In Reply to: Re: Hi, it's AG posted by susie on January 14, 2004 at 14:31:53:
Once the mandalas and stupas were explained by my Buddhist guide, they made a whole lot more sense to me.
There's also the debate about whether Buddhism is a philosophy or a religion. My guide explained it to me from his point of view, which was very helpful. It seems that Buddhism is a religion when you have a personal devotion to the Buddha concept...belief in the transcendence of an enlightened being. Since there are many buddhas, they are all expressions of the ultimate englightened being (god?). I'm no expert on Buddhist theology, but this is what I concluded from listening to my Nepalese guide.
If you simply subscribe to the teachings of the historical Buddha (the four noble truths, the eight-fold path), then Buddhism is a philosophy of life--which it is for many people.
There seems to be a similar issue in Christianity. If you follow and practice the teachings of Jesus, are you a Christian? Or, is it necessary to believe that Jesus is God incarnate and the third person of the trinity in order to be a Christian? I think most Christian churches would say that both conditions are necessary in order to call oneself "Christian."
The Buddhists, however, don't appear to think it is absolutely necessary to believe in the diety of Buddha in order to be in the fold. My guide (who believes in the Buddha as a diety) appeared to think it's more important to practice the teachings than believe in a concept about who your god is.
It's kind of like the issue raised by Alan's favorite verse: Why do you call me Lord and fail to do what I teach? There are many people who say they believe in Jesus' divinity, but live as though they know nothing about the corporal and spiritual acts of mercy. (Feed the hungry, pray for your enemies, etc.) So saying you believe in Jesus' divinity doesn't necessarily make you a Christian, does it?
On the other hand, how do we know that someone is following Jesus' teachings in a satisfactory manner? TF claims to be doing just that. Ultimately, we can't pass judgement on who is or is not a true disciple of Jesus; or, for that matter, who is or is not a recipient of God's grace. We can only say, "The Family does not follow my understanding of the Way, and here's one reason why...Jesus said pray FOR your enemies, not pray AGAINST them."