Bhuddist account of Creation

robocombot

robocombot

Disciple
Messages
57
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Location
Montgomery, Alabama
While most major religions explain why (if not how) the universe was created, what is the Bhuddist view?

Why was the universe created? How? By who or what? What is the prime mover? What caused the spark of life? Does it differ from what we know from science?
 
Namaste robocombot,

thank you for the post.

robocombot said:
While most major religions explain why (if not how) the universe was created, what is the Bhuddist view?
Click to expand...
well... it sort of depends on whom you ask.

generally speaking, Buddhism does not see much benefit in speculating on First Causes, especially since its' teaching is one of Interdependent Co-Arising.

nevertheless, there is a Creation tale related in the Buddha Dharma, however, it is the Creation tale of the Sanatana Dharma and it is rejected by the Buddha as being inaccurate and incomplete.

Why was the universe created? How? By who or what? What is the prime mover? What caused the spark of life? Does it differ from what we know from science?
Click to expand...
the Buddhist view isn't one of a "created" universe, again the Interdependent Co-Arising.. there is no "first" cause, no "primary mover".

generally speaking, Buddhism agrees with our modern scientific observations concerning the universe, though it may depend on which cosmological model that you perfer :) interestingly, the Indian view of creation is one that encompasses billions of years.
 
Namaste Robocombot,

thank for the post.

robocombot said:
thanks for the reply :D

so is Interdependent Co-Arising the evolution of mind and spirit? or what is it? sorry new concept to me, thankyou!
Click to expand...
well... i suppose that we could say that, though it wouldn't be terribly accurate.

what the term means is that all phenomena in the universe, in our view, arise in dependence on causes and conditions. when analyzed, an initial cause or condition cannot be found, thus, the phenomena, in our view, arise all at the same moment, predicated on causes and conditions.

another way to say it is "this is because that is and that is because this is."

regarding evolution, per se, Buddhism has no issues with the Modern Synthesis of Evolution.

the Buddhist position regarding science and so forth is that if science were to contradict one of our teachings, we should change our teaching so that it is consonant with the evidence.
 
Would it be right to say that Buddist teachings seek to explain or to show a way toward - ; in that it is a striving toward a goal that is called (for want of a more suitable word) 'perfection'.

It's reliance upon and experence of the temporal is not as an attempt to define it or to explain it but to accept it - A is because B is and B is because A is. There is an endless co-relation between events and things because all events and things are and they 'are' within the temporal.

Enlightenment - 'perfection' is the full and complete realisation of the oneness of all and as such the temporal ceases to have its hold upon us.

Or am I thiinking of something else?

hogie
 
Namaste mahogan,

thank you for the post.

mahogan said:
Would it be right to say that Buddist teachings seek to explain or to show a way toward - ; in that it is a striving toward a goal that is called (for want of a more suitable word) 'perfection'.
Click to expand...
i would be reluctant to use the word perfection, since it has a specific connotation in English which isn't what we're really going on about. it's true enough that the 6 Paramitas (virtues) are called "Perfect" however, this is a transliteration of the Sanskrit term "samyak" which really means "correct and without lack"... a bit different than the "perfect" in English.

in any case, having said that, it is a fair statement to say that the Buddhist teachings are a guide post, a map, if you will, to a help guide one along their journey. the destination of said journey is ineffable and is very closely tied to how physical processes are understood in the Indian subcontinent.

It's reliance upon and experence of the temporal is not as an attempt to define it or to explain it but to accept it - A is because B is and B is because A is. There is an endless co-relation between events and things because all events and things are and they 'are' within the temporal.
Click to expand...
i could agree with all of this. to take it a bit futher... if one of the constituant bits of a phenomena is no longer present, the phenomena ceases to arise. however, the potential for it to arise is always present.

in a very real sense, we can say that Buddhism is a teaching that focues on the process of "becoming" in every moment that arises, one after the other.

Enlightenment - 'perfection' is the full and complete realisation of the oneness of all and as such the temporal ceases to have its hold upon us.
Click to expand...
well... this is a sort of Western view of it and doesn't really find any sustanance in the Suttas/Sutras themselves. Buddhists say that all sentient beings are one in the sense that all sentient beings have the same goal of living in peace, happiness and prosperity. not, however, that each sentient being contains a bit of all other sentient beings. this is more of a teaching of the Sanatana Dharma.

to get a bit technical... what is the same amongst sentient beings is what we call Buddha nature. however, your Buddha nature is unique to you and mine is unique to me, even though they are both the same. does that make sense? let me use an analogy.

it is like a quarter. you have a quarter and i have a quarter, they are both the exact same thing, a quarter. but yours is yours and mine is mine. they have the same purpose and the same function and we can talk about yours and mine in the exact same way and use the same tactics and stratigies with our quarters. however, each of us has our own quarter. we are not sharing our quarter amongst all others that also have quarters, even though all quarters are alike.

Or am I thiinking of something else?

hogie
Click to expand...
the last bit, sharing the same underlying nature, is more intune with the Sanatana Dharma traditions, especially Vedanta, rather than Buddhism. of course, one of the things that makes it a bit difficult when one is first starting to study these traditions is that they will both use the same terms, however, they are using alternate meanings of the same term. this is actually a literary feature of Sanskrit, though it does tend to make it a bit confusing :)
 
I have certainly heard a Buddhist creation story, forgive me if I cannot cite the sutra or to which Buddhist sect this story pertains to. I will tell it as best as my memory allows. I believe this is how a world cycle begins. It starts out with ethereal spirtual beings with no mass living in some kind of nether space. As time goes on, an amorphous planetoid forms, and they fly around enjoying themselves above it. Eventually one of the beings descends to the planetoid and dips his finger into the cloudy surface covering the planetoid. It is a kind of cool whip type material which the being finds delightfully tasty. Over time other beings descend and they all begin devouring the cloudy mass. Every night the mass returns to its original size. Anyway, after eating for a time, the beings are forced to develop sexual organs to release the mass of consumed "cool whip" from their bodies. Two types of creature are now apparent, male types and female types. In addition, the "cool whip" now transforms into rice. Two of the creatures experiment and find that they can procreate. After this occurs they are shunned by the other creatures and build their own hut where they may procreate in peace. As they shovel away the rice into their hut, it stops being replenished. Gradually, the other creatures do the same(find mates and hoard rice). Eventually, all of the creatures are forced to plant rice, and farm it. The rest of civlization is history. Those are the details that I remember from the story.

It is probably worth pointing out, and I think it was mentioned above, that there is no "first cause' for existence according to Buddhists. This is just the beginning of one of many world cycles.
 
Although I admit I have never studied the Sutras in any detail, I have never heard of a creation myth. The term "Time without beginning" is used often in Buddhism and suggests to me that there was no creation.

I have always thought that the greatest stumbling block of all theistic religions is the myth of creation. When we ask how the world was created we are told that God made it, yet when we ask how God came into being we are told that he was always there. Why not skip a step. If it is possible that something has always been here requiring no beginning, let it be the Universe.

Also we must remember that the universe we see around us is actually a product of our deluded minds, it exists as long as we cognize it, and as such I would say that the Buddhist story of creation is that YOU created the universe.

There is a very good chance that I have misunderstood the whole thing, but this makes sense to me and thats all that really matters.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top