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buddhism
November 2009 
The Religious Angle: A 12-Step Program
Cinc
ONE: The basic message of God is: "Love me or I'll kill you." Think about it: After all the theology is unraveled, isn't this really what God is telling us: "If you don't believe in Me, if you don't worship Me, I will inflict great pain on you for an incredibly long time." Of course, True Believers will claim this punishment is really for sins committed, which haven't been forgiven by God. To which I ask: "Haven't you ever heard of the punishment fitting the crime? I dare say most people damnable by your theology are only mild sinners."
TWO: What Westerners refer to as "God" surely exists. However, this "God" is only one of many great enlightened entities existing throughout the ageless universe. "God" decided to guide and protect living beings on our particular planet (or at least those of us who are Westerners). He did not create the universe. He did not create human beings. He does not hold ultimate power over the fate of humanity. Each person has the power to decide his or her own fate, based on the strength and nature of their own personal religious practice. This also goes for "God," who is constantly engaged in religious practice so that He, too, may become a Buddha.
THREE: I do not believe in the concept of the End of Days, which is shared by Jews, Moslems, and Christians alike. In fact, obsession with this concept is the single greatest threat to world peace. This obsession might bring about an End-of-Days' style apocalypse (for example, a nuclear or bio war of our own making), but no true End of Days (as in, end of the universe) will occur.
FOUR: Nobody died for my sins thereby redeeming me; this is not possible. [That's like saying, "Let me have sex with your wife FOR you."] Each of us has an infinite number of chances at self-redemption, spread out over an infinite number of lives. We can be helped along the path toward self-perfection, but only this Holy Trinity can redeem me: Me, myself, and I. Each of us must be reborn again and again eternally (each time, in a form and environment "caused" by behaviors in our prior lives), unless we attain Buddhahood. In that case, we can choose whether to be reborn, which Buddhas always do simply out of their desire to lead others to enlightenment.
FIVE: Shakyamuni Buddha is still alive and with us. He merely gave the appearance of his death and cremation about 2,500 years ago in India. He walks among us today, though "using [his] transcendental powers, I make it so human beings do not see me even though I am close by" - source: Lotus Sutra. [I am not aware of any other Buddhist who claims Shakyamuni is still alive, though I believe scripture backs me up here.]
SIX: I believe the Buddha purposely lied to his Great Assembly of disciples on at least two occasions, yet asked them, "Can it be said that I am lying?" Buddha did this to raise his disciples to the next level, hoping they would call him on these lies. This "calling" would assure disciples' more expeditious advancement to Buddhahood. [One never advances without challenging his teacher.] Remember: The Buddha had taken a vow long ago to, "Make all living beings equal to me, using all possible skillful means." Can you imagine God doing that? Or...maybe He has.
SEVEN: I don't deify Shakyamuni Buddha as a god, especially since there are untold trillions of other Buddhas now existing throughout the universe, though I do believe he has supernatural powers. I take him at his word that all of us common, ordinary mortals can become Buddhas with those same powers. Becoming a Buddha is possible in this lifetime, though I don't know of anyone who's actually done it. My personal goal is to become a Buddha in this lifetime.
EIGHT: A Buddha is someone who has undertaken great religious practice and discipline, acting out of great compassion to save other living beings. Oh, my Christian brother, what can possibly be wrong with that?
NINE: Unlike what I call "traditional Buddhists," I believe that each of us humans has a soul. The Buddha didn't deny the existence of the soul, though I believe his disciples misunderstood his teachings on this point.
TEN: I don't believe in a God (or a Buddha) who created the universe, since I believe the universe has always existed and therefore did not need to be created. It did not have a beginning and will not have an end. If we can believe the Universe has always been, and was never created, then we don't have to worry about "Who" created it.
ELEVEN: These two claims make equal sense:
"God created the Universe by willing it into being, but He Himself was not created; God has always been."
"Nothing created the Universe because It has always been, therefore not needing a Creator. When causes and conditions are right, things which did not previously exist come into being."
TWELVE: Jews feel that the age of the prophets had passed long ago. Moslems feel that Mohammed is the last and the greatest of the prophets. They are both wrong. The gift of prophecy is a characteristic of enlightened beings everywhere in the universe - past, present, and future. As for "greatest," I wouldn't even consider whether one Buddha might be greater than another. If I am ever fortunate enough in my life to encounter two Buddhas standing side-by-side, I will not for a moment think: Is one greater than another?
Access: Public
Interesting stuff. I consider myself agnostic, and simply believe that humans haven't the resources to define much of our universe, including proving the existence (or non-existence) of an omnipotent being.
I like what was said in #10. It seems inappropriate when people speak of a god 'existing' outside of time and creating the universe. Verbs like “exist” are reliant on time, and applying our time-based human concepts and language to a context which we're assuming is devoid of time.. well, the words and ideas tend to lose their meaning.
So “the universe has always existed” is a good way to word it, with respect to logic and semantics.
Syd, I too was an agnostic, until a friend challenged me with an experiment. He himself was a Buddhist from a Nichiren sect and said to me: “Try chanting for 90 consecutive days - 30 minutes per day without fail. You don't have to believe in the doctrines in order to receive benefit. Just like you don't have to believe in the universal laws of gravitation to 'know' that an apple will fall to the ground as soon as you release it (barring the occurrence of a truly fierce updraft!). If, at the end of the 90 days, the universe hasn't given you some clue as to the validity of the practice, then stop chanting. You'd be a fool to continue.”
So…I chanted for 90 days, which turned into two years. Then I abruptly quit, being disillusioned with the cult-like nature of the group I was with. Then, 17 years later, I rejoined this same (though reformed) group. That was 14 years ago and I've been chanting ever since. However, I changed my practice two years ago. I still affiliate with the group but I no longer chant the sutra in Chinese (which of course I don't understand). I chant for an hour per day simply by reading aloud from the English language translation (by Burton Watson) of the Lotus Sutra.
I believe this to be the correct practice encouraged by the Buddha himself 2500 years ago. In the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha tells us that we can become Buddhas simply by believing that we can, practicing diligently, and that we are to embrace his most profound teaching (The Lotus Sutra) and disregard all of his earlier, provisional teachings (that's the hard part - giving up what we become attached to).
I've read the Lotus aloud (all 324 pages) for a total of 56 times. And each time I read it, it's like I'm reading a different book than I'd just read. The Lotus is deceptively simple and very repetitive. So it tends to lull the unwary. But the Buddha always expected us to pay attention.
You might want to consider picking up a copy and checking it out. What did I get out of my readings? A firm faith that I can become a Buddha (complete with all the Supernatural Powers of the Thus Come One - as described in the Lotus in a chapter of that name), and a sense of mission that I can best serve as the next president of the United States (under the banner of The Fighting Buddhist).
- Steve