1. Conceptual understanding: Buddha and God.
1. Buddha. Buddha, i.e. enlightened person. Buddhas are those who are enlightened, while humans are Buddhas who have not yet attained enlightenment. The meaning of the word Buddha is human.
The concept of a Buddha becoming a human being expresses the idea that it is not through practice that a person becomes supernatural and can transcend the laws of nature, but through the realization of the truth of the world and the realization of the nature of life—Buddhahood is the highest pursuit of a person. Buddhahood has a fate, but for those individuals who have no fate, the Buddha cannot save them. A Buddha is not a god, not the master of the universe, but omniscient but not omnipotent.
The core of practicing Buddhism is to defeat the inner enemy of self-grasping, which is to fight against self-attachment. In Buddhism, self-grasping is an internal obstacle, not an external hostile force.
Although there are differences in views and methods of practice among the various schools of Buddhism, these differences are confined to debates within Buddhism and do not resort to other means to defend themselves.
2. God. The concept of Chinese gods.
In Chinese Taoist culture, gods often travel in tandem with immortals and are called immortals. Most of these gods or immortals are also enlightened people, in charge of specific things in the world, such as mountain gods, water gods, land gods, etc. The Jade Emperor is the supreme leader of the gods, and the structure of the divine realm is basically based on the structure of human society.
The Western understanding of "God" is even stronger.
God is regarded as the creator and master of all things, and all occurrence, development, and generation originate from God. God is sovereign and supreme beyond question. Under this idea, God represents the Absolute, Truth, Justice, and Oneness. As for who God's Creator, Administrator, and Judge is, the conventional wisdom holds that these questions are unattainable, have no definite answers, and therefore cannot be fully explained.
2. There are two major differences between Buddha and God: Buddha is omniscient, and God is omnipotent; God is the master, and the Buddha is man.
1. Buddha is not the only one, there are thousands of Buddhas, because of their different principles, so the sentient beings are different. The relationship between the Buddha and the Buddha is like the relationship between the sea and the sea, and there is no distinction between high and low in the realm.
Everyone has Buddha nature and the possibility of becoming a Buddha, and human beings are the Buddhas of the future. As a living being, it has the basic attributes of life, and this nature is called human nature or Buddha nature.
The discussion of the inherent goodness and evil of human nature, although each has its own reason, is a kind of prejudice. Just like the debate between idealism and materialism, they stand on two diametrically opposed positions and discuss roughly the same issues, similar to arguing on two sides of the same coin.
Based on the connotation of Buddhism, it is concluded that our world is "masterless and unnatural".
There is no god-like being in the world to dominate, manipulate, control, arrange, and adjudicate, but the world has its own rules: unnatural. Non-natural means that the world is in order because there is an objective law, which in Buddhism is called "cause and effect."
The Buddha discovered this law, not created it. Whether there is a Buddha in this world or not, the law of cause and effect exists.
2. God is a unique existence, and human beings are only servants of God, and no matter how many twists and turns and changes they go through, they cannot be promoted to gods. Through prayer and repentance, humanity may be able to receive God's blessing and forgiveness, and in the final judgment, there will be only two destinies, heaven or hell.
3. The impact of the two major religions on the global pattern and culture.
1. In the long course of history, there have been many incidents of destruction of Buddhism, but there has never been a war because of Buddhism. Buddhism takes wisdom and compassion as its core philosophy, emphasizing that "indisputability is wisdom, and non-argumentation is compassion." Buddhism distances itself from the strife of the world, which is a significant difference from other religions.
2. God's oneness has brought a lot of strife to the world. In the world, whether it is the contradictions within the ** religion or the disputes of other religions, countless bloody wars have never stopped, all for the sake of fighting for the status of the only god in this world, all in the name of God, embarked on a despicable and dirty road.
3. Influenced by the logical dichotomy between religion and Western philosophy, Western culture exudes an innate arrogance and prejudice of exclusivity, uniqueness, and justice. The colonial plundering and bloody wars led by them have become one of the banes of this world, and these acts are accompanied by burning and looting, but they are justified and just. In their conception, conquest and occupation were seen as a symbol of nobility and advancement, a means of saving the soul and emancipating the mind.
Their logical thinking is particularly simple and straightforward: since what I represent is the only truth, then you, unlike me, are obviously wrong, do not possess the truth, and must accept salvation, accept punishment, correct your deviations, and be judged by sin. If you don't obey, you will be beaten until you obey, and if you don't bow your head, you will be beaten until you bow your head. In any case, this concept is contrary to the original intent of religion and is a scourge of humanity.
If God is such an being, then he is not worthy of being called God, and it is enough to judge directly, so why go out on a campaign with great fanfare? List of high-quality authors