Buddha had it the closest...:)

[LuminousTruth]

Originally Posted by kevxu

Quote:
Originally Posted by LuminousTruth
You mean "no-self"? I think that is what most recognized Buddhist denominations teach about the Buddhist teaching about "self".

so they say.

Apropos the above, though it is off topic. An excellent book on this point, written by a Korean Buddhist monk, Jungnok Park is How Buddhism Acquired a Soul on the Way to China.

The topic might be worth a thread.

What is good about superstitions and supernaturalism?

[TRANSPONDER]

They can, as religion likes to claim, make people behave better, think better, do better and can consider the unknowns that science and even philosophy don't deal with.

Mysticism (like NDE's) is a real phenomemon. Science hardly addresses it, though I think it will sooner or later. Buddhism goes right to the heart of it, without all the religious trappings, though it does have a lot of them (but I always found Buddhism rather fun, unlike Christianity which is so damn' gloomy except at Xmas and harvest festival).

Yes, there is a lot I like about Buddhism, but I just happen to find that science and skepticism is more reliable, and the claims of Buddhism do not, I have to say, stand up - not for me.

Take for instance the teaching that there is no soul. That - as well as 'don't take my word for it' - was refreshing after a lot of dogma and claims about three gods in one. And during my time quite a few people have shown a preference for the rebirth doctrine than for Heaven. But of course while there is no convincing reason to believe in a soul, there is no logical basis for saying definitely that there isn't one. This is after all a dogmatic pronouncement, and we atheists (despite what is often claimed) - we don't do Dogma.

[kevxu]

Quote:
Originally Posted by LuminousTruth
You mean "no-self"? I think that is what most recognized Buddhist denominations teach about the Buddhist teaching about "self".

so they say.

Apropos the above, though it is off topic. An excellent book on this point, written by a Korean Buddhist monk, Jungnok Park is How Buddhism Acquired a Soul on the Way to China.

The topic might be worth a thread.

Originally Posted by LuminousTruth

What is good about superstitions and supernaturalism?

I was recommending a book was all. C'mon get a horse with shorter legs.

[TRANSPONDER]

It is an interesting topic as to how Buddhism - assuming Theravada is the closest to the original form (1) became more like a polytheist religion on the way to China, as the title says. It Invented gods elevated from humans - we can see the process, and the errors, like Kuan -yin originally being Male, but was turned into a female demigoddess in China.

And in the process...I'm not sure...they may have added a hellthreat and a soul. I really don't know much about Mahayana (a refutation of the fallacy of numbers, if there ever was one), but surely even in Japan where Buddhists monks became a warrior cult, they still keep to the Buddha's teachings on a soul?

(1) and it makes more sense if scrapping the gods and switching merit -making to the Kshatrya was the original form.

[LuminousTruth]

Originally Posted by kevxu

Quote:
Originally Posted by LuminousTruth
You mean "no-self"? I think that is what most recognized Buddhist denominations teach about the Buddhist teaching about "self".

so they say.

Apropos the above, though it is off topic. An excellent book on this point, written by a Korean Buddhist monk, Jungnok Park is How Buddhism Acquired a Soul on the Way to China.

The topic might be worth a thread.



I was recommending a book was all. C'mon get a horse with shorter legs.

Were you? I thought you were saying that Buddhism acquired "a soul" once it got away form Siddhartha Gautama.

But I was merely asking you a question. Why are you so defensive? Are you ashamed of souls being seen naked as the superstition and supernaturalism that they are?

BTW I love Shetland ponies!