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Is it possible to be an atheist and a Buddhist ? Buddhist philosophy rarely reference to the supernatural, only in the area of reincarnation and origin of the Buddha to some degree. the rest is just good solid Mental Health

for example:Buddha Quotes
Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment. ...
Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship. ...
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
I heard a Buddhist monk say 'if you believe in reincarnation your goal is to have a good life.'
if you don't believe in reincarnation your goal is to have a good life. I personally do not believe in reincarnation. I do have a meditation practice I do find solace in the Dharma.
and feel I can use it in my day-to-day live.
does this make me less of an atheist ?

m16566 7 May 8
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32 comments (26 - 32)

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2

Yes, it is possible but why would you want to? When I first became a Christian as a teen it was not because I was looking for some guidance or looking for anything to worship. It was because I was taught about god and they knew there is only "one true god." I wanted to carry this idea into the ministry and "save the lost" but in time that idea became redundant. Along with it was the very idea of a spiritual life because that term goes back into concepts of religion.

BUT if what you are doing gives you solace without the ill fated promise of being with a creator forever and ever if you are a good boy, then more power to you. Being firmly planted in the here and now with peace of mind is a great gift.

2

Possible? All stupidity is possible but atheism and Buddhism are incompatible.

Here are a few examples. These are the exact things I ran away from in the first place:

  1. It is all about God, LOL

  2. Outdated and meaningless rituals and chores,

  3. Full of superstitions

  4. Believing miracles

  5. People worshiping (Buddha, Dalai Llama and monks),

  6. Deity worshiping

  7. Accepting saints,

  8. Believing the virgin mother story

  9. Sexism - women have been subordinated, women priests were now allowed

  10. Celibacy of monks

  11. Violence in the name of religion

Buddhism is also an organized religion. Anyone following an organized faith is not an atheist in my view no matter how we continue justifying it.

It is a human tendency to construct an argument based on what we want to like and not based on reason and facts.

This is my suggestion to anyone who is considering Buddhism..... F L E E

@TheMiddleWay That's why bookish knowledge is dangerous in this world. I am familiar with all stories of Buddhism since childhood. I grew up among many Buddhists and remember all BS they are taught and believe in. Seen it all up close.

@TheMiddleWay I wouldn't say none of these, but certainly not all of them are part of buddhism.

@TheMiddleWay You are not aware because you have not lived in the land of Buddha - Bihar in India. What you have seen is like Chinese food in America like Garlic Chicken that is not a Chinese dish in China.. lol

That is why I always believed that bookish knowledge is good in a classroom but it fails to relate to real life quite often. When I said something about Buddhism, I said because I knew it all first hand. Did you?

@Tiramisu I think you have constructed an image of what you think Buddhism is and made a judgement on that. People may look at the Soviet Union and conclude that communism is a murderous ideology, but they would not have understood what communism is. I feel that you have fallen into the same trap.

@Gareth Do you know faith is sold differently in different lands? The Chinese food is different in different lands?

@Tiramisu Yes. If you have a point to address to me try to frame it in clear and concise language as riddles are not my thing.

@Gareth I thought I laid it out point by point above.but you did not agree. Your views can be different than mine and it is ok. We both may be correct because our experiences are different.

@Tiramisu It's not just that I don't agree - it's that I think many of your numbered points are wrong if you are applying them to Buddhism as a whole. Bad practices can accrete to good ideas (eg communism) but that does not invalidate the ideas. As for miracles, supernatural beings, rituals and general woo - they aren't in any way essential to being a Buddhist as they seem to be in the Abrahamic religions.

@Gareth Essential or not, those are there and practiced heavily in Buddhism. You may have seen the Western version of Buddhism but I have seen how Buddhism is practiced up close. It is full of the same ugliness that is common to all other religions.

@Tiramisu I think we have come back to my original observation re: communism.

@TheMiddleWay I agree that the poster is mixing up religions, certainly. But Buddhism is not what it is in theory but what it is in practice. I lived in Thailand for many years so I've lived in a Buddhist country. Many western middle class Buddhist types know Buddhism from their books and a one week holiday playing tourist and temples. Buddhism does include worship like other religions; it does include supernatural belief mystical assertions and all the stuff religions have. It is what it is in practice. Buddhism is a philosophy not a religion, is a nice illusion in the west but it's false. I'm not really disagreeing with you, but let's not sanitise Buddhism the way some western people do.

@David1955 correct, how religion is practiced matters, not what is written.

2

You're a buddhist whether you want to be or not. A buddhist will tell you that if being an atheist in this life is a part of your on going path to enlightenment, then that is the road you need to be on at this particular juncture.

That's cornering the market. Jehovah's Witness do it calling the ancient Bible characters JWs and Islam does it too calling them Muslims.

1

Absolutely yes. The Buddha never claimed to be a god. The Lama Surya Das, the highest-ranking Buddhist in America, has declared that it's his belief that America will form its own branch of Buddhism. The idea of reincarnation and afterlife is more of a cultural idea.

When the Buddha obtained enlightenment he went out to teach his students asked,

are you a god and the Buddha answered no I'm not a god,

and the student asked then are you a man, and the Buddha said no I'm not a man.

the student asked what are you, and the Buddha said I am awake

1

Great post! I am looking forward to reading the responses! 😃

0

Yes.

Osso Level 3 May 9, 2019
0

Budism is not a philosophy, it i a set of dogmas, or absolute truths that are not tested, not falsifiable (if meditation is not good is because you are doing wrong, not because it is not good) and are taken at face value.
Spiritual, reincarnation, karma, all this concepts are based on universe having an order and life being more than materialistic nature, so even if there is no god, there is supernatural involved, there is a supernatural order that is not that different from a god, you can interpret YHWH(judaico-christian-islamic god) as the rules of the universe that is translated as a person just to make comunication easy...

Anyway budism is not philosophy because it is not based on logic, it does not test its axyoms, it not question its dogmas. And is not that pacefull as you think in the end of last year there were thousands of refugees fleeing from prosecution because they were hindus and not budists on indian subcontinent. Tibet was a feudal society as oppressive as medieval Europe.

I think you have a rather simplistic notion of what Buddhism is. Try reading Stephen Batchelor or Alan Watts.

@Gareth Does not matter how deep you develop, the premisses are dogmatic.
Catolicism has a very deep building over it, read St Augustin, it does not make it real, or correct. It just make at the limit internally coherent.

@Pedrohbds Well, I incline to disagree. If you tell me what you understand as a premise of Buddhism we can investigate whether your understanding is correct and whether it is dogmatic or empirical.

@Gar Hinduism and Buddhism are cut from the same cloth. I recently sat in meditated with the Hindu I could feel the energy it was beautiful.
as we focused on our breathing the harmony was clear the giving up of self was evident as we became peace with that ourselves and ultimately within our universe why meditation is the best part of my day of course I don't believe in a deity Supreme Being I do believe in the indomitable human spirit that the human mind is capable of greatness peace and contentment and that we have a lot more control over ourselves than most people admit how I feel is a choice how I breathe is a choice what I think is a choice this recognition is the first step toward free will and the responsibility that goes with it
eth

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