What do Buddhists believe about God and the afterlife?

Buddhism is one of the most confusing religions ever to me. I read about it, and I cant find out what their views are on God. Ive heard some people say they are atheists who dont believe in God, and other sources I read say Buddhists are polytheists who have many gods. Which view is true?

In School I was taught that that they believe in reincarnation and then Nirvana, but Wikipedia says Buddhists believe in hell. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naraka_(Buddhism)

 

That may depend on the sect. There are different realms, the bottom six are subject to birth and death and then rebirth for many lives. 1. Hell 2.Ghost 3. Animal 4. Demons.Asura 5. Man/Human 6. Deva/Gods there are three heavenly realms 7. The four holy realms which are beyond birth and death.

So take your pick, atheist in the sense that their is no ever lasting god or a pantheon of gods. But none of the gods can grant salvation or end suffering, that comes from following the eight fold path.

 

Buddhism is very diverse, you can even be a Christian and a Buddhist at the same time. Just as usual, the truth is that there are many versions and what is true for one is not necessarily true for another.

 

Buddhists are allowed to think for themselves, if they discover something is not true, they do not have to believe it just because it's part of a ancient Buddhist myth

I believe in Reincarnation, I believe were all connected, some would say that interconnectedness is what God is, were all a part of God, God is not a separate being

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Buddhism like many religions comes in many different favors. My wife is a Buddhist and does not believe in any God. Buddhists do believe in reincarnation though.

 

I grew up with the "no gods/no magic/no supernaturals" variety, but it's important to stress that that was OPTIONAL and simply the position taken by the monks and school in my neighborhood. They really didn't care if you elected to worship buddha as a godhead, but if you asked them for their opinion on doing so they would tell you that worship in itself is unseemly and blocks progress.

 

Are most Buddhist sections atheisitc or polytheisitc?

 

Buddhism of course started with the Buddha. He was trying to understand human existence, with its suffering its inequalities and so on. He traveled around listening to various religious men, yet could not find anything worthy. And so finally he just sat down and meditated upon all of these problem in human existence and had an epiphany, an enlightenment. He basically transcended the human ego, the illusion that is a duality in human consciousness, and that changed his consciousness, and alleviated psychological suffering and psychological fear. He then taught people of what he had seen and from this his followers created Buddhism. It then, as it spread, begin to change, to take of cultural influences, and sects arose from this.

So originally Buddhism was not about god or gods. That came later, as well as the demons, the idea of a hell, and so on. The original Buddhism was only about enlightenment, transcending the illusion of the ego. Since it was a take off from Hinduism, the idea of reincarnation of course was added to it. I think it was to Hinduism what Christianity is to Judaism, kinda, sorta.

 

One has to remember the Buddha was just a man whom attained enlightenment which put an end to the cycle of birth, death, rebirth, death and so on. In Theravada, Mahayanna and for Tibetan there is no worship of gods, although one may end up as a god in a rebirth due to good karma that has been built up over many lives. Zen I know very little about it.

It is an interesting question though. The teachings we follow is that of a man, not of a god. But gods do exist. We do not strive to end up in heaven or to become a god although that is possible. We do strive to gain enlightenment to put an end to the cycle of birth, death and rebirth and to end suffering. One can only gain enlightenment through one's own hard, good works and not from some god forgiving you. Although in Mahayanna there are Bodhisattva who have attained enlightenment but does not take refuge in Nirvana who helps sentient beings cross over into enlightenment.

I do not think one could place the majority of Buddhist into either camp. It may depend on one's definition of atheist or polytheistic. The Buddha would place your question into the fourth category of questions, one that is not answered. He would put the question aside as it does not lead to the end of suffering and stress.

I suppose there is not a yes or no answer to your question or a hard atheistic or polytheistic answer.

 

It's probably a good idea to clarify which god you refer to, incidentally. If you mean just Yahweh, I would ask why Buddhists would have an opinion on him particularly, as opposed to gods in general.

 

I believe one can create their own hell, as a state of mind sort of, an illusion of the mind

say a criminal wishes to be the big dog criminal, when they die, they may create this in their own mind created illusion, they may get stuck in that frame of mind until they learn it's just an illusion and escape from it

depending on the beliefs of the person, the illusion may seem like a heaven or a hell, but both would be just as much of an illusion, one would eventually need to realize the truth to escape it


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I am very interested in Buddhism, as I find it a better match for my own spirituality. But I was always taught that Buddhism is NOT a religion, but a philosophy of life, based on the inner goodness of individuals, peace, and self-actualization as a goal. I was also taught that many buddhists believe that, there is no REAL life after death (no hell and no heaven), but that our inner energy is reunited into an universal pool of energy, so that, the most positive energy enter the pool, and the more "nourishing" the pool energy becomes.

I would be interested in learning more "factual" elements of the philosophy. But I like the most about it with my limited knowledge is the respect for the INDIVIDUAL spirituality, the lack of "dogmas" and the emphasis on positive energy in this life and beyond.

 

You want to hear a modern Buddha? Google Jiddu Krishnamurti and listen to some of his talks. He died in 1986, after teaching for over 50 years. The Buddhist priests who used to listen to him said he went beyond the teachings of the Buddha, to the next level. He speaks in modern secular language.

Here I found a site with his videos. http://www.jkrishnamurti.org/krishnamurti-teachings/video.php

 

Thank you! I will certainly visit that link.

 

I would ask God to show you what the truth is.

 

I was involved in Nichren Shosu, Buddhism in the late 60's early 70's.
A main consideration is cause and effect, every action you do releases some type of energy, positive or negative and you are constantly balancing your personal scales of Karma.
What I particularly like, is a devoted member is constantly expressing good karma, doing good things for people, as opposed to a Christian who runs in Saturday and goes to confession and, whew I made it...
I always said Christianity was written by lawyers.

 

LOL, written by lawyers, I love it.

 

I am sure one of the atheists here can tell you.

 

I can't speak for all sects, as there are over 2000 of them, but generally they are seeking enlightenment, and will be born and reborn until that time comes.

 

Not just sects, but completely different forms, mainly four: "the three dominant strains of Buddhism: Theravada, Mahayana, and Vajrayana, along with a fourth-Zen Buddhism-that grew out of Mahayana and has gained increasing popularity in the West."

http://www.findingdulcinea.com/guides/Religion-and-Spirituality/Buddhism.pg_00.html

 

I was involved in a form of Japanese Buddhism called Nichren Shosu.

These are the main ones of Japan.
Pure Land Buddhism, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon Buddhism and Zen.

And yes, many are different as night and day.

 

It's been 50 years so I am completely out of touch, but we chanted a lot, morning and evening Gongyo, which was the first 2 chapters of the Lotus Sutra, and Nam-myoho-renge-kyo, at various times of the day.

Like all religions it was a form of mind control, but in my opinion, one of the better ones.
It led people to be conscious of the things they do in their daily life, always emitting good karma in everything they do.
There was no such thing as, in Christianity, I'm sorry god, I'll never do it again, please forgive me.

You paid for what you did, and will suffer the consequences for it, so people tend not to do bad.

A good example in real life, was at the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, there was no looting whatsoever.
People found items and looked for the owners.

 

Do you have a conversation with God? Is it one sided? How exactly does God converse? By imagination?

Just curious.

 

Do yourself a favor and pick up or read at the library "What the Buddha Taught" by Walpola Rahula.

Probably the best book for the curious, in English. But it's still Buddhism and it is difficult, as any book will be.

 

I would suggest something by DT Suzuki, a good buddhist scholar.