LOL, well I can't answer for everyone here; but I will tell you what I know of Buddhism, or more specifically the Tibetan Buddhism. Of course the Buddhism have no 'answer' to the cycle of sin. Simple; because the Buddhism DO NOT believe in the cycle of sin per se and 'solution' to the problem of sin. There IS never going to be a 'solution' to the problem of sin per se; because if there IS a solution; humans will cease to exist. Well, now it's time for you to indulge on my opinion for a second here. Buddhism do not believe in the original sin and cycle of sin because the Buddhism have an answer to that; which is the laws of KARMA. Well, the Buddhists believe in the law of Karma. When you do things which harm others; You sow, so shall you reap. However, a misconception is that people suffer due to their bad Karma; which is not necessarily accurate. Many people come to this Earth with a definite plan that they will have a specific illness; be it cancer or live in poverty and other types of suffering. But it's not necessarily that the person's bad karma is 'paying him back'. It could be an accident, a mischance and nothing more. Nor does it mean that the poor wretched doctor has a load of karma added because some things are accidents, and it does not mean that if a person has a definite, unavoidable accident, he is going to be saddled with karma. The person who comes down and is injured through a complete mischance gets 'credits' because the failure of that life was not of his making. And sometimes, you may have a very good person who gets a lot of pain and suffering... and we may think that it is unfair that such a good person should have to endure such suffering, or you may think that the person is paying back an exceedingly bad karma.. he must have been a fiend in previous life... But this may be wrong. The person may be enduring all these in order to see how the pain can be eliminated for others who come after.. He may be accumulating good karma instead. It could also be because enduring all those pain/suffering would enable him to advance his own spiritual progress in the quickest time. The Buddhism do not believe in Heaven/Hell because we believe in Reincarnation. The cycle of birth and rebirth; ie Reincarnation. And of course we do have our own 'solution' to break the 'cycle of birth and rebirth' and that is by attaining the state of Buddhahood aka Nirvana. So you see, the Buddhism do not have a solution to cycle of sin per se; because the Buddhism simply believed in another matter altogether. And who are we to tell whose belief is wrong or right? And if you are still in doubt; I shall further explain to you that in Buddhism; there is also an explanation to why we come to exist and live in this state. 1) There is suffering and there is a cause for that suffering. Suffering can be overcome, and there there is a way of peace. The Buddhists also refer to this as the Four Noble Truths. 2) Nirvana. aka state of Enlightenment. Mind and matter are in a state of constant change. The mind causes the spirit to bog down as if stuck in clay. Withdraw the mind, and then one attains to Nirvana, and so becomes free from suffering and the cycle of continual rebirth, living, dying and being reborn. 3) The Eightfold Path, which means- correct views correct aspirations correct speech correct conduct correct methods of livelihood correct effort correct thoughts correct contemplation Buddhahood is a state of being. One can attain Buddhahood no matter what one's station in life. The Prince or the garbage collector can each be pure and holy. We are like actors on a stage, and we take the status which will be of most assistance to us in learning that which we have to learn. The Thousand Buddhas, as is often mentioned; is merely an indication that one can attain to Buddhahood in a thousand or so different ways. The thousand, is merely a figure of speech. There could be millions of ways. Buddha is a symbol, not the graven image of a God. The Buddha figures are just reminders of what we can be if we want to be, and if we work to be. Well I am sorry I have come to such a lengthy explanation of my own beliefs, I hope they did not bore you... The Christians have time and again explained religious issues based on their Bible; so I guess I should be doing the same in terms of explaining my point of view. I give my respect to where it is due. I do not respect anyone be it Christians or Muslims or Hindus who just tried to explain things from their perspective and REFUSED to listen to others' views; so I guess you probably owe it to me to listen to my explanation about the Buddhism's beliefs as well?
Proven fact? By whom? With due respect; my beliefs don't even believe in the 'cycle of sin' in the first place; why would I want to break it? And I think that; should be left alone because if we go further, we would have to come to a debate of the difference in beliefs in the various religions and flaws in them as well, no?
Now now, just because I don't believe in the same religion as you doesn't mean I am a shallow person who never dwelved into the mysteries of Life itself and what not. I believe you are guilty of making an assumption there of me being quite an 'uninformed' little twerp contented to live this Life and never thought about what happens after?! Of course I have my own beliefs in what happens in the afterlife. I believe strictly in reincarnation and not Heaven or Hell per se. Just as you Christians have your goal of going to Heaven; mine is attaining Nirvana and to escape the cycle of birth and rebirth. If you choose to debate further; I'll raise some points which I considered are flaws in the Heaven/Hell concept. First of all, why does Hell even exist if God (in the Christian sense) supposed to be compassionate? "In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful"... Most Christians (not you, yet) would then answer, "Hell is created for Satan" Well then, wouldn't God be compassionate enough to just make Satan vanish (since God is Almighty) instead of resorting to torture? And why would God let humans fall into hell for them to burn eternally??? That kind of torture is definitely extreme cruelty; and isn't God against cruelty?! In fact; God has always been recognised as the most Kind; the most Merciful; the most Loving, the most Compassionate... the list goes on! And if a Christian (not you) says; "those humans fall into Hell because they don't believe in God" (as God in the Christian sense) wouldn't that portray God as a vengeful being? Just like,"You didn't believe in me... so I'm sending you to Hell to burn forever"... and God is asking us all NOT to be cruel and vengeful when he Himself is doing that? Isn't that hypocrisy? The existence of a Hell and Heaven per se just do not entice me enough. And I have another point to 'explain' why this concept was construed in the beginning... As you are probably aware, Buddhism existed before Christianity... so, in an attempt to explain why the concept of Hell and Heaven are created in the first place and that there is no such thing as reincarnation, I would say... One obvious example is this; in the days of long ago the priests had utter power and they ruled people by terror, by the thought of eternal damnation. Everyone was taught that they had to make the best of this life because there would be no other opportunity. It was known that if people were taught of reincarnation, they might tend to slack in this life and pay for it in the next. So... now are you satisfied to know that I do, in fact, believe that this life, what I see now, what I have now, and what I can have in the distant future, are NOT what all they can be and are something more??? In fact, if it intrigues you, my beliefs even explained who and what Jesus was? His purpose and why he came on this Earth? If you want me to elaborate on that; I would gladly do so... Considering Christians are always so willing to share their beliefs... And by the way, you do in fact, notice I am using the term "my beliefs" instead of "my religion" right? Because contrary to the common mistake in the claim that Buddhism is a religion, it is in fact, more a Way of Life than anything else. A Path one may choose to embark on, on his quest to seek further Enlightenment. And perhaps I should stress that we are only making our own points of view based on our own respective beliefs; so yeah... no personal offence. We'll just take this as a discussion and an analysis/comparison of our beliefs yeah? On a cheeky note, I gleefully wonder how long it will take you this time to come up with a complete rebuttal/counter-argument/opinions to everything I have said? -bigsmile
Well it gives me the pleasure to know that at least ONE person (you?) would read ALL of it... I hope... LOL
Doesnt this describe many woman today (NOT ALL OK), who wouldn't dream of marrying a man unless he is good in bed etc etc. i don't really want to get into it so i wont. the bible actually says "For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses" Ez 23:20 not to sure were the one at the top came from. would like to know though.
Excuse me? Are you telling me the Bible is actually 'morally right' in entailing one of the seven sins LUST in all its glorified and lewd details which would directly/indirectly encourage the readers??? Don't dig your own grave there... <_<
While I agree that most religion and beliefs are teachings of the "proper" and "moral" beings, I am skeptical to your logic of deduction. Let's just assume for a moment that the teachings of Islam, Buddha, Confucianism, Taoism, Daoism etc etc are INDEED fundamentally equal to Christianity. It's just an assumption to bring out my point which follows, I personally in no way think it is the case. How can you tell that Christianity is THE ONE TRUE PATH while the other beliefs are just cheap knock-offs and not the other way around? It could have been that Islam IS THAT ONE TRUE PATH while Christianity is the knock-off, no? And just because Christianity gives a solution to the hypotheitical concept of Sin, it IS the true path? It could totally have been, like the concept of eternal damnation used to "aid" the conversion and disciplining of followers, that so-called "resolution of sin" is another staple work to keep the faith instead of something based on fact or even truth.
I would like to see the proof of its factuality before commenting, because without any backing, any so-called proven fact or common sense is pretty subjective and personal (like the existence of God, if I may add) I am not BR, but I am totally offended by your question. This reply is to vent my fustration that the common assumption of Christians that non-believers are wanton shallow beings. I do not believe in neither Heaven and its counterpart Hell does not mean that I do not have my construct of such tangible thing called life. And is it THAT difficult to swallow that one just cease to exist when one dies? I never quite understand the various closure religion and beliefs give their followers in terms of the time after death, be it Heaven and Hell, Judgement and or reincarnation. Such reassurance is simply suspicious to me... @BR: I am slowly working on it... slowly... Just you wait...
LOL, sista... I already given a piece of my mind on that!! But way to go on pointing it out again... P/s: You are totally being naughty here instead of doing ur own 'work' that u are supposed to do at the library eh?
@BR: I am no expert on Buddhism (nor any religion/belief to be frank) so I guess you need to drag dann here for a discussion on the specifics of Buddhism. However, I personally believe in Karma (above numerous other explanations of life), not exactly because it is a concept of Buddhism, but because it make sense to me. Good deed shall be rewarded, while malice will only turn upon oneself. I think the construct of Heaven and Hell is still too far ahead and with too much uncertainty to hold water for me.
That verse from fx, comes from the Jehovah Witnesses version [NIV] which was specially written for that religion.
@Hiake: Exactly on point of the laws of karma... Not to preach on Buddhism but I believe everyone should "Do as you would have others do unto You..." and the world will certainly become a more beautiful place to live in. @Master_G : and that second quote is as obscene/offending as the first one.
Did I just smell misogyny here? Anyways, I believe the quote you just gave is just as offensive as fearless' modern translated version, with less-than-common words littered here and there does not make it any less offensive @_@b Really, I sincerely think Bible can be quite X-rated at times...
hehe i dont recall myself claiming that Christianity is fake =P im just saying that i dont rule out the possibility that some info might be false im actually talking about the ppl who were recording the events, not Christians in general. i believe they are all loyal followers of Jesus and are willing to spread His words (regardless if it is true or not) at the cost of thier life. Babyrain, care to explain how does reincarnation actually works? as we all know human population is increasing by the day =P did God added more souls into the world? if yes, why do so? also, does reincarnation applies to all human on earth or only ppl who believes in Buddhism? This is kinda off-topic but i've always wondered what happen to other living creatures when they die? do they just disappear? any religious point of view for this matter?
oh my... i got all this to read >_< ill check it out tomorrow.... make sure you guys dont write too much during that time -lol haha im kidding..
Oh my, there goes some lenghty essays AGAIN?!? @ hiake: baby that died prematurely do not go to heaven or hell, they will be resurrected in what christians call the 1000 yrs before satan will be cast away forever.
