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What is God?
A benefactor she asked Rinpoche, on behalf of her daughter, what
was his view of God.
If you are thinking of God as a creator of your life’s happiness
and suffering, who exists separately from your mental continuum, this
kind of God doesn’t exist. But if you mean an omniscient mind
that pervades all phenomena, that does exist.
Why is God not your creator? Because even in daily life,
if you practice patience, then you don’t harm yourself and others.
You bring peace and happiness to yourself and others. If you act with
anger, you harm yourself and others. From this you can see that what
Buddha said in his teachings is true: You are your own guide and also
your own enemy. God is certainly not your creator.
Dangers of Religion
Rinpoche gave the following advice to a woman who had been the president
of a Native American nation in the Midwest and one of the leaders
of many Native Americans. She came to speak with Rinpoche because
she had some confusion about certain Native American religious beliefs.
People always advertise their goods as the best: “Mine is best!” How
do you decide what to choose? What are you going to believe? If you
make the wrong choice, you will be cheated. You will obtain something
of poor quality and lose out. The solution is, you should use your
own wisdom, and learn to differentiate the qualities of the goods.
It is similar in the case of religion.
Religion is extremely dangerous. If you choose a mistaken
path, you can be cheated for your whole life. Not only that,
you are also cheated for many future lives, because you will make
mistakes
in this life, and how the future turns out depends on this
life. Whether your future lives will be good or bad, right or wrong,
depends on
how you lead this life. It is extremely dangerous if you
are wrong. If you are wrong, you can destroy so many future lives,
and cause
unfortunate rebirths and suffering in hell or animal realms.
Even if you are born as a human being, you will have wrong beliefs,
heresy,
hallucinations, believe wrong things are right; like believing
that there is no such thing as liberation, that poison is medicine,
that
medicine is poison, and that the right path is the wrong
path and the wrong path is the right path. Then, that affects your
next life.
It is very dangerous, not only for yourself, but also if
you lead others in wrong views. You bring so many sentient beings
to suffering
in the lower realms, in hell and as hungry ghosts.
Everybody believes their religion is the best. However, it
is extremely important to analyze with your own wisdom. Therefore,
develop your wisdom. Buddhism is extremely beneficial. Buddhism
is able to discriminate between right and wrong, not only
in terms of
religion, but for anything in life. If parents have Buddhist
knowledge, they can judge what is right and wrong for their
children. Otherwise,
children engage in the causes of suffering. They get stuck
in suffering and problems in this life, and also in future
lives. So, it is very
helpful to understand Buddhism. Even if you don’t practice it,
it gives such a very clear view. When you look at other religions
and can determine what is right and what is mistaken, even if you
are not Buddhist, this knowledge can help a lot.
Religion should be compassion. Anything that harms others
is not good, for example, sacrificing animals. Don’t do things
that harm others. If you harm others, then other sentient beings will
harm you. Similarly, if you benefit others, then you will receive
benefit from other sentient beings. This is the law of nature, like
when you plant a seed and it grows up to be a tree with branches and
fruit. You can practice another religion, but don’t harm others.
You can teach your people about wisdom and the good heart.
You can pass on your knowledge and wisdom to others, about
compassion and positive attitudes that help you to do good
for others. This way,
they will experience so much happiness in this life and future
lives as a result of their positive actions, which is good
karma.
Religion is for happiness, not suffering. What brings happiness
and peace in one’s life and in the lives of others: these are
the real religions. |
