Response To Dharmasiri's "A Buddhist Critique"

To utilize a Buddhisticicic perspective and to quote the Buddha for the part of constructing an valuation of theism gossipms to me singularly inappropriate, if only for the mere fact that these Buddhist beliefs nuclear number 18 leaven out of context. Early in A Buddhist Critique, the author, Gunapala Dharmasiri, evidences, it is the context that gives religious statements their meaning (Kessler 1999, p.116). However, reprobate to this professed belief, he continues on to draw from the Buddhist gougeon examples that are obdurate when not viewed in light of other essential Buddhist beliefs. Thus, Dharmasiri becomes caught up in his own trap by citing Buddhist examples out of context. For example, the author calls upon the fact that, though others viewd the macrocosm to let hold of been created by a God or Brahma, the Buddha did not hypothecate that such a view could explain anything approximately the world (Kessler 1999, p.116). Although this would appear to lead t o the fact that the Buddha did not believe in a supreme deity, it does not when viewed in context. Dharmasiri fails to state that the Buddha neither accepted nor jilted such a belief. In dress to more readily understand what the Buddha meant, the context should be fork outd, for example, in the form of the following fable: The Buddha compares a hu homophile race ghost with speculation to a while potty by a acerbateed arrow. A man has been struck by a poison arrow and he is dying. When a physician comes to him and offers to remove the arrow, the man says No, I wont let you take out the arrow, until you tell me the give of the man who shot me, what crystalize he comes from, what his family is, what kind of worldly the arrow is made of, and so forth Such a man will die in the first place the arrow is removed. (Lanka On-line, March 4, 2002) The parable illustrates the Buddhist belief that contemplating the inauguration of the universe, the idea of a compulsive Creator, and other such theistic subjects, is futile! because it does not provide people with the path to salvation. This does not mean that the Buddha forthrightly rejected the belief in a Supreme Beinghe merely did not see it as functional.

        Apart from the above-stated example, others are to be found in the text that depart from the old Buddhist belief that the origins do not matter, rather it is the event that is significant. Thus, in utilizing the Buddhist doctrine to argue theism, Dharmasiri is contradicting himself by pickings the former ideas out of context and by forgetting that original Buddhism can be explained as an eight-step inten d to attaining salvation with the Buddha as a physician figure and with no thought to the past or to origins, be it of the world or of God. Works Cited Dharmasiri, Gunapala. A Buddhist Critique. In Philosophy of Religion. Gary E. Kessler, ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Pp. 115-122. Lanka-Online. The Man stricken by the Poison arrow. Lanka On-line. March 4, 2002. http://www.lanka.com/dhamma/dhamma/man_struck_by_the.htm If you loss to get a full essay, golf club it on our website: OrderCustomPaper.com

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