Thursday, January 10, 2013

Creator God in Buddhism

Question:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20130110003010AAi2Lly

Why creator God concept in Buddhism?

There are many Heavens,Hells, Gods, etc in Buddhism.

Please read 'Mahābrahmā' section of Buddhist Cosmology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_cosmology#Brahm.C4.81_worlds

"the Maker and Creator, All-Seeing, All-Powerful, Appointer and Orderer, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be." According to the Brahmajāla Sutta (DN.1)

The goal of Buddhism is Nibbana (freedom from worldly attachments) and not Liberation from selfishness towards the creator.
Therefore, Buddhism seems to override the creator God concept.
Why?

Are you surprised to find a creator God in Buddhism?

Please Note:
The intentions of this question is not to compare religions.
Therefore, I invite you to be open minded, in order to discuss the 'creator God' concept in a broader view.




Answer:






12 comments:

  1. Yes but the concepts of reincarnation have nearly been 100% proven false

    In the Beginning in Science and Religion there was less than 100 million Humans now there are 6 billion so if reincarnation is possible how does

    Less than 100 million (100,000,000) equal 6 Billion (6,000,000,000)

    It's impossible reincarnation is nearly dis proven and soon will be Buddhism
    Source(s):
    RC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If the scope of Buddhist cosmos is limited to the thought processes of a living and Nibbana is freedom from the said re-generating thought processes, would your justified concern for reincarnation be valid?

      Delete
  2. Thank you for the link. After a quick perusal, I see, just as I expected, that as with all the major and many of the minor "religions," It was the "followers" that gradually forged the "basics," the "scriptures", the written and spoken tradition, canon, the buddhavacana's believed by the followers to be the "Word". So, what was the question now?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think that the creator god concept in Buddhism comes about
    due mostly to the Mahayana schools of Buddhism.

    As with most religions we can only really go by what the Buddha
    is thought to have taught. He came from Hinduism initially but
    never taught the creator god concept. Buddhism as taught by
    Gautama was principally atheist.The Buddhist teaching on God
    in the sense of ultimate reality is quite clear. It is beyond the
    conception of the finite intellect, the Buddha kept silence on
    the concept of god as it was not seen as profitable for man to
    try to know the unknowable. So far as is known he never spoke
    of God.

    What you have in the Suttas/Sutras are the teachings of later
    followers and much of their thinking appears to be interwoven
    with the concepts and ideas of their own national cultures a
    kind of all things to all men philospohy.

    The original Theravada school did not bother themselves in
    trying to get to know that which cannot be known, whilst
    the Mahayana school of thought appears to attempt to encapsulate
    theories and concepts.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Buddhist Cosmology, Brahmajāla Sutta, Mahābrahmā the creator God concept are in the Tipitaka (the core scriptures of Buddhism) of Theravada school. You may do your own research into it.

      Delete
  4. If you want to raise a question and speak with intelligence, please at least read carefully your own posting; the article clearly stated that "He imagined that he comes to his own existence without cause???

    So no "CREATOR God" for Buddhism, unless you are so desperate that you want to twist the truth around to fit into your own false views; including lying and coning people into believing you.....

    Buddha Shakyamuni in his discourse with the Mahabrahma, the Heavenly Ruler of 7, 8 & 9 level Heavens, he is indeed a great Heavenly being- so he thought he was the creator of the Universes; but the Buddha in that Sutra told him in no uncertain terms that he was a mere mortal, granted that he can lives relatively for a long time, but he will died just like everyone else.

    The Buddha reminded him that unless he follows the Buddhism, he would suffer the fate of eternal damnation by falling into Hells, once he used up all of his merits and good fortunes- which made him the great Brahma.

    Buddha also dispute many of his false assumptions, and let him know why? In the end the Great Brahma took refuge under Buddha, and sworn to protect the existence of Buddhism as long as he is alive.



    "Been There", it is obvious, you have not open your spiritual senses as yet, everything that Buddhism talked about is real, I am not claiming I have the full access, but I have had enough to know the truth from false concepts of make believe religions.


    As for the Christians, how many of you have seen Jesus Christ in Person? You guys are talking baloney's, don't waste your breath about believing, when you are not worth his time.

    I can tell you on the other hand I have seen him with my own inner sight, and while I am full awake like I am writing this article now; and he guarded me like he was my body guard, because I was practicing one of Buddhist practices; on that day he volunteered to protect me as my protector, instead of my regular spiritual protectors.


    *** Below is your own posting of the website you direct other people to go. It is like picking up the brick and threw it on your own feet. Not very smart, so are you a not too bright Buddhist or just a D*** Christian trying to confuse people???

    According to the Brahmajāla Sutta (DN.1), a Mahābrahmā is a being from the Ābhāsvara worlds who falls into a lower world through exhaustion of his merits and iwas reborn alone in the Brahma-world; forgetting his former existence, he imagines himself to have come into existence without cause. Note that even such a high-ranking deity has no intrinsic knowledge of the worlds above his own. Mahābrahmā is 1 ½ yojanas tall. His lifespan variously said to be 1 kalpa (Vibhajyavāda tradition) or 1 ½ kalpas long (Sarvāstivāda tradition), although it would seem that it could be no longer than ¾ of a mahākalpa, i.e., all of the mahākalpa except for the Saṃvartasthāyikalpa, because that is the total length of time between the rebuilding of the lower world and its destruction. It is unclear what period of time "kalpa" refers to in this case. The height of this world is 10,240 yojanas above the Earth.

    Source(s):
    A Vajrayana Yogi, a true Buddhist that know what he is talking about. 30 years + in Mahayana Buddhism, 14 years in Vajrayana Buddhism; fluent in most Sutras including Hinayana's- which is the beginning of Mahayana Buddhism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Were you there to evidence when Buddha reminded Mahabrahma that unless he follows the Buddhism such and such would happen? lol

      I like when you critically think, though you enjoyed condemning [Nucleus] with titles as "twist the truth", "false viewer", "lying and coning people into believing me" without mercy.
      hah hah haaa! No thank you for that, since I asked just a question using a reference for you to answer. Keep them with you.
      But, I'm really pleased when you made a point.

      I always appreciate the humble efforts of [Been There] as a keen follower of Dhamma.

      The best out of Dhamma will come when we challenged (Ehi Passiko) it like the sweet scented sandalwood trunk though felled and crushed, still spreads forth its fragrance more and more.

      2 days ago
      "The Best Defense of Dhamma is to Attack it" ~ Nucleus
      Frame it and place it in your bed-room.

      Delete
  5. Wiki is not clear. The concept of MahaBrahma being the all knowing creator is "believed by many" non-Buddhist people at Buddha time. According to Theravada, Brahma are just impermanent beings with stronger abilities than human, but none of those abilities can make them eternal all knowing creators. Some of them such as Baka Brahma wrongly believed that he was the eternal creator until his discussion with Buddha.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As you suggested in your comment, it is necessary to read between lines within the context of ancient scriptures.

      Delete
    2. Actually, it is not about reading between the lines. They just didn't write it clearly in wiki. Theravada includes the commentaries of elder monks in addition to Tipitaka. These commentaries are important guides to understand Tipataka in Theravada way. I am not claiming that it is the right way. One has freedom to interpret however one prefers. It is just that we need to follow commentaries if we want to really know Theravada as Theravadins know. To challenge the concept of others, I believe we first need to understand that concept as they do.

      @Catholic
      Don't limit the math to one world. Expend the view to include world systems. Please google "Ananta Cakavala" and you might find it interesting.

      Delete
    3. @Seyfert,
      I agree to most points you made in your comment.
      Though I read the main scriptures of Buddhism written in Buddhist language with utmost care, I cannot agree with your suggestion to understand (stand-under) the interpretations as commentaries of anyone written using different terminology. Simply, they are fantasy stories of spell-binders for personal benefits, social order & culture maintenance. (example: Jathaka stories)
      No one seem to take the challenge, at least to show the glimpse of more accurate interpretation within the scope of Buddhism.

      Delete