basic questions..just for my curiosity

[lone wolf]

.....

 

[lone wolf]

i am not here to preach or put forth my "correct interpretation" of buddhism, just wanted to see how the questions will be tackled

i really have no serious interest in buddhism so i'll just delete the questions

 

[LuisDantas]

are buddhists superstitious?

Many are. The doctrine does not attempt to make them so, at least in my opinion.

do they believe in the supernatural, ghosts, spirits, etc.?

Some do.

Particularly in the Vajrayana you might find some practices that one could consider to involve belief in spirits.

I don't think that such an interpretation is very Buddhist, however.

There are teachings about "hungry spirits", but they are not to be taken literally IMO.

do they believe in reincarnation?

Not really, although there is some controversy there - again, IMO it is unwarranted.

law of karma being carried forward into future lives?

Of course. But take care not to take talk about "future lives" as indication of belief in reincarnation; even in Hinduism, which is reincarnationist, there is no such thing as a second feature for the person itself.

why? sine buddha said that if it doesn't make sense to you, discard it.
then why this blind belief?

Which blind belief?

if buddhism = self-reliance, why do buddhists pray?

Buddhism is not the same as self-reliance. We try to develop self-reliance, of course, but that is one goal among many, and not even a particular priority, more so in some lines such as Jodo Shinshu.

I'm not sure we match what you describe as praying, either. There are practices that involve developing certain mental states, and sometimes even the use of deity figures.

Does that qualify as praying? I suppose you will have to decide it by your own criteria.

and about so called buddhist experts/scholars, who claim that they've studies x type of buddhism for x number of years - is there anything to study?

Of course. The history and languages of specific lines of Buddhism, if nothing else.

Do you mean to ask if one can make productive religious use of academic study of Buddhism? Sure, why not?

why this burden of external knowledge? what happened to self-reliance and common sense/inherent wisdom?

External knowledge may be a burden, but it may even as easily free one. Ignorance is not bliss. And it is certainly not "wisdom" or "self-reliance". It is just ignorance.

 

[lone wolf]

Which blind belief?

belief in the supernatural, reincarnation, law of karma etc. cannot be proven, so it is a blind belief, isn't it?

and thanks for your reply

 

[Jainarayan]

belief in the supernatural, reincarnation, law of karma etc. cannot be proven, so it is a blind belief, isn't it?

and thanks for your reply

Following any religious system could be called blind belief. How can it be proven? If this is going into the "the Bible is correct because it says so", that's also blind belief, because no one alive today was around to hear the revelations from God.

 

[LuisDantas]

You're welcome.

Not sure what to tell you about blind belief. It is, of course, not something to encourage.

That said, there is nothing inherently supernatural in Buddhist doctrine, at least in most schools. Reincarnation is not at all a Buddhist belief, although some people's understanding of rebirth is very reincarnationist (and very much at odds with Buddhist teaching).

Now, Karma... Karma is something very mundane, actually. It has hardly any supernatural elements at all.

 

[Valjean]

Is it just me, or is the OP blank?
How are other people seeing questions there?

 

[Secret Chief]

what a zen OP!

 

[LuisDantas]

The OP was blanked by Lone Wolf himself, perhaps too hurriedly, while I replied to it.

But the whole text is preserved in my reply.

 

[john2054]

Lone Wolf I don't consider Karma to be based on blind belief. Far from it. Karma is science, just as the rain falls from the skies after lighting strikes through the air, so too do mans ill deeds return to haunt him after he has sinned, be it in person or in kind. I realise that this is somewhat mixing religions, but if you check out my intro post, you will see that that is the way I am inclined. I hope this helps somewhat?

 

[Siddhartha Plotinus]

belief in the supernatural, reincarnation, law of karma etc. cannot be proven, so it is a blind belief, isn't it?

and thanks for your reply

Just use a Secular mindset when interpreting the nonsense (IMO) that is inherent in Buddhism.

The supernatural is obviously lacking evidence (IMO), and don't forget that the Buddha had to deal with people of his time, and to outright deny it may have hindered on his teaching of great things to the lower castes and under educated people.

Reincarnation is NOT a teaching of the Buddha, Rebirth was. There is a big difference. Reincarnation implies a permanent and eternal soul, Buddha taught Non-Self, Anatta, which was the opposite of Atta, Self, an eternal soul.

Rebirth itself is in question today, and debated often in the Buddhist community. Look at it this way, there is no "you" to be reborn, so in the end it's basically you die, you rot, and that's it. The best argument that can be made for a literal interpretation of rebirth is a stream of consciousness, which is still pointless (IMO) because by the time this consciousness makes it to the new body of a child, and this child grows up, it is the factors of that new persons society and environment, biology and genetics, thoughts, speech, and actions that determine the new personality.

Karma is the same thing as causality, and you can easily drop the nonsense (IMO) of superstition from it to see the truth of it. Everything that comes about has causes and conditions to bring about its coming.

I hope this helped.