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Glenn,
I enjoy deeply the Buddhist traditions. I do. It is surely one of the great world religions, and one in which I think is inspired by God. But, here's the clincher, it is inspired by God. If, as you say, it is inspired by a man or a group of human beings, then it is from the earth and earthly. That means it is not eternal as Stanley said, and it will eventually pass away with other earthly things.
You related an excellent, and dare I say inspirational story, however if it is from humans and not from God, then the true perspective of Buddhism would shift to a philosophy of primitive humans trying to find happiness in a world controlled and dictated by evolutionary pressures. Eventually humans, artificial intelligence, and robotic technologies will co-evolve, and the distant future of humanity becomes something none of us can even dimly foresee. The great religions of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judiasm, Christianity, Taoism, Confucianism, etc will all perish. Maybe Buddhism will even out last the others, but eventually cyberneutic organisms (or other) will find no need for 1 million+ year old (i.e., primitive) human philosophies, and will abandon them.
The UNLESS to that future is if they are somehow not of earthly origin, but from heavenly origin. This is why your fellow Buddhists, who are not atheists, I think, have a better grasp on the principles of Buddhism. The Buddhists who understand God in a higher sense - not as some personage sitting in the clouds - but as a Divine Existence that reveals divine things to human beings (e.g., divine revelation to Shakyamuni) is the source of Buddhism. If not, then we are all just re-hashing primitive ideals as long as the modernists will entertain hearing it.
God exists Glenn. That is the message you must receive from Buddhism. If you don't perceive that one message, then you have learned almost nothing. I'm sorry to be so blunt, but it is necessary that you hear it. |
