Buddhists R free THINKERS

neutral_onliner SG

Many so-called free thinkers are actually not "free" thinkers, but they are lazy to think. Just because they do not want to think seriously and ponder about the meaning of their existence they say they are free thinkers. There is no room for these kinds of thinkers in Buddhism. Buddhism encourages people to think freely but deeply and without bias.

The Buddha has given full freedom for man to think freely without depending on the concept of a god, a Buddha or any teacher to understand the truth. That is freedom. According to some western thinkers Buddhism is known as. "the religion of freedom and reason". Freedom however must be guided by reason.

Otherwise, people can abuse that freedom. For instance, if a government gives full freedom for people to live or to do anything according to their free will I am sure that within twenty four hours, they can ruin the whole country.

That is the danger of giving freedom without first developing reason in the minds of people. We must follow the same principle in practising religion. Although some people say that free will exists for man to exert, we know that without proper training and guidance the use of that free will can lead to disastrous con-sequences. A child may have free will, but it has to be taught not to play with a live electric wire.

The Buddha emphasises that freewill is not a gift from any external source. It is intrinsic to us. Human behaviour, human character, humanistic minds are characteristics which are developed over many life times. Whether we are cultured or uncultured, civilised or uncivilised, religious or irreligious, good or bad, wicked or kind, depends on our mental habits which we developed life after life in the past. These characteristics are not given by anybody.

Religion becomes important to guide and direct mans way of thinking by giving proper guidelines. The purpose of religion is to help a human being train his mind so that he develops understanding and acts in a morally responsible way. He does good because he "knows" that is the right thing to do, not because be wants to avoid punishment or receive rewards. Religion is an aid to individual development

Why should we not depend on anybody? If we are going to stop our evil, wicked, selfish thinking fearing that there is somebody to punish us, we will never give a chance for our mind to cultivate understanding, kindness, compassion. People also sometimes do good deeds or provide some service to others in expectation of a big reward. If this is the motivation, they will not develop sympathy, understanding accord.ing to the true meaning of these words. They become selfish avoiding evil deeds to escape punishment or do good to get rewards. This is selfishness.

The Buddha did not advocate this. If heaven and hell were both closed down, how many people would remain religious? Buddhism however encourages moral behaviour without reference to heaven or hell. This is the uniqueness in the Buddhas teaching.

The main purpose of religion is not to ensure escape from punishment or gain a reward but to help one become perfect and to end physical and mental suffering and be free from unsatisfactoriness.

The Buddha also wanted to cultivate humanity according to certain moral and ethical codes, discipline, and character. This is to be achieved without resorting to temptations provided by promises of heaven or to fear by threats of hell fire. That is why this religion is described as a religion of freedom and reason. The Buddha encouraged us to learn with an open mind to investigate and to understand the world. We must accept nothing at once on mere faith.

The Buddha says, "Do not accept anything through mere faith because it will make it difficult for you to understand the truth, because that faith can make you a blind follower.

neutral_onliner SG

Blind faith can lead to religious fanaticism. People react emotionally to their religious authorities rather than deciding rationally whether something is true or false because they have not developed analytical knowledge in their minds to understand why they should uphold certain moral practices and why they should keep away from certain immoral practices.

For instance, when a boy can not under-stand things properly, a father or mother threaten him. If he is very mischievous, they can even beat him and warn him not to make mistakes. Because of that fear, the child may stop doing mischievous deeds but he is not helped to realise why it is wrong and where the mistake is.

That only creates fear of punishment. Again, when they ask a child to do something and if he refuses, then, the parents will bribe him with the promise of a reward. The child may do it, but again without understanding why. It will be easy for him to revert to the wrong way of thinking or action without understanding. Similarly, we should not introduce religion through reward and punishment, without allowing people to have proper understanding

If we try to introduce religion through punishment and rewards, people will not understand the real validity and main purpose of religion. That is why in Buddhism there is no threat of religious punishment. The duty of a religion is to guide, educate and enlighten people.

Punishment is the duty of the law of the land. Religion should not undertake the role of the law to punish people. Otherwise, there will be fear but not understanding. This is the nature of the Buddhas teaching and why we regard him as a free thinker.

paperflower SG

agree.....

the problem for some is - blind faith and that fear & threat that have been planted so deeply into their faiths. even they know something is wrong they don't even dare to speak up at all just cos they are humans. looks like they have lost their self..... such as this analogy - like a donkey led by a carrot.

may them be well and directed into the right path soon.

namo di zang wang pu sa....

neutral_onliner SG

The Buddha did not say that Buddhism was the only true religion and that all other religions were wrong. Then he gave certain guidelines for these young people to think freely without depending on the authority of teachers or religious leaders. This advice is an important aspect of the Buddhas doctrine.

Intellectuals all over the world appreciate the Buddhas attitude because of the liberal advice that the Buddha gave for people to think freely. The Buddha did not claim that he is the only true religious teacher and if one came and worshipped and prayed to him, one would be saved, ones sins would be forgiven, one would end up in heaven or nirvana after death. He also never suggested that we should disrespect other religious teachers. He said, "respect those who are worthy of respect".

Some people believe that if they worship or respect another religious teacher, they commit a sin. This is because there are some religionists who warn that if their followers step into another place of worship, or read some other religious book or if they listen to another religious talk, they commit a sin and will be punished in hell. They want to show that they are allergic to other religions. This creates fear and keeps people ignorant. Buddhism does not encourage this kind of intolerant attitudes. Again, the Buddha says, "Accept the truth whenever it is available. Support everybody irrespective of their religions".

It is wrong to blindfold and mislead innocent people. By creating discrimination they propagate very unhealthy ideas in the name of religion. Because of that, many people have come to regard religion as a nuisance. Goodwill, unity, harmony and rela-tionships amongst humanity is destroyed due to such hostile attitudes. Sometimes, members of the same family are divided into different groups through the influence of such religious attitude.

Buddhists have never been encouraged to adopt such hostile attitudes to spread Buddhism over the last 2,500 years. That is why Buddhists do not organise questionable methods to convert - the followers of other religion into Buddhism. Buddhists do not think that it is very important to convert others, by thinking that the followers of other religion are sinners. The Buddha never instituted a method to baptise people or to forgive sins committed by them.

neutral_onliner SG

well as education level of pples improved, they r beginning to see it Cool

neutral_onliner SG

We have to accept the duties and obligations taught in religion not as law but a free choice. We have to act according to our own conviction and according to our way of life. We must not blindly accept certain ready made religious laws given by the religious authorities. Religion should not be accepted because of fear but with an open mind to know how to make use of life to serve others and to understand the meaning of existence.

Today, all over the world, people are fighting to propagate their own religious beliefs. They are fighting, harbouring jealousy, and creating hatred towards other existing religions. There are people who had been practising their religion for more than two or three thousand years as part of their cultural heritage or way of life. The rich legacy, rich psychology, philosophy, respectable and harmless life, morals and ethics have helped them to lead a noble life. Yet, some other religious groups try to force them to accept their religious beliefs by promising to send them to heaven, as if they have been given the sole authority to monopolise heaven. They try to tell others that only through their religion, can people go to heaven.

According to Buddhism, the followers of any religion or even those who have no particular religious labels also can go to heaven. This they can do if they have cultivated their humane qualities and if they have not abused their human life and have maintained human dignity and human intelligence.

neutral_onliner SG

According to some religionists, a man who leads a harmless life, cannot go to heaven without first accepting their god. But a criminal who violates, endangers innocent people by committing all sorts of evil deeds gets the chance to go to heaven because he simply says a moment before his death, "I believe". They say if you embrace their religion, god forgives all the sins that you have committed and straight away, you get sent to heaven.

The criminal has the chance to go to heaven after violating peace and happiness of innocent people. According to them, a god can save the criminal but has no sympathy towards those who have become his victims.

If a god can save the culprit after committing evil deeds and harming others, why it is so difficult for him to stop those evil deeds before they were committed?

Buddhists believe that whether people have different religious labels or even if they claim not to have any religion, if they are good, cultured people and if they do not harm others and if they have gentleness, they are considered respectable from the Buddhist point of view.

may all hav peace & happiness Cool

Devil1976 SG

Originally posted by neutral_onliner:
Many so-called free thinkers are actually not "free" thinkers, but they are lazy to think. Just because they do not want to think seriously and ponder about the meaning of their existence they say they are free thinkers. There is no room for these kinds of thinkers in Buddhism. Buddhism encourages people to think freely but deeply and without bias.

YOUR MAMA TAUGHT YOU THIS....?? Laughing

casino_king SG

How people who believe that man can fly around with their legs crossed and walk on water call themselves thinkers is beyond me.

An Eternal Now SG

They're just people who have such an open mind that accepts the possibility of powers developed through spiritual cultivation, which many had already achieved certain levels of it.

On the other hand, if one fervently disbelief although there had been many instances and cases of ppl with such powers, then it wld be a form of dogmatism.

Nevertheless, in Buddhism, it is not required that you believe in supernatural powers. You may remain sceptical about this area while continuing to practise the dharma. One day you if you have the right opportunity right chance to meet such a person you wld be convinced.

neutral_onliner SG

no Cool

neutral_onliner SG

again u hav miss the pt.Tat got nothing to do wf buddhism Cool

paperflower SG

Laughing fine one day u'll realise yourself floating... and by then who would believe u? what goes around comes around.

well, just don't be affected by it, be it people can fly or float or whatever or not. most important is yourself. don't stray and stay focus and find your path to cultivate.

may u be well.

An Eternal Now SG

btw, casino_king I have to thank you for being a major cause of allevating the buddhism forum status and entering the top 20 list in sgforums Mr. Green

Thusness SG

Hi Casino_King,

Assuming that you have never heard of Einstein Relativity and Quantum Mechanics and someone were to tell you yesterday is at a very very very far place. What do you think of him? What about messages can be communicated instantaneously even billions of miles apart? Arent these assertions -- fantasies?
Wink

neutral_onliner SG

In order to understand the strengths of a philosophy one should attempt to refute it. Cool

Thusness SG

Indeed. Smile