The Idea of God in Buddhism and Its Implications for Human Life - Essay Example

This paper discusses the idea of God in Buddhism and its implications for human life. The paper discusses the history and basic concept of God in theBuddhist religion The Idea of God in Buddhism & Its Implications for Human Life True believers of any faith often describe the most important aspect of their religious devotion as a sense, a feeling of a higher power far beyond us. Over the centuries the structure that religion has provided us has helped preserve our mind, body and soul. But that, in turn, has raised a provocative question, one that's increasingly debated in the worlds of science and religion: What is the actual concept of God and what are its implication for Human Life Most religions in the world support the concept of God, the one being who has created the entire Universe and is considered to be a benevolent merciful soul. While in some polytheist religions, the concept of God may differ slightly, but in all primary religions of the world, the God is one powerful being who has no partners and neither does he require any helpers to assist him in his numerous tasks. The concept of God does not exist in Buddhism well at least not in the same sense as what other religions of the world associate with as God. Buddhism does not deny the existence of supernatural beings but it disagrees with the theory that these supernatural beings (or Gods as referred to in many religions) have power for creation, salvation or judgment. Buddhism is not a single, unified religion but exists in a variety of forms. All these forms however have at least one thing in common: an emphasis above all on the transitory nature of human life as one knows it. Although in one's heart one may long for eternity the unavoidable fact is that humans are temporary beings, and true spirituality begins with acknowledging that. Towards the close of the sixth century BC there was a teacher who founded an order of yellow robed monks and nuns and was called by them the "Buddha," or "He who is awake or enlightened."1One knows little for certain about the historical facts of his life and teaching (Chen, 1968). The traditional stories about him were written much later and the Buddhist scriptures, which purport to give his teaching, are often of doubtful authenticity2. One can be reasonably sure of some things. His name was Siddharta Gautama (this is its Sanskrit form: Siddhattha Gotama in the dialect of the earliest Buddhist texts, Pali) and he was the son of a chief of the Shakya tribe, which lived not far from the city of Kapilavastu. He became an ascetic and teacher and his doctrines attracted many disciples. He spent a long life teaching in the region north of the Ganges, and died around 486 BC at the age of eighty. For the rest one must be content with the stories told by his followers (Conze, 1959). Buddhism does not believe in an entity having a separate existence. An important aspect of Buddhism which is different from various other leading religions is that a follower of Buddhism does not exercise his followings to please a particular "God" on the other hand the followers or "Buddhists" as they like to be called follow the preaching's of Buddha to achiever a higher plain of existence for themselves without the necessary purpose of pleasing a creator. As per Buddhism every living thing has a dharma nature, which is basically enlightened nature that different all forms of life entail. Buddhism instils belief in the circle of life as per which life goes through birth, growth, decay and death. Life according to Buddhism focuses on forms that are in a continuous process of change and decay, which indicates that life is a just a phenomena in this magnificent religion. Nevertheless both religious and nonreligious individuals often agree on the fact that religion is all about the supernatural and that it is inseparable from belief in an external, personalised deity. Others believe that religion encourages escapist fantasies that cannot be established. The sudden increase in terrorism (which is wrongly given a religious justification) has convinced many people that religion is incurably violent. This is totally against the beliefs of most religions specially Buddhism. The Buddhist Pali suttas and Mahayana sutras do discuss the existence of "Gods" or "Devas" as they are referred to. The interesting point to note is that these "Devas" are not God's in the true meaning of the word but are simply heavenly beings who are residing temporarily in celestial worlds of great happiness. These beings are not eternal and do eventually face death followed by eventual reincarnation into lower realms of existence. It is important to understand that not everybody believes in the concept of God, there are some who believe on the scientific evolution of the world and thus maintain that world came into being without any significant intervention from any soul. This notion may appear to be too vague and morally-incorrect to some of us but we must mention here that some very well known people did not believe in the existence of God, rather they maintained that God was just an anecdotal concept that man had derived from his desire to have a protective shield around him. Sigmund Freud was one such man who totally dismissed religious beliefs because in his research on psychology, he did not find any evidence to support the existence of God. Therefore in his view God was nothing more than a manifestation of man's childhood neurosis. He felt that since as children, we all need to believe in the concept of a loving caring soul that is why we start believing in a creator but as we grow older, the roots of this idea weaken and some of us start doubting religious beliefs. In his book, "The Future of an Illusion" Freud wrote, "Religious ideas are illusions, fulfilments of the oldest, strongest and most urgent wishes of mankind. The secret of their strength lies in the strength of those wishes." (Freud Pg 30) In other words, he connected the concept of God to wish fulfilment and felt that man believes what he wants to believe and that is why he has conceived religion and has developed a being that he terms as the Creator. Freud's ideas were largely based on his research in the field of psychology and felt that since we all encounter a deep sense of insecurity as children; we are told to believe in God, a loving father figure who would take care of us when the need arises. Each religion has its unique theology, which gives rise to diversity of opinion. Various traditions and customs become part of the image of God at certain stages in the development of any religion and these vary in observance from community to community. Buddhism is perfect example. Lord Buddha actually opposed idolatry, rituals and orthodoxy. Pleasing God was not the sole purpose of religion (as per Buddha) rather it is the process itself that is the soul of Buddhism. Wherever Buddhism spread (after his death) it absorbed local customs and rituals, with the result that Buddhism is practiced differently in China, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, Indo-China etc. Today you will find more statues of Buddha, who opposed idolatry, than anybody else! The Buddha nature is wisdom, pure compassion, and pure enlightenment. Buddha nature is present within everything that exists. Since it is possible for every person to attain enlightenment and Nirvana, every person must be a potential Buddha. But that is to say that each person already possesses the Buddha nature, only he or she does not realize it. And this must be true of all sentient beings, of all beings capable of experiencing suffering. The Buddha nature is the true nature, the true identity of every being. And this must apply to the whole empirical world, the entire world of ordinary experience. It is merely an appearance, a gigantic illusion. The Buddha nature is the sole true reality (Conze, 1959). The Bible opens with the declaration, "in the beginning, God." Buddhism rejects the notion of God from the start. But it was not the biblical God that Gautama Buddha originally rejected. Buddhism's rejection of God is linked to the doctrine of anatman, the radical denial of self. According to many religious critics it is this self and the absolute being that Buddhism denies which are apparently not only recognized ontologically; semantically but are considered companion concepts. According to religious critics both these concepts denote timeless, non-contingent realities that are discontinuous with the world of causality and relationality. As per these critics both lack a foundation in a radically relational universe that is determined by the principal of dependent origination. Simply put Buddhism does not completely deny the existence of God but God in Buddhism is never seen as an ultimate part of religion. At this point i would like to share results of a published survey which discussed the concept of God with High school and College graduates (American Demographics). This survey gives a very broad insight of the concept of God as perceived by many individuals. As per this survey 56% of High school graduates as compared to 42% of college graduates agreed that God was a supreme being who created the earth and who rewarded and punished everyone in it. 19% of High school graduates and 21% of college graduates agreed that God was the governing force that guided the universe and maintained the balance of nature. 11% High school graduates and 18% college graduates believed that God was a convenient term to describe the spiritual qualities and conscious of humankind whereas 2% of both categories believed that God was a myth, a figment of the imaging of basically unscientific and superstitious people. Although this survey is slightly old but nevertheless is clearly identifies the various conceptions and misconceptions about God and religion that exist in everyday Americans if not the world as a whole. According to a learned Islamic scholar Dr Zakir Naik Buddha was more or less silent about the existence or non-existence of God. He did not deny the existence of God. Buddha was once asked by a disciple whether God exists. He refused to reply. When pressed, he said that if you are suffering from a stomach ache would you concentrate on relieving the pain or studying the prescription of the physician. "It is not my business or yours to find out whether there is God - our business is to remove the sufferings of the world". (Naik) Kai Nielson, a philosopher who is often seen as one of the founders of the religious strain of existentialism, devoted much of his work to a discussion of the relation between religion and ethics. In "Ethics without Religion" he argues that there are times when God's commands override the demands of morality. Which is probably why Buddhism limits the importance that it places on any God within its religious manuscripts. In contrast to divine command theorists who maintain that morality is simply a matter of God's commands, Nielson acknowledges that morality has its own independent basis in reason. Thus, for Nielson, if God did not exist, morality would not be eliminated. It would still have its own independent foundation. However, if we genuinely believe in God, we must believe that God has ultimate supremacy, even over reason. If God commands something, then it overrides the commands of morality. Even if we could be certain that God existed and had given us definite commands, why should we follow them The fact that God commands is in itself a weak philosophical basis. It is simply an edict of naked power, which is never a satisfactory basis for action. Morality is a natural fact; it is not created by the formulation of "laws"; these only express its existence and our sense of value. The moral feeling creates the moral law; not the other way about. Morality has nothing to do with God; it has nothing to do with a future life. Its sphere of application and operation is in this world; its authority is derived from the common sense of mankind and is born of the necessities of corporate life. In this matter, as in others, man is thrown back upon himself and if the process of development is a slow one there is the comforting reflection that the growth of knowledge and of understanding has placed within our reach the power to make human life a far greater and better thing. If we will!! Works Cited 1. American Demographics; Nov92, Vol. 14 Issue 11, p27, 1/4p, 1 chart 2. Conze, Edward. Buddhism: Its Essence and Development. New York: Harper and Row, 1959. 3. Freud, Sigmund, (1927). The Future of an Illusion. S.E., 21. London: The Hogarth Press, 1953, pp.30. 4. Kai Nielsen "Ethics Without Religion" [The Ohio University Review VI (1964): 48-51, 57-62. 5. Leukel, Perry Schmidt; Buddhism, Christianity And the Question of Creation: Karmic or Divine Mar 2006 6. Naik, Dr Zakir; Da'wah to Buddhists Islamic Research Foundation available online at http://www.irf.net/irf/comparativereligion/index.htm accessed on 5th February 2007 Read More