I'm an atheist. I have been meditating seriously for two years now. I usually meditate for an hour a day in one sitting. I have slowly been reading the Pali canon for the last year and a half. I do not believe in gods. I have no reason to believe in rebirth, however I reserve final judgment on that as direct experience of the remembrance of past lives does not manifest until reaching the formless attainments in meditation. I suspect that the Buddha experienced memory of and taught rebirth due to preconditioning by his culture. I have yet to see an explanation that reconciled the doctrine of rebirth with the doctrine of no self that was to my satisfaction.
I came to an understanding of Dukkha, the basic unsatifactoryness of life, well before I heard of it through Buddhism. If was as a thought experiment regarding the creation of AI. If a consciousness were to be created what would keep it from simply abiding in, or winding down to, a state of continuous meditation-like self reflection? What would insure that it was always return to action? A simple command: "be thou discontent" (forgive the king James). I believe this is one of the "base operating commands" that evolved for survival of animal life. This to me is the core of the Buddhist teachings. Dissatisfaction exists and the Buddha found a pathway that can lead to the cessation of that dissatisfaction. If what it asks you to give up is more important to you than what the path offers, then don't walk the path, simple as that.
Another thought: the version of Buddhism you gave up is an extreme, so is rejecting all of it, good and bad. The middle path is between extremes. The middle path leads to the true Dhamma.
I came to an understanding of Dukkha, the basic unsatifactoryness of life, well before I heard of it through Buddhism. If was as a thought experiment regarding the creation of AI. If a consciousness were to be created what would keep it from simply abiding in, or winding down to, a state of continuous meditation-like self reflection? What would insure that it was always return to action? A simple command: "be thou discontent" (forgive the king James). I believe this is one of the "base operating commands" that evolved for survival of animal life. This to me is the core of the Buddhist teachings. Dissatisfaction exists and the Buddha found a pathway that can lead to the cessation of that dissatisfaction. If what it asks you to give up is more important to you than what the path offers, then don't walk the path, simple as that.
Another thought: the version of Buddhism you gave up is an extreme, so is rejecting all of it, good and bad. The middle path is between extremes. The middle path leads to the true Dhamma.
