I joined and am writing mostly to encourage Bart to explore Buddhism. When I heard Bart say the existence of suffering in the world was a significant factor in the evolution of his beliefs, I realized that, although he is obviously well versed in all things Biblical, he knows nothing of Buddhism, which I think has allowed me to understand Christianity better than ever.
Anyhow, the Four Nobel Truths are: 1 – Suffering exists; 2 – Suffering has causes, it does not arise spontaneously; 3 – Those causes can be identified and eliminated; 4 – The way to do that is to follow the Eight Fold Noble Path, which is: 1 – Right view, 2 – Right aspiration, 3 – Right speech, 4 – Right action, 5 – Right livelihood, 6 – right effort, 7 – Right mindfulness, 8 – Right concentration. Arguably, live as Jesus taught. The goal is to empty the mind of all the BS the world has pumped into it so you can see things as they really are and thereby overcome suffering.
Lots of Buddhism in the Gnostics and Gospel of Thomas. Hope you will look into it.
keep up the good work Bart.
Frank
Welcome.
I realized that, although he is obviously well versed in all things Biblical, he knows nothing of Buddhism
He’s obviously not a scholar of Buddhism, but I’d be really surprise if Bart knows nothing of it.
You might be interested in this interview wherein he ** you do not have permission to see this link **–briefly–on the blog.
Welcome HG of FM! Interesting name. There’s probably a story there.
Buddhism is one of the non-Abrahamic religions I have actually studied although obviously an actual devotee would find that unsatisfactory. Much to admire. It is resolutely psychological. The very beginning of the Dhammapada-
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of the ox that draws the carriage.
All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never leaves him.
“He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,”—in those who harbour such thoughts hatred will never cease.
“He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me,”—in those who do not harbour such thoughts hatred will cease.
Nāgārjuna, writing about the same time the NT traditions were being formally organized into a canon, is one of my favorite philosophers, although as a modernist secularist I don’t share his metaphysics. Many scholars have noted interesting parallels between some of Nāgārjuna’s ideas and those of Wittgenstein in the West. And compared to modern American Evangelistic Fundamentalism, the Dalai Lama seems remarkably sane.
But Buddhism has the same problem as Christianity. It posits that there is something “wrong” that needs to be “fixed”. It’s bracing when Buddhism accepts that suffering is part of the warp and woof of reality. To live is to suffer. But there’s no “cure”. We quite rightly treat the symptoms but there is no “disease”.
What we see is exactly what we would expect for an ecology that evolved as a byproduct of the processes of nature. Life is that which is sustained by consuming itself. And even the Vegans cannot escape since by many definitions of conscious awareness many plants certainly qualify. The sensitive soul recoils from this appalling revelation and produces comforting, beautiful myths. It is we who created the gods and mercy and compassion, out of pity for ourselves and each other.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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