The real Beauty of Buddhism is that one does not have to believe in God or even religion to be a Buddhist. Because from a western perspective Buddhism is not a religion in western terms, it is a philosophy much like we see hatha yoga(for health), accupressure and accupuncture(for health) and various other eastern disciplines used to stay physically fit.
However, Buddhism in essence is about mental and emotional health. For example, what is the basis of Buddhism. Looked at simply, it is about ending the suffering of all beings in the universe in the past, present and future. When you first look at this you might think, "That isn't possible." However, if you asked someone in ancient Rome around the time of Christ, "Is a democracy like we have in the United States, Canada, Australia, India, England, France, Germany and various other places throughout the world possible and they would have told you, "No!" However, these democracies exist now because people just didn't give up and they died for what they believed in and got a better world for themselves and their children as a result.
And in regard to both individual and group mental, emotional and spiritual health, Buddhism and the end of the suffering of all beings in the past, present and future as well as their own and the Bringing to Bliss all these beings and themselves might be the sanest idea anyone ever had on earth! Because once one dedicates himself or herself to this end it doesn't matter whether they believe in God or not. And especially on today's college campuses this is a very big deal. And I'd like you to imagine a world where arguments over whether God exists or in what form didn't matter anymore. And instead a world where people believed that by helping each other and themselves that everyone eventually becomes enlightened. That is a world worth working towards!
For example, I am a mystic Christian but I also practice Tibetan Buddhism and I personally experience no conflict because in the end both practices are practices of Compassion. In fact, it is likely that Jesus studied about Buddhist compassion in order to come up with forgiveness and turning the other cheek, because Buddha was 500 years before Jesus.
The other interesting thing is that 75% of Buddhists, especially in Asia to not believe in God because that is not a part of their cultural heritage. However, I was raised a mystical Christian and I am one of the 25% of Buddhists who do believe in God. But even I know that if you take anyone young now aside and ask them who God is and what God is like most of them who still believe in God will give you sort of a Star Wars answer, which is "May the Force Be with YOU!". And this is about the life force of the universe being intelligent as it manifest into all life forms everywhere and usually not about a God King sitting upon a throne somewhere. So, even those today who believe in God have a completely different experience of God than I did growing up in the 1950s.
However, when Tibetan Lamas explained to be successive rings of God like Buddhas expanding out through Galaxies into formless realms I sort of liked the idea of Vajrasattva and Nyema who are the highest order of Buddhas who are still in form. So, the way they were described is that they encompass all time and space but have given a vow (Vajrasattva literally means Diamond Vow or some might prefer "Lightning Vow") to not progress out into the formless Void until all beings in time and space have become fully enlightened and have permanently ended their suffering. This made complete sense to me at the time and still does 30 years later. So, I have come to see Vajrasattva and Nyema who encompass all time and space as God in a Christian sense and I find this concept useful to me in my life ongoing. Nyema is Vajrasattva's consort or wife by the way. So, in this conception of the universe there is both a God and a Goddess in charge of it sort of like a God and Goddess of form and time and space.
So, even in Buddhism where they say they don't believe in God, how do you explain Vajrasattva and Nyema without considering them to be both Gods and Buddhas simultaneously?
However, it is important to note that the word God has a different and more temporal connotation to Buddhist Scholars than does the word "God" to Westerners who tend to have migrated originally from europe or to be in Europe still.
For me, Being a mystical Christian and a Buddist at the same time works for me ongoing. And especially if your friends are atheists Buddhism might keep them sane.(not that Atheists are insane. I was agnostic or even Atheist for a short time in my early teens. In other words I didn't trust anyone or anything when I was 13 and 14 and suicide seemed like a great idea at the time). So this is something to think about too. Because in some ways what is the real difference between humanism and Buddhism? Buddhism works for me starting with this Buddhist prayer:
"May all Beings attain Bliss and the Cause of Bliss
May all Beings be Free from suffering and the cause of suffering
May all Beings never be without the Supreme Bliss
That is free from all near and far all grasping and Aversion"
I often give this prayer as a mantra and experience it in my subconscious as the truth presently manifesting and my world and through me all around me changes as I do this. So, I have been doing this now for 30 years. I find it an incredible blessing to myself and all beings in the universe in all time and space. So, if while I am experiencing this I also experience the universe the two experiences become one and I feel at peace and completely at one with God.
No comments:
Post a Comment