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Chapter 1 Differences between Buddhism and Other Religions

Chapter 1 Differences between Buddhism and Other Religions

What is Dharma?

Dr. Zhang Chengji speaks about the arrangement by Layman Shen Jiazhen

What is Buddhism {Chapter 1} How Buddhism differs from other religions

“Preface”

Any political dynasty in the world rarely has a ruling time of more than a thousand years. The Zhou Dynasty in China is known as an extremely long dynasty, with a total of only more than 800 years; the Roman Empire, before the division of the East and West, unified The period of time is only about five hundred years. However, the five major religions in the world—Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and Judaism—all have a history of more than a thousand years. Islam is the youngest, and it has been around for more than a thousand years; Christianity is nearly two thousand years old; Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism are all over two thousand years old.

In the world, hundreds of millions of individuals have died, thousands of families have perished, and thousands of countries and nations have perished, but the unique religion can survive all kinds of turmoil forever. This iron fact shows that religion is an eternal need of all mankind. This need is supra-national, supra-national, supra-time and super-space. Religion is not only superstition, but also the second life of human beings. As long as there are humans on earth, there will be religions. Some people think that food and sex are the two most basic needs of human beings, but this is actually incorrect.

Food and sex are two biological needs of human beings. Humans also have a need different from other animals, that is, religious needs. Please note: The “religious need” mentioned here is in a broad sense, not a narrow one. Religious needs are the human mind’s constant pursuit of truth, perfection, or perfection, beauty, and truth. In this short, painful and confused life, human beings most need spiritual support, support and destination. There are many deficiencies and bewilderments, sorrows and distresses in human life that cannot be remedied by human beings, all of which can only be explained and comforted in religion. Therefore, the needs of religion are one of the three most fundamental needs of human beings. Its power sometimes far exceeds the other two needs. It is for this reason that religion has survived in the world for so long!

The above is to explain the importance of religion from the point of view of need, and then to review why religion will remain in the world forever based on the principle of cause and effect.

Most of the ancient emperors could not say that they had any political ideals. After winning the world by means of power and force, they enjoyed it and passed it on to their descendants. Most of their goals or aspirations are selfish, and they rarely have broad ideals and aspirations. According to the so-called principle of “such a cause produces such an effect” in Buddhism, with this kind of motivation as the cause, how can it produce the fruit of eternal peace?

Modern political leaders all presuppose the interests of their own country or sphere of influence. For the benefit of one’s own country, one does not hesitate to sacrifice justice, let alone the interests and well-being of other countries and peoples. How can this kind of limited mind, selfish intentions, and unscrupulous utilitarianism be admired by people all over the world and remain in the hearts of people all over the world forever? The reason why religions persist for a long time is that most of their teachings are supra-national, super-racial, and super-worldly. Religions with national and racial characteristics in their teachings, such as Shintoism in Japan and Judaism in the Jewish nation, although they can also be Because of its super-worldly nature of religion, it can last forever in its own country or family, but after all it cannot transcend the boundaries of the nation and become a worldwide religion.

The reason why any political doctrine and political measures in the world cannot survive for a long time in the world is because such doctrines or measures are often only to solve the current problems of a certain era, or the problems of a certain part of life. Its “motivation” is narrow and its intentions are selfish, so its value is small, and it is not enough for it to exist forever in people’s hearts. Religion is different.

The focus of religion is not only to solve the current problems of human beings, but also to solve the eternal problems of life; it not only talks about life, but also about death; Therefore, religion can be needed by all mankind in the long run. Because everything in this world, even if it can be satisfied, is only temporary, and human beings can never think that they are truly satisfied because of the satisfaction in this world.

The above explains the significance of religion to life, and also explains why the need and value of Buddhism have become more obvious in the past 2,500 years, and it is necessary to study and practice it.

What is Buddhism? Buddhism or Dharma is usually introduced, mostly from a historical point of view, from the birth, renunciation, enlightenment, and preaching of Sakyamuni Buddha to the later Theravada Buddhism in the south and the Mahayana Buddhism in the north, and after it was introduced into China, it was divided into various sects Arguments from various factions. Although this kind of introduction of Buddhism from a historical perspective has its value, it is far from explaining the appearance and not going deep into the marrow of the question “What is Buddhism?” Today I don’t want to use a few words to explain thoroughly what Buddhism is in this short period of time, but instead of using a historical introduction, I want to try to explain this big question from three different directions; as for my way of speaking , Whether it can benefit you, or please feel free to criticize and correct.

What about the three different directions? The first is to compare the difference between Buddhism and other religions. The purpose is to explain the Buddhadharma in a foil way. The second centered on the truth of Mahayana Buddhism that everyone has Buddha nature, explaining why we have not yet become a Buddha and why practicing meditation is the way to become a Buddha.

The purpose is to go deep into the bone marrow of Buddhism with the method of direct narration. The third is to introduce some methods that are in line with the principles of Buddhist practice and can be easily practiced by everyone anytime and anywhere, aiming at the living conditions of ordinary people in modern times. The purpose is to make it easy for everyone to experience it by themselves, gradually introduce it, and one day, they will understand what Buddhism is all about.

“Chapter 1 Differences between Buddhism and Other Religions”

Most people think that Buddhism is just one of the many religions in the world, and all religions are similar with minor differences; in fact, Buddhism is very different from other religions. At a time when people’s minds are confused and hesitant today, and various religions are trying their best to save this collapsed trend, the differences between these Buddhist teachings and other religions just explain why Buddhism is so great, thorough, and active enough to take on the role of saving people. Kuanglan, the ultimate way to get rid of the pain in life.

The so-called general religion here refers to Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc. These religions, among their believers, may think that the teachings of each other are very different and incompatible; but if we compare the teachings of Buddhism with the teachings of these religions, we feel that their basic teachings are not incompatible. There are few major differences; therefore, for the sake of ease of explanation, I have included religions other than Buddhism as one system, and compared Buddhism with this religious system.

Based on the results of my comparison, I believe that there are seven major differences between Buddhism and other religions:

1. Buddhism denies that God created the world at the very beginning

All religions, except Buddhism, whether Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or any other religion, have one thing in common, that is, they all believe in an omnipotent God, an God who violates ; God created the world, created man, God can do anything and everything.

However, Buddhism does not recognize that there is such an omnipotent and omnipotent God who created the world, because Buddhism does not recognize the beginning of the creation of the world in its basic theory. The theory of Buddhism : The concept of “beginning” is just a hypothesis or assumption invented and created for the convenience of one’s own thinking because of the “limited” psychology of human beings, which cannot cover thousands of causal relationships.

Let me give an example to help illustrate: For example, let’s talk about today’s speech. Everyone said that it started at eight o’clock and ended at nine o’clock. So we say that this speech has a definite beginning and a definite end. But this speech is by no means an initial start. For it is obvious that many other “cause and effect” relationships exist before the lecture begins. Before eight o’clock, everyone came here one after another, either at home or in other places. These are all things that happened before the Toastmasters. As far as these matters are concerned, the eight o’clock speech is the end, not the beginning.

After the lecture, everyone left one after another, some took a car, some walked, these are all things that happened after the lecture. As far as these matters are concerned, the nine o’clock meeting is the beginning, not the end. Therefore, the concept of “beginning” has meaning only when it refers to a specific thing, otherwise it is meaningless. The first beginning, or the absolute beginning, is meaningless at all.

The “cosmic primordial” theory of general religions makes this mistake. Cut off the endless “continuing flow of causality” of the universe in the sense of its own limitation, insisting that it has a beginning. Because of such an initial hypothesis, an almighty God who created the world was subsequently created. The question is : if God is omnipotent and merciful, why doesn’t he kick us, the suffering beings created by himself, like a football and kick them into Paradise of Paradise? Wouldn’t it be fun! But in fact, he didn’t do that.

In fact, God is also an assumption in human thought. The concept of God came from the fact that ancient people were shocked by many unexplainable phenomena in the universe, such as thunder and lightning, earthquakes, tsunamis, and plagues. The concept of “God” created by human beings not only explains the wonders of the universe, but also satisfies the actual needs of human beings and gives them a “sense of security.” This concept has its value in the progress of human political society. But when it comes to truth, it is difficult to justify this man-made assumption. Buddhism not only explains that the “first beginning” is the product of human limited thinking; it also tells us that the God who created the world and man-made objects is also an illusion in human thinking. The wisdom of Buddhism thus surpasses the basic teachings of other religions, which is the biggest difference between Buddhism and other religions.

2. The purpose of Buddhism is to make everyone a Buddha

In Buddhism, there are supreme Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, and gods; but the supreme Buddha in Buddhism is completely different from the gods of other religions. To illustrate this point, I would like to give a simple definition of “Buddha”. Usually we simply refer to Sakyamuni Buddha as Buddha. In the eyes of historians, Shakyamuni Buddha was a thinker in India more than 2,500 years ago; in the hearts of Buddhists, Shakyamuni Buddha is the founder or leader of Buddhism in this world; , Shakyamuni Buddha is one Buddha among countless Buddhas in countless worlds. The “Buddha” I want to introduce to you here is the general meaning of countless Buddhas, and it is broad. I try to define “Buddha” as follows:

A “Buddha” is a personality whose intellect, emotion and ability have all reached the most perfect state at the same time. Let me repeat: “Buddha” is a personality whose intellect, emotion, and ability have reached the most perfect state at the same time. In other words: Buddha is a person with great wisdom, great compassion (or full wisdom, full compassion) and great power. Please note here the difference between Buddhism and other religions: Buddha is not omnipotent, Buddha cannot give us liberation, he can only teach us, we still have to rely on our own efforts to achieve liberation. Buddha cannot send us to heaven or condemn us to hell.

Buddha is not only different from the omnipotent God in other religions, Shakyamuni Buddha also told us : This personality (also called Buddha nature in Buddhism) that can achieve the most perfect state of reason, emotion and ability at the same time, everyone originally has . It’s just like waves rising on a calm lake, and the mirror-like water surface is lost; human beings are obsessed with the external environment and phenomena, and all kinds of hypothetical assumptions, exhausted for the so-called survival, fame, love, and power, until they get old and die.

Enlightenment, therefore, bury the original Buddha nature; make it impossible to achieve the most perfect state at the same time with the highest reason, the richest emotion and the infinite ability, and cannot be liberated from troubles and pains. The purpose of the Buddha (Sakyamuni Buddha) teaching the world is to teach all living beings and reveal their inherent Buddha nature. The Buddha’s compassionate wish is to make everyone and all sentient beings become the same perfect and supreme Buddha as himself. Therefore, in the eyes of the Buddha, all human beings and sentient beings have the same Buddha nature and are equal.

Not so with other religions. In other religions, God and man are eternally opposed units. God is God and man is man. This Almighty God is the center of all teaching. People have to believe in God in order to be saved by God. People have to get the grace of God before they can go to heaven and live with God after death. But man can never become God, and there is always a gap between God and man.

In Christianity and Islam, there are so-called mystics, although they can also achieve a very high level of so-called “unity with God”, but this “unification”: Unification with God: always means a duality, after all, people cannot To be fully God is only to be “one” with God. This opposition: Dichotomy: the concept is actually formed by the limitation of its basic teachings. Therefore, many high-level Christian sages, such as Meister Eckhart and Muslim sage Al hailaj, were accused of heresy. The former was severely condemned by the church, while the latter was murdered and executed.

Buddha is not satisfied with becoming a Buddha himself, he wants everyone to become a Buddha, and he also teaches everyone how to become a Buddha. This embrace of all equality, great wisdom, and great compassion, its grandeur and depth, is indeed above ordinary religions. In short, Buddhism teaches people to have self-respect and self-confidence. In order to free ourselves from the pain of life and death, and to free all sentient beings from the pain of life and death, we should cherish the teaching methods passed on to us by the Buddha, redouble our efforts, and reveal our true nature. Possessed Buddha-nature enables everyone to become a Buddha and complete the most complete personality of reason, emotion, and ability.

3. Buddhism is an inclusive and comprehensive teaching

The central idea of ​​Buddhism, especially Mahayana Buddhism, is based on the theory that everyone is equal and that all living beings have Buddha-nature. Therefore, in Buddhism, there is no such thing as the first of the Ten Commandments of Christianity: “Thou shalt not believe in false gods. ” teachings. Christians regard the gods believed by Muslims or Hindus as evil gods; Muslims or Hindus also regard the God of Christians as evil gods. Say to each other, Thou shalt not worship false gods. The question is which religion’s god is real and which one is false? This dispute was resolved by war.

The Crusades and the Christian war between the old and the new are examples in history. Buddhism does not have this problem. Buddhism believes that the Buddha nature is equal and everyone can become a Buddha, so there is no xenophobic and domineering atmosphere. To further say: the great inclusiveness and inclusiveness of Buddhism can accommodate the teachings of all religions. The theories taught in any religion are all contained in Buddhism. But there are many profound truths in Buddhism that cannot be found in other religions.

For example, with regard to the salvation of the world with compassion: Buddhism not only has a common teaching with other religions, but also further has the sayings of great compassion without predestined relationship and great compassion with one body. The vast bodhicitta, the endless and solemn bodhisattva vows, and the profound and vast wisdom of emptiness cannot be found in any religious teachings. Buddhism never denigrates other religions. Buddhism believes that all living beings have different roots, and the teaching method cannot be the same. All religions and philosophies have their values ​​and functions.

All kinds of religions can educate and benefit a certain kind of sentient beings in a certain time and space. Following any good religion can bring benefits and happiness to people in this world and in the future. But if you want to achieve ultimate liberation and perfect enlightenment, you must complete the conditions for ultimate liberation and perfect enlightenment. Buddhism believes that in all religions, there is only a distinction between deep and shallow, and there is very little difference between evil and righteous. For any problem, Buddhism has several interpretations in different depths to suit the needs of various sentient beings. The all-encompassing nature of Buddhism is truly vast, boundless, and unpredictable.

Another example: People with high intelligence can understand and accommodate the realm of low-level intelligent people ; but low-level intelligent people can hardly dream, let alone understand or contain the realm of great wisdom. Physicists can understand the common sense of ordinary people, but ordinary people cannot understand, let alone include the insights and realm of physicists. Only the great sea can accommodate hundreds of rivers, and only the profound and broad Dharma can contain all other teachings.

4. The Buddha is a great freedom free from troubles

Most religions say: If people do not believe in God, or violate God, God will be angry, punish people, and even send him to hell forever to suffer. In the records of various religions, it is easy to see stories and admonitions of God being wrathful and punishing the world with disasters. The last judgment of Christianity is especially frightening; because this last judgment may condemn you to hell to suffer forever without even a chance to recover. If these words are true, mankind is indeed very unfortunate. God should not have created man in the first place, and it is incomprehensible that man, created for no reason, would be condemned to hell by this merciful God because he did not believe in God or was not baptized. Let’s take a ten thousand step back and assume that there is such an Almighty God. Let us now examine the character of this God.

If God is angry and sends people to hell, he is a person with hatred and revenge. Hatred is a kind of affliction of likes and dislikes. If a person has a heart of hatred, it means that the seeds of his afflictions have not been cut off. You guys are listening to me right now, maybe right now, not angry—at least I hope so. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have the ability to get angry. If I stepped down from the stage right now, and slapped you in the face for no reason, you would immediately get angry. This shows that the potentialities (seeds) of greed, hatred, and ignorance always exist in the heart, are deeply rooted, and are not easy to eliminate. Once they encounter external conditions, they will immediately manifest themselves. Therefore, no matter whether it is a human being or a god, if he is angry and punishes those who disobey him, he is a person who has not yet cut off the seeds of anger and affliction. He is still an ordinary person in essence, and has not been liberated at all, let alone a perfect and good god!

The Buddha will not be angry and will not judge sentient beings ; the Buddha will not lose his temper and send people to hell. If a person will go to hell, it is his own karma, and it is definitely not the Buddha who punished him and sent him to hell. The Buddha not only does not send people to hell, but also goes to hell to rescue him! Therefore, Buddhism will never intimidate people and say, “Don’t offend the Buddha, or the Buddha will send you to hell when he gets angry.” On the contrary, Buddhism encourages people to go to hell to save sentient beings. Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva said: “If I don’t go to hell, who will go to hell?” It is the expression of this spirit! If we compare the Buddha’s character with the gods of other religions, we will know the Buddha’s superiority and greatness.

5. Buddhism is democratic and rational

Because the basic teachings of Buddhism are inherently equal, tolerant and inclusive, so in the history of Buddhism, only the spirit of tolerance and democracy is displayed, which forms a sharp contrast with the arbitrariness and intolerance of other religions. In the history of Buddhism, of course, there are no such events as religious persecution and heresy. On the contrary, all sects and sects of Buddhism have the right to speak freely, and they can freely express their opinions and criticize the views of other sects. When his democratic spirit and attitude of valuing the truth were brought to the extreme, he went so far as to “curse the Buddha and scold the ancestors”; when explaining the emptiness of all dharmas and the unobtainable truth, he actually said that the Buddha is a “dry shit peg” and that “the Buddha’s I don’t like to hear that word.”

How thorough is this spirit! How bold and unrestrained! In which other religion are these expressions found? In other religions, the words spoken by God or the leader are sacred and cannot be interfered with. God’s words, whether it is wrong or not, believers are only allowed to accept them all. This is not the case with Buddhism. Buddhists accept or reject what the Buddha said. Because the truths taught by the Buddha are often multi-faceted because of the differences in the basic wisdom of Buddhists; Buddhists can accept some of the truths that the Buddha said, but not others.

In Buddhist scriptures, we can often see that Shakyamuni Buddha said to his disciples and listeners: “I am the one who speaks the truth, the one who speaks the truth, and the one who does not lie.” He always persuades the audience, researches the truth, pays attention to reason, and thus There is no intimidating and coercive tone or means to get people to obey. It is clearly recorded in the Lotus Sutra of the Miaofa: When the Buddha was about to speak the unbelievable Dharma of the superior vehicle, there were as many as 5,000 listeners who thought they had been liberated, refused to listen to the lecture, and left the banquet. The Buddha not only did not get angry, pursued or punished, but only said: “Their opportunities are not ripe yet, it is better to let them go than to listen to it and disbelieve it, causing resentment and increasing their sins.” What kind of tolerance, democracy and great!

6. The love of Buddhism is infinite

The Christian Bible says: “You must love your neighbor” and “You must love your enemy”. These instructions are very great. Because the teachings of Christianity have transcended countries, races, human beings and this world, it is possible to achieve what it is today. However, although the teachings of general religions can transcend nations, races, human beings, and the present world, they cannot transcend religions. It is okay to love enemies, but never to love heathens! Everything can be tolerated and forgiven, but as soon as God and religion are involved, the spirit of intolerance and lack of love is immediately exposed.

The most fundamental question is: Aren’t these so-called pagans also human beings created by God? The same “children” of God, why are they created for no reason, and sent to hell to suffer forever? Where is his fraternity?

The fraternal love and great compassion of Buddhism are infinite, absolute, and unconditional. The love of Buddhism extends not only to all human beings, but also to all living beings. Buddhism not only teaches people to love their enemies, but also teaches people to love pagans. Hengsha (the sand of the Ganges River in India, which is often quoted in Buddhist scriptures to represent a very large number of people), if you do not save all living beings, you will not become a Buddha! Further speaking from a philosophical point of view, the love of Buddhism transcends all appearances.

This love that transcends all forms, united with the inconceivable emptiness, in the inaccessibility of all dharmas, there is no reason for great compassion, and it arises at will! This philosophy of emptiness and sadness is the highest, most profound, and most inconceivable part of Buddhist teachings. These teachings are not easy to understand at once, but I would like to take this opportunity to mention them here so that you can have an impression.

In the “Mahamudra” prayer of Tibetan Master Karmapa, there are organic sentences to illustrate the above teachings, which are very powerful:

Although the self-nature of all beings is always Buddha-nature, there is no knowing the boundless samsara

May all sentient beings in boundless pain always have unbearable great compassion

The unbearable sorrow manifests itself nakedly when the sorrow is not extinguished

This is the way to avoid errors and win the best double luck. May you not leave this day and night to practice meditation constantly.

All dharmas and the unborn emptiness of this mind are all ready-made. The great compassion of the same body, which is extremely emotional, is also inherently sufficient. When realizing the emptiness of all dharmas, the great compassion will not pretend to be artificial, and it will arise at will, which is a subtle and inconceivable thing; for those beings who are covered by ignorant habits and cannot reveal their original Buddha nature, the Buddha will naturally give birth to incomparable compassion. Heart.

The wisdom eye of the Buddha sees that the nature of all living beings is Buddha nature; therefore, the Buddha instinctively feels that the inability of all living beings to become a Buddha is due to his own insufficiency, so he will naturally do his best to mature all living beings in the future, so that all living beings can become complete. Buddhist career. Those who practice Buddhism can always have the state of “I am one with all the Buddhas”; while the Buddhas of the ten directions are always in the state of “I am one with all living beings”. Only the great compassion and fraternity arising from this profound state of Faer can be equal, impartial, the most thorough, the most complete, and the love that transcends all distinctions and limitations.

7. The pure land of rebirth taught by Buddhism is different from the eternal life paradise taught by others

People who don’t understand Buddhism generally say: Christians pray to God and go to heaven after death, which is no different from Buddhists who chant Buddha and go to the Pure Land. On the surface, these words seem to be good, but if you study them carefully, you will know that there is a big difference.

The heaven and hell advertised in other religions seem to be opposite to this world. Heaven, earth and hell seem to include the entire universe. The human world is a temporary testing ground, and heaven or hell is the real end of life. This is a limited and negative tone. The Pure Land that Buddhism talks about is fundamentally different from this. The Buddhist cosmology is infinite. Mahayana Buddhism clearly explains the infinity of the universe when it reveals the vast and solemn state of the Buddhas. There are as many worlds as there are sands in the Ganges River, and it is only a drop in the endless dharma world.

Therefore, there is only one heaven in other religions, but there are so many pure lands in Buddhism. Like the Western Paradise of Amitabha, it is just a pure land in the vast, boundless and endless dharma realm. Furthermore, the pure land of righteousness in Buddhism can be in the west, or in the east, or it can be this world. In the Vimalakirti Sutra, it is said: “A pure heart is a pure land.” You can purify your mind, this land is pure land. Therefore, rebirth in the Pure Land is essentially the same as rebirth in this world, and it is definitely not the end of everything.

In other religions, going to heaven, the so-called eternal life, is to be with God and have fun. According to the principle of cause and effect, Buddhism believes that it is impossible to obtain the good fruit of infinite eternal life with limited good causes. So go to heaven to enjoy, and after enjoying your good causes, you will still fall down. Like shooting an arrow from the sky, when the power is exhausted, the arrow will fall back down again.

Rebirth in the Pure Land in Buddhism means that depending on your pure cause, you can go to a good practice environment (Pure Land). Inspired by the great wishes of the Buddhas, the whole environment can help you practice. If you have achieved success in practice, according to your own vows, you don’t necessarily have to live in this pure land forever, but you have to go to other endless worlds and then come to this world to save sentient beings.

In summary: Going to heaven to enjoy pleasure is really the selfishness and negative fantasy of the finite universe theory; and going to the pure land to practice is the convenience and solemnity of the Bodhisattva with endless compassion!