| Gokul |
Posted
on 07-Nov-03 03:07 PM
Buddha ko Budhhi
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This thread is an attempt to understand "Buddhism in a nutshell". Although the approach will be light-hearted, we will cover some heavy stuffs hopefully. So, what the heck is Buddhism?
Some say it is a philosophy, some say it is a religion and some say it is just a way of life. So, what is it? Let us analyze some basic equations.
Religion = Philosophy + Culture (eq. 1)
Religion is a consumer product geared towards getting attention. Culture is a package wrapping the philosophy, which is the essence.
Example: chocolate = Cocoa and other ingredients + Plastic wrapper
Scientific religion has higher % of Philosophy (real contents) than the unscientific ones.
Buddhism is a religion because it has both philosophy and culture. The philosophy of Buddhism is complete because it covers all aspects of a philosophy.
Buddhism has
Metaphysics - impermance of all things
Epistemology- astute observation
Ethics - Ahimsa and karuna
Psychology - Pragya
Most religions have only ethics component and even that is so UNETHICAL!. Buddhism's ethics is derived from its metaphysics, epistemology, and hermeneutics. Hence, everything is consistent in Buddhism.
Is Buddhism the greatest religion? Definitely YES. It gets A+ in philosophy and A in culture. Most religions get failing grade in Philosophy. Hinduism gets the highest grade in culture (but it will not be discussed here).
I said Buddhism is the most scientific religion. So what is science? Let us discuss about it later so things don't mix up now.
Philosophy = K+ f(t) ... eq (2)
Where K is a large constant. The real philosophy remains fairly constant all the times. The effect of f(t) is insignificant in Buddhism.
Culture = v(x,t) ....eq(3)
Where x refers to space and t refers to time. Needless to say, it is never a constant.
If Culture is forced to remain CONSTANT, then the virus of generation gap and hypocrisy attacks human civilization.
(To be contd...)
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