicant, and It took him six years of hard work and much suffering, but in the end he was able to stop his suffering forever (Nirvana) and help others stop their suffering as well.
Did the Buddha believe in God, the One God of the desert, the God of the Christians, Jews and Muslims ?
Well... No... He didn't... Monotheism (only one God) was a foreign concept to the Buddha, his world was filled with many gods. The creator god Brahma being the most important one.
At the time of the Buddha, the only people practicing the religion of the One God of the desert, were the Jews. Remember, it was still 500 years before Christ came into the world.
The Buddha never left India. The Buddha walked from village to village... In his entire lifetime he never went any further than 200 miles from his birthplace.
The Buddha never met a Jew... And because of this, he never said anything about the One God of the desert.
There is also nothing in the teachings of the Buddha that suggest how to find God or worship the god's of India, although the Buddha himself was a theist (believed in gods), his teachings are non-theistic.
The Buddha was more concerned with the human condition: Birth, Sickness, Old age, and Death. The Buddhist path is about coming to a place of acceptance with these painful aspects of life, and not suffering through them.
Please be clear on this point... The Buddha is not thought of as a god in Buddhism and is not prayed to. He is looked up to and respected as a great teacher, in the same way we respect Abraham Lincoln as a great president.
He was a human being who found his perfection in Nirvana. Because of his Nirvana, the Buddha was perfectly moral, perfectly ethical, and ended his suffering forever.
Does that mean that every Buddhist in the world is an atheist ?
No ! ! ! I have met a lot of Buddhists who believe in God. I have met a lot of Buddhists who don’t believe in God... And a lot of Buddhists just don’t know.
All three points of view are OK if you’re Buddhist because suffering is more important than God in Buddhism.
Sometimes a student will ask me how everything in this world got started... "If you don’t have God in Buddhism then who or what caused the universe ?"
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, as some Buddhists do, 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.
In his whole life and in all his teachings the Buddha never said anything about the One God of the desert.
Also by Kusala How I Became a Buddhist
Because the Buddhists Believe in God
The Problem with Sex in Buddhism
Buddhist Enlightenment vs. Nirvana A Buddhist Approach to Health Care.END=RESEARCH BUDDHIST DHARMA BY THICH CHAN TANH.MHDT.VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST NUNS=GOLDEN LOTUS MONASTERY=AUSTRALIA,SYDNEY.7/11/2012.NAM MO SHAKYAMUNI BUDDHA.( 3 TIMES ).
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