Atheism makes many good points

New Zealand Atheist Bus Campaign | Facebook

(Cynic Machine) The most simple atheist speeches in 17 minutes

• Atheist Bus Campaign (Atheism)

If there's no God, who they praying to?

(Buddha's Wisdom) If Buddhism has no Creator God, who are some Buddhists praying to?

Who copied whom: Gnostic Jesus or Buddha?

They didn't understand, Jay. - I know, Sid

(Primeval Archives) The Buddha ("Awakened One") and the Gnostic Jesus ("Anointed One") were teaching the same escape route they somehow both knew. Who took it from whom?

Answer

*Irony* Well, clearly Buddhism, which existed five or six centuries before Jesus was born, must have stolen the idea from Christianity by somehow finding a way to time travel centuries into the future, seeing how popular Christianism would get then absconding like a time bandit with Gnostic papyri under his arm back to South and Central Asia (India and Afghanistan). Wait, is there time travel yet? When will that arrive?

So Jesus Christ must have heard the teaching, seen the Buddha's finger pointing at the path (as preserved in the Buddha-Dharma and the Sangha, the Teachings of the Buddha and the monastic institution the Buddha set up to preserve and practice those Teachings so that the world would never be bereft of path or enlightened disciples, who are the unexcelled source of merit for the world).

Jesus was a Buddhist monk (BBC)

• Jesus was a Buddhist monk (BBC): Holy Week: Happy Maundy Thursday
• VIDEO: Jesus in India as a Buddhist monk (BBC)

Socrates, Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Lao Tzu

Primeval Archives does such a great job presenting the case then falls on his A.I. face by claiming that all the evidence that Jesus spent the missing 18 years of his life between the time he was a teen then a teacher traveling to India, Tibet, and the mystic East. All the evidence in the world wouldn't convince someone who has already made up his or her or their mind.

Jesus Lived in India

Is there evidence? Because if there is, then the question answers itself about who borrowed from whom. The BBC says that Jesus was a Buddhist monk during a part of those "missing years," which did not really go missing at all, but rather were buried and erased by the institution. Churches, councils, Vatican, clerical organizations, they never heard it, just as they ignore the Apocrypha, a wondrous source of Christian and pre-Christian knowledge. The lost Gnostic Gospels cannot now be ignored, nor could the parallels between what may spiritual traditions seem to be trying to say in their own way.

• Nicolas Notovitch, Russian Christian, found written documentation of Jesus (St. Issa) in Tibetan monastery Hemis Gompa, Ladakh
• He returned to West, was met with shock and doubt. Then someone claimed to go ask at the monastery, which denied knowing anything about a book documenting Jesus (St. Issa) training there then returning to Palestine (ancient Israel) before getting in trouble again, getting crucified, cut down and released by bribed Roman guards, and returning to India to live out his life till the age of 80 in Kashmir, where he is buried in the Jewish style
• Indian Swami Abhedananda heard about this, traveled to Ladakh, was shown the book (because he was not a Westerner who would steal it like others were likely to do), corroborating all that Notovitch had claimed
• Why a Hindu Accepts Christ and rejects Churchianity: Swami Abhedananda
• Jesus Lived in India: His Unknown Life Before and After the Crucifixion | Holger Kersten | Goodreads

Jesus was a Buddhist monk (BBC documentary)

Truth is truth, and no one is owner of it. What the Buddha, the Awakened One, realized he shared with the world like an openhanded teacher. Jesus may have had a much smaller circle of special disciples (Apostles), but he certainly tried to tell people of his visions, realizations, and setting forth a way of following in his footsteps. It's a terrible pity the official Church took that, stripped it of its vital call for real gnosis (direct personal experience, shamanic realization, seeing to believe) and replaced it was a pitiful shell of obedience to authority, mindless learning by rote, and blind faith.

We are responsible for our own actions, which is our karma (deeds). We reap what we sow, which is to say we harvest what we plant. As is said in Buddhism, "No one saves us but ourselves; no one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path; buddhas [awakened teachers] only point the way."

• Primeval Archives (video); BBC (documentary); Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson, Wisdom Quarterly COMMENTARY

Atheism is wrong, right? (South Park)

(Armchair Analysis) When South Park hilariously satirized ATHEISM?

Why don't all Buddhists believe in God?

(Serene Mind) Why Buddhists do not all [necessarily] believe in God | The truth behind Buddhism

• Nontheistic religions
• Nontheism
• A God in Buddhism: Maha Brahmā
• Secular Buddhism
• Engaged Buddhism
• The many heavens and gods in Buddhism
• A judge after death: Yama, king of the dead
• Buddhist cosmology: 31 Planes of Existence
• The Divine Abidings of the Supreme (Brahma)

Message of love from the Dalai Lama

(Dechen wangdi 🇨🇦) H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama has an important message for all religions, a message of love and unity (mutual respect, tolerance, celebration, amity, peaceful coexistence). #tibetanvlogger #tibetanyoutuber June 21, 2025. Background music: "Tears" (Produced by MX Audio Library) Link: • Tears - No Copyright M...

George Carlin explains: assassinations, genocide, and what the U.S. gov't really wants

• Dalai Lama (dalailama.com); CC Liu, Crystal Q. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Let us repeat God's name (Gnostic)

When God was asked its name, the answer that came was: I am. Who? I am that I am. But did the Teacher not teach that we ourselves are God (GOD, Godhead, Godhood, Brahman?) in a state where we imagine separation from source, from the All One, from connection?

If so, could it be that I am that "I am" of which they speak when asking God's real name? Why did the Church and ancient Judaism forbid the pronunciation of this "name"?

It's interesting that a part of Eight Limb (Ashtanga) Yoga is japa, or the repetition of a divine name (or God's name) as a mantra ("mind instrument") for concentration/meditation.

This "Word of God" was BANNED for being TOO POWERFUL

This "Word of God" was BANNED for being too powerful

(MorgueOfficial) Started streaming March 24, 2025: An ancient divine force was hidden, silenced, and nearly erased. Why? Because it revealed a truth too powerful for religion to control. This isn’t the Word you read in church… See Dawn of the New Earth (The Neogenian Dawn)

Not in my officially-approved state religion!

Jesus is Caesar's Messiah (Joseph Atwill)

• YHWH (Yahweh, Jehovah, YHVH) is, in Kabbala, the Tetragrammaton, which is four characters (yodh, he, waw, he) representing the Four Elements (the dhātus or maha-bhuta in Buddhism). If "spirit" (sh or shin) is inserted in the middle, the name becomes Yeheshua (Yahoshua, Yeshua, Yesus, Iesus, Issa, Yahoo, etc.)
• Mahā-bhūta: The four "primary elements" (or ultimate characteristics of matter), is another name for the Four Eements (dhātu) underlying all materiality.
• Caesar's Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus

Karma? Why atheism with Ricky Gervais

(Felepa) Atheist comedians, Part 1: A variety of comedians go on about religions oppression

Ricky Gervais: Why I'm an Atheist

By Ricky Gervais, Wall Street Journal via Dan Pizarro

"You can't say that!" - "You can."

Ricky Gervais is the writer and star of HBO's Ricky Gervais Out of England 2: The Stand-Up Special (website: rickygervais.com).

"Why don't you believe in God?" I get that question all the time. I always try to give a sensitive, reasoned answer. This is usually awkward, time consuming, and pointless.

Buddhism and the God-Idea

People who believe in God don't need proof of his [her, its] existence, and they certainly don't want evidence to the contrary. They are happy with their belief. They even say things like, "It's true to me" and "It's faith."

I still give my logical answer because I feel that not being honest would be patronizing and impolite. It is ironic, therefore, that to say, "I don't believe in God because there is absolutely no scientific evidence for his existence" or "from what I've heard, the very definition is a logical impossibility in this known universe" comes across as both patronizing and impolite. More

Stand up comedian Ricky Gervais: I am WOKE now! - I'll be a humanist, a hedonist, a materialist

For those who care about this sort of thing, here is a link (wsj.com) to an essay by British standup comedian Ricky Gervais about his reasons for being an atheist and how he deals with it in a world that is predominately hostile towards his lack of belief. His views also happen to be my own (Dan Piraro).

Buddhism is non-theistic, not atheistic

All of them seem convincing. I won't believe any

What's the difference? Well, a theist thinks he knows there is a God. An atheist thinks he knows there isn't. An agnostic doesn't know, isn't sure, or is afraid to say/decide, whereas a nontheist knows and says that whether there is a God or not, what has that to do with my enlightenment, my awakening, my liberation (salvation, emancipation, deliverance) from ignorance, craving, hatred, fear, suffering, and rebirth? The disappointment/pain I experience comes about as the results of my deeds (actions of mind, speech, and body), my views, words, and conduct. If there is a God that's still true. I can see it as true. If there is no God that's still true. I can see that for myself, reflecting in my own life along the lines of the Buddha's discourse called the Kalama Sutta.

Why did the Buddha have so many followers?

Now, people think the Kalama Sutra says, "Think whatever you want, and don't believe whatever you don't want." That's not what it says at all. Keep reading. The Kalamas didn't know how to decide which spiritual teacher or teaching (doctrine) was right. They all sounded good and said the others were wrong. When the Buddha came to teach, they first questioned him about this problem of not knowing who or what to believe since they all sounded good and had a point. So the Buddha taught them in such a way that it did not depend on him or his authority, reasoning, charisma, or anything else but their own experience. He asked them the question, Can you see from your own experience that greed, hatred, and delusion arise in a person for their own harm, the harm of others, and the harm of society? Or how is it? In the same way, the same question may be asked in reverse: Can you see from your own experience that nongreed (letting go), nonhatred (love, compassion, joy in others' joy, unbiased calm), nondelusion (wisdom, knowing, clarity) arise in a person for their own benefit, the benefit of others, and the benefit of society? The Kalamas could see that, not as a belief or blind faith in this or that teacher but from their own personal experience in life. If you can see that, then maybe you can see that bringing about the end of greed. hatred, and delusion is good and a teaching (doctrine or Dharma) that does that is of benefit and maybe something you'd like to learn. They did. So the Buddha taught them without reference to books, authorities, teachers, views, or biases. They were amazed. This made sense. This made sense because they could see that it was true from their own observations and experiences not someone else's.

The Buddha was not a teacher of God, not a prophet or disciple of God. He was a teacher of Karma, an advocate of the right understanding that things happen to us because of our deeds, life after life. What happens to us in any existence is intimately wrapped up in our deeds of body, speech, and mind (the views, opinions, preferences, and biases we hold). "Karma: It's everywhere you're going to be."

Shaolin Master Shi Heng Yi on Karma as "God"? - The founder of Hindu-ism is Adi Shankara

who did not invent the Eternal Way of Life (Sanatan Dharma), Vedas, yoga but turned made the ism

• Could Christians mean impersonal Karma when they speak of a personal God alive in the world? "Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows [whatever deeds one does], that will one also reap [experience the result of]" (Christian Bible, Galatians 6:7, biblehub.com).
• Deeds (karma, actions) are like seeds (things we sow) capable of maturing (vipaka, ripening) and bearing much fruit (phala, results). This impersonal karma process is unfailing, all-knowing, all-seeing, as the Abrahamic "God" is said to be.
• Better translations? Amplified Bible: "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked [He will not allow Himself to be ridiculed, nor treated with contempt, nor allow His precepts to be scornfully set aside]; for whatever a [person] sows, this and this only is what [that person] will reap." Christian Standard Bible: "Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows [one] will also reap," Contemporary English Version: "You cannot fool God, so don't make a fool of yourself! You will harvest what you plant." GOD'S WORD® Translation: "Make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you'll harvest [as a result of having planted it]." Good News Translation: "Do not deceive yourselves; no one makes a fool of God. You will reap [in return] exactly what you plant."

• COMICS: Dan Piraro's Bizarro on religion
• Ricky Gervais on science, Ricky Gervais (blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy, Dec. 19, 2010) via cartoonist Dan Piraro ("Holiday Message," BizarroBlog);Dhr. Seven, Ananda (Dharma Buddhist Meditation), Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Is Buddhism an atheistic religion?

(ReligionForBreakfast) For Westerners, Buddhism has a reputation of being an atheistic religion, but is this assessment true? Let's have a look at the facts because truth is often stranger than fiction.

• 00:00 Intro: Theravada, Mahayana, secular Buddhism
• 3:14 Buddhist cosmology and devas
• 7:25 Can the devas help us? (Theravada perspective)
• 13:46 Bodhisattvas and Mahayana Buddhism
• 15:26 Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism
• 16:19 Buddhist modernism
• 19:48 Secular Buddhism
• 24:47 Conclusion

Register for the class "Who are the Hungry Ghosts?" (religionforbreakfast.eventbrite.com).

This video was made possible through the support of Grant 1928 from the John Templeton Foundation managed by The Queen’s University of Belfast. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation or The Queen’s University of Belfast. Join Patreon community:   religionforbreakfast. Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images and Reuters. Thumbnail art by ‪@hotcyder.‬

• Religion for Breakfast; Osho (Bhagwan Shri Rajneesh); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Why Buddhists do not worship God

Satanic Temple: Freedom from religion

I'm German. I wanted to rule the world! - Hitler Youth member who became Pope Benedict

This, of course, is not about the Devil, Satan, or being anti-anything. It is about religious freedom and about being able to enjoy freedom FROM religion. We are a secular democracy, not a Christian theocracy as some would have us believe. Evangelicals and other fundamentalists will not stand for anything short of Christian-Sharia Law (their interpretation of their Bible being shoved down everyone else's throat). Let's allow people to hold their own religion -- or not religion at all -- as they deem fit. The idea that one religion, any religion, gets a governmental advantage over others is a grotesque abuse of our American freedoms. When state and religion are not kept separate, expect corruption and the loss of both.

Satanic Temple fighting for representation in schools

(NBC News) May 16, 2024: The Satanic Temple is known for trolling the religious right, but in its fight for religious pluralism, it has become a powerful foe.

NBC News' Maura Barrett reports on the group's fight to protect the separation of church and state. » Subscribe to NBC News: nbcnews #Satanic #Religion #School

God, no God? Do Buddhists pray? (video)

I pray you, please let us stay in the garden, Dad! - Get the hell out of here!

This post seeks to do far too much, explaining God and talking about prayer in observance of the National Day of Prayer and whether or not Buddhists "pray" since there is no necessity of believing in God if one is a Buddhist and there is no command to pray even if one does believe in God or gods. These two will eventually be parsed into two different articles. Enjoy the draft while they are interwoven.

(Buddha's Wisdom) Why Buddhists Don't Believe in GOD? | April 29, 2024: 🤔 Ever wonder why Buddhists don't seem to believe in a Creator-God? The answer might surprise you – and it's been sparking heated debates for centuries! 🔥 In this thought-provoking video, BW dives deep into the heart of Buddhist philosophy to explore one of the most controversial questions in religious history. 🧘‍♂️💭 Here's the thing – this isn't about convincing anyone to abandon any belief. Buddhism is all about free inquiry, questioning everything, even its own Teachings (the Dharma)! 🌈🔍 [This is why there is a Kalama Sutra, the invitation to free inquiry.] Whether one is a devout believer, skeptic, or just curious, this video challenges assumptions and opens minds to new possibilities. 🙏 Stay curious, stay compassionate, and remember – the truth is waiting to be discovered within you [so get wise]. Namaste, friends! 🌼 #Buddhism #God #Spirituality #Philosophy #Enlightenment #Wisdom #Meditation #Mindfulness #PersonalGrowth #Inspiration

Buddhism and the God-Idea

Half the things said in this video are incorrect, but the whole of it is trending towards correct. Of course, many Buddhists believe in God. Which God? There are more than one. The One all-consuming GOD is Brahman, a Vedic, Brahminical, and Hindu concept, the impersonal reality behind all of the illusory (maya). The Buddha and Buddhists frequently talked about a creator god, whose name is Maha Brahma (the "Great Supremo"), who is neither male nor female, as the brahmas have transcended sexual dimorphism and are both and neither, just like the Abrahamic God (whom some scholars suggest is not related to Abraham but is A-Brahmanic, meaning "not related to Brahma or Brahman"). There are many gods in Buddhism, and one favorite deity (deva) is Sakka, King of the Gods, a favorite Zeus/Indra-type sky god of the Sakas of Scythia, popular among the horseback warrior princes of Scythia and Sakastan. There are countless other devas and brahmas, "light beings" (lit. "shining ones") in all directions of space and on earth. The more down-to-earth devas, even though the others visit the planet, are woodland fairies, nature spirits, spaceship (vimana) traveling godlings and deities that love to sport about, vain, beautiful, petty, obsessed with pleasure and beauty, exactly like the ancient Greek and Roman gods, well understood throughout ancient India and proto-India as well born fortunate beings with long lives, subtle senses, much delight, and often too distracted by the good times to seek for their enlightenment and release from rebirth. There is not a Buddhist God in the sense that all of the brahmas are, although very long-lived, impermanent as are all beings. Maha Brahma is special in that this deva (because all brahmas are a higher order of deva) is the first born at the renewal of another world cycle, at the big recurring bang in the endless cycles of time known as kalpas or aeons.

Today is also the National Day of Reason, not just the National Day of Prayer.

• It often sounds to Western ears as if the Buddha did not know so remained silent. This is completely mistaken, an understandable misunderstanding. Often when the Buddha remained silent and someone stormed off dissatisfied with his response, Ananda would turn to the Buddha and ask him why he didn't answer. And the Buddha would explain. The most common reason was because whatever answer was given would lead to a misunderstanding in the questioner's mind. People often came to the Buddha holding wrong views, certain about their position. They were in no mood to learn what the Buddha knew and saw and taught. Not being answers sometimes chastened them to return and be more open. In this way when the Buddha spoke, they would understand, shed their wrong views (or give up clinging to their opinions, preferences, and pet theories), and become open to directly seeing what Truth is. One does not need the Buddha for that. The Buddha (this one and any other) points the way. It is for us to practice, cleanse our hearts and minds to prepare for directly seeing without a mediator. Foremost in this regard is the case of the obstinate monk Ven. Malunkyaputta. He had a lot of philosophical questions which the Buddha left unanswered. But he figured since he was a monk in this Doctrine and Discipline, he deserved answers from the Buddha about these very basic and ancient points of controversy: Is the world finite or infinite, does the fully enlightened person continue to exist or cease to exist when passing away, does rebirth go on forever or does it end, and so on and so on. Such questions never end. The Buddha dismissed these questions and left many things undeclared exactly as the video above suggests -- because they are not conducive to dispassion, disillusionment, and awakening to the unbelievable Truth. Why ask all that and demand answers before practicing to directly see for yourself without any teacher as your authority? The Buddha provides the path-and-practice, the Middle Way, that leads to direct knowledge, vision, and wisdom. In most religions, we hope it's true but only find out if we were wrong when we die. In Buddhism, it is not that way at all. Enlightenment, awakening, spiritual knowledge-and-vision are for this life, here and now. When we pass away, we will already know if we are liberated, on the right track, following a path-and-practice that does indeed lead to complete liberation. There is no need to wait. The time is now.
• Famously, Ven. Malunkyaputta asked his questions anyway, and more foolishly demanded the Buddha answer him or he would quit being a monastic and quit practicing altogether.
• He didn't like the Buddha's answer. The Buddha told him it was fine to quit, fine to not practice, fine to not accept that there was a good reason for those answers to remain undeclared. But he did Malunkyaputta a favor. He gave him a powerful simile to illustrate what he was doing by asking and insisting on an answer before proceeding towards Truth himself.
• That simile, which is useful for all of us with a questioning and skeptical nature, lacking faith and confidence (saddha) in the Teacher, the Teaching, and the successfully Taught (the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha), runs like this:
• Imagine a man shot by a poison arrow. A master physician offers to remove the arrow, stem the bleeding, and give an antidote to the fast acting poison, but that man -- wishing to know, wishing to understand, insisting someone explain to him -- will not accept the doctor's services, the cure, the antidote unless and until these questions are answered: Who shot me? Why did he shoot me? With what did he shoot me? What kind of wood was used for the shaft of the arrow? What kind of feather was used at the end of it? What kind of poison was dabbed on the tip? And so on and so forth. Any such person would much sooner die than any of those questions could be answered to his full satisfaction. Therefore, why not remain alive by accepting the master physician's advice to set them aside, get well, and pursue the answers himself. He would neither believe nor understand what answers he was given anyway.
• Sister Tina Turner leads us in prayer (of the devotional Sokka Gakai branch of Japanese faith-based Nichiren Buddhism, which came into being long after the historical Buddha and in many ways is very unBuddhist if what the historical Buddha taught is any measure):

Q: Do Buddhists pray?

Yes, some. Some Buddhists pray, but not in the way the West does, not petitionary prayers to "Buddha" nor to the many deities recognized in Buddhism which, after all, is nontheistic but is not atheistic.

Buddhism could well be said to be polytheistic (except that, ultimately, just as the "self" is unreal so, too, are the gods). There is an impersonal force at play called Karma, and it seems to us that so much of what is said about the Christian, Muslim, Jewish God is really being said about Karma, as if God is doing it all, judging everybody, meting out rewards and punishments, being begged and giving in, being mocked and smiting the infidels and unbelievers. This omniscient creator god view is wrong in so many ways, but it is a reasonable simplification of how things work.

It's just like when a child asks, "Where does rain come from?" and, wishing to shut the kid up, the loving parent thinks he or she is doing the child a favor by offering an untrue but age-appropriate explanation wrapped around a moral lesson: "It's God crying because you didn't clean your room and respect your elders." "Oh, no!" the child thinks and feels much fear, nervousness, and develops no good view of God. But this is what we tell kids. This is level of nonsense we accept from our religions most of the time.

Were we wiser, wishing to know, we might be receptive to a social-scientifical answer: "Um, well, you see, Hun, when Mr. Cloud drinks too much, he's like Uncle Jerry going to the bathroom and flooding the commode, which spills over and ruins the party." "Oh, I get it."

Worshipping at the altar of Scientism, which is the only acceptable source of answers nowadays (even if they're wrong, at least they sound reasonable). This becomes the only source of answers we'll accept, just the facts, Ma'am, no metaphor, no simile, no mythology:

"When the barometric pressure rises in inverse proportion to aridity, humidity predominates and clusters of hydrogen molecules with two oxygen molecules attached, form and fall out of a gaseous state, condensing into soluble moisture, pooling in droplets that precipitate pooling on the ground with other attendant meteorological phenomena." "Huh, Professor? Maybe I should ask Mary Ann."

Nontheism means one is not obsessed with gods, God, or GOD (brahmas, Maha Brahma, and Brahman) because one's enlightenment (awakening to the ultimate truth) and even one's rebirth in any of the many heavens within the Three Spheres (Sensual, Fine Material, and Immaterial) does not depend on the gods.

One does not need to worry about the powers, lifestyles, or knowledge of God and gods (and there are many, no matter who the Abrahamic faiths have twisted their ancient polytheism into a monotheism in name only). As wise and psychic as gods may be, they are not enlightened, do not know the Dharma, do not practice the Dharma, and do not teach a path of liberation from rebirth. They are stuck in rebirth, in a good position, in an office, a station. And this is important because, the individual will fall from that, but the office will remain. How?

• How? The universe very big, very very big. In it are many (countless) world-systems, and each has a God (a Maha Brahma), each has a Sakka (a kind of Archangel Michael, Maghavā or Magha of Macalagama when he was a human), Jesus in heaven figure, who tosses an Asura, a Lucifer character, out of heaven, leading to a war in the heavens, as those Titans or Asuras seek revenge and try to burn down that world of the devas they were thrown out of. Where were they thrown? The answer is the same as in the Abrahamic faiths, only no one in those seems to read their sacred texts to know that the answer is not "hell." It is earth. They were thrown out of that lowly heaven, two planes up, down to this platform at the base of the Axis Mundi, Mount Sumeru, a kind of Mt. Olympus). Moreover, there are many many devas, brahmas, and more devas above Maha Brahma. They are mapped in Buddhism on a chart called the 31 Planes of Existence, which mentions the karma that leads to rebirth in those worlds. So to become a god or God, follow that karma. The lifespans are enormous, the sensual and supersensual delights are delectable, and it feels like forever and ever until it ends. It might be possible to live 80,000 aeons in such rarefied worlds. But any amount of time less than infinity -- and remember, time is different everywhere, so what for us is a year is nothing for them -- means one is soon back, reaping the results of all their karma, good and bad, grinding on, treading the Wheel of Rebirth and Death such beings never actually got free from. The heavens may seem eternal, particularly the immaterial (arupa) ones, but they are not. If lifetimes there never came to an end, they would still be impermanent. How is that possible? It is possible because things, all things, are radically impermanent. That is, it is not that they will one day end but rather that from moment to moment they are always ending. This is the liberating vision of anicca, one of the Three Marks or Characteristics of Existence.

It depends on us (our intentional actions, which are based and motivated by the extent of our right view or confidence/faith in a teacher or the Teachings of the Buddha himself) and more importantly on our karma (our deeds of mind, word, and body).

Of course, there are two Buddhisms (Mahayana and Theravada) and they should not be confused because they are very different. The larger of the two, or 90% percent of Buddhists in the world, follows a kind of Hinduism and is called Mahayana or "Great Vehicle." The other much smaller school is a back-to-basics movement that is devoted to the historical Buddha. Mahayana worships "Cosmic Buddhas" and gives little attention to the founder of the Dharma in the world today, opting instead for a reformed approach and syncretism with Hinduism, Vedic Brahmanism, Taoism, Bon, Confucianism, and Shinto, which are hard to distinguish from the original teachings of Shakyamuni, the "Sage of the Scythians."

The other form of Buddhism is called Theravada, the "Teaching of the Elders," the theras being the enlightened immediate disciples of the historical Buddha Gautama. While neither tradition may pray in the sense of petitioning a deity very much (though asking things of the Goddess Kwan Yin, the Taras, Amitabha, Ksitigarbha, and other manifestations of what, for all intents and purposes, seems to be the same old Brahman (the Absolute or Ultimate Reality behind all Illusion or Maya) idea. Now, rather than personifying the Vedic and Indian gods like Hinduism does, Mahayana Buddhists imagine countless buddhas with all kinds of specialties, like Catholic saints. There's Medicine Buddha, the Goddess of Compassion who hears the cries of the world (Kwan Yin or Guanyin, a Mother Mary figure), and many others as needed. Mahayana Buddhism is mainly devoted to the worship of Amitabha, a Cosmic Buddha they see as a savior who will save all who call upon him. That calling could be imagined as a kind of prayer.

However, the real purpose of prayer beads, mantras ("thought instruments"), bowing, and chanting is to make the mind pliable so that one rules it rather than being ruled by it. The Isaiah Effect would be an excellent way to pray for Buddhists, full of gratitude for what they have and giving thanks in confidence of what they already have for having been grateful with all their body and emotions, as Braden explains.

There are devotional schools of Buddhism that arose long after the historical Buddha. They seem to ignore what the Buddha taught, opting instead for easy answers and instant solutions to life's problems. Foremost among these must be the Japanese devotional schools, explained by Westerner Alan Watts as being self-powered vs. other-powered (jiriki versus tariki).

• We know that we cannot do it on our own, so many in recovery and the 12 steps rely on a "higher power," any higher power. And that is good, very good. The way the historical Buddha originally taught will sound very self-empowering, very jiriki, based on one's own strength. It is actually not because that does not tend to work. But it sounds like that's what he's saying: His final words, after all, were "Be a lamp/island (dipa) unto yourselves and work out your own salvation (liberation, awakening) with diligence." Elsewhere, however, he famously points something out to good Ananda, who is always questioning things for his benefit and the benefit of all of us who wish we had had the chance to ask the Buddha these sorts of things: One day Ananda realizes that having good friends in the Dharma and Discipline (Dhamma-Vinaya), in this path-of-practice, is a very good thing, very useful for one's enlightenment. Realizing this, he seeks out the Buddha for his validation. To his shock, the Buddha does not validate him. He tells him not to say such a thing. All Ananda said was that he thought that "noble friendship" (kalyanamittata) was half the path. The Buddha corrects him and points out that it is 100% of the path. Without noble friendship, people would not hear the Dharma, would not have a model of the practice, would not find encouragement, would not be corrected and set right when one strays, and ultimately would become enlightened anytime soon. That does not sound like "one's own power," does it? We must put forward our effort but never lose sight how much we're actually standing on the shoulders of giants, depending on a historical lineage of others who came before us, and serving as a bridge to the future from what we contribute to keeping the Dharma alive and making known the practice. There are Three Jewels in the world, not just one. The first is the Buddha who realized the Truth and made known the path to that same realization so that any ordinary person could strive to realize it and achieve it in this very life, depending on one's karma. The second is the Dharma, the Teaching he left behind in his stead; he did not elect another leader after him because the Dharma itself is what leads. The third is the one closest to us, the Community of Those Successfully Taught, the Noble Sangha. (Many people think this means anyone wearing robes, but that is very mistaken and harmful because many people in robes are not enlightened, not successful students, and many people not in robes are enlightened though they may not be able to teach others. So monastics should be seen as quite valuable, maintaining this tradition, but they are not one of the jewels, or in any case, they are a symbolic part of the actual jewel, the aryans, the noble ones, those who are stream-enterers, once returners, nonreturners, and arhats, and possibly two other kinds of people who will not pass away until they gain a "change of lineage" or gotrabhu and reach the first stage of awakening, but information on these two types is scarce. See Bhikkhu Bodhi).
• Faith (confidence) in Buddhism
• Buddhist devotion (puja, inspiration)

We can either make progress by our own efforts (not likely) or by depending on a powerful other to do it for us. Having fallen so far away from the Teachings of the Buddha which produce calm and insight, Mahayana started to go astray and invent "new" ways to try to get enlightened. Great teachers arose, founders of schools, claiming to reveal esoteric secrets of the path. Let's read these words aloud and be sure to get into Amitabha's Western Paradise heaven and then make efforts for enlightenment there, and it'll be easy! This is one example of the kind of thinking that took over Mahayana Buddhism, pushing it in an increasingly devotional direction. Prayer makes sense in a devotional religion full of ritual.

It makes much less sense in a path-of-practice where one must depend on oneself to make the effort to overcome ignorance through mental calm (samatha and samadhi) and systematic mindfulness of four things (satipatthana and vipassana).

Another very beautiful and super popular form of Buddhism arose in Japan as well as part of this devotional deviation from the Buddha's Dharma, and that is the Nichiren Shoshu (Sokka Gakai) movement who say there is one prayer better than all others to get all you want (as in The Secret's Law of Attraction and teaching of Abraham-Hicks): Nam Myoho Renge Kyo

Kickstart a devotional Nichiren practice with two hours of Tina Turner

You'll to buy a box: Nichiren Buddhism gohonzon scroll

Ho ho ho, it's magic/ Never believe it's not so: Essential Buddhism Meditations e Mindfulness with Daimoku: Reduce Stress with Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, Improve Mental Health and Find Peace in the Everyday (Audible Audio Edition) (Jacob Salomon)

• Buddha's Wisdom; Larry King with guest Buddhist chanter Tina Turner; Dhr. Seven, Amber Larson, Ashley Wells, Wisdom Quarterly

Atheist "denominations" explained (video)

Matt Baker (Useful Charts, 2/23/24); Religion for Breakfast; Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Atheist "denominations" explained

Is there freedom from religion in America?

(UsefulCharts) Feb. 23, 2024: There are no "denominations" of any religion or nonreligion other than Christians, who have over 200 in the U.S. alone, with many more sects and offshoots ("splitters"). But for the purposes here, the term is being used to signify schools and groups in general. So there are the Humanist Atheists and the megachurch of the Scientist Atheists, Nontheists (aka some Buddhists) and Anti-Theists (Secularists but not Satanists, who all believe in God or else what's the point of opposing and following the prophesized Antichrist?), Materialist Atheists and Nihilist Atheists (who believe we exist by chance and will all cease to exist and enter oblivion at death), those darn Snarky Standup Comedian Atheists and the lowly Spiritual Atheists who don't believe in God because they heard the XTC song "Dear God" and really liked it. 

• Types of Atheists: • Types of Atheists (Psychology of Atheism)...
• Download Matt Baker's full doctoral thesis so his Ph.D. will have been worth something: wrap.warwick.ac.uk/76588
• Sponsor: sign up for a 14-day FREE trial of MyHeritage now: UsefulChartsFeb24

CREDITS: Chart and narration by Matt Baker. Guest narration by @ReligionForBreakfast Animation by Syawish Rehman. Audio editing by Ali Shahwaiz Theme music: "Lord of the Land" by Kevin MacLeod and licensed under Creative Commons Attribution license 4.0. Available from incompetech.com.

• Go Jewish: Kill for Zionist-Israel: Israeli militants heading into Gaza's Rafah City to steal more land and continue war crime of ethnic cleansing in their genocide, Warlord Netanyahu tells CBS Joe Biden is behind us, so who can be against us?

Spiritual Krawl for Kris-Mass (12/24)

All-Saints Pasadena and SRF Xmas services 2023; Editors, Wisdom Quarterly

How many religions are there in the US? Probably about as many disgruntled Gods have made. And we say that because, traditionally, there have been 200 kinds of Christianity, with many sects, not to mention how each congregation differs from the next even in the same version of X-ianity.

Which religion to choose in America? Jainism?

What could we do, living in a city so liberal as Pasadena (LA County, CA), the jewel of the Other Valley, the "Varanasi of the West"? (Varanasi or Benares is the most spiritual city in India).

We did a spiritual pub crawl by visiting a Buddhist center (Mindfulness Meditation Center – Covina – Los Angeles Buddhist Vihara), a semi-Hindu temple (Self-Realization Fellowship, Glendale), and an Episcopalian church, the best one in the country: All Saints Church, Pasadena (allsaints-pas.org).

• Radical inclusion at All Saints: Whoever one is, that person is welcome. A female dressed as a priest was breaking bread and distributing blood (gluten wafers and wine with everyone's saliva mixed in) in a European cannibalism ritual where they eat their god
• The Buddhist monastery had not official event, just visitors as many Sri Lankans in the U.S. are or have family members that have become Christians, after the British and Portuguese brought the religion to the formerly occupied colony
• SRF had an inclusive service, singing Christmas carols, eating cookies, singing, performing, and reading from Paramahansa Yogananda's The Second Coming of Christ: The Resurrection of the Christ Within You, with a decidedly Indian slant to the interpretation of Issa (Jesus) as a traveler to ancient India, where he was exposed to Tibetan Buddhism, the Brahminical Vedic religion (before Hinduism had been systematized into a "religion" by Sri Shankara), and the ways of the East

While not the 8 pm service we attended, it is similar to it from SRF

We come more out of family tradition than faith.

This third place with its 10:30 pm service was very inclusive -- reading from the Quran (Koran, Islam's holy book), giving a nod to the Jews, and talking about this one guy whose birthday it was. There was singing and lesbians officiants in different colors, as if the place were Unitarian Universalists, which Pasadena has two such places of worship (Throop and Neighborhood Church).

Religion is better when it includes women.

One hardly sees so many liberals gathered in one place, talking about the big Rose Parade and football game next week, protests against Israel and for Palestine, with a great deal of respect for non-Zionist Jews, massive compassion for all the suffering of the world, not least the tiny minority of Christians in Bethlehem, where Christmas has been cancelled by Jewish Nationalist war games and actual slaughter.

To meditate is the way to the divine.

The birthday guy was apparently a Palestinian living in the West Back 2,000 years ago, angering the Temple priests and Roman officials. The whole thing left us believing, There's no way Jesus (Issa) was real. They've made him up to be all things to everyone from an obscure figure in the ancient Near East. We think there was a historical figure but nothing like this fantasy Nordic son of Zeus the churches have going. Just ask Bible scholars like Bart Ehrman and Reza Aslan.

• Head of Catholic Church in Kenya defies pope's order
• Swami Vivekananda and his profound connection with Varanasi
• Liberation Theology in Latin America once made Catholicism great