Something funny I came across online:
Question: How can Atheism be true when there is no evidence of Atheius?
Answer: Of course its true. I bought a blank book and I wrote “Atheism is the only truth” on the first page. It is written in “the book” and therefore it must be true. I’ve also decided that I only need that first page and I will apply my narrow little viewpoint to everything and everybody I come across. So there. (Linda G)
Atheists can be dogmatic and narrow-minded in their thinking too.
But must it be a case of God or not?
There are so many other logical possibilities:
1. There is more than one god; there are many gods.
2. Some of these gods assume they are omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent creators.
The Buddhist perspective encompasses both points above.
1. If there is a creator (which Buddhism does not subscribe to) who made us able to act with choice, we are still choiceless, as we are forced to ‘be able to choose’.
2. And interestingly, all of us are supposedly forced to choose wrongly continually… beginning from the ‘first humans’, who supposedly unfairly passed the ‘original sin’ to us.
3. If there is a creator, it would be more logical to create all to be choiceless but happy in the first place, instead of being mostly capable of choosing badly, which leads to unhappiness.
4. Being created without being asked is also a kind of choicelessness.
Related Articles:
Can a ‘Creator God’ be Created?
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2010/03/can-a-‘creator-god’-be-created
The Bird that Flew Too Far
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2009/12/the-bird-that-flew-too-far
Are Buddhists Atheists?
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2010/11/are-buddhists-atheists
Did the Universe Have a Creator?
http://thedailyenlightenment.com/2010/12/did-the-universe-have-a-creator
The Buddha does not promote creationist views therefore he is an atheist at some degree because Buddhism is about liberation therefore we are not bound becos Buddha believes we can auto-pilot as long as we become his equal.
While Buddhism does speak about gods……to the Buddha, it is simply part of his cosmic encycopedia the same way we visit a zoo, and we are not told that in the zoo, the only thing that is an animal is the lion but there are many other animals existing in different forms.
In the past, the godly word was merely a convenient word but as we progress into the age of consciousness where man can simply move a mouse with his mind, gods are merely a higher form of consciousness, one that is spiritually evolved and transformed.
There are many of such consciousness for energy cannot be destroyed but it can only be transformed from one state to another. We are all different forms of consciousness residing in different vessels of different size and shape. The very form that houses our consciousness becomes the very form that limits our consciousness. Just like houses come in different sizes. Some has two toilets. Some dun even have a living room so what we can do in it become limited.
Animals are consciousness but maybe becos they can’t contribute in useful ways in the past with their precious human lives, they have to contribute in small ways having smaller vessels that is fashioned in other ways as configured by their consciousness and driven by karma.
If we are what we eat. We are also what we put into our heads. There are so many different forms of life that some can even exists as cells. The funny thing about cells is that they can be aggressive. They can evolve and they have strategies almost like a complete lifeform and doesn’t wish to die.
The Buddha did not speak of us achieving great things but being good is the most basic good anyone can strive to achieve.
Consciousness can evolve or regress and the way of Dharma is to help people evolve if not we may end up in dire states in our afterlife.
Dogmatic is when you forces other to obey your views or even take actions to ensure and censure that it is to be obeyed. The Buddha has dogmas and he is extremely strict with the Sangha community.
Buddhism in general is extremely prescriptive rather than dogmatic. The Buddha speaks like a doctor. If you have a certain problem and you ask the doctor of a solution, you have to follow the prescription.
The Dharma is merely a raft that helps us see what was there all along, our Buddha nature. Buddha nature is not an add-on. It cannot be bought or lost therefore it is not an attainment. How do one attain something one has all along? The clouds covering the sun does not mean the sun has disappeared. The sun is still there but its the clouds that cloud our mind that the Dharma seeks to dissipates to reveal the sun once more.
Dharma is like learning to swim. Before one can swim, one need help with the swimming board. The day one becomes a swimmer is that day one LET GO of the swimming board.
Every man is born an atheist until they are told otherwise. There’s a aTHEIST in the word atheist.
‘The Buddha did not speak of us achieving great things’?
He assured us that we can become Buddhas with the right practice.
‘There’s a aTHEIST in the word atheist’?
There is a gap in the centre of Sin-gap-ore, so it must be true?
😉
Amituofo