Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Is the ultimate aim of Buddhism not to elevate one's soul to the point where one achieves nervana and escapes from the "wheel of life"? Many might call that state becoming a "god".
One will find Buddhism on pretty much any list of major world religions. It certainly has all the trappings of a religion - temples and monks, to name but two. Is not a temple, by definition, associated with a religion?
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No ... it is a state of nothingness. That's what nirvana actually means. So, unless god=nothing, I don't see the connection.
Buddhist "temples" are more correctly called shrines, but then Western language and ideas have corrupted so much of what people think of Buddhism. If you ever want a great giggle, just watch the move "The King and I." The whole "Small Cabin of Uncle Tom" ... with Buddha in "heaven" making "miracles" is so seriously off the mark.
A small aside into "trappings" there are many groups and or people who have trappings associated with other groups. For example, human beings are not "infallible" .... the Catholic Pope supposedly is. Infallibility is in Western theology associated with gods (although not for the Greeks or Romans), so since the Pope has the trappings of godhood, is he a "god"?
And, you really have to be cautious in discussing Buddhism trying to use Western concepts and definitions. It's not that easy. It's a big reason why so few people who were raised in one of the traditional big three religions to understand Buddhist philosophy.
Buddhism is no more a religion than atheism. Building a please where people can go to meditate and take philosophical instruction does not a religion make. Calling something (erroneously) a "religion" does not make it one. Not even when people who don't know any better do it over a long period of time.
Nirvana does not equal heaven. Nirvana is nothingness. A state of complete non-being .... no longer a part of the equation. In a religion, a god is very much a part of the equation, and in the big three the concept of eternal life reunified with the deity is the goal. For a Buddhist, eternal "life" is as close as we get to the Western concept of "hell."