BUDDHISM HONORS THE COMMON SPIRITUAL LEGACY OF ALL FAITHS

Q: In your recent answer to an atheist you wrote: "The true teachings of all the great religions of the world are not based upon the belief that God is waiting to hurt the unbelievers, but rather that God is waiting in love and hope to receive all those who begin their journey to God in love and hope."

I've read and heard over and over that there is no belief in a god in Buddhism other than local gods that were absorbed into Buddhism as it moved into new cultures. But as I understand it, fundamental Buddhism is not theistic. I do believe Buddhism is one of the great religions of the world. Do you agree? - L., via godsquadquestion@aol.com

A: Finally a question on Buddhism stirred in among the queries about weddings, funerals and who can take communion While I'm venturing to answer a question about a religion I don't understand well enough, my credentials to discuss Buddhism are not completely vacant. Before I completed my doctorate in philosophy, I spent some years in graduate school studying Buddhism. I greatly admire Buddhism and have a personal affection for the Dalai Lama, who's obviously one of the great religious leaders of the world.

You're correct that Buddhism does not include a belief in a personal God, a creator God, or a God that's anything like the God of the three Abrahamic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. However, the reason Buddhism rejects the existence of God is not an atheistic reason -- that many things exist but God isn't one of them. The Buddhist position is rather a rejection of everything's existence. Buddhists believe that nothing really exists, including God.

This Buddhist belief in the illusion of existence is called sunyata in the Pali language. The main idea is that nothing has any existence on its own (anatta) because everything is connected. Everything is dependent on everything else and so has no existence of its own. This is called dependent co-origination (pratityasamutpada). What it all comes down to is that nothing is really real. However, in our illusions about the world, we think that things are real so we get attached to them (tanha), and then when they die or are gone and we lose them, we suffer (dukka).

All this is very philosophical and psychological but not particularly religious. This is why some people don't consider Buddhism a religion but rather a philosophy. I think Buddhism is indeed a religion -- and a great religion at that -- because it moves beyond its obscure metaphysics to a very practical salvation system characteristic of all religions. Salvation in Buddhism is called enlightenment (bodhi), and the state of being enlightened is nirvana (nibana).

The Buddha, a prince named Siddhartha Gotama, taught about a way to end the suffering we feel in life (having a founding spiritual teacher is also typical of a religion). He taught about a path to enlightenment that includes, as all religions do, both rituals and ethical teachings.

To me, the main difference between Buddhism and the Abrahamic faiths is its teachings about how to change the world. All religions want to heal the world of its suffering. (Not all philosophies have such a goal and this is another way to know that Buddhism is a religion, not just a philosophy.) In the West, we seek to change the world directly, but in Buddhism, the change in the world comes about by first changing ourselves, then bringing our enlightened, changed souls into the world as examples of peace and harmony.

There are no figures in Buddhism like the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, and no large-scale missionary efforts such as are found in Christianity and Islam. Because Buddhism is more of an individual search for personal enlightenment, it's attractive to many people who aren't comfortable in communal prayer and evangelical efforts. However, Buddhism is divided, like Roman Catholicism, into a priesthood (the sangha) and a laity. The Buddhist priesthood is made up of Buddhist monks (bikkhu) and nuns (bikkuni). They lead celibate lives and are committed to asceticism and long hours of meditation and prayer. Also, certain incarnations of the Buddha are venerated in a way that may appear exactly like the veneration of saints in the West.

From the base of profound metaphysical differences, Buddhism grows into a religion that appears much like all the other great religions of the world. Buddhist practice includes a version of the golden rule; a commitment to generosity of the spirit, modesty and humility; and kindness in words and deeds that honors the common spiritual legacy of all faiths.

In fact, Buddhism is a good model for the kind of religious ecumenism I've believed in all my life. Here's a religion that never knew of the Bible, yet generated its own ethical teachings identical to those of the Abrahamic faiths. Could this be proof that God speaks to each of us in ways our culture can translate and preserve?

The Buddha was once asked if he was a god and he answered, "I am not a god. I am merely awake." May we all be awake to the many ways compassion sweeps us up into love and hope.

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