this post was submitted on 10 Apr 2026
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God is Buddhist. (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) by beumuth@lemmy.world to c/buddhism@lemmy.world
 

There is the heaven realm of the Brahmā worlds. In the "Kevaṭṭa Sutta", a monk goes through increasingly higher heaven realms until he meets Brahmā:

'I, monk, am Brahmā, the Great Brahmā, the Conqueror, the Unconquered, the All-Seeing, All-Powerful, the Sovereign Lord, the Maker, Creator, Chief, Appointer, and Ruler, Father of All That Have Been and Shall Be.’

Brahmā, however, didn't know how to answer the question the monk brought to him, and couldn't admit this in front of his followers, on the basis of upkeeping the view that he is "All-Seeing, All-powerful", & so forth. Instead, Brahmā recommended the monk return to the Buddha, who was able to answer the question.

Soon after the Buddha's full enlightenment, it was Brahmā Sahampati who urged the Buddha to lead others to enlightenment; the Buddha otherwise was going to remain silent about it (see "Brahmayācanakathā"). Brahmā Sahampati later even bows to the Buddha. The Buddha is presenting a more worthy & permanent release from suffering than Brahmā's heaven realm; beings born into this heaven realm generally are still subject to eventual death & rebirth into lower realms (see "Brahma-nimantanika Sutta"). There is also Māra, who is generally viewed as the main antagonist to the Buddha - e.g., with the epithet "Evil One". In the "Brahma-nimantanika Sutta", it's shown that Brahmā's heaven realm is under the control of Māra, who is able to possess Brahmā's followers. The Buddha said:

‘I know you, Evil One. Don’t assume, “He doesn’t know me.” You are Māra, Evil One. And Brahmā, and Brahmā’s assembly, and the attendants of Brahmā’s assembly have all come into your hands. They have all come under your sway.

Māra though is also a deity in the Paranimmitavasavattī heaven - a heaven of deities with power over others' creations. In the Vimalakīrti Sūtra, it is revealed that Māra is actually enlightened himself, leading other beings to enlightenment - a bodhisattva.

[T]he māras who play the devil in the innumerable universes of the ten directions are all bodhisattvas dwelling in the inconceivable liberation, who are playing the devil in order to develop living beings through their skill in liberative art.

I believe that Satan/Lucifer in Abrahamic religions is Māra, who is a higher power than God, though both are attempting to develop beings and spare them from suffering.

Note the Buddha also presents himself as omniscient & omnipotent. Though, this too is a fabrication that parallels Brahmā's. In the "Pañcavaggiyakathā" - again shortly after the Buddha's full enlightenment - the Buddha has an ignorance that a deity (the word 'deva' or 'devatā' is used in Buddhism) needs to correct him of:

Then the thought occurred to the Blessed One, “To whom should I teach the Dhamma first? Who will quickly understand this Dhamma?”

Then the thought occurred to him, “This Āḷāra Kālāma is wise, competent, intelligent. He has long had little dust in his eyes. What if I were to teach him the Dhamma first? He will quickly understand this Dhamma.”

Then an invisible devatā informed the Blessed One, “Lord, Āḷāra Kālāma died seven days ago.”

And knowledge & vision arose within him: “Āḷāra Kālāma died seven days ago.”

The thought occurred to him, “A great loss has Āḷāra Kālāma suffered. If he had heard this Dhamma, he would have quickly understood it.”

Then the thought occurred to the Blessed One, “To whom should I teach the Dhamma first? Who will quickly understand this Dhamma?”

Both the Buddha & God aren't all-knowing & all-powerful. Though, I do recommend either to take refuge under. I prayed to the Buddha, the Medicine Buddha, God, & Māra for support in sharing this; am an anāgāmi & bodhisattva myself.

May all beings swiftly obtain perfect enlightenment.

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[–] Paragone@lemmy.world -3 points 9 hours ago

Hoomin..

I'm a reincarnation of a Himalayan Buddhist monk ( there's no branch of modern-Buddhism which fits my soul's remembered Home: Buddhism's changed, ) & there's much more truth in a simple statement by the Hindu realizer Ramana Maharshi:

keep going deeper & deeper into profound-meditations, & eventually you reach a level which is sooo profound, that it is AWARENESS but there is no self in it.

THAT is G-D/Brahman/OceanOfAllAwakeSouls/OriginOfSouls/Dzogchen.

I'm translating from his Hindu lingo into Vajrayana, but it's there, clear as day, in "Maharshi's Gospel" or one of the others I got & dipped into.

That's all there is to it: get past the self-centrisms, get past the appearances, get past all distortions, & eventually only AWARENESS is, & there's no self in it.

Exactly as Huston Smith tried explaining in his brilliant "World Religions" book, in the Hindu ( explains that continuums/souls themselves have a growing-up cycle, which I remember from centuries-ago, but no modern Buddhist seems to have any tolerance for ), & then his Buddhism chapter, when he centers on exactly that point: Gautama rejected self, religiosity, etc, but expecially self.

While social-validity may be dependent-on someone believing in it .. truth-itself, including AwakeSoul-dharma, just is: it is independent of our belief.

Awakening's just "cleaning one's mind's glasses", is all, but not for mere SurfaceMind, rather 1st for underlying LifeMind ( "unconscious" in our distorted-condition ), & then after that one is aware/operating, then prying-aware & then prying-awake one's continuum/soul.

All the religious-stories are just parables/metaphors put in-place to communicate approximations of the raw-truth.

Raw-truth's outside of the realm of words, though: it's direct-experience.

OceanOfAllAwakeSouls absolutely is omniscient & omnipresent: Padmasambhava reached the point of No More Learning, & saw Blissful Clear Light ( what Dzogchen looks-like ) permeating ALL, same as Gautama did.

Religiosity which puts itself in AwakeSoulism's place .. I've got little tolerance for.

Feel free to downvote me for holding to the direct teaching, rather than to the traditional-religiosity-stories, or even for my holding that I can do any such thing, without tradition's authorizing me to..

All "religions" have put themselves in G-D's place ( "it isn't G-D that is The Only Way!! It is OUR RELIGION-REGIME that is The Only Way!! Our Religion-Regime is The Only Savior!" ) which is universal hogwash: G-D's universal!

All traditions have contempted "my" validity, & that's to be expected, of ones who hold that validity is of their-tradition, and NOT of independent-of-them omnipresent G-D.

< shrug >

You've got between now & when your-current-LifeMind shatters ( in death ), to pry your continuum more-awake, but you can't even grasp your continuum until you've 1st got your unconscious LifeMind awake.

Dig into that, to the degree you want, if you want real progress in prying-open your continuum, into AWARENESS.

It definitely takes multiple-incarnations to build real momentum, & like tree-planting: the best time to have begun was in a previous-incarnation, but the 2nd-best time is NOW.

It's literally intentionally breaking unconsciousness from one's mind, SurfaceMind, underlying LifeMind, & then, at a far-vaster-scale, one's Continuum that the work is..

AwakeSoul Gautama:

  • Do not go by revelation;
  • Do not go by tradition;
  • Do not go by hearsay;
  • Do not go on the authority of sacred texts;
  • Do not go on the grounds of pure logic;
  • Do not go by a view that seems rational;
  • Do not go by reflecting on mere appearances;
  • Do not go along with a considered view because you agree with it;
  • Do not go along on the grounds that the person is competent;
  • Do not go along because "the recluse is our teacher."
  • Kalamas, when you yourselves know: These things are unwholesome, these things are blameworthy; these things are censured by the wise; and when undertaken and observed, these things lead to harm and ill, abandon them...
  • Kalamas, when you know for yourselves: These are wholesome; these things are not blameworthy; these things are praised by the wise; undertaken and observed, these things lead to benefit and happiness, having undertaken them, abide in them.

AwakeSoul/Buddha Gautama ordered Empiricism to be our religion.

& Empiricism falsifies all the religiosity-"stories" which may help the ignorant/naive, but which mislead the real-seekers, with their oversimplifications, their dumbed-down cutsie false-framings, etc.

Inner-mountaineering's work, & the farther one gets, the more-technical it gets, & the more-costly mistakes get.

& the eventual-condition bears no resemblance to what religiosity asserts progress is.

_ /\ _