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September 2007
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Probably one of the deadliest sins in Buddhism is the belief in annihilationism which stems from living in the present world which is the necrosphere—where death and the fear of death reign supreme. But before I continue, permit me to define annihilationism for you in a nutshell. Anyone is an annihilationist who believes there is no life after death. As far a metaphysical theory goes, it holds that the self is less than the sum of the body’s parts. When the body breaks up at death—goodbye selfie!
To understand the dangerous implications of annihilationism is to understand modern history that, in fact, it remains a battle ground between spirit and the necrosphere which prides itself of annihilationism. Spirit, of course, seems to be fighting a losing battle as the forces of the necrosphere have been successful in turning a lot of people into zombie-like people who are quite spiritually and intellectually dead, but have been reanimated by the mass consumerism, which is the most powerful arm of the necrosphere.
Go to any shopping mall—see for yourself if you are not already a zombie. The only force which animates these zombies is consumer goods. Cut off from consumer goods, cheap entertaiment, bad music, gossip magazines, and junk food, the annihilationists will go out screaming like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz.
Rest assured, the necrosphere has it philosophy. It is called annihilationism or, in you like, materialism.
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The Necrosphere
Probably one of the deadliest sins in Buddhism is the belief in annihilationism which stems from living in the present world which is the necrosphere—where death and the fear of death reign supreme. But before I continue, permit me to define annihilationism for you in a nutshell. Anyone is an annihilationist who believes there is no life after death. As far a metaphysical theory goes, it holds that the self is less than the sum of the body’s parts. When the body breaks up at death—goodbye selfie!
To understand the dangerous implications of annihilationism is to understand modern history that, in fact, it remains a battle ground between spirit and the necrosphere which prides itself of annihilationism. Spirit, of course, seems to be fighting a losing battle as the forces of the necrosphere have been successful in turning a lot of people into zombie-like people who are quite spiritually and intellectually dead, but have been reanimated by the mass consumerism, which is the most powerful arm of the necrosphere.
Go to any shopping mall—see for yourself if you are not already a zombie. The only force which animates these zombies is consumer goods. Cut off from consumer goods, cheap entertaiment, bad music, gossip magazines, and junk food, the annihilationists will go out screaming like the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz.
Rest assured, the necrosphere has it philosophy. It is called annihilationism or, in you like, materialism.
thezennist at 5:25:00 PM EDT Blog about this entry |
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This entry has 4 comments: (Add your own)
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Well, the Asura realm is more precisely the realm of the gods, not god. And these god-beings are hardly omniscient, and they are riddled with jealousy. There is no over-arching "god" in Buddhism.
But there's no point in quibbling over metaphors, which is what the six realms are. The real point is what purpose the finality of a deadly sin has in Buddhist teaching. I would argue that it has none; that Buddhism is about the ability of people to work out their paths to enlightenment themselves, whereas the term "deadly sin" implies that some things are judged and beyond redemption.
But this is merely the opinion of "an ignorant Westerner". Take it as you will. -
Buddha certainly spoke about the god realm as being one of the six possible destinations after the human physically died. The "god" in Buddhism is unlike the Christian or Jew god that the Westerners often understood.
And as an uninformed Westerner, please understand that Buddhist "sin" is altogether different than Christian sin or Jewish sin. Ignorant is the gravest sin in Buddhism, it is the cause for Samsara and transmigration (of the mind in bondage) through the 6 realms. This is how Buddhist sin should be understood.
Bodhiratna -
There are no deadly sins in Buddhism, because there is no divine judgment. For that matter, the existence (or non-existence) of god isn't even touched upon in the Buddha's teaching.
And I don't see anything like annihilationism covered in the 10 grave precepts.
What I think is this: rather than annihilationism being a sin, it is something that simply melts away when one practices the eightfold path with honest intent.
9/30/07 3:32 PM
Plenty of Sutras (take the Avatamsaka for example, look at book 35 on page 946)mentioned about Beings who commited sins and they were punished in the hells. But they are redeemed when they encountered the Buddha Light which brought them out of the hell. I would say that there is "deadly sin" in Buddhism like the author mentioned. Go read more Sutras, get educated instead of making misinformation on this site.
Bodhiratna