No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13460
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by Sam Vara »

Mkoll wrote:
Sam Vara wrote:If you are saying that a belief in God is dependent upon our sense of self, that may well be true; but it is not self-evidently so. It doesn't appear to be inherently contradictory for a person to believe in God, while not being subject to the type of ignorance which gives rise to our own sense of self.
I would argue that belief of any sort automatically implies a sense of self. For there to be a belief, there must be "one who believes" that belief. How can there be a belief if there is no believer?

But this is using objective language as though these things abstractions were concrete. The reality of belief is more like a verb: "believing" which depends on causes and conditions, one of which is ignorance.

:anjali:
There can be a belief without a believer in the same way that there can be any mental activity without an enduring self. "Thoughts without a thinker", etc. As you say in your second paragraph, "believing" arises upon conditions. I'm not sure if ignorance is a necessary condition for that to happen, but I think the Buddha was clear that selfhood was not.
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by tiltbillings »

Sam Vara wrote:
tilt brilliantly wrote:The assumption of a god, self writ large, is a way of protecting oneself against the reality that constantly encroaches the assumed reality of our ignorance driven self.
but this looks like a statement of psychological fact. It may be true, and it may not be, for any sentient being capable of holding the beliefs in question. But why should I believe it to be true?
Why should you? Damdifino. Whether you do or do not is of no interest to me. I am simply looking at how this question is looked at within the Buddha's teachings.
  • Bhikkhus, what exists by clinging to what, by adhering to what does view of self arise? … When there is form, bhikkhus, by clinging to form, by adhering to form, view of self arises. When there is feeling…perception…voltional formations…consciousness, by clinging to consciousness, view of self arises. … Seeing thus… He understands: …there is no more for this state of being. – SN III 185-6
    Monks, whatever contemplatives or priests who assume in various ways when assuming a self, all assume the five clinging-aggregates, or a certain one of them. SN III 46
So, the question is what gives rise to a belief in a god, an omniscient, omnipotent, permanent, independent, unique cause of the cosmos? Given that such a thing is defined pretty much in this mold by theistic religions, particularly the monotheistic versions: "That Worshipful Brahma, the Great God, the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Organizer, the Protection, the Creator, the Most Perfect Ruler, the Designer and Orderer, the Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be, He by Whom we were created, He is permanent, Constant, Eternal, Unchanging, and He will remain so for ever and ever", what drives such a belief?

In the Brahmanically derived systems we find in one of the very few Upanishads that pre-date the Buddha, the Chandogya Upanishad, tat tvam asi You are That. While variously interpreted by the various later Hindu schools, it certainly reflects a direct connexion between the atman, the "Inner Controller, and the ultimate divine, Brahman, That, also personified as Brahma.

Also from the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad 1.4.10-11:

== 10. Verily, in the beginning this world was Brahman. It knew only itself
(atmanam): "I am Brahman!" Therefore it became the All. Whoever of
the gods became awakened to this, he indeed became it; likewise in the
case of seers (rsi), likewise in the case of men. Seeing this, indeed, the
seer Vamadeva began:-

I was Manu and the sun (surya)!

This is so now also. Whoever thus knows "I am Brahman!" becomes this
All; even the gods have not power to prevent his becoming thus, for he
becomes their self (atman).

So whoever worships another divinity [than his Self], thinking "He is
one and I another," he knows not. He is like a sacrificial animal for the
gods. Verily, indeed, as many animals would be of service to a man,
even so each single person is of service to the gods. If even one animal
is taken away, it is not pleasant. What, then, if many? Therefore it is
not pleasing to those [gods] that men should know this.
11. Verily, in the beginning this world was Brahman, one only. ==

The Buddha responds with one of most significant text in the whole of the suttas (SN IV 15):

"Monks, I will teach you the all. And what is the all? The eye and forms, the ear and sounds the nose and odors, the tongue and
tastes, the body and touch, the mind and mental phenomena. This is called the all. If anyone, monks, should speak thus: ' Having rejected
this all, I shall make known another all' --that would be a mere empty boast."


In the 83rd discourse of the Middle Length Sayings: "God [Brahma] truthfully answers [the questions of the Buddha] in succession: 'Good sir, those views I previously held are not mine; I see the radiance the world of God as passing; how could I say that I am permanent and eternal?'"

The Buddha states (Anguttara-Nikaya X 29): As far as the suns and moons extend their courses and the regions of the sky shine in splendour, there is a thousandfold world system. In each single one of these there are a thousand suns, moons, Meru Mountains, four times a thousand continents and oceans, a thousand heavens of all stages of the realm of sense pleasure, a thousand Brahma worlds. As far as a thousandfold world system reaches in other words, the universe], the Great God is the highest being. But even the Great God is subject to coming-to-be and ceasing-to-be.'

The interesting point here is that there is no thing to be found that is not subject to coming-to-be and ceasing to-to-be.

Ratthaphala, in MN 82 ii 68, reports the Buddha as saying "The universe is without refuge, a Supreme God [Attaan.o loko anabhissaro]." Where does the belief in a god come from, what drives it? Simply, I would say, working from the Buddha's teaching that what drives it is the precarious sense of self that we have. A divine protector, creator certainly is not needed according to the Buddha, and he certainly did not speak of such a belief in a favorable light.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
Mkoll
Posts: 6590
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:55 pm
Location: USA

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by Mkoll »

Sam Vara wrote:
Mkoll wrote:
Sam Vara wrote:If you are saying that a belief in God is dependent upon our sense of self, that may well be true; but it is not self-evidently so. It doesn't appear to be inherently contradictory for a person to believe in God, while not being subject to the type of ignorance which gives rise to our own sense of self.

I would argue that belief of any sort automatically implies a sense of self. For there to be a belief, there must be "one who believes" that belief. How can there be a belief if there is no believer?

But this is using objective language as though these things abstractions were concrete. The reality of belief is more like a verb: "believing" which depends on causes and conditions, one of which is ignorance.

:anjali:
There can be a belief without a believer in the same way that there can be any mental activity without an enduring self. "Thoughts without a thinker", etc. As you say in your second paragraph, "believing" arises upon conditions. I'm not sure if ignorance is a necessary condition for that to happen, but I think the Buddha was clear that selfhood was not.
I'm not saying that there is an enduring self behind the belief. Rather, there is "I-making" and "mine-making" which is a conditioned process. That conditioned process of I-making and mine-making is the "sense of self", "the one who believes", and the "believer" I was referring to. That's also why I said: "But this is using objective language as though these abstractions were concrete." As usual, the limits of language are stretched when it comes to talking about self and not-self.

Ignorance is a necessary condition as shown in dependent origination.
From ignorance as a requisite condition come fabrications.
-SN 12.15

:anjali:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13460
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by Sam Vara »

tiltbillings

Most of what you post is about the Buddha explaining why God does not exist. That's all fine - unobjectionable and standard stuff. Anyone attempting to reconcile Buddhism with theism would need to take an extreme non-realist view of God, which simply makes him part of a khanda or "The All" - not the Brahma of the upanisads, nor the deity posited by most Christians. But you do ask the question:
Where does the belief in a god come from, what drives it?
and
So, the question is what gives rise to a belief in a god, an omniscient, omnipotent, permanent, independent, unique cause of the cosmos?
One would think, from the way you ask the question, that you have a convincing answer to offer. But you don't, and the "Damdifino" stuff looks like you want to reconsider such an offer unless it is accepted. Your point that a belief in self supports a belief in God is well made in the upanisadic case of "Thou art That". Brahmanism posits a literal identity between Atman and Brahman, so the case makes itself.

This is not so, however, when there is no literal identity: as, for example, in most forms of the Abrahamic religions. There, we have the problem of showing how the belief in a God who is somehow different from self, is dependent upon a belief in that self. I thought that your conviction that this is so would be somehow communicable, but I fully understand that it might not be.
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13460
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by Sam Vara »

Mkoll:

Sorry, you've lost me here. I think we may be talking at cross-purposes. My original point is merely that a person does not need a belief in a self in order to believe in God. At least, they don't need to believe in a permanent personal existent in order to think that there is such a thing outside of them (i.e. a God). They do need ignorance, though...
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by tiltbillings »

Sam Vara wrote:
Where does the belief in a god come from, what drives it?
and
So, the question is what gives rise to a belief in a god, an omniscient, omnipotent, permanent, independent, unique cause of the cosmos?
One would think, from the way you ask the question, that you have a convincing answer to offer. But you don't, and the "Damdifino" stuff looks like you want to reconsider such an offer unless it is accepted. Your point that a belief in self supports a belief in God is well made in the upanisadic case of "Thou art That". Brahmanism posits a literal identity between Atman and Brahman, so the case makes itself.

This is not so, however, when there is no literal identity: as, for example, in most forms of the Abrahamic religions. There, we have the problem of showing how the belief in a God who is somehow different from self, is dependent upon a belief in that self. I thought that your conviction that this is so would be somehow communicable, but I fully understand that it might not be.
Now you have spent a few words not answering the question I now asked you twice. Try answering the question and you may very answer the question.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by tiltbillings »

Sam Vara wrote:Mkoll:

Sorry, you've lost me here. I think we may be talking at cross-purposes. My original point is merely that a person does not need a belief in a self in order to believe in God. At least, they don't need to believe in a permanent personal existent in order to think that there is such a thing outside of them (i.e. a God). They do need ignorance, though...
If they are ignorant, then the belief in god is grounded in ignorance, and what is the key feature of avijja?
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13460
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by Sam Vara »

tiltbillings
Now you have spent a few words not answering the question I now asked you twice. Try answering the question and you may very answer the question.
You didn't ask me any question. You asked yourself a rhetorical question, as this clearly demonstrates:
Where does the belief in a god come from, what drives it? Simply, I would say, working from the Buddha's teaching that what drives it is the precarious sense of self that we have.
You answer it with an assertion that you do not back up. If it were a question to me, rather than a professorial flourish, then you would not have answered it. That's fine - as I said, if you can't communicate it to me, then I'm happy to leave it there as an issue of mutual incapacity rather than you having to take refuge in pretense.
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by tiltbillings »

Sam Vara wrote:tiltbillings
Now you have spent a few words not answering the question I now asked you twice. Try answering the question and you may very answer the question.
You didn't ask me any question. You asked yourself a rhetorical question, as this clearly demonstrates:
Oh, my. Since I wrote what I wrote, I can say that it was not a rhetorical question, nor was I asking it of myself. Now, if you do not want to have a dialogue, that is your choice. The answer to my questions that were put to you was partially answered in your response to Mkoll. To repeat:
tilt, asking Sam Vara a key question, wrote:
  • Sam Vara wrote:Mkoll:

    Sorry, you've lost me here. I think we may be talking at cross-purposes. My original point is merely that a person does not need a belief in a self in order to believe in God. At least, they don't need to believe in a permanent personal existent in order to think that there is such a thing outside of them (i.e. a God). They do need ignorance, though...
    If they are ignorant, then the belief in god is grounded in ignorance, and what is the key feature of avijja?
And from here you could actually address the non-rhetorical question, and from there we can continue.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
User avatar
Mkoll
Posts: 6590
Joined: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:55 pm
Location: USA

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by Mkoll »

Sam Vara wrote:Mkoll:

Sorry, you've lost me here. I think we may be talking at cross-purposes. My original point is merely that a person does not need a belief in a self in order to believe in God. At least, they don't need to believe in a permanent personal existent in order to think that there is such a thing outside of them (i.e. a God). They do need ignorance, though...
I agree that a person does not need an explicit or doctrinal belief in a self, e.g. that one is a soul in a body or that the Atman of Brahman is the universal Self, etc.

My point was that there is an implied belief in a self when one believes anything or takes any position because every position is in relation to a sense of self. It's like when you lift your arm, your hand will always come with it. Here are some examples of what I'm trying to say.

I say or think: "God exists." God exists for me.
I say or think: "The sky is blue." The sky is blue for me.
I say or think: "Sitting here is painful." It's painful for me.

In my understanding, only the arahant can say things without any reference at all to a sense of I because he's completely destroyed ignorance which is a condition of this implied belief in self. For everyone else, everything we think we attach a sense of "I" to automatically, and whether it's subtle or gross depends upon our spiritual faculties and development. Also, when someone says they believe something, there is always a pronoun that comes before the word "believe" and that's "I".

I'm sorry if I'm not making my position clear, but this is about as clear as I can make it.

:anjali:
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma sambuddhassa
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13460
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by Sam Vara »

Mkoll wrote:
Sam Vara wrote:Mkoll:

Sorry, you've lost me here. I think we may be talking at cross-purposes. My original point is merely that a person does not need a belief in a self in order to believe in God. At least, they don't need to believe in a permanent personal existent in order to think that there is such a thing outside of them (i.e. a God). They do need ignorance, though...
I agree that a person does not need an explicit or doctrinal belief in a self, e.g. that one is a soul in a body or that the Atman of Brahman is the universal Self, etc.

My point was that there is an implied belief in a self when one believes anything or takes any position because every position is in relation to a sense of self. It's like when you lift your arm, your hand will always come with it. Here are some examples of what I'm trying to say.

I say or think: "God exists." God exists for me.
I say or think: "The sky is blue." The sky is blue for me.
I say or think: "Sitting here is painful." It's painful for me.

In my understanding, only the arahant can say things without any reference at all to a sense of I because he's completely destroyed ignorance which is a condition of this implied belief in self. For everyone else, everything we think we attach a sense of "I" to automatically, and whether it's subtle or gross depends upon our spiritual faculties and development. Also, when someone says they believe something, there is always a pronoun that comes before the word "believe" and that's "I".

I'm sorry if I'm not making my position clear, but this is about as clear as I can make it.

:anjali:
No, you are now putting it in a way that I can understand, and I agree entirely - thank you. We were talking at cross-purposes, and it was to do with the implied sense of self, rather than the explicit belief in an eternal existent. My point is that many Christians, for example, do not attribute permanent aseity to the soul, whereas they do to God. But this, as you point out, is entirely consistent with a level of ignorance which means that both are implicitly seen as existing in the here and now "for them".
User avatar
Sam Vara
Site Admin
Posts: 13460
Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2011 5:42 pm
Location: Portsmouth, U.K.

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by Sam Vara »

tiltbillings wrote:
Sam Vara wrote:tiltbillings
Now you have spent a few words not answering the question I now asked you twice. Try answering the question and you may very answer the question.
You didn't ask me any question. You asked yourself a rhetorical question, as this clearly demonstrates:
Oh, my. Since I wrote what I wrote, I can say that it was not a rhetorical question, nor was I asking it of myself. Now, if you do not want to have a dialogue, that is your choice. The answer to my questions that were put to you was partially answered in your response to Mkoll. To repeat:
tilt, asking Sam Vara a key question, wrote:
  • Sam Vara wrote:Mkoll:

    Sorry, you've lost me here. I think we may be talking at cross-purposes. My original point is merely that a person does not need a belief in a self in order to believe in God. At least, they don't need to believe in a permanent personal existent in order to think that there is such a thing outside of them (i.e. a God). They do need ignorance, though...
    If they are ignorant, then the belief in god is grounded in ignorance, and what is the key feature of avijja?
And from here you could actually address the non-rhetorical question, and from there we can continue.
I don't need to answer the question, thanks - I was asking you to justify an assertion, which you are not going to do. It's lovely of you to offer, but I'm not really interested in being catechised by you.
binocular
Posts: 8292
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by binocular »

tiltbillings wrote:So, the question is what gives rise to a belief in a god, an omniscient, omnipotent, permanent, independent, unique cause of the cosmos?
/.../
what drives such a belief?
Statistically, for the most part, that appear to be habit and acculturation.

From an inconstruable beginning come habit and acculturation. A beginning point is not evident, though beings hindered by ignorance and fettered by craving are acting on habits and acculturation & wandering on ...

I don't know of anyone who claims to believe in God who has in fact developed that belief for themselves, all alone, from scratch. All people who claim to believe in God appear to have picked it up from other people, or developed a variation thereof on their own, but did not invent it.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
User avatar
tiltbillings
Posts: 23046
Joined: Wed Dec 31, 2008 9:25 am

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by tiltbillings »

Sam Vara wrote: I don't need to answer the question, thanks - I was asking you to justify an assertion, which you are not going to do. It's lovely of you to offer, but I'm not really interested in being catechised by you.
I was simply offering dialogue. At that I can only shrug my shoulders. And I could easily justify my assertion, but a discussion often more interesing.
>> Do you see a man wise [enlightened/ariya] in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.<< -- Proverbs 26:12

This being is bound to samsara, kamma is his means for going beyond. -- SN I, 38.

“Of course it is happening inside your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean that it is not real?” HPatDH p.723
binocular
Posts: 8292
Joined: Sat Jan 17, 2009 11:13 pm

Re: No believing in God is not such a good idea.

Post by binocular »

Sam Vara wrote:There can be a belief without a believer in the same way that there can be any mental activity without an enduring self. "Thoughts without a thinker", etc. As you say in your second paragraph, "believing" arises upon conditions.
It depends on what one means by "belief" and "believe". This word has an interesting etymology and etymological meanings:
belief (n.)
late 12c., bileave, replacing Old English geleafa "belief, faith," from West Germanic *ga-laubon "to hold dear, esteem, trust" (cf. Old Saxon gilobo, Middle Dutch gelove, Old High German giloubo, German Glaube), from *galaub- "dear, esteemed," from intensive prefix *ga- + *leubh- "to care, desire, like, love" (see love (v.)). The prefix was altered on analogy of the verb believe.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=belief

believe (v.)
Old English belyfan "to believe," earlier geleafa (Mercian), gelefa (Northumbrian), gelyfan (West Saxon) "believe," from Proto-Germanic *ga-laubjan "to believe," perhaps literally "hold dear, love" (cf. Old Saxon gilobian "believe," Dutch geloven, Old High German gilouben, German glauben), ultimately a compound based on PIE *leubh- "to care, desire, love" (see belief).

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?all ... hmode=none
Given this background, "believe" has very little to do with the strictly cognitive meaning of "to hold as true or real." So when we read older texts, but assume that "believe" meant then what we tend to mean by it now, we're acting in an anachronism that can produce many new problems.

I'm not sure what the Pali equivalent to "believe" is or would be, or even if there is any.


Secondly, whether a self is seen as needed or not may have to do with how one understands sentences in terms of whether one focuses on the subject of a sentence or on a noun. To some extent, this is predisposed with one's native language:
Highly inflected, synthetic languages, such as modern Slavic ones and many older languages tend to focus on the verb in a sentence, ie. on what is being done.
Analytic languages with less inflection, like English, tend to focus more on the subject of the sentence, the doer.
Last edited by binocular on Sat Feb 01, 2014 1:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Hic Rhodus, hic salta!
Post Reply