palmer@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Grant E. Palmer) (03/15/90)
In the Christian faith, those who accept Jesus as their savior are saved and those who do not are damned to hell. So in their belief system, all Buddhists, Taoists, etc. are damned. My question is do the Eastern religions have a similar belief. Do Buddhists think "If you don't accept Buddha, you are damned"?. What do followers of the Eastern religions think of this Christian dogma? It always strikes me as kind of snotty. grant
bhatt@cis.ohio-state.edu (Chirag Bhatt) (03/16/90)
In article <14550@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> palmer@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Grant E. Palmer) writes: > > In the Christian faith, those who accept Jesus as their savior are saved > and those who do not are damned to hell. So in their belief system, all > Buddhists, Taoists, etc. are damned. > > My question is do the Eastern religions have a similar belief. Do Buddhists > think "If you don't accept Buddha, you are damned"?. What do followers of > the Eastern religions think of this Christian dogma? It always strikes me > as kind of snotty. > > grant As far as I know, Hinduism is one of the few, if not the only, religions to accept all other religions as different paths to God. A true follower of Hinduism should not object to praying in a templs, mosque, synagogue, or church for to him they all houses of God. This one aspect of Hinduism is, I believe one of its strongest attributes. Just my $.02 worth. No flames please. Chirag Bhatt Ohio State University bhatt@cis.ohio-state.edu
daveh@tekcrl.labs.tek.com (David Hatcher) (03/17/90)
In article <14586@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> bhatt@cis.ohio-state.edu (Chirag Bhatt) writes: >As far as I know, Hinduism is one of the few, if not the only, religions >to accept all other religions as different paths to God. I believe Sufism is one of those spiritual paths that does accept all other religions as different paths to God. David Hatcher Imagine spirit simultaneously within and around you until the entire universe spiriutalizes. Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu (a.e.mossberg) (03/18/90)
In <14586@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> bhatt@cis.ohio-state.edu (Chirag Bhatt) writes: >As far as I know, Hinduism is one of the few, if not the only, religions >to accept all other religions as different paths to God. A true follower >of Hinduism should not object to praying in a templs, mosque, synagogue, >or church for to him they all houses of God. This one aspect of Hinduism >is, I believe one of its strongest attributes. So does Buddhism, Taoism, etc. Many tread different paths, but all will eventually arrive at the same destination. There is no one true path, and the destination can not be described, only experienced. aem -- a.e.mossberg / aem@mthvax.cs.miami.edu / aem@umiami.BITNET / Pahayokee Bioregion Start with the sun, and everything will slowly, slowly happen. - D.H.Lawrence
stephen@bpa.bell-atl.com (Stephen C. Arnold) (03/19/90)
In article <14550@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> palmer@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Grant E. Palmer) writes: > > In the Christian faith, those who accept Jesus as their savior are saved > and those who do not are damned to hell. So in their belief system, all > Buddhists, Taoists, etc. are damned. > > My question is do the Eastern religions have a similar belief. Do Buddhists > think "If you don't accept Buddha, you are damned"?. What do followers of > the Eastern religions think of this Christian dogma? It always strikes me > as kind of snotty. > > grant Most eastern religions I've seen don't have a concept of salvation and to practice another religion does not make one innately bad. If you go back to the Christian Texts (the bible), non-beleives in Christ are not automaticly damned. In Paul's writtings there is a section called the trial of the innocent where he speaks about the judgement of thoses who have not hear the word of Christ. These people are not automaticly damned and by implication, my even get into heaven. Also Jesus only one in the bible speaks of how his Father will judge people and says nothing of requiring faith in Christ to get into heaven. He says that thouse who help the childern of God will be let into heaven, and those how turn their back on the childern of God will be forsaken (damned). Now this is not the way I've seen it practiced in most places but that what the Bible says. (Sorry for going on so long about Christianity in this group, but this is a common misconseption I though needed some clarification.) Steve
crm@romeo.cs.duke.edu (Charlie Martin) (03/19/90)
In article <14550@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> palmer@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Grant E. Palmer) writes: > > My question is do the Eastern religions have a similar belief. Do Buddhists > think "If you don't accept Buddha, you are damned"?. In a word, no. In more words, no, because the old guy from the Shakya tribe wasn't even all that big on reincarnation; the traditional answer to "are we reincarnated" was another question "is it the same flame or a new one?" What Buddhists *do* think (often) is that it's kind of too bad if you don't run into Buddhism because it's a shame to waste time being so unhappy. >What do followers of > the Eastern religions think of this Christian dogma? It always strikes me > as kind of snotty. I'm with you. If there is a ghod, it strikes me he'd be generally nicer than that. Charlie Martin (crm@cs.duke.edu,mcnc!duke!crm)
hughes@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (larry hughes) (03/21/90)
In article <14550@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> palmer@amelia.nas.nasa.gov (Grant E. Palmer) writes: > My question is do the Eastern religions have a similar belief. Do Buddhists > think "If you don't accept Buddha, you are damned"?. What do followers of No, in fact there's even a good book called "If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!" The idea is that Buddha consciousness is latent within you, and you don't have to look to someone else to find it. So, in essence, they are saying "if you don't accept your own Buddha nature, you are damned".