Originally posted by happyharvest:
I have two questions for you.
1) Let's move things a bit backwards. How do you explain the
existence of [b]all elements that make up the universe and
the earth? Do they all along exist already (in the universe)? [this
may be a bit tougher than the second ques]
2) How do you explain the high degree of design and order in the
universe,complex order in cosmological, stellar, planetary,
chemical and biological systems and the way how the laws of nature
work together? Because of big bang and then next evolution? [this
may be a bit less tougher to answer]
I hope you don't get the wrong meaning. I just want to know how
buddhism answer these questions.
Regards[/b]
http://www.mahindarama.com/e-library/whybuddhism2.html
Come and See the Results Immediately
According to this religion we can see the results of most of our
good and bad actions within this very lifetime. Heavenly bliss or
Nirvanic bliss can also be experienced within this very life time.
You dont have to wait until you die.
This is why the Buddha always welcomed people to come and observe
His way of teaching; not to come and believe it all at once. He
actually advised people on how to choose a proper religion, by
considering, analysing and investigating it in various ways without
accepting anything through emotion or blind faith. Of course all
religions promote faith.
But faith in Buddhism is not a surrender to the unknown; it is not
submission to fear and punishment. Buddhist faith is the courageous
acceptance of what one has found out through careful observation
and analytical investigation. This is why Buddhism is called a
doctrine of analysis. This religion contains a profoundly
scientific and psychological analysis of mind and matter which many
great modern thinkers have admired.
Universal Laws
To those who talked about the first cause of this world,
the Buddha responded by saying that it is impossible to find a
first cause since everything is changing, interdependent and
conditioned by other things. Something that acts as the cause in
the present may become the effect in the future. Later that same
effect may again become the cause. Such phenomenon continues ad
infinitum. It is called the universal law of Anicca or
impermanency.
With regard to the origin of the world itself, the Buddha did not
claim it was the property of Buddhism or that existing world
systems and living things were controlled according to the Buddhist
Order, but by universal law or natural phenomenon. Man was simply
to accept his position in the world and regard himself and all
things, animate and inanimate, as a compound.
According to the scholar Dr. Rhys Davids, in each individual,
without any exception, the relation of its component parts to one
another is ever changing, so that it is never the same for two
consecutive moments. It follows that no sooner has separateness
begun than dissolution, disintegration, also begins; there can be
no individuality without a putting together; there can be no
putting together without a becoming; there can be no becoming
without a becoming different; and there can be no becoming
different without dissolution, a passing away which sooner or later
will become inevitably complete".
The Buddha was the teacher who discovered the real nature of the
universal cosmic law and who advised people to live in accordance
with this law, such as going against nature, and leading an immoral
life, must be ready to face the consequences. It is possible to
escape from the reactions of such cosmic laws simply by praying to
god, because this universal law is unbiased. Yet the Buddha taught
us how to stop the reactions of certain bad practices by doing more
and more good deeds, by training the mind and eradicating evils
thoughts from the mind. After violation the cosmic order of the
universal law there is no other method to get rid of the reaction
except by co-operating and conforming with the same cosmic
law.
