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by bradleybell goes to school on September 24th, 2007

bradleybell goes to school

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What does Buddhism say about 'religions'..?

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  • by Stableboy on September 26th, 2007

    Stableboy

    It doesn't say much really. But you can infer some things from what it DOES say:

    - Buddhist teaching generally challenges the notion of a fixed self or entity which serves as the core of being. In Buddhist ontology, all things are considered to be composites -- you and I are the result of the conditions which produce our existence, and those conditions are in turn produced by other conditions, ad infinitum. So nowhere can you get your hands on some solid unchanging "essence of being".

    This is what it means when Buddhism talks about "no self". It's not that there's no self at all, it's that there's no permanent entity like a core upon which our qualities and characteristics are "glued". The implication for other religions is that Buddhism challenges the existence of the soul as it's normally conceived -- a permanent essence which transcends the conditions of body, time, space, cause-and-effect.

    - Buddhism is silent on the existence of God. So in a sense, it does not conflict with religions which place God at the center of everything. Buddhism neither denies nor affirms the existence of God -- that is considered a matter which is outside the scope of Buddhism's concerns. Buddhism is concerned with awakening -- recovering the true nature of being in a practical way which makes a practical difference in ordinary life. It's not particularly interested in large-scale metaphysical questions about the origin of man or the nature of God, etc. Those are basically considered irrelevant to the core problem Buddhism addresses: suffering.

    - Buddhism is strongly critical of the human tendency to cling to beliefs of any kind. That doesn't mean Buddhism is intolerant of beliefs in general, it means that CLINGING is considered very unwise. So since many religions implicitly encourage the very clinging that Buddhism is working to disrupt, in that sense Buddhism is anti-religion. However, it is possible (and some people do it) to merge other religions with Buddhism... i.e. I know Christian Buddhists who believe in the redemption offered by Christ, etc., and still practice Buddhism. I presume they've dialed down the clinging aspect of their Christianity to make it all work, but don't really know the details.

    In general, Buddhism promotes tolerance and peaceful coexistence as essential qualities to be developed by all humans, regardless of their religious orientation. It would be completely antithetical to Buddhist teachings to (for example) discriminate against others based on their religion, and completely unthinkable to use religious differences to justify a conflict or war. While Buddhism doesn't really promote the notion that "all religions are one", it promotes the notion that all of REALITY is one, and religions are a part of reality as a whole. In that respect, it makes no sense for Buddhism to adopt an aggressive or hostile stance toward other religions.

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