Is Buddhism considered a non-prophet organization?

Question

I am not bashing the religion because I follow many of the teachings.

Answer 1

Well said.

A good pun's it's own reword.

Doubly so as it's an semi-accurate statement
.

Answer 2

Depends on which kind of Buddhism. There's some sects, such as the Nichiren Shoshu, which do have a prophet or something just like it. His name was, uh, Nichiren Shoshu. He said you gotta chant "Nam Myo Ho Renge Kyo" to get what you want, or at least what you need. Their followers (and I used to be one) are fairly political in Japan, but it's hard to determine these things because Japan is still fairly closed about political maneuvering in their country.

Then there was the more recent example of Aum Shinrikyo, where their horrible prophet said people needed to be killed to save the world. Based on Buddhist teachings... somehow.

Answer 3

No. It isn't. If they are teaching what they call 'truth' when other people don't have it to see, they are prophesying. And if they claim that Buddah is a deity, then they are prophesying that as truth.

Prophecy
–noun, plural -cies.
1. the foretelling or prediction of what is to come.
2. something that is declared by a prophet, esp. a divinely inspired prediction, instruction, or exhortation.
3. a divinely inspired utterance or revelation: oracular prophecies.
4. the action, function, or faculty of a prophet.

So they claim to have a "way", which is not apparent to the general public - therefore debatable upon the understanding of any other people also with ideas of what truth is contrary to those carried by Buddhists, and are therefore prophesying - or revealing things thought to be the truth.

Answer 4

Buddha did not follow Buddhism to get enlightenment.one need not have prophet to become Buddha. To become Buddha seeker has to know his own self. Means his own self which is Atman or spirit is Buddha.
Therefore religion is for worldly living. religion is not spirituality or truth seeking. religious teachings does not take the seeker to his goal. because religion is based on false identity of physical body. Whereas the truth is based on the SELF which is Atman.
Therefore to become one with Buddha or Atman one has to know his own self.

Answer 5

Yup.

My signature on IMDb.com is "Atheism is a non-prophet organization."

And to the person below me, no one except people who are ignorant to Buddhism claims that the Buddha is a deity.

Answer 6

as buddha was a humanbeing and a great teacher/social reformer.he taught the human way of practicle life.hence no prophet in this religion.

Answer 7

Here is an interesting piece of work to contemplate with.. hope you somewhat get enlightened...

If you ever think that a religion with God or Prophet/Prophecy is good, think about how many millions of lives have been lost/taken cruelly (wrongly & subjectively accused as Infidels) in the name of that God/Prophet ...

Joe


Playing with the gods
Wes Nisker
gods: One reason I like the Buddha’s teaching so much
is that it doesn’t require me to believe in a
personified god-an omniscient, all-powerful being who
created everything. The Buddha tells us that we can
never know the first cause and that it’s fruitless to
try to trace our karma back to its origins.

Furthermore, according to the Buddha’s teaching, our
rewards and punishments came not from some deity who
watches over us handing down judgments but from the
laws of cause and effect. Everything that goes around
comes around.

In Theravada Buddhist texts, Brahma and other Hindu
deities appear now and then, but one gets the sense
that they just happen to be hanging out in the
Buddha’s neighbourhood.

He doesn’t seem to pay them a lot of heed or
obeisance. In fact, in the Pali Canon the gods are
usually portrayed as bowing down to Buddha. Even
though it was Lord Brahma who supposedly convinced the
Buddha to begin teaching, later on in the texts the
Buddha can be found teaching the gods themselves.

At one point the Buddha even tells one of his
disciples that Brahma must be a little confused if he
truly believes that he, Brahma, created everything.
According to the Buddha, the gods can’t even become
enlightened, because they are simply too infatuated
with being gods.

In general, I don’t think much about the gods, except
to wonder at how much trouble they cause in the world.
The main problem is that people keep killing each
other in the name of one god or another, or warring
over the holy places where some god supposedly walked
or spoke to one prophet or another.

So-called holy wars have been taking place for so many
centuries you’d think we would have figured out by now
that they aren’t holy at all.

Recent anthropology reveals that there have been
hundreds of religions and countless gods and
goddesses; that they change over time; and that no one
tribe or people seems to have a permanent lock on the
true god, or even the true name of God.

Imagine, for instance, a family that’s been living
along the shores of the Mediterranean throughout the
last five millennia - its generations might have
believed in, successively, Chronos, Zeus, Jupiter,
Jehovah and Jesus.

It seems that even among the gods there is occasional
regime change. Meanwhile, the relativity of the gods
was noticed way back in the fifth century B.C. by the
historian Xenophanes, who wrote, “The Ethiopians say
that their gods are snub-nosed and black, the
Thracians that theirs have light blue eyes and red
hair.”

Many people say they know for sure who God is, and if
you don’t believe in their particular god, they will
kill you.

Others won’t kill you but can assure you that when you
die, their god will cast you down into a fiery pit
where nasty horned creatures will stick you with
pitchforks to make you scream in pain, forever and
ever. (Imagine, a god would do that to you just for
being a nonbeliever. )

But why should we care if people call our god by a
different name than we do? Can you imagine any
self-respecting god saying, with menace, “Hey buddy,
what did you call me?” Why should anyone be bothered
if we call our god Omega, Felix or Martha Reeves and
the Vandalise? In fact, I can imagine that someday the
heavens will open and we will all hear a booming voice
proclaim, “Humans! You all got my name wrong!” (Pause)
“And I forgive you.”

Maybe God doesn’t even have a name. In fact, there’s a
good chance that God isn’t a being at all, or at least
not some humanlike being. Do you think we are so
good-looking that a god-who could looking like
anything, or nothing - would actually want to look
like us? Would any god with taste decide to have nose
hairs or butt cheeks? “Vanity of vanity”, sayeth the
preacher. “All is vanity”.

Even if you don’t believe in one, I would guess that
most of you reading this will have a certain image of
God- and that He’s an Italian! He’s got a flowing
white beard and long hair. I’m referring, of course,
to the god who lives up there on the ceiling of the
Sistine Chapel. The italians were the ones who gave us
this image of God as a buffed charismatic creator with
a life-giving finger.

You may remember that the Jews said we are not
supposed to make a graven image of “Him” because “He”
is much too great and no one could ever gaze on “His”
face. (At least we knew that this god was male.) But
when the Jewish god came down to meet. His people, He
always hid inside a bush or allowed Himself to be
heard as a disembodied voice. That was before the
Italians inherited the Jewish god and couldn’t resist
the urge to paint Him.

(By the way, the Jews really had a brilliant idea with
this god that can’t be seen, a god who has no form. It
saves a lot of money on statues. No need to put a
golden calf on your alter, which might just fall off
and break.)

Anyway, I have a proposal for how we can deal with
humanity’s god problems. First we call all the gods
together for a “summit” meeting. Maybe it could be
held on Mt. Olympus or Mt. Kailash, where there are
already many gods around who could host the gathering.

(There will have to be separate tables: Bacchus needs
wine, but the Buddha won’t touch the stuff; Demeter
wants corn for dinner, and Jehovah prefers lamb;
Zoroaster wants candles fora centrepiece, while Tor
would rather gaze upon an ice sculpture.)

Once we have all the gods together, we beseech them -
all of us beseeching our own particular deities - to
do humanity a great big favour and decide on a common
name. Since I’m the only one working on this project,
I will take the liberty to offer the first suggestion.

If you’ll notice, many of the names we already use for
deities end in the syllable ah-Jehovah, Allah, Brahma,
Tara, Diana, Krishna. Perhaps we could get the gods to
accept the common nickname Ah. (I haven’t been hit by
lighting yet, so maybe I’m onto something here.)

Ah is the first sound most of us make when we are
born: “Waaah!” It’s also the last sound we make as we
die, crying or sighing, “Ahhh....” With a god named
Ah, the fist word of life would automatically become a
prayer, and the last would signal our complete
surrender and a sigh of release from this hard duty as
humans.

I suppose people could still use their special tribal
names for God but with extra emphasis on the last ah
sound. Then we all could agree that we are talking
about the same ultimate almighty. Totally Ah-some!

Another possibility is to name our highest deity Ma,
which in almost all human languages refers to mother.
Instead of looking up as we pray to “our father who
art in heaven,” we would then look down at the Earth,
the womb f all life, the goddess whom the Greeks
called Gaia. (There’s another ah for you.)

Maybe we could even use both names - Ah and Ma. We
could think of God as two, male and female, yin and
yang, just as many of us humans have always believed.
“Ah Ma! Ma Ah! Ah-ha Ma!” The possibilities for songs
and praises are endless.

Of course, my ideas for how to deal with humanity’s
good problems will likely not be adopted anytime soon.
Until then, I hope you are happy with your god or
goddess. Or with your unknown spirit, energy field,
Mind, no-god or don’t-known-mind manifestation. The
deepest wisdom I can find tells me that when it comes
to the great mystery, your guess is as good as mine.

Wes Nisker is a meditation teacher, author and
performer

Courtesy: Inquiring Mind , USA

Answer 8

Or is it a prophet-sharing organization?

Gotta provide those positive incentives....

Answer 9

Yes, as is Discordianism. Hail Eris!

Answer 10

hohoho
the Buddha explicitely disliked prophesying cause people would readily connect it to black magic
buddhism is no organization though, but rather a non-profit oriented mindset. :-)