http://optagon.page.tl/Did-The-Buddha-believe-in-God-f-.htm

…within Buddhism, in the most famous of its scriptures, the
Dhammapada(47), the Buddha clearly espouses a belief in a supreme
Creator. Buddha, contrary to being an atheist or a person
who never answered or avoided answering the question of
God’s existence, as present day Buddhist sects and most Western
and Eastern scholars portray, also believed in One God:

Who is capable of praising one like a coin
of finest
gold, one whom the knowing praise after finding him
impeccable, controlled, intelligent, insightful, ethical,
and
composed day in and day out? Even the gods(48) praise such
a one, even the Creator [brahmuna] (17:9,10).(49)

Yes, of course. As did Jesus and countless others. Even Pythagoras and
Albert Eienstien.

But not a "personal god" like Christianity and others adhere to.

The kind of world the Buddha was born into was magical. Everything
seemed to be alive. The trees, mountains, lakes, and sky were living
and breathing with a variety of gods in charge. If you needed rain you
asked one god, if you needed it to stop raining you asked another. The
priests of India did all the religious work, and got paid for it.

In India at the time of the Buddha you became a priest if you were
born into the right family, and not because of the school you went to,
or the grades you got.

There were other kinds of religious people as well.

Mendicants were men who left their family, friends, and jobs to find
the answers to life. They did not live in homes or apartments, but
lived under trees and in caves, and would practice meditation all day
long. They wanted to really be uncomfortable, so they could understand
what suffering was all about.

Many kinds of meditation were practiced by these mendicants. In
Tranquility Meditation for instance, you think about just one thing,
like looking at a candle or saying a word over and over. When the mind
becomes focused in oneness, you experience a great peacefulness.

But Imm .... Buddhism and Hinduism are basically the very same thing, just
presented in different ways, and suggesting different approaches to the same
end. In essense that is, of course there are any number of texts that would
contradict what I just said, but still, I'm right here.

As is Zoroastrism, Sikhism, Islam, Taoism, and Christianty ...... all tarred
with the same brush, and equally confusing and the true meanings lost in the
midst of time and semantics and individuals beliefs and socialisation. :-)

"Immortalist" yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:cde611af-df44-4842-950e-15dcb1662a85@j1g2000prb.googlegroups.com...
The kind of world the Buddha was born into was magical. Everything
seemed to be alive. The trees, mountains, lakes, and sky were living
and breathing with a variety of gods in charge. If you needed rain you
asked one god, if you needed it to stop raining you asked another. The
priests of India did all the religious work, and got paid for it.

In India at the time of the Buddha you became a priest if you were
born into the right family, and not because of the school you went to,
or the grades you got.

There were other kinds of religious people as well.

Beliefs are just projected shadows.

Do you believe in 'camel'?

Yes, I believe they would be useful shade in a desert, but I have
never been there, although I do know the value of projected shadows.

BOfL

On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:29:46 -0700 (PDT), optagon@mail.com wrote:

Two considerations from :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief

1. Our common-sense understanding of belief is entirely wrong and will be completely superseded by a radically different theory
which will have no use for the concept of belief as we know it - Known as...

On Jun 25, 11:03 pm, "Sean" bro.org> wrote:

Another area where clear language and definition is necessary but
often not practiced. There was a lot of air time just recently for a
poll about religion in the US; one of the claims was that Buddhists
and Hindus answered yes to the question of whether a variety of
(other) religions could "lead to eternal life". (Supposedly an
indicator of tolerance I guess.) But of course for those who believe
in reincarnation, and whose goal may be to *escape* that cycle, the
question makes no sense at all.

-tg

On Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:29:46 -0700, optagon wrote:

This came from a hindu concept of 'god'. Understand this before saying
such things with such words.

On 26 Jun, 03:29, opta...@mail.com wrote:

On 26 Jun, 11:08, tg earthlink.net> wrote: