Does buddhism believe in spreading of the religion?

last SG · 2009-08-10T16:13:58+00:00

I will say this only once. Spreading false teaching or misleading people into not believing the Buddha's teaching has very serious karmic consequences. Buddh...

S.gal83 SG

Does buddhism believes in the spreading of the buddhist religion?

youyayu SG

spreading of the TEACHING of buddha. NOT RELIGION.

Herzog_Zwei SG

spreading of the TEACHING of buddha. NOT RELIGION.

Same thing lah. Unless the teaching is not spread but the spirit is spread.

An Eternal Now SG

Does buddhism believes in the spreading of the buddhist religion?

Not in the same way as how Christians do that, e.g. massive evangelism. But we do encourage sharing dharma with others. But I do believe a more proactive effort to spread our teachings is possible.

Conversion in Buddhism is also not just a "just believe and that's it" thing, the person must be interested and learn more about the dharma himself also, ultimately it is himself who is going to attain enlightenment and liberation. The important thing is not just conversion but how is he truly going to benefit from the dharma? Is he truly keen to learn and practice it to see its benefits?

So in this sense, the way we see spirituality is different from the way other religions sees it.

Herzog_Zwei SG

Not in the same way as how Christians do that, e.g. massive evangelism. But we do encourage sharing dharma with others.

So in this sense, the way we see spirituality is different from the way other religions sees it.

Try not believing but understand thing also doesn't bring someone anywhere.

An Eternal Now SG

Try not believing but understand thing also doesn't bring someone anywhere.

Certain level of faith is necessary for the person to start walking the path. Understanding is important, but if you understand and don't practice/walk the path then there's no use.

Enlightenment, liberation is gained through walking the path and gaining direct experience. A natural confidence grows not dependent on belief but on one's experience, insights. Faith, belief, transforms into conviction and certainty born of insights and experience.

Isis SG

The answer is no w.r.t ur question. What is the intention of spreading the religion?

Discerning Religious Teachings

The Buddha instructs the Kalama People on which basis one should decide which religious teaching to accept as true. The Buddha tells the Kalamas to not just believe religious teachings because they are claimed to be true by various sources or through the application of various methods and techniques. He urges that direct knowledge from one's own experience should be called upon. He counsels that the words of the wise should be heeded and taken into account when deciding upon the value of a teaching. This is not a dogmatic acceptance but rather a constantly questioning and testing acceptance of those teachings which can be proven to reduce suffering.

In other words, Buddhism is like a science and you are a scientist. It is supposed to have a spirit of free-enquiries and not something to be taken in blindly.

Herzog_Zwei SG

The answer is no w.r.t ur question. What is the intention of spreading the religion?

Discerning Religious Teachings

In other words, Buddhism is like a science and you are a scientist. It is supposed to have a spirit of free-enquiries and not something to be taken in blindly.

Then the religious dogma of cause and effect is not true.

Emanrohe SG

Actually, if you seriously consider it, Herzog_Zwei's concern of "Then the religious dogma of cause and effect is not true." is very valid! That's how I have always felt. We keep on talking about cause and effect, but how do you prove it?

:) Metta _(|)_

marcteng SG

Then the religious dogma of cause and effect is not true.

H1N1 flu virus, how does it came about? cos the virus mutated isnt it. isnt this a classic case?

Isis SG

Then the religious dogma of cause and effect is not true.

You can think it there way. But how do you prove it?

Herzog_Zwei SG

You can think it there way. But how do you prove it?

Not every effect will have a cause and not every cause will have a effect.

It is seen in everday life. When a person breathes, it causes a disturbance in air pressure. Then if so, one's breathe can be the cause of a Hurricane or a tornado but with so many people around in this world, is there that many hurricane or tornado around the world?

An Eternal Now SG

Not every effect will have a cause and not every cause will have a effect.

That is not the only cause for tornados.

Isis SG

Not every effect will have a cause and not every cause will have a effect.

May i ask what cause you to write this down?

An Eternal Now SG

:) Metta _(|)_

As I wrote to HZ:

If dependent origination does not occur everywhere, then if I do A (cause) + B (condition) then it may or may not result in C (effect)

It doesn't make sense. If I put a blue chemical and a green chemical together and it's supposed to have a chemical reaction resulting in a yellow chemical, you're saying the reaction may or may not take place.

Or if I hit the bell, and your ears are working properly, there's a probability you might not actually hear the sound.

If you're talking about karma that spans multiple lifetimes, this is something that is meant to be taken by faith before we experience it.

Herzog_Zwei SG

May i ask what cause you to write this down?

Just because I noticed it in real life and I noted it down for my own personal reference.

Isis SG

Just because I noticed it in real life and I noted it down for my own personal reference.

Why did you noted it down for personal reference then?

man4422 SG

For Christians, they encourage followers to spread the knowledge to other people.

For Buddhists, they encourage other people to be enlightened first before coming to accept their Teaching. When destiny comes, other people would naturally believe in buddhism and come to join us.

Herzog_Zwei SG

For Christians, they encourage followers to spread the knowledge to other people.

For Buddhists, they encourage other people to be enlightened first before coming to accept their Teaching. When destiny comes, other people would naturally believe in buddhism and come to join us.

Are you enlightened or disabuse of notion?

Jamber SG

from my personal understanding, cause & effect as we understand it in daily life is just an extremely superficial view of how reality works (dependent origination). nothing wrong with A+B=C understanding of cause & effect and it works for our simple understanding of how things works in daily life. hit the bell and if the ears are working and we will hear the sound of bell, no problem. mix blue and green and u get yellow, no problem too. but this superficial and simplistic understanding does not in any way fully describe the teaching of dependent origination or how reality, phenomenon and processes works.

reason why when a person breathes, changes the air pressure but didn't cause tornado is simply because dependent origination is not so simplistic as A+B=C as we think it is. dependent origination is probably more like A+B+C...N=result, where N=infinity, to put it in scientific sense. that's why kind person (A) + do good deeds (B) does not always = good outcome (not immediately anyway). we see kind people who do good still encounter so-called bad outcomes simply because all the conditions are not in place to produce the good outcome. we assume we just need A+B but in reality it is A+B+C....N to produce the "good outcome". so when we mistakenly assume that we only need A+B=C, and we don't see it happens immediately (like good people encountering bad circumstances), we then further mistakenly thinks that dependent origination is not true, cause & effect is not true. fact of matter is we do not appreciate dependent origination deeply enough to know its implications and how it impacts the simplistic "cause & effect" phenomenon in daily life.

i think the teaching of emptiness helps me personally to understand dependent origination much better. the lack of inherent existence of A, B, C...N is exactly why the eventual and expected outcome can be "produced" relatively. at what exact point in time does a seed appear/disappear that leads to the exact point in time a sprout appear/disappear? who knows...

Neither from itself nor from another,
Nor from both,
Nor without a cause,
Does anything whatever, anywhere arise.

- Nagarjuna