Why there is no God

Exploring Theravāda's connections to other paths - what can we learn from other traditions, religions and philosophies?
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cappuccino
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Re: Why there is no God

Post by cappuccino »

Where was God? Where were you?

And you have no alibi, still you exist…
justindesilva
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Re: Why there is no God

Post by justindesilva »

cappuccino wrote:Where was God? Where were you?

And you have no alibi, still you exist…
Yet I have faith that I am a traveller through samsara. Can God be a samsara traveller. However this question does not arise for noble eight fold path.
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cappuccino
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Re: Why there is no God

Post by cappuccino »

At least we should regard as true, what is true. And walk the path we must…
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DNS
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Re: Why there is no God

Post by DNS »

whynotme wrote:This post I wrote for bashing religion on internet, but I think some of your Buddhists may benefit from it, so I post it here.

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Which religions are you bashing? Monotheistic religions, Buddhism or both? What I see is just some rants relaying your positions of no creator-god and your position that there must be a soul. Perhaps your beliefs are most compatible with Hinduism or Jainism?

What you describe sounds like the conventional-self which is dependent on the aggregates; not a real self or soul.

:popcorn:
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ganegaar
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Re: Why there is no God

Post by ganegaar »

David N. Snyder wrote:
whynotme wrote:This post I wrote for bashing religion on internet, but I think some of your Buddhists may benefit from it, so I post it here.

------------------
Which religions are you bashing? Monotheistic religions, Buddhism or both? What I see is just some rants relaying your positions of no creator-god and your position that there must be a soul. Perhaps your beliefs are most compatible with Hinduism or Jainism?

What you describe sounds like the conventional-self which is dependent on the aggregates; not a real self or soul.

:popcorn:
:goodpost: I too was wondering of the similar questions as @Snyder
Sīlepatiṭṭhāya naro sapañño, cittaṃ paññañca bhāvayaṃ;
Ātāpī nipako bhikkhu, so imaṃ vijaṭaye jaṭanti.
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tellyontellyon
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Re: Why there is no God

Post by tellyontellyon »

When the Buddhists say no-soul, they mean that there isn't the Hindu concept of soul 'Atman', like a little piece of God or something Eternal that is the eternal core of our being.
For Buddhists we do sort of have a self on a relative level but not in that 'eternal soul' context.

For Buddhists the idea of self as something continuous and unchanging is really a concept built upon the 5 aggregates...
http://www.buddhistdoor.com/OldWeb/bdoo ... each11.htm

Identity is not unchanging, not sure why you would think it is?.... not in my experience anyway.
Even outside the context of Buddhism it is clear that identity can change. I work as a psychotherapist and I often meet people with a identity and idea of themselves that is very one sided and often very low... or sometimes very high.... though maybe both those things go together?

I've seen people change their identity. I really disliked myself when I was younger and took medication and had years and years of therapy. I feel like a quite different person now.... yes I've got memories.... but that is not a fixed 'I' or an eternal soul.

If you mean soul in the sense that there is a sensing, feeling, thinking, dreaming, loving, sad, happy, desperate, intelligent, sentient person... then in that colloquial metaphorical sense, yes, we all have 'soul', 'depth', 'character' etc. etc. So don't worry, Buddhists are not trying to become zombies.
In fact, the Buddha says that we become even more sensitive and feel even more deeply when we become a Buddha.
“To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
davidbrainerd
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Re: Why there is no God

Post by davidbrainerd »

You sound more angry at God than you are not believing in him.
davidbrainerd
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Re: Why there is no God

Post by davidbrainerd »

whynotme wrote:Yourself is a God, why do you need to find and worship another God? We are all God, as each individual, we all have an immortal soul, that exists from the beginning of time, so why lower yourself in front of a faked God?


I used to hold this same (Jain) theory. But what does this mean? That we all created the world collectively, locked ourselves in a cycle of reincarnation, and forgot. Come on. Its absurd. And I used to believe it. Why did we...no ask yourself why did you....why did I create such an evil sucky world? Better to believe in some form of Christian Gnosticism with an evil Demiurge (i.e. creator) God who the Good (non-creator) God [i.e. Jesus] saves us [if we believe in him] from than this nonsense. After all, you're clearly mad at the creator.
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