A Retort, Mentally
"Ten Questions I'd Ask If I Could Interview Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha) Today" by Daryl E. Witmer of AIIA Institute. {Areopagus Proclamation, Vol. 6 No. 3.}
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/letter-buddhisminterview.html
The Buddha (“Enlightened One”) was born in Nepal and named Siddhartha Gautama (later known as Sakyamuni). He was an Indian philosopher. All accounts of life that are known today were written by followers, long after his death.
There are an estimated 500+ million adherents of Buddhism in the world, with up to two million here in America. But whether you're Buddhist or not--just in the interest of further dialog
--we'd invite your response to the following.
1. If there is no personal God, and if one can attain nirvana only as a result of the destruction of thirst (tanha) / desire, therefore the destruction of attachment, therefore the destruction of existence--from whence, do you suppose, did personality (or even the sense of personality) ever come? Exactly what is it, and where does it go when one ceases to exist?
A: The question of a personal God was never answered, either in the positive or the negative. The question is rejected as unanswerable. Buddhism is not about gods, personal or otherwise. The Path, the Law, the Dharma, the Duty is only concerned with the human's capacity to suffer, the cause of suffering, and ending suffering. Seek others' deities, or do not, but that is part of your sadhana, your walking of the Path. As far as personality, the personality and the sense of personality comes from persons. It is shaped by attachments and life, and encouraged by the illusion of their personalities' seperateness from other persons. As to where it goes afterwards? I instead ask you, "Where is it now?"
2. Without a personal God, on what basis can there ever exist any human moral standard or ethic--and therefore, in what sense do you mean for us to understand the terms noble and truth, i.e. The Four Noble Truths, or the term right in the eight-fold path of right views, resolve, speech, conduct, occupation, efforts, awareness, and meditation?
A:The basis for this particular moral code, the Noble Truth and Eight-fold Path, is the realization of suffering, and the necessary path to eradicating the attachments, perhaps you may call them crutched addictions neuroses, illusions, or vices. These attachments create and maintain suffering in and throughout the entirety of existence. The "noble" as it is used is that the particular logical outline is important, and commendable to follow, and is inclusive of all other truths. Truths are not the facts, but the honesties and rightnesses of life. Paths. Does this help you? And for Right, for those that require guidance, I gave rules and direction. You may have your own.
3. If your teaching, which came on the scene in the sixth century B.C., alone represents truth and liberation--what provision was there for the millions who lived previous to the advent of your enlightenment and teaching? Why do you suppose that you, of all humankind, were the one to come on this insight when you did?
A: Perhaps others have, in the past, discovered it and failed to teach it. Perhaps others never discovered it to teach it. Perhaps I am not the only only one to discover it or teach it. It would seem that someone must discover it, and declare it and teach it. I was simply the one to do so. Perhaps others are in pursuit, and discovering it. You have also discovered it, in order to ask of it.
4. If, as you are reported to have said, nirvana is "beyond...good and evil", then, in the ultimate sense, there is really no difference between Hitler and Mother Theresa, or between helping an old lady across the street and running her down--correct?
A:To be occupied with the concept or label or designation or combating of good and evil, there is the attachment towards one, and the aversion from the other. When, on the Noble Path, one naturally releases the false illusions of chasing and avoiding either one. That is to be "beyond good and evil" for without these attachments, that state is Nirvana. Therefore, the question becomes more of how you are, 'in the ultimate sense' different from either Adolph Hitler or Mother Theresa of Poland. Did any among you Adolph or Theresa reduce any illusions of the world, and halt the self-infliction and the infliction of sufferings caused by attachments and aversions? And as for little old ladies, which act do you believe inflicts suffering: the helping or the injuring?
5. Thich Nhat Hanh, bodhisattva (holy man) and author of "Living Buddha, Living Christ" [© 1995 by Riverhead Books], attempts to homogenize Buddhism and Christianity. Though you never knew of Jesus Christ, it would seem that you too might suggest that one could conceivably be a “Christian Buddhist”. Yet how could that ever be possible given Christianity's categorical differences with Buddhism on matters like the nature of sin, reincarnation, and salvation--to name just a few. Jesus claimed to be the Truth. The Christian Scripture says that "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
A: The Noble Path does not offer salvation or reunification with any deity; only participating in a faith can do so. The 'salvation' offered by the Noble Path is simply the freedom from suffering and causing suffering. If you as a person accept the cause of human suffering and attachment as contained in the Noble Path, and that the Eightfold Path contains the direction to end that suffering and attachment, then tou accept them and agree. If you see Christian ethics are opposed to the Dharmic Path, then they oppose. If you do not see the ethics as opposed, then you do not. Yahweh and Jeshu offer Christian Salvation and Heaven through Faith in the Blood and the Word. I do not claim to create your moral or religious foundations. I only have the Noble Path to offer you.
6. How do you feel about the many variations of your teaching that have evolved down through the years? Please comment on Theravada (38%), Mahayana (56%), Tantrism or Vajranaya, Tibetan (6%; Dalai Lama), and Zen Buddhism?
A: Simply that the labels or names and proportions seem likely, and irrelevant. The Noble Path and Eightfold Path have not evolved or changed. The vehicles carrying them have evolved, changed, grown, and divided.
7. Chuck Stanford says: "Like cloudy water, our minds are basically pure and clear, but sometimes they become cloudy from the storms of discursive thoughts. Just like water, if we let our minds sit undisturbed the mud and muck will eventually settle to the bottom. Once this happens we can begin to get in touch with our basic goodness. It is through this basic goodness that the Buddha discovered that we can lead sane lives." But, Mr. Gautama, what if you are wrong about our being basically good? The Bible says that we're conceived in sin. What if there is a personal God to whom we will all one day answer? What if your enlightenment (awakening) was really only a dream?
A: The Personal God is a Personal God, and not addressed or even a part of the Noble Truths and Eightfold Path. Chuck Stanford spoke poetically, and as such, license if often taken given and expected. The accepting of the Noble Truth and Eightfold Path has seemed less difficult than following them. This is because people seem naturally prone to illusions, delusions, and attachments, and the world around them seems to reinforce that seeming urge instinct and propensity. Conception in Sin, Sin, and the Personal God, or any deity in general, is a matter and question and topic of Faith. The Dharmic Truths are neither against nor for Faith in these things. It is not the Domain of them.
8.In the film Beyond Rangoon Laura's guide says that the (Buddhist) Burmese expect suffering, not happiness. When happiness comes, it is to be enjoyed as a gift, but with the awareness that it will soon certainly pass. If the ultimate Buddhist hope is to just leave the present wheel of birth and rebirth and enter into the ineffable bliss of Nirvana, where is the motivation to do good, and to actively oppose injustice, in this present life?
A: This philosophy in Burma is meant to remind them, culturally, of the transience of life, and it's illusion. Pain and age and sickness and death are in fact things to be expected. These are mandatory in life. Suffering is optional, and the Noble Path describes the tools avoid suffering, by undoing attachments. To oppose injustice is to oppose the continuation of suffering upon others. To "do good" or refrain from "doing evil" halts the infliction of suffering on others and the self.
9. How do we reconcile the Dalai Lama's observation that "Every human being has the potential to create happiness", with your own teaching that suffering is caused by desire? If one sets out to resist desire, why would one ever then entertain the desire for happiness, and thus work to create it?
A: You may reconcile them however you like, or decline to reconcile them. Attachments are meant to be let go and undone. Resistance and creating are not undoing or releasing. Internal struggles are not inner peace, are not the realization of the cessations of attachments.
10. Personal Trivia: Did you really sit under that bo tree for seven full days--without ever eating any figs? Did your remarkably sensitive, compassionate, nature come more from your mother or father? How did your son, left to grow up without a father, feel about your “Great Renunciation”?
A: I am told it was seven days, and likely was. I am quite sure that I consumed no figs, either. My nature likely derived from both, and from the loss of my mother. Both my wife and son took up the Noble Paths, and became a nun and monk, and my father a lay-follower. As far as his feelings, you should ask him. He's an agreeable fellow. But that, as well as all the previous things you yourself must evaluate and reject or accept on their merit and logic.
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-aiia/letter-buddhisminterview.html
The Buddha (“Enlightened One”) was born in Nepal and named Siddhartha Gautama (later known as Sakyamuni). He was an Indian philosopher. All accounts of life that are known today were written by followers, long after his death.
There are an estimated 500+ million adherents of Buddhism in the world, with up to two million here in America. But whether you're Buddhist or not--just in the interest of further dialog
--we'd invite your response to the following.
1. If there is no personal God, and if one can attain nirvana only as a result of the destruction of thirst (tanha) / desire, therefore the destruction of attachment, therefore the destruction of existence--from whence, do you suppose, did personality (or even the sense of personality) ever come? Exactly what is it, and where does it go when one ceases to exist?
A: The question of a personal God was never answered, either in the positive or the negative. The question is rejected as unanswerable. Buddhism is not about gods, personal or otherwise. The Path, the Law, the Dharma, the Duty is only concerned with the human's capacity to suffer, the cause of suffering, and ending suffering. Seek others' deities, or do not, but that is part of your sadhana, your walking of the Path. As far as personality, the personality and the sense of personality comes from persons. It is shaped by attachments and life, and encouraged by the illusion of their personalities' seperateness from other persons. As to where it goes afterwards? I instead ask you, "Where is it now?"
2. Without a personal God, on what basis can there ever exist any human moral standard or ethic--and therefore, in what sense do you mean for us to understand the terms noble and truth, i.e. The Four Noble Truths, or the term right in the eight-fold path of right views, resolve, speech, conduct, occupation, efforts, awareness, and meditation?
A:The basis for this particular moral code, the Noble Truth and Eight-fold Path, is the realization of suffering, and the necessary path to eradicating the attachments, perhaps you may call them crutched addictions neuroses, illusions, or vices. These attachments create and maintain suffering in and throughout the entirety of existence. The "noble" as it is used is that the particular logical outline is important, and commendable to follow, and is inclusive of all other truths. Truths are not the facts, but the honesties and rightnesses of life. Paths. Does this help you? And for Right, for those that require guidance, I gave rules and direction. You may have your own.
3. If your teaching, which came on the scene in the sixth century B.C., alone represents truth and liberation--what provision was there for the millions who lived previous to the advent of your enlightenment and teaching? Why do you suppose that you, of all humankind, were the one to come on this insight when you did?
A: Perhaps others have, in the past, discovered it and failed to teach it. Perhaps others never discovered it to teach it. Perhaps I am not the only only one to discover it or teach it. It would seem that someone must discover it, and declare it and teach it. I was simply the one to do so. Perhaps others are in pursuit, and discovering it. You have also discovered it, in order to ask of it.
4. If, as you are reported to have said, nirvana is "beyond...good and evil", then, in the ultimate sense, there is really no difference between Hitler and Mother Theresa, or between helping an old lady across the street and running her down--correct?
A:To be occupied with the concept or label or designation or combating of good and evil, there is the attachment towards one, and the aversion from the other. When, on the Noble Path, one naturally releases the false illusions of chasing and avoiding either one. That is to be "beyond good and evil" for without these attachments, that state is Nirvana. Therefore, the question becomes more of how you are, 'in the ultimate sense' different from either Adolph Hitler or Mother Theresa of Poland. Did any among you Adolph or Theresa reduce any illusions of the world, and halt the self-infliction and the infliction of sufferings caused by attachments and aversions? And as for little old ladies, which act do you believe inflicts suffering: the helping or the injuring?
5. Thich Nhat Hanh, bodhisattva (holy man) and author of "Living Buddha, Living Christ" [© 1995 by Riverhead Books], attempts to homogenize Buddhism and Christianity. Though you never knew of Jesus Christ, it would seem that you too might suggest that one could conceivably be a “Christian Buddhist”. Yet how could that ever be possible given Christianity's categorical differences with Buddhism on matters like the nature of sin, reincarnation, and salvation--to name just a few. Jesus claimed to be the Truth. The Christian Scripture says that "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12
A: The Noble Path does not offer salvation or reunification with any deity; only participating in a faith can do so. The 'salvation' offered by the Noble Path is simply the freedom from suffering and causing suffering. If you as a person accept the cause of human suffering and attachment as contained in the Noble Path, and that the Eightfold Path contains the direction to end that suffering and attachment, then tou accept them and agree. If you see Christian ethics are opposed to the Dharmic Path, then they oppose. If you do not see the ethics as opposed, then you do not. Yahweh and Jeshu offer Christian Salvation and Heaven through Faith in the Blood and the Word. I do not claim to create your moral or religious foundations. I only have the Noble Path to offer you.
6. How do you feel about the many variations of your teaching that have evolved down through the years? Please comment on Theravada (38%), Mahayana (56%), Tantrism or Vajranaya, Tibetan (6%; Dalai Lama), and Zen Buddhism?
A: Simply that the labels or names and proportions seem likely, and irrelevant. The Noble Path and Eightfold Path have not evolved or changed. The vehicles carrying them have evolved, changed, grown, and divided.
7. Chuck Stanford says: "Like cloudy water, our minds are basically pure and clear, but sometimes they become cloudy from the storms of discursive thoughts. Just like water, if we let our minds sit undisturbed the mud and muck will eventually settle to the bottom. Once this happens we can begin to get in touch with our basic goodness. It is through this basic goodness that the Buddha discovered that we can lead sane lives." But, Mr. Gautama, what if you are wrong about our being basically good? The Bible says that we're conceived in sin. What if there is a personal God to whom we will all one day answer? What if your enlightenment (awakening) was really only a dream?
A: The Personal God is a Personal God, and not addressed or even a part of the Noble Truths and Eightfold Path. Chuck Stanford spoke poetically, and as such, license if often taken given and expected. The accepting of the Noble Truth and Eightfold Path has seemed less difficult than following them. This is because people seem naturally prone to illusions, delusions, and attachments, and the world around them seems to reinforce that seeming urge instinct and propensity. Conception in Sin, Sin, and the Personal God, or any deity in general, is a matter and question and topic of Faith. The Dharmic Truths are neither against nor for Faith in these things. It is not the Domain of them.
8.In the film Beyond Rangoon Laura's guide says that the (Buddhist) Burmese expect suffering, not happiness. When happiness comes, it is to be enjoyed as a gift, but with the awareness that it will soon certainly pass. If the ultimate Buddhist hope is to just leave the present wheel of birth and rebirth and enter into the ineffable bliss of Nirvana, where is the motivation to do good, and to actively oppose injustice, in this present life?
A: This philosophy in Burma is meant to remind them, culturally, of the transience of life, and it's illusion. Pain and age and sickness and death are in fact things to be expected. These are mandatory in life. Suffering is optional, and the Noble Path describes the tools avoid suffering, by undoing attachments. To oppose injustice is to oppose the continuation of suffering upon others. To "do good" or refrain from "doing evil" halts the infliction of suffering on others and the self.
9. How do we reconcile the Dalai Lama's observation that "Every human being has the potential to create happiness", with your own teaching that suffering is caused by desire? If one sets out to resist desire, why would one ever then entertain the desire for happiness, and thus work to create it?
A: You may reconcile them however you like, or decline to reconcile them. Attachments are meant to be let go and undone. Resistance and creating are not undoing or releasing. Internal struggles are not inner peace, are not the realization of the cessations of attachments.
10. Personal Trivia: Did you really sit under that bo tree for seven full days--without ever eating any figs? Did your remarkably sensitive, compassionate, nature come more from your mother or father? How did your son, left to grow up without a father, feel about your “Great Renunciation”?
A: I am told it was seven days, and likely was. I am quite sure that I consumed no figs, either. My nature likely derived from both, and from the loss of my mother. Both my wife and son took up the Noble Paths, and became a nun and monk, and my father a lay-follower. As far as his feelings, you should ask him. He's an agreeable fellow. But that, as well as all the previous things you yourself must evaluate and reject or accept on their merit and logic.