I need info on the Buddhist religion...

[Neo]

Faith alone will not save you:

Matthew 7:21
Not everyone who calls me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my Father in heaven wants them to do.

James 2:14-26
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder.
You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.


Loving people are born of God, and they do not sin:

1 John 4:7
Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

1 John 3:9
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

 

[Anna-mal]

Originally posted by Neo
Faith alone will not save you:

James 2:14-26
What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? ....faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that--and shudder....
You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.[/i]

One summer, a drought threatened the crop in a small town.
On a hot and dry Sunday, the village parson told his
congregation, "There isn't anything that will save us except to
pray for rain. Go home, pray, believe, and come back next
Sunday ready to thank God for sending rain."

The people did as they were told and returned to church the
following Sunday. But as soon as the parson saw them, he
was furious.

"We can't worship today. You do not yet believe," he said.

"But," they protested, "we prayed, and we do believe."

"Believe?" he responded. "Then where are your umbrellas?"


I completely agree with what James has to say on faith without deeds. What he is essentially saying is that if you don't follow God's commands to love one another, if you are not living a "christian" life, then you might believe in God, but you do not have faith in Him. Thus faith without deeds is dead, because it never really existed in the first place.
This is very different to the Buddhist belief that your actions and their results determine how you spend your afterlife. Heaven and hell in Christianity isn't determined by what you do; it is determined by who you know and how you respond to him.

 

[Neo]

Buddhists do not believe in an afterlife.

 

[the_almighty]

and how it pertains to Christianity......sort of a compare and contrast, if you will. My brother has recently converted to Buddhism, and I would like some info., or websites, or something so that I am well informed (and prepared) for the conversations that I am sure will ensue tomorrow.

Thanks!

Blessings,

Tammy

IMO BUDDHISM IS NOT A RELIGION BUT A PSYCHOLOGY. THEY REFUSE TO TALK ABT THE SOUL OR GOD OR ETERNAL LIFE. SOME OF THE SECTS WILL TALK ABT ETERNAL LIFE BUT I DONT THINK IT WAS THE GREAT BUDDHAS INTENT TO START A RELIGION. ITS A COPING MECHANISM. IT DEFINITELY DOESNT PRODUCE CREATIVE PEOPLE. INSTEAD SLIGHTLY DEPRESSED PEOPLE

 

[Skillganon]

"Andhatama pravishanti ye asambhuti mupaste"
Yajurveda 40:9

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste all,

interesting thread... i'm not really sure how i missed it before...

in any event... i'll go through and try to correct the most serious misunderstandings regarding the Buddha Dharma...

i will say this...

from the point of view of ethics and morals, the two traditions have a great deal in common. naturally, from a doctrinal point of view, they are not compatible systems.

metta,

~v

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste blessed-one,

thank you for the post.

hey Tammy,
there's one thing about Buddism that baffles most Christians: in the belief of Buddism, people have second lives, so after u die, u'll be born into a human or an animal, according to how much good u've done before u die.

no wonder Christians are confused, this isn't something that Buddhism teaches

Buddhist rebirth is not the same as Hindu reincarnation or Jewish reincarnation, for that matter.

there is no guarantee that a human will be reborn as a human, with the context of the Buddha Dharma.

moreover, there are 6 realms in which a sentient being can take rebirth, not merely two.... and karma doesn't work in the manner described above.

So, since the rate of crime's being increasing and the world's getting worse as many people agree, howcome the world's population's increasing??

mostly because people keep having more children that live than die every year.

shouldn't it be decreasing as most dead people're being born into the body of an animal??

there is no basis for this conclusion.

also, Jesus's the only one who offers freedom from sin, and Christianity is the only religion of God reaching out to people, not people reaching out to God.
Hope this helps.

Buddha Dharma has no concern with "reaching out to God" since we don't hold that a Creator Deity exists in the first place. sin is a foreign concept applicable for adharmic traditions.

metta,

~v

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste elephanticity,

thank you for the post.

I don't, personally believe that souls cycle into animals. But refuting buddhism by questioning the number of available souls is like the atheists that ask if God can make a rock so big that even He can't lift it.

especially since Buddhism doesn't teach that anything such as a "soul" exists. incidently, this is why we don't teach reincarnation, we teach rebirth.. and whilst they may seem to be the same, they acutally are not.

in order to refute the Buddhist position, one would need to have a fairly good understanding of our teachings and philosophical views, i would think.


metta,

~v

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste berean,

thank you for the post.

I have not condemned Buddhism at all and don't hate Buddhists whatsoever. I have only pointed out what other followers of Buddhism have said that contradict the teachings and beliefs of Christianity. These other followers include a major sect of Buddhism itself and I don't consider it a few.

suffice it to say that, within the context of Buddha Dharma, the Nichiren sect is controversial.. sort of like your Jehovas Witnesses.

the Nichiren sect, despite their claims, do not represent the Buddha Dharma well, nor do they represent themselves well, in my opinion.

I also defined what I meant by Buddhism being "anti-Christian" in that the teachings contradict such that they both cannot be true at the same time. Someone's teaching is in error.

indeed.

so, how would you go about testing each of the claims?

Christianity = supreme God, concept of original sin
Buddhism = no supreme God, no concept of original sin

well... sure.. but that's rather a selective thing. there are many, many differences in our traditions.

that being said, there are Christians that do not hold to the idea of Original Sin. i conceed that other Christian may not consider them to be "real" Christians, i leave that to you folks.

One final question. If I do not believe the Four Noble Truths and follow the Eightfold Path what will happen to me? Can I be released from the cycle of samsara?

Thanks,

Gerald

it depends. beings can Awaken without a Buddha having arisen in a world system, these beings are called Solitary Realizers.

generally speaking, however, you will take rebirth as determined by your karma.

as for release from Samsara, it would be my view that such wouldn't be possible without practicing the Noble Eightfold Path.

metta,

~v

 

[Skillganon]

When is the next buddah coming!
Their have been many Buddah that has come and gone, is their any chance, and be honest, that the buddah has come and gone?

 

[vajradhara]

Namaste TA,

thank you for the post.

IMO BUDDHISM IS NOT A RELIGION BUT A PSYCHOLOGY.

then i submit that you have little understanding of what the Buddha Dharma is and how it is practiced.

THEY REFUSE TO TALK ABT THE SOUL OR GOD OR ETERNAL LIFE.

i'm not sure which Suttas you are reading to come to this conclusion, however, it is demonstrably incorrect. we have plentiful teachings on these topics.

SOME OF THE SECTS WILL TALK ABT ETERNAL LIFE BUT I DONT THINK IT WAS THE GREAT BUDDHAS INTENT TO START A RELIGION.

you should really read what he has to say about this and, should you do so, you will discover that Buddha Shakyamuni arose for precisely this purpose, to proclaim the Middle Way.

ITS A COPING MECHANISM. IT DEFINITELY DOESNT PRODUCE CREATIVE PEOPLE. INSTEAD SLIGHTLY DEPRESSED PEOPLE

this is demonstrably incorrect as well.

you are, of course, free to hold all manner of views regarding my tradition. it is, however, demonstrable that your views are not accurate cognitions of our teachings, our philosophy or our practice.

you may or may not have much interest in learning such things, i cannot say.

metta,

~v