The Many Faces of God (satire)

"God is like three-in-one oil." — Eldridge Cleaver

Unlike trinitarianism, modalism is a complex way of saying that the Godhead has three faces (guises?): God, the Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Consider God to be an actor.

As a deity, He is. As the Christ, he is Messiah and all that implies. Yet as the Holy Spirit, we get into the supernatural since he is also known as the Holy Ghost.

After much thought on this topic, I asked myself: "What is God when he's not acting as a deity or as the Christ or as the Holy Spirit, remote from humanity?" To me the answer is obviously: God is the Absolute.

It serves no purpose for God to exist as a physical being in the physical world when the supernatural world is his domain.

Yet God is on the minds of his believers since it is through belief of his existence that he exists. Outside of that context, and for most people who don't believe in him, he does not exist.

As for his pre-existence, that is a wholly monotheistic supposition and may lead to endless debate on his existence.

If God exists as a belief, then the Buddha exists as fact. For the Buddha's existence is verifiable while God's existence is based on faith in the Bible alone. In contrast, the Buddha's existence is not only based on the sutras but also on historical records.

Though, no one can compare a man known as the Buddha, formerly the prince Siddhartha Gotama, to God, a monotheistic deity, since the Buddha is not a deity.

Yet Amida Buddha is almost a deity, though he exists as a metaphor for the boundless life of compassion and the boundless light of wisdom. In this context "boundless" means "transcending human limitations" and especially, "beyond mere sentience."

Because of the limitations that monotheism places on such philosophy, the discussion of God becomes moot in light of Buddhism. In some ways it is like comparing apples to oranges. For the Buddha is not another face of God. Rather, Buddhism is outside the realm of monotheism.

Even so, there are elements of modalism in the many Buddhas and bodhisattvas in Buddhism. In the example of Amida Buddha, it is said there was a prince named Dharmakara who meditated for a long time and envisioned the Pure Land. After making a series of 48 vows, he fulfilled them all and was reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss as Amida Buddha.

In the case of Amida, the Absolute is the refined essence of Buddha Nature. Indeed, the Pure Land is a reflection of the Absolute. As well, Dharmakara might be considered the incarnate form of the Absolute as a human of high standing (a bodhisattva) who was reborn as Amida Buddha.

Such an interpretation regarding Amida Buddha stretches the truth that Buddhism cannot be seen through the filter of Christian philosophy because the divine is viewed differently within Buddhist philosophy. For the deities of the God Realm are limited beings who live long lives but eventually die.

Indeed, the God Realm is one of the Six Realms of Desire. Thus the gods of Buddhism suffer.

Hence the birth of Siddhartha was the birth of the future Buddha who even the Hindu gods and goddesses would adore because he transcended the cycle of rebirth and became the Buddha.

My interpretation of the Christ story is that the Absolute relieves the sufferings of a Hellenized Jewish people subject to the laws of Judaism by having the deity known as God reborn as a mortal named Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. This is revealed to her in a vision in which an angel named Gabriel tells her she shall conceive the Messiah through action of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus is born, he exposes Jewish ritualism as a fraud, makes enemies among the Jewish leaders, and is betrayed by one of the twelve of his beloved disciples. Then he is crucified, only to "die" and awaken as the Christ. Later he show himself to his disciples, and ascends to Heaven.

Thus, the story of the Christ is of God begetting the Christ in human form who is born to an unmarried woman named Mary as Jesus with his mortal father Joseph marrying her to legitimize his birth as "Son of Man". After his Crucifixion he arises as the Christ and eventually rises to Heaven. Thus he fulfills prophecy about himself.

In contrast, the Buddha's story begins with the dream by his mother of an elephant entering her womb. She dies shortly after childbirth, and Siddhartha is raised by his aunt. He is born into royalty. His father the King consults soothsayers, one of whom predicts that Siddhartha will either be a great king or a great wise man. Although his father tries to raise him as a prince, he learns all about suffering, abandons his royal status, and becomes the Buddha.

After his Enlightenment, he teaches not only his fellow seekers about the Four Noble Truths of Suffering, but also forms a religious order that challenges the ritualism of early Hinduism. He helps change Indian life in the process, and lives a long life, only to die due to an unspecified illness. After his death, the blooming of flowers on a tree out of season in the midst of the winter monsoons leads to other stories of miracles. However, the evolution of the Buddhist society that follows helps transform Indian society in a positive way.

Thus the story of the Buddha only vaguely echoes the Christ story. The ritual of law in Hebrew society of Jesus' time contrasts with the ritualism in Hindu society where the priestly caste has become intercessor between the people and the Indian gods.

Additionally the Hindu gods and goddesses may be seen as a complex form of modalism. In the case of Hinduism, each and every god and goddess represents the different faces of God but are aspects of the Godhead so complex making a single deity the only god to worship seem restrictive and thus oppressive to freedom of worship. Thus, the gods and goddesses of Hinduism might be considered as a gem with many facets, each one representing the bright and shining qualities of their worshipers in their perfect form.

In this way are the many faces of God revealed as aspects of human qualities of good called virtues. When I compare this to the qualities often ascribed to God, it becomes apparent to me that it is the good of humanity that is reflected in God. Though, it could also be said that it is the good qualities of a patriarchal society is emphasized by God. This is also true of the Hinduism but Buddhism critiques this truth while acknowledging that for that period of time, speculation about God was moot.

Indeed, the legacy of monotheism is a history of warfare by his chosen ones. Great suffering came at the cost of plagues and other miseries, as depicted in the Bible. in contrast, the story of Hinduism is not all peace and love for one's fellow man either.

It is not until the Indian king Ashoka that we see Hinduism being given sway to Buddhism. Ashoka wins a great battle but sees the truth about suffering revealed to him after being advised by a Buddhist monk about his responsibility regarding the war in which he lost friends. In response, he becomes a Buddhist king who spreads the message of Buddhism far and wide.  As a Buddhist, he spread peace throughout India.

It isn't until the modern era that organized religion caused Buddhism to affect Sri Lanka and Burma, although in different ways. This is due to organized religion not Buddhism and it is not restricted to Buddhism either. It is because of organized religion that warfare has been the legacy of monotheism, be it Christian, Judaism or Islam.

Perhaps few people are patient enough to reflect on the deep spiritual meaning of their faith due to their belief in a higher power than themselves. Such humility has lost the respect of many people in the face of the distractions of every day life in the postmodern world. So many people have no time to consider the many faces of God for many reasons, be it a matter of convenience or an overall disbelief in God.

I as a Buddhist know that the belief in God and the associated faith in his existence should be tempered by knowledge. However, the limited knowledge of Christians is focused on the Bible. Thus the faces of God are limited to God, the Son and the Holy Ghost.  In a way, each part of the Trinity are merely the many faces of God, limited and simplified by Christian dogma.

It's simpler to consider three aspects of God than a handful of gods and goddesses of Hinduism, even though the Godhead of both Christianity and Hinduism are roughly the same.

Though the Christian will dispute this, the Hindu might agree.

As a Buddhist, I lean towards a nondual concept of God as the Absolute, the closest of which is the Pure Land of Bliss. In my eyes, Heaven and the Pure Land are similar in that they are ideals of their respective faiths. However, I prefer Buddhism over Christianity mainly because I prefer not to stay ignorant about other faiths.

For knowledge is only dangerous when the little that you know leads you to ignore the consequences of your ignorance.

YMMV

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Originally posted on February 28, 2014 at 02:02 AM

References:

Modalism - Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modalism

The Absolute - Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_(philosophy)

Meditation on Ultimate Reality

Noumenon is mind, and phenomena, cosmos. When the ignorant mind discriminates between noumenon and phenomena, unreality arises in the form of confusion, and sometimes madness.

By viewing both noumenon and phenomena as one, nondual reality arises, and thus serendipity. For nonduality is the ultimate reality.

Only in the ignorant mind is the reality of existence suffering. Indeed, the mind that realizes nonduality is real has attained Nirvana.

All of what has just been written about the cosmos, the mind and reality is True. Only unbelievers doubt this Truth about reality itself.

Beyond the Buddha is Adi Buddha, the primordial Buddha. Though he is no Creator, Adi Buddha is the originator of all things, even the Creator and his Creation, the cosmos.

Although this Truth is alien to the Christian mind, the mind of the Buddhist accepts it as True and real.

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Reference:

Adi-Buddha: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adi-Buddha

I Believe in a God Unlike the Christian, Jewish and Muslim God

I believe in a God devoid of anthropomorphic qualities that is called the Absolute.

If we have souls, then after death no soul is turned away from return to the Godhead.

For the universe has infinite capacity for these souls because they pass on to another dimension where no soul is limited physically.

Though no soul can have sex because souls can not get pregnant. There is also no need to eat because you are never hungry for physical sustenance.

However, you have to listen to a sermon until God calls to you, "Time to be reborn, pilgrim!"

This dimension is known as a Pure Land but is separate from the many other Buddha worlds called Pure Land of Bliss and their respective Buddhas.

On death, everything will be explained to you: the fallacy of good and evil is merely a tool to separate the monotheistic people who practice dualism from the believers in the Absolute who strive for the non-duality called Shunyata.

Indeed, the Christian Heaven is the closest monotheistic equivalent of the Absolute. For all Buddhists, the Absolute is the closest to God that the faithful attain.

Though Amida Buddha would urge the bodhisattvas reborn in the Pure Land in his sermon to return to the earthly plane to help other lost souls find their way to his Pure Land.

Note too that all souls are finite aspects of the Godhead which itself is almost infinite.

YMMV

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Originally posted: October 26, 2012 1256H PDT

Good and Evil are One

To see good and evil as one is to transcend moral judgment. By creation of good by mindful practice, the disciple neutralizes evil of the Five Poisons, and embraces the true nature of her basic goodness.
When I make no moral judgment on good and evil, but see that my actions and the effect of these actions may be considered good or evil, depending on the situation.

Thus, in Buddhism, "good" and "evil" has less to do with moral judgment and more to do with my actions and the effect of those actions.

Buddhist philosophy declares that each of us has the potential to create good or evil, but we favor creating good to neutralize evil.

When the terms "pure", "real", and "true" are used, they refer to "basic goodness". On the other hand the term "evil" is not as absolute as the Western concept of evil because it can easily be neutralized by creating good with loving-kindness. For evil is created by anger, desire, fear, hatred, and ignorance, which are negative emotions and feelings that unsettle the mind.

A result of an unsettled mind is suffering, and one may make a moral judgment and mistake good for evil, and evil for good. Even when one sees good as good, and evil as evil, one may judged oneself and other sentient beings harshly. Due to such misjudgment, one entertains dualistic thoughts by making moral judgments regarding good and evil.

Such dualism is due to an unsettled mind. With the Bodhi Mind as the practitioner's goal, the mindful practice of Buddha Remembrance and meditation results in the nondual mind that sees good and evil as due to her actions and their effect on the lives of both herself and other sentient beings.

That nondual mind arises due to the mindful practice of the Middle Way

For the Middle Way transcends moral judgment involving good and evil, and allows the Buddhist to let go of clinging to such judgment to free himself of ignorant craving. As a result he chooses to create good in his life.

This is the goal of Buddha Remembrance: to mindfully practice Buddha Recitation and meditation to free oneself of the ignorance which arises from a deluded mind. Once Awake, the practitioner maintains her practice to maintain positive control over her ego, lest she fall prey to worldly desires and create evil.

For we are capable of creating good and evil in the journey called Life, and thus we bear the responsibility for our very actions on that journey.

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Reference:
Good and Evil in Buddhism: http://gandhara.blogspot.com/2013/01/good-thoughts-destroy-evil-karma.html

Taste the Essence of The Nondual Mind (Meditation)

Free your mind of duality. Use the sharpness of your mind to cut through the fallacy of "good or evil", which clouds it with likes and dislikes.

Remember that "good" and "evil" are conventions only -- "good" is that which the mind likes, and "evil" what the mind dislikes.

Indeed, they are different sides of the same opinion; and that opinion is called "judgment".

Instead, view life as the careful balance of good and evil through mindful practice.

In doing so, it will be possible to become nonjudgmental, and thus taste the essence of the nondual mind.

For such a mind is free of needless attachment to life yet values life dearly.

Once your mind is freed, you exist in harmony with everyone, and see the world with the clear mind awakened.

Buddha Nature and Enlightenment

In Mahayana Buddhism, the true nature in each person is Buddha Nature, which represents the potential in each and every one of us to reach full enlightenment. This is an intrinsic and immortal potential which exists in the mind of every sentient being. Such a potential is actualized through meditation.

First, through breath meditation, one clears the mind of defilements so that it becomes the pure mind that is essential to experience and show compassion for other sentient beings. Second, insightful meditation requires the clear mind to validate the Four Noble Truths and dependent arising in one's life through mindful practice.

"Sentient" is derived from the word "sentience" which means "the ability to feel and/or perceive". Thus "every sentient being" means "all living beings which are able to feel and/or perceive". Furthermore, Eastern thought views sentience as "the metaphysical quality of all things that require care and respect." Even nonhuman lifeforms are sentient.

In Buddhism, sentient beings made of pure consciousness are possible. Hence, the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and other gods exist in their respective Buddha-fields.

Each one of these Buddhas, Bodhisattvas and Buddhist deities represent various states of minds i.e. Amida represents wisdom and compassion, Sakyamuni Buddha represents enlightenment and/or spiritual awakening, Kuan Yin represents compassion, the devas represent aspects of enlightenment, and so on.

Indeed, the Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and Buddhist deities also also have a spiritual existence where they exist within the heart-mind of each and every sentient being.

Buddhists who practice meditation will then realize these internalized sentient beings as various aspects of their mind.

For each Buddha, Bodhisattva and Buddhist deity represents the pure form of each mental and emotional quality of the mind, the qualities of enlightenment such as overt and latent power ( the deities Agyo and Ugyo), latent might (Naraen / Ugyo), day and night (the Bodhisattvas known as White Tara and Blue Tara), the pure mind and body (Kuan Yin), and the power aspect of complete enlightenment (Vajrapani / Mahasthamaprapta).

Thus, the sentient beings made of pure consciousness are reflections of that intrinsic potential to reach enlightenment known as Buddha Nature .

Buddha Nature itself also is empty of defining characteristics related to sunyata and nondualism. Insightful meditation helps in understanding sunyata and nondualism.

Sunyata is known as suchness, nothingness, emptiness, and voidness, and refers to the impermanent nature of reality within context of egolessness, the concept of non-self that all things perceived by the senses including the mind are not really "I" or "mine".

Buddhist nondualism is reflected in that concept of non-self, which is the nonduality of subject and object. Thus is self and other an illusion. Nondualism is also reflected in the concept of two truths, the ultimate reality that there is no self in contrast to the conventional reality where each person speaks of himself. As well, the view of nonduality is known as wisdom while the experience of duality is known as compassion.

In this way is our ordinary dualistic experience, full of all living beings, nurtured with care always experienced as "now". Thus the Mahayana path tempers wisdom with compassion to cut through the confusions of duality.

Therefore, wisdom helps one to transform one's growing understanding of nonduality into compassion for all sentient beings in the present moment.

My own personal understanding of nonduality is that egolessness is the ultimate reality of the pure mind, which is a reflection of Buddha Nature. With the pure mind attained through meditation, I experience compassion for other people by listening to them. This is known as mindful practice.

Thus, breath meditation helps clear the mind and realize the pure mind. With the pure mind, one is able to use insightful meditation to validate the Four Noble Truths and dependent arising by experiencing one's life fully. Through insights derived from meditation, one is inspired to experience compassion for other living beings. By experiencing compassion for others, one develops mindful practice.

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Reference:
Buddha Nature: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddha_Nature
Japanese Buddhist Photo Dictionary: http://www.onmarkproductions.com
Sunyata: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunyata
Nondualism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nondualism

Emptiness and Nondual reality

To consider emptiness to be a thing of substantial existence, or as the essence of Buddha Nature, one would have to be a madman who understands nothing at all.

For the mind which continues thinking surely understands nothing, not even that it is empty.

So too is emptiness empty of substance and essence.

Yet this does not imply that ultimate reality is nothingness, but confirms that it, like reality, is empty of substance.

Since everything is empty of substance, being impermanent in nature, what is the difference between self and other, apart from perpetuating the delusion called duality?

The wise come to know that nondual reality encompasses and consists of both duality and nonduality, much like the yin-yang symbol.

How so? Because emptiness, being neither substance nor essence, is inherent in all things.

Buddhism as Non-Religion

Due to its non-dual nature, its unwillingness to water down Sakyamuni Gautama Buddha's Teaching, and the practicality of meditation, Buddhism as philosophy and psychology is liberating.

Mistaking it for religion, the ignorant flee. Yet the wise augment their faith with it.

Buddhism is non-dual in that at the root of the teaching, dependent arising and karma demonstrates the interdependence of all living beings.

What the concept of self power (jiriki) and Other Power (tariki) teaches is not dualism but that one's self power motivates one to let Other Power help to guide her life, which is similar to the concept of "let go and let God".

In the Buddha's Teaching are the Four Noble Truths, consisting of:

1. Life is not satisfying.
   
2. The reason why life is not satisfying is because of ignorant craving.
   
3. To cure this dissatisfaction with life, stop ignorant craving.
   
4. The Noble Eightfold Path stops ignorant craving.

The Noble Eightfold Path consists of Right View and Right Intention to develop Wisdom; Right Speech, Right Action, and Right Livelihood to develop Ethical Conduct; and Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration to develop Mental Development. At the root of the Eightfold Path is breath meditation to develop calm insight into the roots of ignorant craving. Advanced meditation helps one to develop compassion for others. This helps develop wisdom, ethical conduct and mental development. Thus Buddhism aids in personal development to benefit society and the individuals who practice meditation. Indeed, the purpose of Buddhism is to help each of us to develop the spiritual awareness that the purpose in life is to be of service to others, and to be ready to help others in need without thought of self. Reference: Nonduality FAQ: http://www.nonduality.com/faq.htm Dependent arising: http://www.khandro.net/doctrine_12links_DLbk1.htm Four Noble Truths: http://www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm Noble Eightfold Path: http://www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html self power (jiriki) and Other Power (tariki): http://www.jsri.jp/English/Honen/TEACHINGS/otherself.html

Non-Dual Reality as True Reality

From this point on you really know. This is called the pinnacle of Zen, the sovereignty of Zen. It is also called knowledge of what is knowable; it produces all the various states of meditation, and anoints the heads of all spiritual princes. In all fields of form, sound, fragrance, flavor, feeling, and phenomena, you realize complete perfect enlightenment. Inside and outside are in complete communion, without any obstruction at all.

-Pai-chang, "The Sphere of the Enlightened"

The Chinese Zen master, Pai-chang established the Zen monastic rules for Ch'an. His koans are well-known to Zen students worldwide. However, these koans give more of an insight into non-dual reality, the concept that "all phenomena exist as a species of dependent arising--dependent upon causes and conditions, whole and part, and mental designation."

The Western Cartesian viewpoint is "the core of many of our Western prejudices that impede both our philosophic and scientific understanding", where matter and mind are separate and distinct. Indeed, the error in Cartesian logic is based on the presupposition that a man is detached from the world. The religious background of Rene Descartes is Catholic, and this is steeped in much of the work in which he made his famous statement, a statement that has been misinterpreted to mean that mind and matter are two separate entities.

For in the text of Descartes' Meditation, he did not write "I think therefore I am." What he did indeed write is, "I am--I exist: this is certain; but how often?". The Latin reads: "Ego sum, ego existo; certum est. Quandiu autem?"

From the Christian sense of nondual reality, the faithful see God and Jesus as one. In contrast, the Hindu - and subsequently, the Buddhist - viewpoint focuses on the concept of advaita, nonduality, where all is one, all things and their differences, all of creation, each creature on Earth, the Earth itself, human beings, and the rest of the universe. It's very non-exclusive, all encompassing.

By logical conclusion then God encompasses not just Jesus but all things in the universe. You and me, good people and evil people, saints and sinners, demons and angels, God and Satan, man and woman, "all creatures great and small."

Thus, a careful study of advaita might lead one to panenthism, which is based on the conclusion that if God is the creator of the universe, from atoms all the way to animals, planets, stars and the whole cosmos itself, and the Creator and created are as one, then God is also in all things.

When one sees all of creation as created by God, one develops respect for oneself and the world, for the people living in it, for oneself.

In terms of the Eternal Way, non-dual reality may be expressed in terms of the Dreamer and this Dream we humans call Life or Reality as we like it to be.

For this Dreamer who dreams of me, She dreams of the world, of all other people on it, the animals, the plants, the Earth, the Sun and Moon, the planets, the stars. She also dreams of Herself, for She is the infinite consciousness. The Dreamer is a Sleeping Beauty, for Love is Her reason for Dreaming. Indeed, nondual reality is infinite consciousness.

(originally posted April 24, 2004 at 9:38 PM)

Nonduality All About Relationships

Non-duality is basically the rejection of the duality of nature and reality, of opposites, and affirmation that reality is ultimately about relationships.

Thus, the concept of good and evil as opposites is foreign to the Buddhist. Rather, the relationship of good and evil is holistic, for you cannot have one without the other.

Therefore, this is what distinguishes Buddhism from other religions.