The Buddha Never had heard of The One God of the Desert ! I have a question for everyone, thank you !?

Question

During The Buddha's entire lifetime, 80 years or so, he witnessed people running into their temples to there Many, Many gods, "in fear," for many various reasons. The God-concept is fear based, began as early as The Buddha's observation of such behaviors from people.

The Buddha's ministry, during the time he shared all his truths, with anyone who asked, and was sincerely willing to learn, lasted about 45 years.

During the years that The Buddha went around in India, sharing his teachings with anyone who was willing to learn,
Abraham was teaching only in the nation of Isreal about the ONE God, YHWH(to the Jews) and ALLAH(to the Muslims).

The Buddha's teaching on the God-Concept being fear driven;& that a creator God does not exist was largely influenced by what he observed himself in India, from the Hindu relgions people - their Many, Many gods.

"Do you think that The Buddha(b4 his enlightenment) may have believed in the ONE God, if he heard of Him from Abraham ?"

Bright Tiger and Anger Eating Demon you both have given excellent insightful knowledge to all readers.

Thank You.

It's great to see how people think, hopefully with not many negative citticism and condmning judgments.

Points are not important, only humbly learning AND applying what needs to be learned. I do not know much, and have a Long...way to go.

I will allow the the people in yahoo-land
to choose the best answer, because you both have provided such excellent answers.

Thank You for all your input.

Answer 1

Siddhattha Gotama had two teachers(Alara Kalama and Uddaka Ramaputta),where he learned and reached the realm of Nothingness and the realm of Neither Perception nor Non-Perception respectively.These two levels are much higher than the realm of One God of Abraham.
The ascetic Gotama was not happy even with the very high two levels,therefore it is not possible that he would accept the One God concept of Abraham.
He realized that his spiritual aspirations were higher than those whom he chose to learn.He realized that there was none capable enough to teach him what he yearned for-the highest Truth.Healso realized that the highest Truth is to be found within oneself and ceased to seek external aid.

Answer 2

Buddhists do not worship any gods or God. People outside of Buddhism often think that Buddhists worship the Buddha. However, the Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama) never claimed to be divine, but rather he is viewed by Buddhists as having attained what they are also striving to attain, which is spiritual enlightenment and, with it, freedom from the continuous cycle of life and death. Most Buddhists believe a person has countless rebirths, which inevitably include suffering. A Buddhist seeks to end these rebirths. Buddhists believe it is a person's cravings, aversion and delusion that cause these rebirths. Therefore, the goal of a Buddhist is to purify one's heart and to let go of all yearnings toward sensual desires and the attachment to oneself.

Buddhists follow a list of religious principles and very dedicated meditation. When a Buddhist meditates it is not the same as praying or focusing on a god, it is more of a self-discipline. Through practiced meditation a person may reach Nirvana -- "the blowing out" of the flame of desire.

Buddhism provides something that is true of most world religions: disciplines, values and directives that a person may want to live by.

Buddhism is basically a religion of the mind, of the present moment awareness, of leading a virtuous and responsible life, and of the individual who is in search of an answer to the problems of change, impermanence and suffering within the confines of his own experience as a practitioner of the Eightfold path. The tenets of Buddhism are not centered around the concept of an universal supreme being, who in other religions, is responsible for all creation and existence. Interestingly, Buddhism does not even support the existence of eternal soul. In Buddhist scriptures we come across references to the devas, the heavens and other planes of existence. But the Buddha always remained silent or non-confirmative when he was asked to answer questions on the existence of a Supreme Being.

We are told that when Ananthapindika, a wealthy young man met the Buddha at the bamboo groove at Rajagriha, the Buddha made a few statements about the existence of God and the real cause behind the creation of beings in this world. These views are summarized as below:

1. If God is indeed the creator of all living things, then all things here should submit to His power unquestioningly. Like the vessels produced by a potter, they should remain without any individuality of their own. If that is so, how can there be an opportunity for any one to practice virtue?

2. If this world is indeed created by God, then there should be no sorrow or calamity or evil in this world, for all deeds, both pure and impure, must come from Him.

3. If it is not so, then there must be some other cause besides God which is behind Him, in which case He would not be self-existent.

4. It is not convincing that the Absolute has created us, because that which is absolute cannot be a cause. All things here arise from different causes. Then can we can say that the Absolute is the cause of all things alike? If the Absolute is pervading them, then certainly It is not their creator.

5. If we consider the Self as the maker, why did it not make things pleasant? Why and how should it create so much sorrow and suffering for itself?

6. It is neither God nor the self nor some causeless chance which creates us. It is our our deeds which produce both good and bad results according to the law of causation.

7. We should therefore "abandon the heresy of worshipping God and of praying to him. We should stops all speculation and vain talk about such matters and practice good so that good may result from our good deeds.

The Buddha did not encourage speculation on the existence of Iswara, (God) among his disciples. He wanted them to confine themselves to what was within their field of awareness, that is, to understand the causes of suffering and work for its mitigation.

He preached that initially each being was a product of ignorance and illusion and subject to suffering, karma and transmigration. He therefore urged his disciples to contemplate upon the Four Noble Truths, practice the Eightfold path, lead a virtuous life by performing good deeds and works towards their final liberation from all becoming and changing.

Answer 3

Judaism existed before Buddhism. Hinduism is not a religion because, there is no founder for it. It is a way of life that the people on the banks of river Sindhu followed. It dates back to more than 5000 years. Buddhism came from Hinduism. Hinduism does not preach so many Gods. Unity is the principle there also. Even Sankaracharya propagated " Adveyda" which means Unity. Only after the start of the Gregorian calender, anything is seen in history about Christianity and Islam. So scientifically, we cannot believe that Abraham can be the motivator for Buddha.

Answer 4

I would like to believe he would...