BUDDHISM FOR ATHEISTS
Is Buddhism The Purest Form Of Atheism?
Two paths agree on the result, but one is lacking a method
Fundamentalism is thinking your POV is the only correct one.
Going to war over bread is possible if you believe in a recipe enough.
No, it’s one handful of yeast, you Motherfucker.
Fuck you. It’s half a handful, you prick. I’m gonna kill you.
Fundamentalism is something usually attributed to Middle Eastern suicide bombers, but anyone can be a fundamentalist. Atheists are particularly good at it as I described in this controversial article.
Atheism is an intelligent point of view. But it relies on faith, although many Atheists won’t like to admit it.
Buddhism can fill a gap for Atheists.
Atheism has no method, which is its limitation.
It states that there is no god, but it doesn’t say why or how Atheists can realise this truth for themselves so it’s like an incomplete path.
Buddhism also says there is no almighty creator and that the creator of life is the mind itself. So it agrees with Atheism up to that point.
But Buddhism also gives people the methods required to realise that truth for themselves.
Isn’t Buddhism full of Deities though?
Yes, but the deity is misunderstood both in the East and West.
Many people believe in the deity as a real god to be worshipped and that’s okay on the path. But ultimately, deity yoga is not the worship of spirits. It’s a method of realising the nature of mind.
This nature of mind is said to be without relative qualities, so it cannot be described and this lack of markers presents a problem.
Devotion, aka Bhakti yoga, is one of the faster routes to realisation. But how do we fall in love with something that has no qualities?
So, Bhakti yoga is more effective when the practitioner has experienced a glimpse of mind nature — a single moment of realisation like seeing a beautiful person in a crowd at a train station and falling in love instantly.
With a clear object of love, it is easier to dedicate life to seeking out that person or that experience repeatedly.
For those without that glimpse, there is deity yoga.
The deity provides a clear, relatable object for our devotion.
Deities may look like gods but they are scientific maps of the mind according to the various delusions of sentient beings.
Deities can be strange things with multiple arms and legs. They can be fierce or sexual and have the heads or bodies of different animals. But generally, they are in a form we can relate to. They have some arms or legs. They have eyes and a mouth.
They have a face in order to help us feel something.
There are paths for everybody in Buddhism.
Murderers, rapists, thieves and politicians are all catered for.
The single purpose of all Buddhist methods is to realise the nature of mind — your mind — not God’s mind.
They teach you about yourself.
That’s not to say a student can’t utilise the idea of god along the way but at some point, they have to let go of that.
Atheism does not offer a path towards realising ‘No God’.
But Buddhism does.
And no, Im not trying to convert people to Buddhism. I mean, Im not going door to door wearing a fucking suit giving out pamphlets here.
I don’t give a fuck if people call themselves Buddhists.
Buddhism is just a made-up word for a series of methods anyone can practice.
Just cos a few people added the ism because they like the feeling of being in a club, that’s not my fault.
You don’t have to be a Buddhist to practice so-called Buddhism.
In fact, it’s probably better to practise Buddhism as a non-Buddhist — as a Christian, as a Muslim, as a Scientologist or as an Atheist.
Don’t give up your belief, but why not just complement it with the tools to find out whether that belief system is true or not?
Can a person be an Atheist Buddhist?
Why bother calling it that? Anyone practising Buddhism as an Atheist is probably just an Atheist with a better chance to confirm their beliefs.
There’s no need to add the word Buddhist in there. It’s just a waste of time and a temptation for the ego.
In fact, why don’t we just go ahead and change the title of Buddhism to make it easy?
Let’s change it to Scientific Methodical Atheism.
Hopefully, that makes everyone feel better right?
