(March 14, 2010 at 8:42 am)Laurens Wrote:(March 14, 2010 at 8:22 am)tackattack Wrote: From my perspective it doesn't align with most religions becuase of it's lack of a God or God's. One I'm sure could argue that Buddha could be considered a God and the Dali Lama a prophet, but I don't think internally that's their view. In a lot of other aspects it does though, life after death, doing good works gains a reward, punishment for bad works, etc. Just as Christianity differs only from the usual religious formula in that it doens't believe Good works are what gets you a reward.
It's true that Buddhism can function without God or Gods, but I wouldn't say it is itself without them completely. There are many 'heavenly' realms in Buddhism where one can hope to be reborn as a God of some kind. There is even stories of the Buddha conversing with Maha-Brahma, supposed creator of the universe, except that Buddhism views him as deluding himself into thinking he created the universe, rather than actually creating it.
The thing Buddhism lacks is a creator God, thats all. Buddhism teaches that our round of rebirths has no beginning and the only way out is to follow the Buddha. Infact Buddhism doesn't actually go so far as to say there is no creator God, only that the Buddha did not answer the question.
My view is that Buddhism is a lot like other religions, it just does a good job of marketing itself differently to the others - which is probably why it is becoming successful in the west. Also since being imported to the west it has lost a lot of its superstitions and fairy stories, if you went to somewhere like Thailand, Buddhism would seem a heck of a lot more religious.
The problem is we know (scientifically speaking) infinite rebirths isn't really possible. First, humans didn't always exist (we're a rather new species in terms of the lifespan of the universe); and we also know the universe (as it is now) won't last forever (although 100 trillion years is a pretty long time e.g. before maximum entropy sets in ... although I tend to think the physics on this stuff is in its infancy, but not to digress).
Buddhism is like other religions. No basis in fact, but it probably teaches a few good things?
