• 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!

Buddhist Theology

idav

Being
Premium Member
Is there such a thing as Buddhist theology? Some of the concepts found in Buddhism like Nirvana sound very close to concept of god especially from a pantheist perspective. There are Buddhist texts that suggest the concept of god is bad in that it can be a distraction so it sort of makes 'god' to be a bad word. It isn't really a bad word and Buddhism is a philosophy that attempts to transcend what words are trying to convey in their limited capacity. To me there are theistic concepts that border in the realm of metaphysical when it comes to it's spiritual understandings of enlightenment and oneness with everything. Is Buddhism best described as atheist, non-theist or theist?
 

Engyo

Prince of Dorkness!
From my perspective, Buddhism is best described as non-theistic. Especially when we are dealing with Abrahamic concepts of theism.

Buddhism has doctrines and concepts which equate to many of those in other religions, but one might just as well call them Buddhology.
 

Ballpean

New Member
Is there such a thing as Buddhist theology? Some of the concepts found in Buddhism like Nirvana sound very close to concept of god especially from a pantheist perspective. There are Buddhist texts that suggest the concept of god is bad in that it can be a distraction so it sort of makes 'god' to be a bad word. It isn't really a bad word and Buddhism is a philosophy that attempts to transcend what words are trying to convey in their limited capacity. To me there are theistic concepts that border in the realm of metaphysical when it comes to it's spiritual understandings of enlightenment and oneness with everything. Is Buddhism best described as atheist, non-theist or theist?


This is an excellent question. I often am amazed at how they have so much knowledge of the spirit while not even mentioning God. Buddhism is dedicated to knowledge of the spirit, and it teaches to look for compassion from wherever you choose to get it from, AND teaches the compassion of Buddha, which is the same compassion as the God of Christianity. The wisdom of Buddha was such that he knew that to help someone go through a spiritual (or otherwise)rebirth, it takes compassion and guidance, hence the Tebetan Book Of The Dead. Christians absorb the deity of Christ at his death and they have him as a source of guidance and compassion through the very same in-betweens, death-to-life. The New Testement is God's version of TTBOTD. Same compassion from two different sources. If you can contimplate Buddha's compassion for mankind, so can you with God's Buddha-like compassion using the VERY same phylosophies regarding overcomming death of any kind to achieve Buddhahood, and/or being reborn through Christ. Question is, who can love more eternally, God or Buhhda? They both love you in the same ways regarding a love that goes waaay beyond death and into the next life.
 

Yeshe Dawa

Lotus Born
Question is, who can love more eternally, God or Buhhda? They both love you in the same ways regarding a love that goes waaay beyond death and into the next life.

Hi Ballpean

I don't know of any Buddhist sect that believes in anything like the Christian god.

Peace and blessings,
Yeshe
:flower2:
 

idav

Being
Premium Member
From my perspective, Buddhism is best described as non-theistic. Especially when we are dealing with Abrahamic concepts of theism.

Buddhism has doctrines and concepts which equate to many of those in other religions, but one might just as well call them Buddhology.
Yes I tend to agree and I alsow wonder if that means it should be taken as far as 'atheist'.
This is an excellent question. I often am amazed at how they have so much knowledge of the spirit while not even mentioning God. Buddhism is dedicated to knowledge of the spirit, and it teaches to look for compassion from wherever you choose to get it from, AND teaches the compassion of Buddha, which is the same compassion as the God of Christianity. The wisdom of Buddha was such that he knew that to help someone go through a spiritual (or otherwise)rebirth, it takes compassion and guidance, hence the Tebetan Book Of The Dead. Christians absorb the deity of Christ at his death and they have him as a source of guidance and compassion through the very same in-betweens, death-to-life. The New Testement is God's version of TTBOTD. Same compassion from two different sources. If you can contimplate Buddha's compassion for mankind, so can you with God's Buddha-like compassion using the VERY same phylosophies regarding overcomming death of any kind to achieve Buddhahood, and/or being reborn through Christ. Question is, who can love more eternally, God or Buhhda? They both love you in the same ways regarding a love that goes waaay beyond death and into the next life.
The philosophies of christ and buddha have many parallels. I notice you focus on the New Testament which is understandable because the god of the Old Testament is quite different. Also you'd have to throw out the other NT books other than the gospels though Paul had a few moments of clarity he was no Christ.
 

Ballpean

New Member
Hi Ballpean

I don't know of any Buddhist sect that believes in anything like the Christian god.

Peace and blessings,
Yeshe
:flower2:


Buddha's eternal compassion is the same as the Christian God's compassion. Christ was sent to us to provide us a source of guidance and compassion through any and all death-to-life experiences. Buddha gave us TTBOTD to provide us a source of compassion and guidance through any and all death-to-life experiences. Same compassion, same phylosophies, two different sources.
 

Ballpean

New Member
Yes I tend to agree and I alsow wonder if that means it should be taken as far as 'atheist'.

The philosophies of christ and buddha have many parallels. I notice you focus on the New Testament which is understandable because the god of the Old Testament is quite different. Also you'd have to throw out the other NT books other than the gospels though Paul had a few moments of clarity he was no Christ.


The God of the OT is the same as the one of the NT. Different times and circumstances apply.I believe Jesus was sent to shephard the Jews(and the world)to the right phylosophy he needs for us to absorb in order for us to cleanse of sin and to become enlightened into life eternal. You wouldn't have to throw out anything.
 

Ballpean

New Member
Hi Ballpean

I don't know of any Buddhist sect that believes in anything like the Christian god.

Peace and blessings,
Yeshe
:flower2:


Buddhists and Christians both live under the phylosophy that throughout one's lifetime, a person experiences many different kinds of in-betweens(death-to-life experiences) in preparation for the ultimate in-between. Christians go to Christ and learn how to give up their souls as a personal sacrifice to God. This is the same as Buddhist teachings regarding death as the ultimate oppertunity for enlightenment and liberation from sin. I have read that most Buddhists believe that in order to become a Buddha, you must first experience a spiritual death and rebirth. Christianity teaches this is the only path to salvation and life eternal. "Only through Christ" means only through spiritual death and rebirth.
 
Last edited:

Yeshe Dawa

Lotus Born
Christians go to Christ and learn how to give up their souls as a personal sacrifice to God. This is the same as Buddhist teachings.

Hi Ballpean!

I'm glad you found a syncretism that incorporates Buddhism and Christianity, and if it gives you peace, then that is good. But if you're trying to reconcile the two or mainstream your syncretic view, I don't know if it's going to work. (Not that you need to - if it works for you, then that's good enough). I don't know of any Buddhist sect that believes in a soul, much less the idea of sacrificing it to a creator deity that possesses inherent existence. I like a lot of Jesus' more universal teachings on love and forgiveness, and yes, they are similar to the Buddha's, but as far as spiritual truths go, I'm not convinced they were talking about the same things.

Peace and blessings,
Yeshe
:flower2:
 

Ballpean

New Member
Hi Ballpean!

I'm glad you found a syncretism that incorporates Buddhism and Christianity, and if it gives you peace, then that is good. But if you're trying to reconcile the two or mainstream your syncretic view, I don't know if it's going to work. (Not that you need to - if it works for you, then that's good enough). I don't know of any Buddhist sect that believes in a soul, much less the idea of sacrificing it to a creator deity that possesses inherent existence. I like a lot of Jesus' more universal teachings on love and forgiveness, and yes, they are similar to the Buddha's, but as far as spiritual truths go, I'm not convinced they were talking about the same things.

Peace and blessings,
Yeshe
:flower2:

Same things. Different teminologies. Jesus embodies the whole idea of defeating death. When the Buddha dies (spiritual or otherwise) and comes back to life, they pull a Jesus. They fully absorb the deity of Christ in his death and resurrection. I have read in Buddhisim that a monk can meditate in and out of spiritual death at will. Christians do the same thing. They call it "giving up your soul as a personal sacrifice to God". It is how we give our souls to God through Christ, or worship God through Christ. We are at one with him on the cross.
 

Yeshe Dawa

Lotus Born
Same things. Different teminologies. Jesus embodies the whole idea of defeating death. When the Buddha dies (spiritual or otherwise) and comes back to life, they pull a Jesus. They fully absorb the deity of Christ in his death and resurrection. I have read in Buddhisim that a monk can meditate in and out of spiritual death at will. Christians do the same thing. They call it "giving up your soul as a personal sacrifice to God". It is how we give our souls to God through Christ, or worship God through Christ. We are at one with him on the cross.

Hi Ballpean!

I see a lot of differences between Jesus and Buddha. I don't think Buddha "pulled a Jesus". Buddha died and that was that. He left the cycle of rebirth. His body decomposed. As far as I understand, Jesus is supposed to have died and then been bodily resurrected, and continues on in the same body for eternity.

Peace and blessings,
Yeshe
:flower2:
 

BruceDLimber

Well-Known Member
From my perspective, Buddhism is best described as non-theistic.

The problem is that your perspective is only partial.

Some groups of Buddhists are indeed atheistic, but others are clearly theistic!

And the Buddhist scriptures contain references to God or a Supreme Being.

So it simply isn't accurate to dismiss all Buddhists as atheistic.

Peace,

Bruce
 

Engyo

Prince of Dorkness!
The problem is that your perspective is only partial.

Some groups of Buddhists are indeed atheistic, but others are clearly theistic!

And the Buddhist scriptures contain references to God or a Supreme Being.

So it simply isn't accurate to dismiss all Buddhists as atheistic.

Peace,

Bruce
Bruce, if you look closely, I said NON-theistic, as even those Buddhist works which reference deities do not mention that one should spend time worshiping them.
 

Yeshe Dawa

Lotus Born
...even those Buddhist works which reference deities do not mention that one should spend time worshiping them.

Hi Engyo!

Everything I've ever seen agrees with this as well. I like the idea of the yidam, the meditation deity, which as you said is not worshipped because it is really the manifestation of your future Buddha self.

Peace and blessings,
Yeshe
:flower2:
 

LuisDantas

Aura of atheification
Premium Member
There are Buddhist texts that suggest the concept of god is bad in that it can be a distraction so it sort of makes 'god' to be a bad word. It isn't really a bad word and Buddhism is a philosophy that attempts to transcend what words are trying to convey in their limited capacity.

"God" isn't a "bad" word, but it is a rather unskillful one.

I often describe it as a name given to the lack of explanation or knowledge. From a religious perspective, it is better to avoid using it. It creates an illusion of having a definite concept when in fact there is the absence of any.



Is Buddhism best described as atheist, non-theist or theist?

Non-theist, although the difference from being atheist is rather subtle, to the point of making me think of splitting hairs.
 

Me Myself

Back to my username
"God" isn't a "bad" word, but it is a rather unskillful one.

I often describe it as a name given to the lack of explanation or knowledge. From a religious perspective, it is better to avoid using it. It creates an illusion of having a definite concept when in fact there is the absence of any.

I beleive the word "God" is usefull even if it requires further specification, just as the word "animal" is useful even if it is needed further specification to understand the specific species you are talking about.
 

SageTree

Spiritual Friend
Premium Member
And now you're quibbling over equivalent terms.

Bruce


I for one don't mind drawing some distinction between atheism and non-theism.

We're juggling words here, laden with our personal experiences of them.

And on that note, 'non-theist', to me, IS something different and worth exploring outside of the atheist/theist dichotomy.


But then .... I'm not saying you're wrong, rather, I'm saying 'lets no be so quick to cast concrete labels onto an ever changing world', since we create and relate words/meaning/experiences differently.

:namaste
SageTree
 

idav

Being
Premium Member
I for one don't mind drawing some distinction between atheism and non-theism.

We're juggling words here, laden with our personal experiences of them.

And on that note, 'non-theist', to me, IS something different and worth exploring outside of the atheist/theist dichotomy.


But then .... I'm not saying you're wrong, rather, I'm saying 'lets no be so quick to cast concrete labels onto an ever changing world', since we create and relate words/meaning/experiences differently.

:namaste
SageTree
I agree with this. I use non-theist to represent a non-personal god while not exactly atheism.
 

Tathagata

Freethinker


The problem is that your perspective is only partial.

Some groups of Buddhists are indeed atheistic, but others are clearly theistic!

Theistic sects are false.

And the Buddhist scriptures contain references to God or a Supreme Being.

So it simply isn't accurate to dismiss all Buddhists as atheistic.

Peace,

Bruce

Yes, the Buddhist scriptures contain references to God, but from what Ive seen, only to deny God.

http://www.religiousforums.com/foru...101720-buddha-not-silent-god-metaphysics.html

However, Id be very interested to see which passages you refer to which differ from mine.

.
 
Top