A Common Stance?

What I thought about last night, is... do other religions such as Hinduisim claim that there god(s) are the only one and that our god does not exist. Or to put it simply, are all other religions denouncing the existence of the others god? I'm a buddhist and I wonder, do God and Amida-sama coexist? My parents are avid christians, but can my "god" and the christian god be real? Ya'll know what i mean. I would appreciate any input.

Justin Gaar wrote: What I thought about last night, is... do other religions such as Hinduisim claim that there god(s) are the only one and that our god does not exist. Or to put it simply, are all other religions denouncing the existence of the others god?

"Many-godded" religions (Hinduism, Buddhism (?), KAMI worship) tend to be more tolerant of outside gods than "single-godded ones (Christianity, Islam).

I'm a buddhist and I wonder, do God and Amida-sama coexist?

Do H2O and water co-exist?
Water and hydrogen?...

I believe it's more a personal view of the religion...I mean, depending on the "open-mindedness" of the individual, any religion could view and "god" as existing or coexisting...So, do you believe they both exist?...

Bryce

Justin Gaar wrote: What I thought about last night, is... do other religions such as Hinduism claim that there god(s) are the only one and that our god does not exist. Or to put it simply, are all other religions denouncing the existence of the others god? I'm a Buddhist and I wonder, do God and Amida-sama coexist? My parents are avid Christians, but can my "god" and the Christian god be real? Y'all know what i mean. I would appreciate any input.

Dear Justin,

Please allow me to put things in perspective.

Hinduism is a polytheist religion and they believe in many deities. Krishna, Shiva, etc occupying the upper echelon of the hierarchy. And below them are numerous deities each with specific duties to heaven, earth and hell. I see a political system there. In some of their believe, the god or almighty is considered as another manifestation of Krishna, the god of gods.

Buddhas, strictly speaking are not gods. Even Sakamuni Buddha and many Buddhas before and after him were previously living mortals. They are enlightened beings whom through many births and having proper cultivation managed to break free from the cycle of birth/death. In Buddhism, Buddha did not speak of any creator nor an Almighty. His teaching is taken from different perspective; how can mortal break free from the shackle of rebirth and death. I do not recall him talking abt Genesis. I guess the Bible cover that part pretty well, no need for him to be duplicative, my guess?

Do God exist? I believe they do or else, how could this earth function as it function now? Does Amithaba and Christian God co-exist? I believe they do, if your heart allows it to.

Boon.

For two thousand, five hundred years, Buddhists have spent all their time refuting each other. You had the Sarvastivadins and the Mahasangikas, and then you had the Mahayana schools like Cittamatra refuting and being refuted by older Buddhist schools like Sautantrikas. And of course, Buddhists refute other religious views, such as a creator god and Self (Atman) as well. You just need to read something by various Indian masters like Shantideva to see how much they refuted other points of view.
But then again, at the great Nalanda university where Shantideva stayed (he did stay there, didn't he?), they studied all the great philosophies of their time, including non-Buddhist ones. So they refuted each other, but also thought it worthwhile to study and understand each other (although probably for some just understanding another school enough to be able to refute them was enough).

As far as I can understand in Tibetan Buddhism (I don't know about other forms of Buddhism), they accept the existence of other gods, etc.; they just are ordinary beings reborn in the god realms due to good karma, and once their karma is exhausted, they'll once again be reborn in lower realms.
There are some texts I heard of that tell a story about a god that came into existence (was reborn in the god realm), and as he looked at the world he thought, "You know, I must have created this!" I wouldn't take a story like that literally, for it seems to just be for the purpose of giving judgment on the origin of other religions rather than allowing them to be judged on their own merits.

The world we live in today has a great push towards secularization and acceptance of different religions--at least, that's the popular view. So many Buddhists hold a more universal view of things.
I just take the view that whatever view or philosophy that comes out the conceptual mind is relative truth (because the conceptual, dualistic mind is relative) and that the ultimate truth is cannot be comprehended by the conceptual mind.
And also, we can of course refute other points of view at the surface level, but as you get more and more in depth, I think you find that most are "going to the same place."

I mean, really, I think you just got to make up your own mind about this and continue to study and learn more, and be open to changing your mind as you learn more (I've got to remember that). You could take the view, for instance, that the Christian God is none other than Amida Buddha (or other buddhas and bodhisattvas) manifesting teachings in a way that is or was comprehensible to the western mind.
There is also the point of view that religions develop out of different cultures' and people's interpretation of ultimate reality. There's the experience and then there's the understanding/ conceptualization of it.
My point of view is that Buddhism is closer in understanding and has clearest path to understanding ultimate reality in a nondulistic way and so truly understanding the relative as well. But that's because I'm Buddhist and of course I think my way is the best because I connect the most with it. And if I really listen to what other philosophies are saying, I cannot say that my way is the only way and not the best way for all people.

Just in case I was unnecessarily complicated and confusing...
Different religions of course refute other religions, but at the same time, I think that today it's more popular to hold a more universal view which says all (or most) religions and philosophies are going to the same place, that they all hold wisdom.
I certainly haven't met many western Buddhist teachers that say that the way other religions do things is illegitimate, but in every religion you have fundamentalists and exclusiveists who say "my way is the only way."
Of course as a Buddhist you don't have to believe that the God created heaven and earth, but that doesn't mean that you have to think that anything they have to say is wrong simply because you hold a different religious/philosophical view.

Hey, thanks for all your input. It's helped me alot. I just want to be sure that I can be comfortable in my own spiritual skin, so to speak. Any more input would be great.
Arigato,
Justin

A rose by any other name......
Lan