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Buddhists don't believe in G-d: why should they have a scripture then?

paarsurrey

Veteran Member
The Sermon of the Seven Suns
The Sermon of the Seven Suns (Anguttara VII. 62)

First we take The Sermon of the Seven Suns (ANGUTTARA NIKÂYA VII. 62).

What was the source of knowledge of Buddha while he told following expressions in the sermon?
Expressions of Buddha in “the sermon of the seven suns”

· “ Sineru, the monarch of mountains, reek and fume and send forth clouds of smoke”
· “and goes as far as the worlds of God”
· “fellowship with the world of God”
· “to weal in the world of God”
· “were born again, upon the dissolution of the body after death”
· “some into fellowship with those angels who transmute subjective delights into objective and share them with others”
· “he did not return to this world”
· “Yea, then, O monks, he was a Brahmâ, the Great Brahmâ (or, God), conquering, unconquered, all-seeing, controlling.”
· “Sakko, the lord of the angels”
· “supernal knowledge”


Buddha did believe in God, angels, life after death, revelation. He clearly mentions it in the above expression in the above Sermon.

Regards
 
Last edited:

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
There are different "rafts" within Buddhism, and they are not all the same by any means. Generally speaking, a great many Buddhist do believe there can be deities of various sorts, but the vast majority do not believe in a creator-god. Some believe in Brahman as being just one of these deities, but not as a creator-god like most Hindus believe.

Also, as what's been previously mentioned, Buddhists don't have a feeling that their scriptures are "divinely inspired" as the Abrahamic faiths teach, and as a matter of fact the Buddha supposedly said not to blindly swallow what he teaches but instead test them out like irons in fire.

The Dalai Lama has stated on numerous occasions that if the Buddhist scriptures conflict with science on some item(s), go with science since the scriptures were written many centuries ago by people who have a much more limited understand of our universe and that which is found in it.
 

paarsurrey

Veteran Member
There are different "rafts" within Buddhism, and they are not all the same by any means. Generally speaking, a great many Buddhist do believe there can be deities of various sorts, but the vast majority do not believe in a creator-god. Some believe in Brahman as being just one of these deities, but not as a creator-god like most Hindus believe.

Also, as what's been previously mentioned, Buddhists don't have a feeling that their scriptures are "divinely inspired" as the Abrahamic faiths teach, and as a matter of fact the Buddha supposedly said not to blindly swallow what he teaches but instead test them out like irons in fire.

The Dalai Lama has stated on numerous occasions that if the Buddhist scriptures conflict with science on some item(s), go with science since the scriptures were written many centuries ago by people who have a much more limited understand of our universe and that which is found in it.

Thanks for your input.

My question was not about the Buddhists as to what they believe and what they don't believe. My question was also not about Buddhism, they have many denominations like the Christians.

Whether the Buddhists believe that their scriptures are divine or not divine is also not my question.

The fact is that the Buddhist scriptures as mentioned by me in my post # 21 above have quoted from Buddha the expressions given in my post, these expressions clearly provide evidence as to what Buddha believed.

Can one deny that and on what basis?

Thanks again and regards
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
The fact is that the Buddhist scriptures as mentioned by me in my post # 21 above have quoted from Buddha the expressions given in my post, these expressions clearly provide evidence as to what Buddha believed.

Can one deny that and on what basis?

Thanks again and regards

One cannot either support nor deny that since none of us where there when the Buddha may have spoken those words or words like them. Nor is any kind of requirement that Buddhists must blindly accept what those words say. This, plus the fact that there are a great many Buddhists who do believe in deities, and that there is evidence through the scriptures, if they're correct, that he also believed in deities, although not a creator-god. This has all been mentioned before, so can't quite figure out why you keep repeating the same questions.
 

tiki

বরিশালের রাজকুমারী
Buddha was Hindu person or Vedic truly. Probably he did not start a religion intently but his disciples started it after him. Its why Buddhists have mostly same deity's like ours ones except they are secular then they don't have deity's.
 

paarsurrey

Veteran Member
One cannot either support nor deny that since none of us where there when the Buddha may have spoken those words or words like them.
That is simply wrong.
Then why do they narrate things from him?
When one see things clearly mentioned by him; one should support them. Is there any harm in accepting the truth?
Mind please ! I am talking about Buddha not about Buddhists or Buddhism.
Regards
 

tiki

বরিশালের রাজকুমারী
Buddha spoke strongly against the then Hinduism and Hindu priests of his time.
Didn't he?
Regards
Ya he didn't like some stuffs except I think he was still Hindu person. Some people say Buddhism is sect of Hinduism now but I think its silly to make labels.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
That is simply wrong.
Then why do they narrate things from him?
When one see things clearly mentioned by him; one should support them. Is there any harm in accepting the truth?
Mind please ! I am talking about Buddha not about Buddhists or Buddhism.
Regards
You simply do not even get close to understanding how Buddhists approach their own scriptures, and instead of learning, you just dig in your heals to believe in whatever you want to believe. Read what's written and taught within Buddhist circles and not just what you want to hear.

Again, and generally speaking, Buddhists do not consider their scriptures to be divinely inspired or inerrant, and this logically would include statements and even teachings attributed to Old Sid. Instead, they are told it's best to test out the various teachings regardless of the source. Capice?
 

psychoslice

Veteran Member
We all need some way of communicating with each other, and the main reason they say they don't believe in a God, is because the believer will cling to the concept of God.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
We all need some way of communicating with each other, and the main reason they say they don't believe in a God, is because the believer will cling to the concept of God.
Possibly. But we'll not know for certain because the Buddha supposedly stated, when asked if there was a creator-god, that the question was irrelevant. It took his followers later to try and figure out why he said this, and whether one agrees with it or not, what they come up with is actually quite logical.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
The Sermon of the Seven Suns (Anguttara VII. 62)
(...)

Buddha did believe in God, angels, life after death, revelation. He clearly mentions it in the above expression in the above Sermon.

Regards

He may well have believed at some level, or maybe he did not. It is just not a big deal either way, because his Dharma clearly teaches not to care about such things.

At the end of the day, Buddhism just does not have a lot of place for valuing belief. Fortunately.
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
That is simply wrong.

No, it is actually very accurate, Paarsurrey.

Then why do they narrate things from him?

Because we have learned from his Dharma, clearly.

Did you expect us to avoid having teachings that do not involve theistic belief?

When one see things clearly mentioned by him; one should support them. Is there any harm in accepting the truth?
Mind please ! I am talking about Buddha not about Buddhists or Buddhism.
Regards

Paarsurrey, you are truly trying to see a square peg when there is a round hole.
 

psychoslice

Veteran Member
Possibly. But we'll not know for certain because the Buddha supposedly stated, when asked if there was a creator-god, that the question was irrelevant. It took his followers later to try and figure out why he said this, and whether one agrees with it or not, what they come up with is actually quite logical.
Yes, I think the Buddha knew that we are all one with the universe, call that God, Consciousness or whatever, its all the same, if he did bring up that there was a god, his disciples would have made a God out of that, just as they made statues of him well after his death.
 
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