• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

About what God actually "is"

SalixIncendium

अग्निविलोवनन्दः
Staff member
Premium Member
I don't have a personal god, so I suppose it would depend on the context of the conversation and whose god concept we are discussing.
 

metis

aged ecumenical anthropologist
When you speak about God, What is this God you describe?
Do you understand what a God or a Buddha is? or is it only faith that they are there that make you believe?
See "My Faith Statement" at the bottom of my posts to see how I would respond, and I gotta feeling Old Sid would approve of it. ;)
 

leov

Well-Known Member
When you speak about God, What is this God you describe?
Do you understand what a God or a Buddha is? or is it only faith that they are there that make you believe?
Real dimension, of different 'density' which are human souls real home, there is hierarchy that , say, in 'charge' of that place, hierarchy organized by advanced consciousness, progressively more advanced going up, it all maintained including our physical dimension by conscious benevolent energy that envelops all - That I invision as True God.
 
Last edited:

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
See "My Faith Statement" at the bottom of my posts to see how I would respond, and I gotta feeling Old Sid would approve of it. ;)
My Faith Statement: "Whatever caused this universe I'll call 'God' and pretty much just leave it at that."

I just love your Faith Statement ... I have said the same since a long time.
 

Brickjectivity

Turned to Stone. Now I stretch daily.
Staff member
Premium Member
Some people feel that God is a devised concept. I don't think so. I think God is a discovered concept which has been discovered accidentally multiple times, and I think God is there just not in the way that we'd like. God is discovered by the Jews as they are refining their union, by the Taoists, perhaps by the Vedanta and so forth. The philosophical approach to discovery is normally a form of negation. It may be a netti netti process or like 'Negative Theology' or it may like with the Tao. This is a God who rules through principles such as the laws of nature. If you hit your head with a hammer it hurts --> so don't do it. If you want to live in peace then you have to not be vengeful -- just principles, and these are God's laws. Semantics do not reach well to this concept of God, but we do have some very far flung common discoverers.

Most people who believe this way are either pantheists or panentheists of some kind. This does not immediately appeal to children and to many of us who are concerned about death, the afterlife and who are in very unfortunate circumstances. In those cases we often feel wronged, and we tend to seek personality in God. We'd like for God to be some champion who works miracles when we ask, but that is not what we find.

Of those who believe God is a discovered concept some believe God is the creator of the universe, life and everything; and some think that is an irrelevant question. Accepting God is a moral choice, and it matters not where the universe comes from. Some people feel God is both a discovered conceptual and a miracle worker, but I cannot explain their reasoning. Functionally and politically God is the ultimate authority if you accept that authority, but God does not directly correct you. Instead God's principles (or the principles in God) will deal with you and will lead you towards a more harmonious path.

There appears to be a limit to how harmoniously a person may live with God. That is also described in different ways by the different discoverers. Jews tend to talk about drawing close to God as if it is destructive, and as you get closer you are harmed as if getting close the to sun. Its painful. The Taoists will say that you can't actually name the Tao.

Many believe, as I do, that God is sentient. Many also believe God is all powerful, and I think that's possible. God is above all invisible though, and you can ignore God. Its not like he's going to tap you on the shoulder and say "I want your attention."
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
When you speak about God, What is this God you describe?
Do you understand what a God or a Buddha is? or is it only faith that they are there that make you believe?

I don't know how The Buddha got into this question, ha. The Dharma is a Practice. The Buddha just realized it [to put it simply]. You don't need faith as a foundation for practice. Part of Practice is building trust and having faith In what one does to achieve a positive beneficial result.

I think on another site like this one someone asked something similar. A Muslim answered, I believe: he said we don't believe, we KNOW. Belief is a christian thing. So,...
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
I don't know how The Buddha got into this question, ha. The Dharma is a Practice. The Buddha just realized it [to put it simply]. You don't need faith as a foundation for practice. Part of Practice is building trust and having faith In what one does to achieve a positive beneficial result.

I think on another site like this one someone asked something similar. A Muslim answered, I believe: he said we don't believe, we KNOW. Belief is a christian thing. So,...
The reason i also included Buddha is that even a Buddha can have the same Wisdom level as a God, the path/ teaching to get there is different.
To know is maybe to difficult to say, but one can maybe say, I understand. But knowing for sure, No because only a God or a Buddha could know fully (in my understanding)
 

steveb1

Member
From a Western philosophical view, I'm a panentheist (not pantheist) and I believe that:

1. God is non-material spirit, eternal, compassionate.

2. God is both "here" (immanent) and "more than here" (transcendent).

3. God is not a Creator or an intervener.

4. God can be known as an object of experience, as happens in mystical states of divine union, as a living "Presence" which spiritually transforms sentient beings.

5. Because God is not a Creator, God cannot be blamed or praised for the origin and condition of the world

= = = = =

From an Eastern and personal faith view, I'm a Jodo Shinshu/Shin Buddhist, and I believe that:

1. Amitabha (Amida, Amitayus) Buddha redeems me from egoic, samsaric existence, and upon death will spark or vivify my previously dormant Buddha Nature.

2. Amida Buddha is both "here" (immanent) and "more than here" (transcendent) and in this way is panentheistic. But since Buddhas are not God, a more accurate term for Buddha's "everywhereness" might be "panenAmidism" or "panenDharmism".

3. Amida Buddha's grace and merit set me in the state of non-retrogression and will spark my own Enlightenment in his Pure Land.

4. Shin eschews all self-power methods in favor of the Buddha's "Other Power", by which is meant that we rely wholly on Amida's grace, not our own efforts, in the process of Enlightenment.

5. Shin's only "practice" is recitation, orally or mentally, of the Nembutsu: "Namo Amida Butsu" / "I take refuge in Amida Buddha". This is not a prayer or a meditation, but rather a simple acknowledgement of gratitude to Amida for his blessings.

While I do not identify God with the Buddha, nevertheless, as concerns pantheistic "everywhereness", redemption, and spiritual transformation, both God and Amida Buddha share a certain functional equivalence.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
The reason i also included Buddha is that even a Buddha can have the same Wisdom level as a God, the path/ teaching to get there is different.
To know is maybe to difficult to say, but one can maybe say, I understand. But knowing for sure, No because only a God or a Buddha could know fully (in my understanding)

The Buddha is a human with human understanding to a human problem. If the two were alike, The Buddha would be "acting as god; he would be god". Which is a sin according to the abrahamic god.

I guess I understand knowledge more than faith. If something is true and you base your life on it, why say you just have faith. You are literally saying "I hope. I believe." but, I don't know for sure, so... When you Know something, it's a stronger motivation outside of inferences. I rather go by knowledge than faith. If I know something is true and it benefits me, why would I not follow it regardless it's nature and mystical component.
 

George-ananda

Advaita Vedanta, Theosophy, Spiritualism
Premium Member
When you speak about God, What is this God you describe?
Brahman/God in my Advaita Vedanta tradition is pure fundamental consciousness. Science can not figure out what consciousness is as it is something fundamental (it is not something derived from physical matter and energy like other things studied by science). It is our essential mystery; God/Brahman. We can not get our heads behind what it is.
 

Srivijaya

Active Member
When you speak about God, What is this God you describe?
Do you understand what a God or a Buddha is? or is it only faith that they are there that make you believe?
I don't really speak about God, as there is no consensus on what it means. I have some ideas which are essentially just mine. Perhaps we are really seeking a reason why sentience exists and the process by which it does.

The 'why' has two possibilities; volition of self, or volition of other. Our opinion on the 'process' serves to rationalize our views on 'why' it happens.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
I would again refer to the Blind Men and the Elephant story about God's nature. Any conception we have is at best partial and limited by our intellect.

This is also said in a different way in this rendering of Hafiz:

I have a thousand brilliant lies for the question: What is God? If you think that the Truth can be known from words, if you think that the sun and the ocean can pass through that tiny opening called the mouth, someone should start laughing! Someone should start wildly laughing now!
 

ameyAtmA

~ ~
Premium Member
When you speak about God, What is this God you describe?
Do you understand what a God or a Buddha is? or is it only faith that they are there that make you believe?
I understand God to the extent that He has revealed Himself to the local mind so far, which eventually lead it to settle into silent pure consciousness, which is essentially the cradle of Being.
 
Last edited:

Terry Sampson

Well-Known Member
  1. When you speak about God, What is this God you describe?
  2. Do you understand what a God?
  3. Do you understand what a Buddha is?
  4. Or is it only faith that they are there that make you believe?

Amanaki, I hope you don't mind, but I modified the format of your questions for my own purposes. I don't think I changed the intent or meaning of any of your questions. If you think I did, feel free to complain.

Regarding #3: My understanding of what a Buddha is, begins with my understanding of who, as far as I know, the first Buddha was. As far as I know, the first Buddha was:
  • Siddhāṛtha Gautamā, c. 563/480 – c. 483/400 BCE
I am comfortable believing that Siddhartha was an actual person, as real as you and I are. Can I prove that he existed? No, and I have no interest or intention to try to prove that he existed.
My understanding is that Siddhartha abandoned his wife and kid(s) when he was about 29 years old and proceeded to think and contemplate his way to "enlightenment". He left behind a number of teachings, but I don't remember hearing that he ever left written statements or instructions. My impression is that he was primarily interested in addressing "rebirth" and "suffering".

I read (at Wikipedia, Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia) "Accounts of his life, discourses and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later."

From what I can tell, his current state, regardless what that state is, eliminates his ability to do anything for or on behalf of or to communicate personally with any living human being.

IMO, "a Buddha", on the other hand, is someone who has theoretically achieved what Siddhartha purportedly achieved: an end to an assumed cycle of rebirth and an end to suffering, nothing more or less.

Although I am sure that there are folks who add beliefs and opinions to that, I'm not really interested in expanding my understanding of Siddhartha, enlightenment/Buddhahood, or Buddhism beyond what I have written above.

(To be continued)
 

Spirit of Light

Be who ever you want
Amanaki, I hope you don't mind, but I modified the format of your questions for my own purposes. I don't think I changed the intent or meaning of any of your questions. If you think I did, feel free to complain.

Regarding #3: My understanding of what a Buddha is, begins with my understanding of who, as far as I know, the first Buddha was. As far as I know, the first Buddha was:
  • Siddhāṛtha Gautamā, c. 563/480 – c. 483/400 BCE
I am comfortable believing that Siddhartha was an actual person, as real as you and I are. Can I prove that he existed? No, and I have no interest or intention to try to prove that he existed.
My understanding is that Siddhartha abandoned his wife and kid(s) when he was about 29 years old and proceeded to think and contemplate his way to "enlightenment". He left behind a number of teachings, but I don't remember hearing that he ever left written statements or instructions. My impression is that he was primarily interested in addressing "rebirth" and "suffering".

I read (at Wikipedia, Gautama Buddha - Wikipedia) "Accounts of his life, discourses and monastic rules are believed by Buddhists to have been summarized after his death and memorized by his followers. Various collections of teachings attributed to him were passed down by oral tradition and first committed to writing about 400 years later."

From what I can tell, his current state, regardless what that state is, eliminates his ability to do anything for or on behalf of or to communicate personally with any living human being.

IMO, "a Buddha", on the other hand, is someone who has theoretically achieved what Siddhartha purportedly achieved: an end to an assumed cycle of rebirth and an end to suffering, nothing more or less.

Although I am sure that there are folks who add beliefs and opinions to that, I'm not really interested in expanding my understanding of Siddhartha, enlightenment/Buddhahood, or Buddhism beyond what I have written above.

(To be continued)
You did not do anything wrong by reorganize the OP a little :)
And all you write in your post seem to be a good answer :) I understand you did research about Buddha and i like that people take time to look into the subject in hand :)
 
Top