Belief
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Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.
- Buddha.
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Kind of like incest. Culturally wrong but when looked at analytically fine!
Comment by Jared Kells June 13, 2008 3:52 pm @ 3:52 pmWhat? So you’ve looked at incest analytically and found that it’s fine? I suppose having extra toes
could be an advantage in certain situations, but there are other side effects to incest that arent
so good.
Where did you get the quote from the Buddha Meags?
I think the sayings are useful and interesting,but
one thing I was thinking is that three of the statements could just as much be used against these sayings, because they’re contained in religious texts, rely atleast to some extent on the authority of teachers (Buddha and other monks)
and are philosophical traditions handed down over
many hundreds of years (since Buddha lived around
560 BC.)
Another thing I’m wondering about is how these statements fit with Christian faith. For example, it would be hard not to, as a Christian, believe in some way in the message of our religious texts
and to believe and practice the various traditions
of the church. Going by these statements this would be ok to do provided that the beliefs practices and traditions were “reasonable” and were “good for all” but how do we decide that? It gets tricky when you consider that as Christians our standard of what’s good comes from a Christian philosophy of ethics based on a good deal of Scripture both from the OT and NT.
And what can you observe and analyse about the Christian way of life or belief until you’ve
Comment by Luke June 13, 2008 6:32 pm @ 6:32 pmembraced it and seen what its like and whether
its good or beneficial? Although you could look
at other Christians and judge its good or benefit
on their lives, actions and consequences, but of course they may not be living up to the faith they
profess to have.
Firstly, I think that incest is rules out as it wouldnt really meet the criteria of being “conducive to the good and benefit of one and all”
Secondly, this is a challenge. We are being challenged to do this. Its not easy to ‘accept it and live up to it’. Even if you are talking about the Christian Faith, we (I) fall vastly short of living up to that. Im thinking specifically of Love the lord your God and love your neighbour as much as you love yourself. I believe that both of those statements live up to what Buddha is talking about it, but im not going to be able to actually live up to them.
It is tricky, Its not meant to be easy. If it were easy, then so many of us would be sitting around talking about it, we would be living like it.
Comment by Meags June 13, 2008 6:45 pm @ 6:45 pmI think Buddha is referring to living according to the Spirit, rather than the Law.
I think it is important to remember that Christianity is not primarily an ethical system (Peter Sellick argues the case here).
Comment by Paul Robotham June 14, 2008 10:40 am @ 10:40 am