From: cmtan@iss.nus.sg (Tan Chade Meng - with Dan)
Subject: Buddhism - A religion of atheists?
Organization: Institute Of Systems Science, NUS
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 01:39:17 GMT


BUDDHISM - A RELIGION OF ATHEISTS?

Is there such thing as an "atheist religion"?  Surprise!  I found the
answer to be "yes".

As a part time social worker, I am keenly aware of the powerful
positive psychology effects of religion.  But, as an atheists, I'm also
keenly aware of the ills of religions:  Holy wars, dogmatism,
Inquisitions, religiously-inspired murders, impedence of science, etc.

To my pleasant surprise, I found one religion which is without any of
the ills.  One of the amazing things about this religion is that many
of its followers, even among its clergy, are atheists!  This "atheist"
religion is Buddhism.

To understand this interesting phenomenon, we have to take a very very
brief look at the central doctorine of Buddhism.  The Central Doctorine
of Buddhism is the "Four Noble Truths":

The First Noble Truth states that sufferings and pain exists, and it
exists in every lifeform.  The Second Noble Truth explores the source
of (psychological) Pain.  Such pain, according to Buddhism, is caused
by the negative states of one's Mind: Greed, Hatred, Delusions,
Ignorant Desires, Jealousy, Anger etc.  All these negative states of
Mind torments the man and causes his experiences to be full of
sufferings.  The Third Noble Truth tells of cessation of Pain.  Since
Pain is caused by the negative states of Mind, the way to cease Pain
would be to develop the Mind such that all these negative states would
cease and be replaced by positive states of Mind like Peace, Love,
Compassion, Kindness, Wisdom etc.  The Fourth Noble Truth, also known
as the Eightfold Path, is a systematic method of developing positive
states of the Mind.  It is a complete package of spiritual and mental
training.

Notice that Spiritual development (instead of Faith) is strongly
emphasized in Buddhism and NOWHERE in its Central Doctrine was the word
"God" even mentioned.  Buddhism is probably the only religion in the
world where the believe in God is not encouraged.  It is also probably
the only religion where followers are encouraged to scrutinize its
teachings and blind faith is frowned upon.  Hence, it was able to avoid
the dogmatism, Holy Wars and other evils that plagued all other
religions.  It is one of very few religions with no conflicts with
Science, even though it is much older than Christianity and Islam.
Indeed, Buddhism has more *positive* impact on modern psychology, for
example, than any religion has on any field of science.

Einstein once said, "If there is any religion that would cope with
modern scientific needs it would be Buddhism ..... [Buddhism] has the
characteristics of what would be expected in a cosmic religion for the
future: it transcends a personal God, avoids dogmas and theology; it
covers both the natural and the spiritual, and it is based on a
religious sense aspiring from the experience of all things, natural and
spiritual, as a meaningful unity."

He must have been as impressed with Buddhism as I am.

C. M. Tan



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