Errors in beliefs

monosharp

Hey all,

I'm a born catholic currently looking into a new faith for various reasons.

Anyways, the point I'm here is this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6o--_FbPXk

I'm studying about Buddhism, I'm trying to get the bad views and good views as much as possible before I make such a life changing decision. Anyways this is a video made by I assume a Muslim, who speaks about the errors in buddhism and how Islam does it the "right" way.

It surprised me because I didn't think there would be any tension between buddhism and Islam in any way. Is it because Buddhism is a non-abramavic religion ?

Peanut

Really dumb video..

I wouldn't have thought this type of religion bashing is a mainstream Islamic view, the guy behind it, Harun Yahya / Adnan Oktar seems to be an equivalent of evangelical American creationists.

From the wikipedia page, "Several of his illustrations of purportedly "living" creatures are, in fact, DIRECT COPIES of fishing-lure photographs, lifted unaltered from the Web, with the hook visible." lol :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

BuffyBot

monosharp, as has been said you wouldn't want to depend on one person/organisation's views to be representative of anything. And great as youtube is, the downside is that anyone can upload pretty much anything to it

DinoBot

monosharp wrote: »

Hey all,

I'm a born catholic currently looking into a new faith for various reasons.

Anyways, the point I'm here is this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6o--_FbPXk

I'm studying about Buddhism, I'm trying to get the bad views and good views as much as possible before I make such a life changing decision. Anyways this is a video made by I assume a Muslim, who speaks about the errors in buddhism and how Islam does it the "right" way.

It surprised me because I didn't think there would be any tension between buddhism and Islam in any way. Is it because Buddhism is a non-abramavic religion ?

Why Buddhism ? Do you not believe in God ?

monosharp

DinoBot wrote: »

Why Buddhism ? Do you not believe in God ?

Hey DinoBot, although I currently know very little about Buddhism, I do know that belief in Buddhism does not mean you can't believe in God. There's many people who are both Christian and Buddhist.

But personally, No. I don't think I believe in God any more. Its a decision which is going to take me a very long time to make and I've no intention of jumping into another religion any time soon. I am going to do as much research as possible and decide what's best for myself.

I am only looking into Buddism at the moment because I have always liked the very limited samples of Buddha's teachings I've acquired through reading and watching tv/movies.

monosharp

BuffyBot wrote: »

monosharp, as has been said you wouldn't want to depend on one person/organisation's views to be representative of anything. And great as youtube is, the downside is that anyone can upload pretty much anything to it

Hey peanut, buffybot. Sorry I didn't mean to infer this was a standard Islamic belief, I was just a bit confused about why anyone of any faith would have problems with Buddhism. Any Buddhists I've met couldn't be more tolerant of others religions if they tried which is why I' confused as to the videos posted because I assumed that there must be some small minority of Islamics who did have some grudge against Buddhism after watching that.

the_new_mr

Hi Monosharp! You're very welcome to the Islam forum. Hope you've read the forum charter.

Just watched parts 1 to 3 of that video. Couldn't watch any others after that. Seems to be something wrong with my net connection or something.

I'm not sure if I like its technique. I don't think you should necessarily attack another religion in this way. I think that if you feel you must prove a particular religion wrong then it should be done in an academic manner without calling the other religion "twisted" or anything like that.

Funny that this topic should come up today actually. I was just thinking again last night about the possible link between Buddha and Islam. I was watching The Shaolin Temple last night and there were some teachings of Buddha quoted which I felt was very close to some Islamic teachings. One of them was something like:

"Buddha says: 'He who saves a life goes to heaven'" or something like that.

It was dubbed so could have been mistranslated (meant nirvana instead of heaven maybe?) but it reminded me straight away of a verse from the Quran:

Al-Ma'ida:32
"Because of this did We ordain unto the children of Israel that if anyone slays a human being-unless it be [in punishment] for murder or for spreading corruption on earth-it shall be as though he had slain all mankind; whereas, if anyone saves a life, it shall be as though he had saved the lives of all mankind. And, indeed, there came unto them Our apostles with all evidence of the truth: yet, behold, notwithstanding all this, many of them go on committing all manner of excesses on earth."

I know that some people get a little upset when I mention the possibility that Buddha could have been a messenger of God so sorry to anyone that this might cause offence to. I don't mean any offence. I'm just saying it's a possibility.

I remember I first got this idea a few years ago when I was watching Seven Years in Tibet (I know I know, I shouldn't get all my education from movies ) and some of the teachings in that reminded me a lot Islam and then later, I read this verse in the Quran:

Ghafir:78
"And, indeed, [O Muhammad,] We sent forth apostles before thy time; some of them We have mentioned to thee, and some of them We have not mentioned to thee. And it was not given to any apostle to bring forth a miracle other than by God’s leave. Yet when God’s will becomes manifest, judgment will [already] have been passed in all justice, and lost will be, then and there, all who tried to reduce to nothing [whatever they could not understand]."

and then there's this one as well (which supports the idea that Buddha could have been a messenger of God):

Al-Isra:15
"Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load. We never punish until We have sent a messenger."

Of course, there's no way of knowing whether or not Buddha was indeed a messenger of God for sure so we can only speculate.

the_new_mr

monosharp wrote:

I assumed that there must be some small minority of Islamics who did have some grudge against Buddhism after watching that.

Grudges are bad and should be avoided.

By the way, just for the record, people who follow the religion of Islam are called Muslims. No biggie, it's a common mistake

You might like to check out:
http://www.readingislam.com

Suff

the_new_mr wrote: »

I know that some people get a little upset when I mention the possibility that Buddha could have been a messenger of God so sorry to anyone that this might cause offence to. I don't mean any offence. I'm just saying it's a possibility.

Ghafir:78
"And, indeed, [O Muhammad,] We sent forth apostles before thy time; some of them We have mentioned to thee, and some of them We have not mentioned to thee. And it was not given to any apostle to bring forth a miracle other than by God’s leave. Yet when God’s will becomes manifest, judgment will [already] have been passed in all justice, and lost will be, then and there, all who tried to reduce to nothing [whatever they could not understand]."

and then there's this one as well (which supports the idea that Buddha could have been a messenger of God):

Al-Isra:15
"Whosoever goeth right, it is only for (the good of) his own soul that he goeth right, and whosoever erreth, erreth only to its hurt. No laden soul can bear another's load. We never punish until We have sent a messenger."
.

Good point....I concur.

monosharp

the_new_mr wrote: »

Hi Monosharp! You're very welcome to the Islam forum. Hope you've read the forum charter.

Just watched parts 1 to 3 of that video. Couldn't watch any others after that. Seems to be something wrong with my net connection or something.

I'm not sure if I like its technique. I don't think you should necessarily attack another religion in this way. I think that if you feel you must prove a particular religion wrong then it should be done in an academic manner without calling the other religion "twisted" or anything like that.

Funny that this topic should come up today actually. I was just thinking again last night about the possible link between Buddha and Islam. I was watching The Shaolin Temple last night and there were some teachings of Buddha quoted which I felt was very close to some Islamic teachings. One of them was something like:

"Buddha says: 'He who saves a life goes to heaven'" or something like that.

...

Hey new_Mr, thanks.

I don't think anyone should ever attack any other religion, but your right. If you "have to" attack another religion its much better to do it in an academic way. Of course it depends on what your trying to do. For example a creationist video talking to the westboro church (Fred Phelps) and other churches like it wouldn't need to contain much more then "Buddhists/Muslims/Atheists/etc are gay and are going to hell"

"He who saves a life goes to heaven" ? As I previously stated, I'm still only looking into Buddhism at this moment but I'm pretty sure even if you substitute the word heaven for Nirvana thats not what the Buddha taught.

I'll try check it up though.

On your quotes from the Korean and the Buddha, Christians do the same thing. Its interesting.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

you could always try no religion.

monosharp

Mordeth wrote: »

you could always try no religion.

Thats more or less where I currently am, but I feel empty. I need some spirituality in my life.

the_new_mr

Yeah, everyone needs to fill that spiritual void. Anyone who doesn't usually tries to fill it some other way (i.e. with material things or set themselves some kind of goal for their lives)

monosharp wrote:

I don't think anyone should ever attack any other religion...

Actually, I think even the word attack is a little overly aggressive. I think an academic critique is a better way of putting it since it makes for a more respectable way of doing things.

monosharp wrote:

On your quotes from the Korean and the Buddha

It's Quran or Koran by the way. Korean is a nationality. No worries

DinoBot

monosharp wrote: »

Hey DinoBot, although I currently know very little about Buddhism, I do know that belief in Buddhism does not mean you can't believe in God. There's many people who are both Christian and Buddhist.

But personally, No. I don't think I believe in God any more. Its a decision which is going to take me a very long time to make and I've no intention of jumping into another religion any time soon. I am going to do as much research as possible and decide what's best for myself.

I am only looking into Buddism at the moment because I have always liked the very limited samples of Buddha's teachings I've acquired through reading and watching tv/movies.

Hi,

I asked because I found it very strange that you wanted validation of buddhism from an Islamic forum

I can understand you feel the need to have something spiritual in your life but you should understand that with all religion you need to leave your brain and logic at the door before entering. If your prepared to do that Im sure you will find the one that fits best :D

And the_new_mr, I cant even comment on you making the assumption that the Buddha was a muslim. That is a REAL stretch !!! I wonder was Shiva & Krishna muslims as well ?

the_new_mr

DinoBot wrote:

I asked because I found it very strange that you wanted validation of buddhism from an Islamic forum

I don't think he was looking for validation of Buddhism from an Islam forum. I think he was just asking here because it was a Muslim that made the video he linked to.

DinoBot wrote:

with all religion you need to leave your brain and logic at the door before entering.

Don't agree with that.