What do atheists think of Buddhism?

[The_Southpaw]

I have always liked Buddhism and most of its tenets. As an atheist, if I had to subscribe to a certain Religion, it would definitely be Buddhism. And more specifically, Zen Buddhism.

In some ways I don't even think of it as a Religion, as there is no worship of Gods, per se. Although some Buddhists attach a sort of Divine Quality to the Buddha, that is not necessary at for one to do who wants to practice the Religion. Siddartha Gautama only became "enlightened" really. And never claimed to be any sort of Son of God--or God Himself--like a certian somebody in a certain popular Western Religion! LOL.

In fact Buddhism admonishes its followers NOT to place to much importance on the teachings of another, and certainly not to worship Him. In Zen circles there is a saying that is along the lines of "If you meet the Buddha on the side of the road, kill him." (A figure of speech of course, and not a literal instruction. Intended to convey the idea that we all must find our own Path. Our own Way.

Buddhism can be looked as a set of Guidelines to live your life by. The Noble Eight fold Path. And I think there is a good deal of truth to the, well, Four Noble Truths. LOL. Life IS suffering, and much of our Suffering (dukkha) DOES come from Desire. I love the "the person who is happy with very little, has very much" thinking in Buddhism.

Zen meditation is also very useful in calming me. And really, with the whole Zen thing: being totally focused and in the Moment, it can be applied to many things. Work, sports, (sex!), whatever. "Mindfulness" has been sort of the Flavor of the Month in self-help circles over the past couple years, but this is nothing new. Buddhists of practiced this for thousands of years.

I used to also think that the whole Reincarnation thing made a lot of sense. That basically, we keep on coming back until we get it Right. What they Buddhists call "Samsara." That endless cycle of birth, life, death, rebirth. Until we learn our lesson and accumulate enough Positive Karma to attain Nirvana, or enlightenment.And escape that merry go round.

But I don't know, Reincarnation certainly answers a lot more problems better than does Christianity,especially insofar as Suffering in concerned. Maybe it answers them a little too neatly? And the concept is not without some big logistical problems. For example--the one that baffles me: where do all the new souls come from? Since there have been steadily more and more people on Earth every century since we first evolved into homo some two million years ago. That original stockpile of souls would have long ago ceased to be enough to go around and fill the newly born. I am not sure how the Buddhists explain this. Maybe one of you guys knows?

At any rate I don't buy the Hindu version of Reincarnation, where you can be reborn into, say, a Cow. Or a snail. I think they call it Transmigration? No way,man. If we are reincarnated I think it is ALWAYS on the human level.

Besides, how would you ever work your way back up the Food Chain in Reincarnation if you were once unfortunate enough to be relegated to being a Snail? LOL--leave good slime?


Joke.......What did the Zen master say to the hot dog vendor?

"Make me one with everything!"

[Continuum]

1. DNA/RNA wise, all humans has an inherent existential dilemma [ED].

2. The main approaches in dealing and coping with this ED are

I. Religions
...i. Theistic
..ii. Non-theistic

II. Secular
...i. Various self improvement methods
..ii. Indifference

3. Within the framework in 2 above, Buddhism is a religion, i.e. a non-theistic religion. However Buddhism is flexible enough to be separated from its religiosity, i.e. converted to be secular and repackaged as a psychological or self-improvement method to deal with the ED.

4. The critical elements of the ED is reflected in the Buddha Story, i.e. the Sick Man, the Old Man, the Corpse as representing a critical 'Problem Statement of Life' and the Ascetic as the draft solution.

5. One will note this ED and the 'Problem Statement of Life' is common to all humans and all religions* [re 2 above]. This problem is so critical that Gautama is willing to give up all the luxuries in the world to seek a solution to cure it [this is just a myth to demonstrate its criticalness].
* All religions ultimately are reduced to the question surrounding inevitable mortality, thus the ED.

6. In the present circumstances most of the religions [reservation with Islam] has an optimal utility for various people of different shades and preferences.

7. IMO, I believe [for those with higher rational inclinations] Buddhism has the highest potential to deal with the ED in the most efficient way due to its objective approach as a problem-solving technique in contrast to those that rely on a higher degree of faith. Note this;
http://www.city-data.com/forum/buddh...m-solving.html

[TRANSPONDER]

Originally Posted by MysticPhD

Thanks, Arq. That's what I get for reading too fast and ASSuming. You know the old adage. .

No prob. I find myself doing it all the time.

And to return to the topic...The first big *?* popped up when I was given a Buddhist tract...yeah, they have 'em...with a didactic cartoon strip of a young lady in a bikini (lovingly drawn with the care of a paid artist finding some unexpected work satisfaction) getting older and older until she became a rotting corpse.

The message is that of Prince Siddhatha looking at his harem ladies sprawled snoring in their holding pen and thinking 'Sod that. I'm off'. Since this is what that pretty girl will inevitably become, give it all up and cut it off. Your hair, that is, and don the dayglo robe.

The message went wrong so far as I was concerned, as it suggested 'grab it while you can'. And the first seeds of doubt about the rationale of Buddhism were sown.

It is the same false message of the afterlife religions - "This life is rubbish; misery. The best thing you can do is reject it in the belief that this will somehow earn you a perfect next life after you die."

The 'Earning' of this postulated Better Next Life usually involves parking your bum on the church seat and handing over a portion of the money you should be devoting to entertaining the girl on the cover of the Buddhist tract.

And yet there is a valuable message as Continuum and the others pointed up. being a half -full rather than half empty person - but for me that doesn't preclude getting a top -up or another round when you've finished that half. It is a rather nice balancing act between making the most of the one life we have (and I now have a deep suspicion of the Agenda of the religions, which seems to be foucussed on putting us off making the most of it) while also appreciating what you have and not howling at the moon because you can't have it.

But it wasn't Buddhism that taught me that, much less the abrahamic religions. No. It was rational thinking; it was atheism.

[Mr. In-Between]

As a buddhist, it's really odd for me to read page after page of people accepting it as a given that buddhism is a religion. That's simply not a universal truth. Most buddhists I know (in fact, probably all of them) would scoff at the notion that it is a religion to them.

You have to scroll pretty far down the list of possible definitions of the word "religion" before you get to one that can be twisted enough to make a case for it, in my experience. There are many, many different types of buddhism, with vastly different meanings to different buddhists, and many different applications in the lives of various buddhists. Certainly some buddhists do consider it a religion, and of course there are many who do not consider it to be a religion, but are not being intellectually honest about the role that buddhism plays in their lives simply because they don't want to admit to being religious, but I would not be surprised if the majority of buddhists are not religious at all.

[TRANSPONDER]

I find the question pointless, and not only because it depends of the fraught question of what a religion is. I would say that it has become a religion by adopting the trappings of religion, just as Confucianism and Scientology have.

But I consider Buddhism a religion for another reason.

I think of religion as not necessarily the belief in a god or gods, but the belief in an unproven entity that can be propitiated through particular activities (usually of the prayer and sacrifice type) in hopes to get a better life, after death if not in this one.

In that respect Buddhism most certainly is a religion.

[Continuum]

Originally Posted by Albert_The_Crocodile

As a buddhist, it's really odd for me to read page after page of people accepting it as a given that buddhism is a religion. That's simply not a universal truth. Most buddhists I know (in fact, probably all of them) would scoff at the notion that it is a religion to them.

You have to scroll pretty far down the list of possible definitions of the word "religion" before you get to one that can be twisted enough to make a case for it, in my experience. There are many, many different types of buddhism, with vastly different meanings to different buddhists, and many different applications in the lives of various buddhists. Certainly some buddhists do consider it a religion, and of course there are many who do not consider it to be a religion, but are not being intellectually honest about the role that buddhism plays in their lives simply because they don't want to admit to being religious, but I would not be surprised if the majority of buddhists are not religious at all.

You have to be realistic and take into account the appx. 500 millions of Buddhists around the world who practiced what is conventionally regarded as the religion of Buddhism.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_religious_groups

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_...gest_religions

'Religion' itself is a very loose term.
Thus we need to arrive at consensus as to what is generally regarded as 'religion' the concept, i.e. what set of practices that make it unique to be called 'religion.'

The basis I often used is that from Ninian Smart who proposed [from a very extensive research] that for any set of human practices to be regarded as "religion", the set must satisfy 7 dimensions. I would add another dimension, i.e. the existential dilemma.
untitled

Ritual: Forms and orders of ceremonies (private and/or public) (often regarded as revealed)
Narrative and Mythic: stories (often regarded as revealed) that work on several levels. Sometimes narratives fit together into a fairly complete and systematic interpretation of the universe and human's place in it.
Experiential and emotional: dread, guilt, awe, mystery, devotion, liberation, ecstasy, inner peace, bliss (private)
Social and Institutional: belief system is shared and attitudes practiced by a group. Often rules for identifying community membership and participation (public)
Ethical and legal: Rules about human behavior (often regarded as revealed from supernatural realm)
Doctrinal and philosophical: systematic formulation of religious teachings in an intellectually coherent form
Material: ordinary objects or places that symbolize or manifest the sacred or supernatural

Note the above do not include the concept of God because non-theistic Buddhism, Jainism as a religion do NOT believe in a God.

[felixbudhi.]

First , i would to say that Buddhism not pray in a single statue , statue for Buddhism is just for a symbol , the spirit of the Buddha , He try to look something that cant end suffering for 6 years , That can make always after we see the Buddha Statue , we can remember that story of the Buddha , and our spirit can fire up.
Second , Buddhism doesnt beliefs in single God that create the world , That judge all people .
Third , The Karma in Buddhism is trully different with Hindusm , Buddhism teach us that Karma is what we do , and what we born with that we do , In Hindusm , Karma is like what we do if its bad , we should get punnishment with that
Fourth , Buddhism is a philosophy of life that teach us how to life properly with all the Dharma teaching
Five , Buddhism teach about "We Born because we think" , So whatever we do , mind is the root . We born because we think not a man that only sit in heaven make us.
Six , prayer in Buddhism , is to repeat the Dharma of the Buddha , what the Buddha say that His disciples write it into sutra that we repeat everyday , learn about Manggala Sutta and the meaning.
Seven , Buddha CANT GIVE WHAT WE WANT IN PRAYER , So thats means Buddha statue is not a
idol , Buddha say , He just give us a path , You want to go to that path or not is up to you.

Thanks ,
Im a Theravada Buddhism
May its helps
May all beings be happy (:

[Unsettomati]

Well, I don't think about it much at all.

But then, that's because its adherents rarely if ever commit terrorist acts in my country, or do their best to oppress gays, or launch assaults against the biology curriculum of my local high school, and whatnot.

I'm sure some of them are killing someone somewhere, or screwing something up someplace (after all, part of every group is, somewhere, someplace). But all I know is that they're not a problem around here, so far as I can see. So I don't give them much thought.

When I do think about Buddhism and its adherents, I tend to think well of it and them. Again, that's because there doesn't appear to be a subset of it and them dedicated to creating one headache after another in my life and dragging my community/state/country back to the 19th century (or earlier). And while there aren't a lot of them here, there are some. So far as I can tell, they behave themselves.

Frankly, I consider the fact that I rarely (have to) think much about them all all to be a credit to them and the way they comport themselves.

[TRANSPONDER]

Originally Posted by felixbudhi.

First , i would to say that Buddhism not pray in a single statue , statue for Buddhism is just for a symbol , the spirit of the Buddha , He try to look something that cant end suffering for 6 years , That can make always after we see the Buddha Statue , we can remember that story of the Buddha , and our spirit can fire up.
Second , Buddhism doesnt beliefs in single God that create the world , That judge all people .
Third , The Karma in Buddhism is trully different with Hindusm , Buddhism teach us that Karma is what we do , and what we born with that we do , In Hindusm , Karma is like what we do if its bad , we should get punnishment with that
Fourth , Buddhism is a philosophy of life that teach us how to life properly with all the Dharma teaching
Five , Buddhism teach about "We Born because we think" , So whatever we do , mind is the root . We born because we think not a man that only sit in heaven make us.
Six , prayer in Buddhism , is to repeat the Dharma of the Buddha , what the Buddha say that His disciples write it into sutra that we repeat everyday , learn about Manggala Sutta and the meaning.
Seven , Buddha CANT GIVE WHAT WE WANT IN PRAYER , So thats means Buddha statue is not a
idol , Buddha say , He just give us a path , You want to go to that path or not is up to you.

Thanks ,
Im a Theravada Buddhism
May its helps
May all beings be happy (:

Thanks for your explanation. What do you see as the purpose of prayer in Buddhism? Metta.