Question:
How would a Buddhist and/or Hindu answer these questions?
2013-04-08 07:59:36 UTC
1. What is the origin of the universe and man?
2. What is the purpose of mankind?
3. What is satisfaction and how do I obtain it? (how can I be happy)
4. What has gone wrong with the world? (Why is there evil in the world ˆ Why do bad things happen to good people)
5. What is the solution to the problems we face? (what happens when I fail and how do I make things right)
6. What is right and wrong? (is moral truth absolute or relative)
7. Is there a universal moral law? (does everyone know the difference between right and wrong)
8. What happens at death? (Where are we going when we die- How do we know and what does it look like, and if it is heaven-then how do we get there)
9. What does your faith do with the person of Jesus?

Could you also give me your background in Buddhism/Hinduism as well? (i.e. When you adopted your belief system, are you pretty strong in your belief, etc.)
Three answers:
benmiami
2013-04-08 11:18:09 UTC
I am going to try to answer them for you.



1. What is the origin of the universe and man?

ANS: The universe is over 12bil years old. What difference does it make if we know it or not if we only live for 75 years average? How does the answer improve the impoverish conditions of millions people still dying due to ignorance of other humans? This question and as well as the answer is pointless. Until you have a life span of over billion years, I'd suggest you leave it for other curious minds. Practice the Dharma now before 75 years are up.



2. What is the purpose of mankind?

ANS: Read my answer to the above.



3. What is satisfaction and how do I obtain it? (how can I be happy)

ANS: What is this "satisfaction" and who is "satisfied" that everyone talks about? Do some serious meditation sessions and try to find the "I" in your parenthesis.



4. What has gone wrong with the world? (Why is there evil in the world ˆ Why do bad things happen to good people)

ANS: Bad things happen to good people because they caused it long ago and now they forgot, and vice versa. Ever heard of killing someone while in the process of saving another? Well, you get leniency for saving and punishment (depends on judge) for killing. Same concept but people don't learn from it.



5. What is the solution to the problems we face? (what happens when I fail and how do I make things right)

ANS: Be a good person and at peace with yourself and others. Help others achieve this peace, then there won't be any corruption, violence, ignorance, or problems.



6. What is right and wrong? (is moral truth absolute or relative)

ANS: Right is anything that help others, and wrong is anything that harm others. Or as defined by the society that individual lives in.



7. Is there a universal moral law? (does everyone know the difference between right and wrong)

ANS: Universal moral is help others for better, regardless of species, race, gender, location, etc...We're all the same.



8. What happens at death? (Where are we going when we die- How do we know and what does it look like, and if it is heaven-then how do we get there)

ANS: We stop breathing when we die. Where you go after that, depends on the life you had (combine with countless previous lives) and the karma tendencies at the moment of death.



9. What does your faith do with the person of Jesus?

ANS: Not mentioned in the sutras. I know of him but not much other than just know him.
?
2013-04-09 00:00:40 UTC
1. Buddhism does not talk about this. Buddhism ONLY talks about how we can free ourselves from our self-created suffering .. nothing else.



2. Buddhism doesn't talk about this.



3. The desire for happiness is actually what causes your UNhappiness. Instead, you have to take a totally different approach if you wish to stop being unhappy. You have to retrain how you pay attention and how you respond to things.



4. There is no evil in the world. Everyone is unhappy, and the things they do are attempts to find happiness, or to get rid of their own unhappiness. This is not evil. It is ignorance. Until we attain enlightenment, we are all ignorant.

As for why bad things happen to good people .. at some point in the past, perhaps a previous life, that good person did something harmful to another. By taking this action, they set imprints (karmas) inside themselves that are only now ripening. A "ripened karma" is an imprint inside of us, created BY us, that draws to us something similar in nature to the imprint.



5. We make our own suffering, and so the solution lies within us. What happens when you fail? You fail ..you cannot necessarily make things right. But life goes on anyway. You try harder to be wiser and more caring next time.



6. There is no "right" or "wrong" in Buddhism. There is only "skillful actions" and "unskillful actions". Skillful action is any action which helps you become awakened/enlightened .. and unskillful actions are those which keep you in ignorance. "Skillful actions" include all unselfish and caring actions.

Buddhism does not discuss philosophy. It is a set of instructions for turning your own life around.



7. Buddhism does not talk about this.



8. Read various Tibetan Buddhism on death. They have written in great detail the stages of dying, the shutting down of the senses one by one, and the visual effects. And the moment of death, and the bardo (the time between death and your next rebirth).

Tibetan Buddhism says that if you handle your dying skillfully, you can achieve enlightenment just after your apparent outer death of the body. So there is much writing about death.



9. Buddhism is not about faith. It is about retraining your mind and learning to see with clarity. If you ask a Tibetan monk about Jesus, they will tell you that Jesus was enlightened. But Buddhism does not discuss Jesus.

Furthermore, Buddhism teaches that the only way to stop the endless rebirths and the endless suffering, is to achieve enlightenment. And that there is no higher power that can do this for you .. you have to do it for yourself.



I have been practicing Buddhism daily for over 12 years, under the guidance of one of the Dalai Lama's monks who lives in my city. And attending weekly lessons that he gives in Tibetan Buddhism.

Buddhism is a program of self-change, of inner change. If properly done, it works. Slowly (takes 3-8 years before change even begins).

The longer I practice Buddhism, the more I let go of the need for "belief". Belief is a life-preserver for the uncertainty of life. It does not solve the underlying anxiety, though, so it's not very useful for happiness. It is okay to face life in this very second, and allow life to be what it is. It is okay to not believe, but to just be aware.

"Everything is always changing. If you relax into this truth, that is Enlightenment. If you resist, this is samsara (suffering)."

Belief is part of our resistance efforts.
?
2013-04-08 16:31:11 UTC
I wish I could answer your question but you could probably find answers to these question by reading a basic article about Hinduism or even Wikipedia could probably answer many of your questions. Good luck


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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