Why Buddhism is True
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- čas přidán 1. 10. 2017
- Today we'll be taking a look at Robert Wright's new book Why Buddhism is True, some of its positives and negatives, and whether or not it fits well with secular Buddhism.
The book: amzn.to/2ykd5ua
Robert Wright's CZcams videos can be found here: • The Wright Show
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Please visit the Secular Buddhist Association webpage!
secularbuddhism.org/
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Hi. I am really amazed with this secular approach to Buddhism. It really helps us to understand and try all these things in our daily life. I just miss a Spanish approach to all of this information. This language barrier makes these marvelous themes UNAVAILABLE for many people. I would have to be translating all your videos for Spanish speaking people to access them . However thank you very much.
Thanks so much Jorge! CZcams allows folks to add translations to videos if they like, you are more than welcome to do that if you want. Puedo hablar el español pero sería difícil para mí hacer traducciones. Además, si tienes interés hay un web español del budismo secular hecho por Bernat Font: budismosecular.org/
Doug's Secular Dharma thanks for the quick answer. I don’t know if Doug is answering but cool anyway. I am a Chilean anesthesiologist and at the same time I teach Tibetan Buddhist meditation with a vision of Neuroscience. So your work is very important to mine. Science and Spirituality is what we do to teach people how to make their lives better.
I’ll check the Spanish website you gave me. Thank you.
Oh yes Jorge it’s just me (Doug)! That’s great that you’re trying to bring meditation and wisdom into neuroscience and anesthesiology. Keep in touch! 🙏
Doug's Secular Dharma thanks Doug. I’ll be teaching Vipassana to our students who already learned Shamata and Tonglen meditations. For Vipassana it was very useful your video about the five aggregates. My email is cokeseguel@gmail.com
Can I ask you more about Satipatthana Suta?
Sure, anytime. I have several videos on that sutta, the most detailed are in this playlist: czcams.com/play/PL0akoU_OszRjItCXmF-MMPdKwTdtGSxl-.html
Hi Doug, Perhaps you've talked about this in another video, but Yuval Noah Harari, who is a meditator who spends some months every year on silent retreat, makes a pretty compelling case in his book Sapiens for his version of the evolutionary basis of delusion and ignorance (my interpretation -- Sapiens is not a book about Buddhism). Essentially, it is born of a capacity for abstraction that sets us apart (as far as we know) from other species.
It is well known that animals have language, but it's mostly limited to "Look out! There's a tiger!" or "Look out! There's an eagle!" Animal language is limited to the here and now. As far as we know, they are not able to remove themselves in time and space and say, "Yesterday, I saw a tiger stalking a herd of buffalo at the bend of the river." Humans, however, can do this, giving us a unique capacity for elaborate planning.
But our consciousness has an even higher level of abstraction: the mythic. We are able to come up with and communicate things that have no actual basis in reality, such as, "The lion is the totem of our clan." Harari argues that this third-level abstraction ability is what empowered us to dominate the planet, in that it enables us to align ourselves in common cause with people we've never met (whereas animals that cooperate must personally know the individuals they're cooperating with, giving them a strict upper limit to the number of individuals in a group). We make these myths "real" by building sociocultural and physical infrastructure around them (for example banks, built upon the myth of money). Multiply this many thousand-fold and it's no surprise that it's almost impossible for humans to penetrate the mythology that we've woven all around us, and distinguish reality from imagination.
While Sapiens is not a book about Buddhism per se, as a meditator who knows a little bit about the author, I can see the fruits of Harari's Vipassana practice all over it. I highly recommend it, and would love to see you review it from a Buddhist perspective.
Yes thanks George, it’s not a book I’ve read though it’s been on my list! I didn’t know he was a Vipassana meditator, that’s neat.
I read Wright's book and found much of value in it, and I found much of value in this review of it. However, if you want to begin to understand emptiness and non-self, no one speaks more simply and more beautifully on these subjects than Thich Nhat Hanh.
Thanks for your thoughts, Haven. Yes, what I've read of Thich Nhat Hanh I've liked as well.
Great review Doug.
From my perspective the big questions were welcomed! (However, I was, like you said, "new to the secular understanding of buddhism"). However, I am wondering if there are any secular buddhist associations in Canada you know of or if you think that traditions like Zen and Shambhala having any qualities that inherently interfere with a secular approach? What is it in Shambhala or Zen that isn't secular?
Best wishes and Happy New Year.
Thanks SpaceCaptain! I don't know of any secular Buddhist associations in Canada, but if you look for local meditation or MBSR groups they often will have a secular bent to them. As to Shambhala and Zen, this earlier video of mine may help answer some of your questions: czcams.com/video/FAazFDC8m6M/video.html . But in general what one considers "secular" tends to be personal preference.
I am at 2:37 and you have hit the nail on the head as to the title. It only means you do not need to accept anything on faith but empirically try yourself and adopt if you want. Thus the truth is now in your hand rather than dictated to you. And yes, it is the secular Buddhism which does not talk about "Mara" and other dualistic things which may be syncretic with existing Hindu sects.
Thanks for your comment Ramkumar!
wonderful wonderful!!
Thanks Riya! 🙏
Gather Gems were you find them... don't remember were I first heard this but I like it....
That's right Manuel!
As far as I remember reading, the author fore-warns that he is going to go into emptiness, desire and suffering (anatta, shunyata, tanha and dukka). He has wantonly skipped moralistic teachings like hatred or ignorance. I think this book was widely read as the author teaches a first year Undergraduate class at a top University. I have also read and tried mindfulness which I think was discussed. I agree with you that this is a secular coverage. At the time of the first Buddha, as far as I know, society was feudal and he was a warrior prince. He gave up on extremist approaches to liberation and adopted a moderate path. Whether the origin story is more important or whether Mr Doug is more important is a matter of mindset. Great interpretation. 🙏🙏🙏🙏👍👍👍
Thanks again Ramkumar! 🙏🙂
Hi Doug! Another contemporary book I have just read is 'Unsubscribe' by Josh Korda. Quite gritty and anecdotal but also talks about the suttas. I feel it is harder hitting than 'Why Buddhism is True' which compares quite weakly I would say imho :-)
Cool, thanks for the recommend. I'll add it to my (large and growing!) pile of books-to-read. 😀
I have read the book multiple times and enjoy Robert Wright as an author. I think he makes a compelling case for affective emotional responses and how we create meaning in the world through our attachment to feelings. 'The Moral Animal' and 'Non Zero' (also written by Wright) makes the case for evolutionary psychology as the driver of human action through selection pressure - it is a compelling theory IMO.
Yes I think it's interesting as well. Keep in mind that it is controversial though.
In eary Buddhism, there is Suñña (emptyness) Sutta & Cula-suññata Sutta. I think - it's better to practice Buddhism than it is to get people to explain it, dont u think? Theory & practice should go together. After experience both, one can explain Buddhism.
Thanks for the excellent question, BD. I have a video on Thinking and Practicing that deals with some of that: czcams.com/video/HMqnVsYZ4q8/video.html , and in Five Keys to Practice I also discuss how watching CZcams videos isn't enough! czcams.com/video/EQsd6D_9jg4/video.html 😀
thank you so much sir 🙏🙏🙏🙏😇😇😇😇
You're very welcome Hansi Weerasinghe! 🙏
NAMO BUDDHAYA.
NAMO AMITUOFO.
NAMO AMITABHA.
Budu saranai........................
Definitely worth reading are the two LIONS ROAR SUTTAS...translated by Bhikkhu Bodhi .......words of the Buddha .....
Thanks Sheila, yes those are wonderful suttas.
what about E.F. Schumaker book "Small is beautiful "?
could you share me a web link or something that I can search with? I want to read those SUTTAS. Thanks a lot.
5:59 exact point made in book.
Thanks, Doug great content !
Could you please clarify the difference between dhamma and dharma?
Sure, I made a video answering that question awhile back: "Dharma" or "Dhamma"? Language and Sectarianism
czcams.com/video/17JuZUq5OHg/video.html
I would like to see your response on What the Buddha taught by Walpola Rahula Thera
It was one of the books I recommended in my early video on books about early Buddhism: czcams.com/video/UGNfiyRMkgw/video.html 🙂
Buddhism more like boreism
@@kirbypixel8124 buddhism is about ending one's suffering. I don't find that boring
Buddhism is a invention by humanity because thed were bored
rweerakkody4565 it sounds really boring doing the same thing everyday and only a certain way
Thank you for this review. I have just finished Prof. Wright's course on Buddhism and Modern Psychology (available on Coursera, I can recommend it) and would like to read this book in particular. In the course, he also emphasises the view of evolutionary psychology (I believe that at some point he also states that its theories tend to be rather speculative). I agree that we can't blame everything on evolution, however I like the idea that Buddhism is a kind of rebellion against natural selection. Hopefully, it's much more than that. But understanding our mind is a useful and necessary starting point.
You’re very welcome Martin! That’s right, we need to understand the mind both from the outside with the sciences and from the inside with practice.
That course actually brought me here! I enjoyed it a lot. Wish he learned how to edit his office hours videos, though! Hahaha.
I'll give the 📚 book another look. Passed it over at the book shop because of the title... thought it was evangelizing.
Yes well it is a little. 😄
I think the author mentions the naming of the book in the intro/preface. It’s a big of a arrogant title :)
But the more I look into Buddhism , it becomes truer by the moment for me at least
Yes
Hi Doug! I have recently read the book. On the whole I would very much agree with everything you have said about it; although I came away feeling a little disappointed in it. My critique was on Amazon was not quite as eloquent as yours and a little brutish. I gave it 3 stars and described it as 'slightly rambling'. If not for the title I don't believe it would have garnered that much attention. It is in fact 'click-bait'. I certainly did not come away thinking that 'yes indeed, Buddhism is true'. A tad mercenary on his part I would say. Although I may be being overly critical; I expected more.
Thanks for your thoughts Patrick! I do see where you’re coming from. 🙂
interesting
Thanks Anna!
Won't bother, but thank you, Doug, a long time in the future. Very interesting review, though.
Thanks Sid!
Is there significance to the fact that the word "is" is in italics? Just noticed that last night.
Ha! Good question, urckrecords. I can't think of an obvious reason for it, other than to spice up the cover design a bit. But who knows?
Ok. This will be my next book
It is an interesting one!
Is it awailable in Hungarian language?
Have you read Charles Allen books on Buddhism and Indian history 🤔
I'm not familiar with them.
@@DougsDharma it talks deep about Indian ancient history special Budhhist history. It says that
Asoka was a layman Budhhist before the Kalinga war 👌 he just take pravijya after the Kalinga war and came to known as DhammAsoka after that 👌👍
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo :)
😄
It was interesting to me that the person who made this video wished so often that the author would have written a large portion of the book differently.
Lesson to take away from emptiness is not to get too attached to anything or crave. This will lead to suffering.
Thanks for the comment nayanmalig, yes indeed.
What is being too attached?
I love how you say "sexy elements" 😂
Evolutionary psychology isn't just an interest of Wright's, it is what he does - he is an evolutionary psychologist and so I don't think that aspect of the book could be scaled back - that's really what the book is about.
Thanks for the comment, Toms. I get what you're saying, evolutionary psychology is one of Robert Wright's long-term interests, one he's written about at some length before, and it's pretty central to his interest in Buddhism. But it would be a stretch to call him an evolutionary psychologist, as for example Leda Cosmides and John Tooby are. Wright is a journalist, albeit one who has taught courses in religion and philosophy at the college level.
Yes, I see now that his education in Sociobiology (which is described as a precursor to Evolutionary Psychology) at Princeton is a bit ambiguous - perhaps an undergrad degree. I saw that he was teaching and somehow incorrectly assumed he had a PhD - thanks for correcting me. However, in my reading of the book I still felt that the analysis of Buddhism in terms of evolutionary psychology was quite central to it.
Yes, evo psych is central to Wright's interest in Buddhism. I think it's a connection that is open to question though, simply because evo psych remains controversial within the academy. None of the connections that Wright finds in it are central to practice of the Buddhist path. Evo psych may provide some explanation of the ways we misperceive the world in terms of selection pressures of various kinds, or it may simply be that we misperceive the world due to a number of random developments through our evolutionary history. Either way our practice should be the same.
I do believe evolutionary phsicology has more things right than wrong. Beside the examples in the book about the issue have a lot of sense
Yes felipe I tend to think a lot of it is plausible. That said, it remains controversial so I at least would hesitate to make too much of it yet.
Doug's Secular Dharma thx for your kind answer 🙏🏻
In german, the title is: why Buddhism works. Maybe this title is a better approach to the book and its aim..
Yes maybe so 23Jesa. Thanks for letting us know!
so the 2nd point is detachment, to detach ourselves from things, if i understood it correctly
Well not exactly. “Detachment” implies aloofness or not caring. What we are aiming for is generally termed “non-attachment”. You can find a playlist on that subject here: czcams.com/play/PL0akoU_OszRiCb2Jxe488IqJQvT8uARjm.html
Doug's Dharma oh, sorry i mixed those up, i meant non-attachment
let's all chant the heart sutra.
sir Have you been Kathmandu Nepal?
I would like to go there someday!
Sir
Here we understood that mind work somewhat differently than other organs of body . If someone understood the nature of mind , it realy show amazing things. My be we are not able to deeply meditate to reach to the hight of aharta.
I think we need some practical to do this method to penetrated our mind . Actualy I understdood that beside vipassana as taught by s n goyanka, there is one more point I noted . Beyond observation one can even ruined out the heavyness in the body. Mind enen come out of our body.
This show it is possible to go beyond this and get truely what buddha said. This can possible by the way shown by buddha. We can try it. We need sincer effort. Buddhism survive just because of this curiacity and suppose to exist of long time.
Yes, thanks Mana Patil. If we put in sincere effort we can indeed make our lives better. 🙏
I recently noticed the German edition. The title is so, so, so much better: Warum Buddhismus Wirkt ("Why Buddhism Works")
Thanks urckrecords, yes that is a better title! 😀
It is interesting to use evolutionary psychology to prove whether Buddhism is true, while evolutionary psychology itself is under scrutiny by many scientists. This is not to say evolutionary psychology is not legit. After all, one's psychological condition is more or less depending on one's physical/biological conditions. I personally prefer to think of evolutionary psychology as a result of mainly social evolution. One's mind and behavior are very much influenced by the society and community one is part of. However, there is yet always so much variations among individuals in terms of psychology at any given time. People who live in the same society or community, or even born into the same family could have very different mindsets, belief, and behavior.
How could anyone prove or even say whether Buddhism is true or not true? And for that matter, whether any religion or philosophy is true or not true? To me, Buddhism as well as any other religions and philosophies are simply different sets of thinking that help us to shape our own thinking and our mindsets, hopefully for the better. We all have the freedom to choose whether to follow it or discard it as rubbish. The important thing is to use our best judgments without any bias. Buddhism happens to have the very best guideline for unbiased judgments, that is, to be detached from everything.
I think so too Andrew, it certainly can be.
sir are u a buddhist?
I did a video about my own approach here: czcams.com/video/yTxKgz8MeWg/video.html
A lot of these concepts christianity also discusses. They discuss how to actually seek the morally right things and good vs bad, more or less the new testimony.. They discuss also the emptiness and how to combat the dark with light. Because of spiritual warfare and testimonies, I’m afraid I’m just not convinced. Maybe if it were less philosophical and more factual, I would better understand. Also, not to complain, but there just is no answers and no answers with where souls go. It’s just the acceptance without diggin too far into christianity it seems. Also I used to be an atheist, so it takes a lot for me to talk about this stuff and christianity.
Sure jill00. I'm not quite as familiar with Christianity but at least in Buddhism it isn't so much about belief as it is about behaving kindly and doing meditation, understanding yourself. But it's not for everyone.
Doug's Secular Dharma Yes that’s understandable. I think the thing that bothers me most is not discovering where the souls go. But I understand some people have no interest to that as well.
Doug's Secular Dharma Also there is a lot of controversy in christianity with right vs wrong.. a lot of bad christians out there. I recommend reading the new testimony of Proverbs if you want enlightening. Very similar concepts.
many people have asked what is the equivalent to "soul" in Buddhism. Buddhism doesn't address any soul as a permanent existence. However, karma is one of the foundations of Buddhism. In karma belief, birth-aging-death-rebirth is a cycle all living beings go through until one could reach nirvana. Rebirth indicates that there is something about every living being that continues. That every thing in Buddhism is called "consciousness". The difference between Buddhism and mot other religions is that even consciousness is not permanent as it changes all the time as the living being experience different things throughout its lifetimes. Ultimately, when one is able to reach nirvana, that consciousness is transformed into mere wisdom.
You can still be a secular Buddhist and believe in or at least be open to the concept of reincarnation, considering that there is some evidence i.e people that remember past lives and have been tested.
For sure Alais, this is possible as well. Thanks!
I swear I’m sick of those Christina’s who studied no Buddhism claim that Buddha was in hell 😂😂😂😂😭
Yeah they are all morons
And THIS👆, everybody, is how Holy Crusades are started-the WEAPONISATION of one faith against another. Well demonstrated, Rev!
Why Buddhism is True pdf - free @ Internet Archive
In fact it isent. It is just an idea that adops to your own mind. And it is like all other ideas submited to change and cant be truth. Holding in to an idea creates just more suffering and confusion.
Thanks for your thoughts Edd!
I'm confused. Do buddhist feel empty inside, like a pain in their chest, also meaning their souls feel empty and what they are trying to do is fill the pain by fighting the feeling? Are they feeling empty inside in other words?
Thanks for the question peaceannie, but I'm not sure I really understand it. The pain or unsatisfactoriness we all feel comes from the imperfections of life: that all things change and that therefore what we love will eventually pass away.
there are no souls. believing in souls is a wrong idea in buddhism.
Evolution seems to be so hard for the ego to accept
Yes, that seems to be the case for many.
I think the book takes a lot of time to come to a point. Certain passages were pretty repetitive.
I think secular buddhism is great, but I do think rebirth is philosophically coherent with a secular or atheistic/naturalistic view if you think about the fact you exist that in and of itself shows it’s possible for you to come into existence, look at two brains and the difference between them why the have two different illusionary consciousness is because they have different numbers, your number(s) are some number between 0 and trending towards infinity and if those number(s) are chosen that creates an illusionary experience factor that by any amount of time and it stands to reason if there is any chance of being born given enough time it will happen and over and over again maybe not in this physical reality but if you factor there could be any number of physical realities independent of ours I believe that reincarnation is inevitable. I believe most people put too much emphasis on scientific reasoning when you can’t always find the answers to some questions scientifically. If you have some argument against mine please do I’m very interested to see your reasoning.
so i budism a religon meaning there is a god / making claims of the non seable things? I have a flat mate who belive budda who belives in recarnation and because some people have seen these visions he beleives it.
As to whether Buddhism is atheist, here is a video that may be useful: czcams.com/video/QOQiZbAPtW4/video.html
Why do Buddhists say ‘’BCE’’?
It’s not Buddhist, it’s academic. Historical scholarship uses BCE/CE.
@@DougsDharma Thank you!
You should go to speakers corner!! Represent the buddha
😄 Oh I'm not enough of a proselytizer for that sort of thing!
You don't have to convert anyone!! You could shine a light on the Buddha's teachings!! The seem to not talk good about buddhism!!
You dont have to consider yourself secular to address the question of rebirth. Its not simple and there is a lot of hotly debate ongoing but i see It in the following way, and found backing in some scholars. Anattman and antiesentialism are just incompatible with the idea of transmigration of souls or a personal soul, at least. How rebirth can be seen its just the ripple effects that our karma (actions) will have on the world long after we are gone. Patterns that will repeat because of our doings. What is rebirthed? I dont know and i dont care to know, maybe just the idea of a self.
What i essentially reject is basically some abdhidamma schools that inject svabhava (intrinsic nature of things) into the early teachings. This muddies the waters and makes It that much harder to grasp some concepts that should have remained simpler.
Nirvana can not be attained through a secular approach to Buddhism. The two pillars to understand Buddhism is Shraddha and Sarana, meaning Belief and Refuge in the Buddha.
Thanks for your thoughts Quin. The route to nibbāna in the canonical texts is universal nongrasping and nonidentification. There is no reason why a secular path couldn’t do the same. 🙂
Nongrasping and nonidentification is just the beginning too.
Ive had many teachers who helped me get to this point and although i dont identify, i still have basic control mechanisms that stem from fear.
Once all attachments, fetters, fears, control mechanisms are gone, thats when I'll consider it nirvana.
Eastern philosophy is in my opinion not the same as western philosophy so maybe we are trying to conflate the two which is not fair . We have to be careful in understanding eastern thought and not critique it based on a biased western thought
Matter can never be created nor destroyed. This is physics. Assuming one understands the concept of non-self. How can one deny the inevitability of rebirth. Regardless of the egoic aspects we project upon the idea of reincarnation. The ego dies. No Buddha ever claimed otherwise to my knowledge, but I’m open to correction lol.
Thanks Jessica. For the Buddha the claim that “the ego dies” would amount to annihilationism which he rejected as much has he rejected eternalism. Instead he tended to explain rebirth in terms of dependent origination, where the being reborn is neither the same nor different than the being who died, but the being reborn receives the karmic inheritance of the being who died.
I think this was a click baitey book. It's as if Wright wanted his buddhist followers who hadn't read the moral animal to read the moral animal.
I'm not sure who came up with the title, often these are strongly suggested by the publisher rather than the author. But either way the title is indeed a bit clickbaitey as you say. Still, the book is worth a read. 🙂
It's the only religion which teaches the true nature of life.This whole life is just to suffer and buddha taught us how to end it
Thanks for that Dulin. I don't think we should get too down on life, that can lead to withdrawal and even depression. It wasn't so much that all of life is to suffer, but rather that life is unsatisfactory in that we tend to crave things that are not possible to obtain. Once we see things clearly then the unsatisfactoriness dries up.
@@DougsDharma😇 yea if we just try get away from sensual desires it is enough to minimise the suffer in life which is really hard😧I am school student and I know how much I suffer😆😅
Buddhism is teachings only, the Bible teaches us that God is real, while Buddhism shows us teachings of life, the Bible teaches us the spirit
JABB ...MAARUNGAA TABB DEKH LENAA KHUD SE....BUDDHISM ....PATAA CHALL JAAYEGA...
Do buddhist feel empty inside like an ache in the soul? And they are trying to fight it. Confusing why they'd stay in a religion that makes a sense of emptiness in the soul. It's a yucky feeling. Why would anybody want to feel that sense of nothingness. I really can't understand.
No, emptiness isn't an ordinary feeling like you're describing it. Ordinarily, one feels "ordinary". The point rather is that if you try to look for something solid and unchanging within yourself, you do not find it. All you find is change. It's this wish to find permanence, this grasping desire, that makes us construct the idea of permanence within ourselves. But then we change anyway and so are disappointed. It's best to give up the illusions, we will find ourselves much happier afterwards!
Hi peaceannie, the term "emptiness" in Buddhism, as Doug had explained, is stemmed from the fact that "everything is constantly changing". In other words, nothing is permanent. Aside from the fact that everything and every situation change in time, our minds are constantly changing as well. We may have certain belief today, as we gain more knowledge and experience, our minds and our opinions change along with what we've learned.
More importantly, we all view certain things from different perspectives. we may look at the same object but see different aspects of it. All these contribute to different opinions among people. Who is to say "that thing" is exactly what I see it is, while others may not agree. Our subjective thinking create many different opinions and conflicts against each other. The notion of "emptiness" in a way shows how people make things up with their subjective thinking. In short, "emptiness" means we all are making things up in our minds out of nothing, causing all sort of emotions and attachments.
I start to get allergic reactions when a religion/philosophical view/life path starts saying it is "true". What is next? Buddhism is the only true way? Sounds like the claim abrahamic religions make.😅
You know I love to talk to people who accept buddhism as the true religion. Christians are so annoying judging other religions while:
1) It was the most evil and aggressive religion in the world. Just think about it how many people were killed in the name of god, there are lots of great books about christian secrets like Dan Brown - the Davinci code, if you want read it, it is a very interesting book about a fictional story based on real historical events and theories about christianity.
2) They judge everyone who isn't christian and say that other religions are fake, but still don't know nothing about their religion but only what they are told.
3) Most of them aren't even real christians, they have so many churches but they don't use them while the muslims are strong enough to build their own mosques in christian countries.
I'm christian, just officially and one day I want to convert into a more real religion like Buddhism.
Europa Saturn im Christian, I wouldn’t say we judge them but we have so much faith in Christianity and god that we want people to feel the same way
It may be true that certain Christians are judgmental, as it is true for just about everyone more or less. However, we should try not to behave like one of them.
Verily Buddhism is a very much confusing & complicated Concept that has no logic// Purpose of life// Goal// Target. But Digha Nikaya Says God Has Exist. Why shall we follow with out an aim in life ???????????????Many man says many things about Buddha's Teachings. With out Desire how can we develop we don't under stand????. Again 4 th Desire is God itself not???Digha Nikaya says about God . Now it is nothing but Paganism.as like as Hinduism. They take refugee to Buddha but theu don't admit Buddha as God
Reply
Is buddhisim not true so you dont exist
I'd like to hear some rational argument as to why Buddhism is true. I completely disagree with the Buddhist interpretation of rebirth - for example, that your karmic seeds can be reborn into a dog after you physically die - so to me, Buddhism is false. A person who has an understanding of emptiness would not teach such false things. I'm not sure that the Buddha taught this false rebirth teaching, but a huge number of modern Buddhist teachers do.
Thanks for the question Kevin. Yes indeed this is the central question I think many people have when coming at Wright’s book, since many of us (myself included) do not agree with the Buddha’s take on rebirth. It’s one that Wright answers right at the outset, as I mentioned in the video. Did you have some question about that response?
Sorry, I missed that bit at the start of your video. So Wright's book would have been better titled "Why secular Buddhism is true". :-)
Exactly so. The book title is a bit clickbaity. 😄
I think there is a sensible way to read the rebirth teachings, but the institutional teachers don't read it that way, or don't think about it at all (while still teaching it).
Yes indeed, there are more immediately useful ways to reinterpret teachings on rebirth, for instance such that they refer to different stages of this life.
Rebirth is critical to this doctrine and can't be separated from it, maintaining coherency. Secular buddhism is not true, but non-secular Buddhism is.
Thanks for your thoughts Birk, be well! 🙏
BDDHISS IS CRIDIBLE A TEACHING ON AN TEACHINGS. THE CIRCLE OF LIVE AND DEATH AND THE REINKARNATION AND KARMALICS FOR ELEGANT THE GODS ,....NOT A MAD GOD WITH POWER ON MONSTERS POWER
So you met your stone God? Lol
No god in thervada buddhism
@@inceldetector6148 Be fair to him, he''s just as ignorant as that preacher.
Oh, these extremely weird Buddhist ontology speculations always make me flabbergasted, because of their sheer absurdity. 3:44++ This notion that the universe is empty. (Really? Does science support that, really?) And this emptiness _"is a substance ... er ... lack of substance"_ pervading universe. "Emptiness of essence", would then mean that _"everything is always changing?_ (I think science dismiss this notion, especially regarding the speed of light). And you _"approach a table or something, as though there was something prominent there"_ Yeeeh! (A table is a table, and it is "prominent" in table usage respects). I suspect Buddhism is actually a giant logic error somehow imprisoning people in a giant mind-trap, like: _"everything is always _*_essentially_*_ meaningless, so let's have some mindfulness here"_ -- There are some deep troubling aspects in this kind of thinking: 1. this kind of attitude doesn't help in practical problem solving, where something's "essence" is "prominent" (all philosophers may forgive me for this mishandling of the real meaning, but I'm trying to speak Buddhist here!) only so far as context dictates, such as if you absolutely must put something down at a height of 1 meter over the ground, then a table is "prominent" and it's "essence" to context is relevant. 2. The second is that it creates a wall of intellectual indifference between the practitioners of Buddhism and the lay men, which may be the reason that Buddhist nations are not less violent than Christian and Islam nations.
Hi Rursus, as Doug had explained, the term "emptiness" is stemmed from the fact that "everything is constantly changing". In other words, nothing is permanent. Aside from the fact that everything and every situation change in time, our minds are constantly changing as well. We may have certain belief today, as we gain more knowledge and experience, our minds and our opinions change along with what we've learned.
More importantly, we all view certain things from different perspectives. we may look at the same object but see different aspects of it. All these contribute to different opinions among people. Who is to say "that thing" is exactly what I see it is, while others may not agree. Our subjective thinking create many different opinions and conflicts against each other. The notion of "emptiness" in a way shows how people make things up with their subjective thinking. In short, "emptiness" means we all are making things up in our minds out of nothing in its very essence, causing all sort of emotions and attachments, which further leads to conflicts among different populations.
Buddhism stole from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and Hinduism's meditative tools. Buddha was not enlightened. To be enlightened an individual would be transformed by purification of the Subconscious mind and then the Purification of the Unconscious mind which allows the surface individual to connect with Brahma. Buddha never connected with Brahma and in fact was defeated by Mara (The Evil One) in the deepest levels of the Unconscious mind. Buddha never reached Brahma....as a result, he thought all life is pain and suffering. Yogis who reach Nirvikalpa samadhi have brief glimpses of Brahma. Buddha really Siddhartha Gautama highly likely never reached Nirvikalpa Samadhi.
Thanks for your message AtlasandLiberty. As I understand it, scholars believe that the Yoga Sutras were likely derived in part from Buddhist material and not compiled until the CE, as much as a millennium after the Buddha’s death. It is true that the formless meditative states taught to the Buddha before his awakening by Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta may indeed have been Brahminic teachings. (This is for example what Alex Wynne has argued, although Johannes Bronkhorst believes they are Jain teachings). However the Buddha did not believe these meditative practices led to liberation, and they were not included as part of the Eightfold Path.
AtlasandLiberty braminical terrorist is good religion who is divide people's Touchable and untouchable .
People did that to each other....Buddhism is false blowing out the soul's existence is following The Evil One's plan.
Have you finish your High School yet? From what book of Creationism are you reading? Hinduism? Christianism? Islamism? It sounds like a Children Fantasy book from a trash can near your house. Who wrote it? Common...I am an open mind😂
XMEN USA Clearly you have no experience with Samadhi....But to Answer you directly. Some information comes from Paramahansa Yogananda books "Man's Eternal Quest" & "Autobiography of a Yogi" "The Moksha Gita" ...."Tibetan Yoga and Secret Doctrines". Finally an Open Mind is a start.....But what is required is experience in Samadhi since you would recognise my observation that Buddha saw Life as Pain and suffering where Yogis see Life from a perspective that LIFE actually is LOVE.....and if an individual is diligent he/she will discover that Life is Eternal (Only the physical body is temporary). have a Nice Day