The Buddha's advice to people of different faiths?

Question

if they said they wanted to convert to Buddhism, was not to do so but to stay within their own religion. He said you should only change if you really couldn't get on with the religion you already belonged to.
Why do you think he would do that?
Why would he pass up the chance of making converts?

It's Dhammadapa. (Just the one D).
_()_

Answer 1

Buddha is not a religion
He is Knowledge
Buddha is not a faith
He is an experience

Buddha is a transformation
Of a fire-fly into the Sun God

Answer 2

God is a mental construct.
There is no one in the universe to save you. Only YOU have to work for your own salvation.

Dont believe on something becuz many people are following it.
Dont believe on something becuz an impressive person is saying it.
Dont believe on something becuz your parents did it.
Dont believe on something becuz appears to be wonderful.
Dont believe on something which promises you rewards after a long time / death.

Rather experiment with it , use it and see the result. Only when you find that it is useful & worthwhile, then only accept it.
Buddha has asked ppl to leave behind ALL beliefs and prevalent philosophies and follow the path of experience through experimentation.

Btw Dhammapada is just a small summary of Buddhism , one needs to read entire Tipitaka especially sutta to understand what Buddha is trying to say.

Answer 3

Hi Jon,

I'm not sure this was always true.

He certainly had people's true best interests at heart, as can be noted in his advice to the Jain General Siha - valuing this above affiliative labels.

I think he did value the Sangha & it's 'identity' in some ways, though.

There's one discourse, the Candala Sutta, where He described certain qualities of a layman as making them the 'dregs' of one.

One of them was giving alms & offerings to recipients outside the Sangha 'first'.

There thus appears to've been a prioritising of Refuge & respects.

I guess there may be room for other cases to be argued, though. :-)

Edit:

I think the identity thing is only true upto a point, though, and ultimately needs to be gotten beyond. Isn't that the whole point, after all?

There's another discourse, for example, where a layman who gives to all holy men & ascetics (not just the Sangha) is seen as like a cloud that rains on all, not just in particular places.

http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/iti/iti.3.050-099.than.html#iti-075

A teacher of mine once explained that the Buddha - once asked about His attitudes toward intelligent people of other faiths, who had not yet come (across) the Buddha-Dhamma - had once replied that He saw them as amongst "the Torchbearers of Mankind" - lighting up the world; the way.

I think it's as true today, as ever before. :-)

Answer 4

As Buddhists, we believe we can learn things of value from other religions. If everyone converted to Buddhism, where would we go to learn different faiths? We do not look for converts, we look for knowledge.
We are also taught to discard any Buddhist belief that we feel is wrong or not helpful to us and to accept beliefs that are beneficial, no matter what their source.

Answer 5

He was above feeling the need for converting anyone. If a person was content with their life, he felt no desire to interfere. Of all the religions, Buddhism is the most rational approach to getting the most out of this life. Except for Atheism of course.

Answer 6

Buddha was not interested in starting a religion or having people believe what he said. He wanted people to be without suffering. He wanted people to find their own answers.

He would always tell disciples to question what he said. To find their own path.

If one follows the religion one has it will ultimately lead to Buddhahood. It is just words to call it Buddhism or Islam or Taoism or Xtianity...etc. All paths return to the source.

Answer 7

Buddhists don't strive to make others have a conversion experience. It is more like a flower opening up to the experience of Buddhist practice. Buddhists are not crusaders or evangelists because of the humility factor and the principles of peace. Buddha was ahead of his time in ways of thinking and acting like a civilized and spiritual individual.

Answer 8

Great question Jon. As you of all people know Buddhism is not the easiest. You are told not to believe anything, you yourself have to check it out and find if it is true or not, few people will do this, they find that believing what they are told is so much simpler. A pity really. *sip* EDIT: All religions can lead people to the one religion as cosmicshifter put so well, but to know the one true religion one must *drop* all religions. *sip* *sip*

Answer 9

Buddhists don't want to get a bad name for recruiting people unnecessarily .And are senstive to the best interest of people not to misguide those who are not sincere in their interest.
I don't foist my knowledge on others lest I be called a bigot and just waste my time .

Answer 10

I don't think he said that. He had said you should look into the religion carefully, read it with your wisdom, analyse it. If it suits you, then you join and not join because of tradition or indoctrination. Or something to that effect :P.