Are Buddhists atheists?

[challenger]

I'm sorry if I offended you, I didn't mean you think of yourself as gods like we think of God. You just don't hold yourselves accountable to a higher power.

So you were bearing false witness against atheists to try and make them sound bad then? Not very Christian.

 

[challenger]

Well one who follows after Budda is considered a buddist

Not exactly, Buddhism is a religious philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama, often called "the Buddha". Buddha is a title given, I believe, to people who have attained Nirvana, a state of freedom from desire.

Apologies to Buddhists if I've mangled your beliefs here, this is just my understanding.

 

[ericf]

Buddhism does not require that its adherents to assert there is no God. I believe most people here said it correctly when they said that Buddhists are encouraged not to debate such issues. Personally, believing in a God does not exclude someone from being a Buddhist... believing that God is responsible for helping you or will help you reach enlightenment... that is contrary.

God is moot. It just isn't an issue. Does it matter?

 

[markie]

So you were bearing false witness against atheists to try and make them sound bad then? Not very Christian.

I gueess, actually that's just sometthing I heard and I posted it. I'm sorry I should have rephrased it before posting. Besides we can't trash your religious beliefs, you don't have any. Just joking, I hope you're not offended.Uh bless yourself er may the force be with you, I dunno have a good day. Seriously do you think when you die that's all there is or do you believe in reincarnation?

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste all,


Hordeprime,

i've not read all the replies yet, so if this information has been presented, please ignore


i suppose that to answer the question we'd need to define what an atheist is. for the most part, it's a person that does not believe in a Creator Deity. which, of course, Buddhists do not.

if, however, the word is used to mean "disbelief in deities" then this would be incorrect. Buddhism explicitly acknowledges the existence of deities, however, as these beings are ultimately, no different than you and i, they are unworthy of worship.... they cannot deliver you to the other side, only you can do that for yourself.

the Buddhist references to these beings are found in a vareity of places, usually in the form of "Buddha taught men, devas and Gods.." or they'll list specific deities that were present on different occassions and what not.

in the Buddhist tradition, remember, being a deity is part of the cycle of rebirth... it's the highest, in heirarchy, that a sentient being can be reborn, however, it's not the best rebirth.. the best rebirth is human

so.. the long and the short answer is: maybe

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste Deus,

thank you for the post.

I've been looking into this also. It seems that most buddhists are usually some sort of agnostic or maybe deists. From what I've read, Buddha taught that preoccupying oneself with thoughts of a creator is basically useless. We cannot know, therefore we should spend our time bettering ourselves for the good of our people, not worrying about heaven and hell. I must admit, it would be alot easier to tell people that I was buddhist, than to say I'm an atheist. Why is that anyways?

you're essentially correct.

my opinion? it's easier because Buddhism, in most peoples minds, has a definite set of core beliefs and that makes people feel more psychological secure than the rather ambigious term "atheist".

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste markie,

thank you for the post.

There is really no such thing as an atheist. If you say there is no God, you make yourself a god. Do Buddhists not believe in a higher power of any kind? How do they explain the beginning of life?

correct, no Creator God at all.

what beginning? from what we can tell, life has always been, much like the universe. it may not have been in the forms that we are familiar with... as such, Buddhism generally upholds modern evolutionary theory to explain these things.

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste Dr. Bob,

thank you for the post.

That's a good question. You can read their religious texts here: htt p://w ww.ishwar .com/buddhism/holy_dhammapada/ (delete the spaces between t-p, w-w, and r-.)

acutally, he was remarking on the spelling error

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste hearnoevil,

thank you for the post.

Well one who follows after Budda is considered a buddist

add an "H" and you're all set

Budd H ist

actually... for a being to be considered a Buddhist, the only requirement is to place the welfare and happiness of others before your own.

as you may or may not know, there does not have to be a Buddha arising in our Kalpa for a person to win liberation. these beings are called Solitary Realizers and can be from any walk of life or geographical region