What to do if followers of other religions say that they pray for us

A friend recently wrote to me and said that he feels insulted by the fact that some of his Christian or Muslim co-workers often tell him that they are praying for him to abandon his Buddhist Path and turn to their god. This was my answer:

Try to not become upset, but have compassion for them like a grown up towards ignorant children or like a sober person towards a drunken fellow who doesn't know what he's saying.

Shakyamuni Buddha said in the Sutra on the Questions of Maudgalyayana (as quoted by Shinran in his Kyogyoshinsho, chapter II) that those who "follow the ninety-five wrong paths" are blind and deaf. He said: " I call such people 'those without eyes' and 'those without ears'."

On the powerful pretas (hungry spirits) who wish to dominate other beings through religion

fragment from my description of the preta (hungry ghost realm)

            At the end of this presentation on pretas, I would like to add another special category of hungry ghosts - the powerful pretas who wish to dominate other beings through religion.

As I explained above, there are various types of pretas, and not all of them are weak or tortured by mere hunger or thirst. Some pretas have great powers due to previous good karma and merits, as Vasubandhu said: "the pretas differ much one from another; certain of them possess supernatural powers and enjoy a glory similar to that of the gods”[1], but also great arrogance and pride.  

Among the pretas, the category called gyalpos in Tibetan are the most powerful. "Gyalpo" means "king" or "royal" and it indicates the various leaders of the preta plane of existence, so they are from the same category Vasubandhu reffered to in the above passage. It is said that in their past lives they were great practitioners who accumulated merit, but were not able to overcome pride and arrogance, or they died with thoughts of hate, vengeance, etc.

Belief in a creator god is an obstacle to faith in Amida Buddha

click here to listen the audio version on my youtube channel

Please, read carefully the other articles in this category:

 - There is no creator god in the Buddha Dharma

- Some Buddhist teachings on the origin and existence of the universe

- Two questions on the Buddha nature and Samsara

Question[1]:

“A lot of folks who end up in Shin Buddhism here in the West have a lot of vestigial concepts from our Abrahamic background - whether or not they were ever "believers" [in God] themselves.  And they carry those vestigial ideas with them when they start in as Buddhists. Some don't do that of course - particularly the ones who are given to serious study, and really consider it important to know what Shakyamuni actually taught.  But as you know from your time in both the Zen and Shin Sanghas, such study is often not the primary focus - or even as great a focus as it is in the Theravada and Tibetan Buddhist Sangha groups. […]

So, in your opinion, based on your own reading and contemplating, is it possible for an ignorant, yet well meaning person to come to settled shinjin (faith) if he or she has never actually studied the subject[2], and has some mixed up ideas about eternalism stuck in his mind stream? Or is the presence of such thoughts a necessary karmic obstacle that must directly be addressed and removed before the person can receive Amida's gift of shinjin?”

Two questions on Buddha nature and Samsara

I received a few questions from my readers in relation to my last articles, “Some Buddhist explanations on the origin and existence of the universe” and “There is no supreme creator god in the Buddha Dharma”. Here are two of them (reformulated) and my short answer:

Question 1: “Where the Buddha nature within us originally came from?”

Question 2: “When the process of self-delusion or suffering started in the first place and why?”

Some Buddhist explanations on the origin and existence of the universe

Regard this phantom world
As a star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud
A flickering lamp — a phantom — and a dream.

Shakyamuni Buddha

( read my previous article in the same category,  “There is no supreme creator god in the Buddha Dharma”)

If Buddhism denies the idea of a creator-god, then how it explains the existence of the various worlds and universes?

First of all, when it refers to worlds and universes, the Buddha Dharma explaines them as places of rebirth, or Samsaric realms. Thus, they are inhabited by unenlightened beings in various stages of spiritual evolution or involution. As far as I know, most of the monotheists give the following argument  in the support of their belief in a supreme creator-god: “if you see a house in a field you ask yourself who built it. In the same way, this complex world is the creation of our god. Anything that exists has a creator”. This is the basis of their belief system, but for Buddhists the matter is wrongly addressed here. Yes, indeed, everything has a creator, but not in the way the monotheists think. I would rather say, every dream has a creator – the dreamer. And who is the dreamer? It is us – the unenlightened beings with our specific individual karma, but also with the collective karma or the karmic connections we create among us.  

There is no supreme creator-god in the Buddha Dharma

           

Buddha (right) preaching the Truth to Baka Brahma (left)
who had the illusion that he is supreme in the world

I am very much worried that nowadays, many people from inside or outside the Sangha spread the idea that Shakyamuni Buddha did not deny nor affirmed the existence of God. Thus, they somehow imply that the World Honored One left the door open for interpretation and that it is ok for a Buddhist disciple to believe in a Creator or supreme God.

Well, this is a great delusion and a falsification of Shakyamuni’s teaching. In fact, the Buddha clearly denied the existence of a supreme being who created the world, rules the world and will one day judge the world. In this short article and others that will soon follow, I do not have the intention to enter into any debate or polemics with followers of other religions on the existence or non-existence of such a supreme being, but just to prove that Shakyamuni Buddha clearly denied this view and considered it a false and dangerous illusion. For me the most important thing is not what monotheistic religions say, or if some chose to believe in a creator god (its their choice), but what the Buddha actually said and preached. So, if we consider ourselves to be His diciples, we ought to know His position on this topic and follow it faithfully.  

It is well known that among the many religious and philosophical traditions that were contemporary with the Buddha, the idea of a supreme being who created and sustains the world was well known and shared by many. This is exactly why, He did not kept silence, but preached against it.