Reasons I like Buddhism, #1:
The prominence of cause and effect in the Buddhist way of looking at the world. When I first encountered the term "dependent origination" I was a bit puzzled. One of the Dalai Lama ghost-written books had a good explanation, however, that cleared things up a bit:
"This principle means that all conditioned things and events in the universe come into being only as a result of the interaction of various causes and conditions. This is significant because it precludes two possibilities. One is that things can arise from nowhere, with no causes and conditions, and the second is that things can arise on account of a transcendent creator. Both possibilities are negated."
In our daily lives, we have no problem seeing cause and effect governing just about everything we do. Why jettison this knowledge when thinking of spiritual matters? I never understand people who have faith in science, modern technology, and all that has been created by the application of principles of cause and effect, but then persist in believing that everything is "in God's hands?"
The prominence of cause and effect in the Buddhist way of looking at the world. When I first encountered the term "dependent origination" I was a bit puzzled. One of the Dalai Lama ghost-written books had a good explanation, however, that cleared things up a bit:
"This principle means that all conditioned things and events in the universe come into being only as a result of the interaction of various causes and conditions. This is significant because it precludes two possibilities. One is that things can arise from nowhere, with no causes and conditions, and the second is that things can arise on account of a transcendent creator. Both possibilities are negated."
In our daily lives, we have no problem seeing cause and effect governing just about everything we do. Why jettison this knowledge when thinking of spiritual matters? I never understand people who have faith in science, modern technology, and all that has been created by the application of principles of cause and effect, but then persist in believing that everything is "in God's hands?"
posted by Rory at 8:30 AM
3 Comments:
I don't think this disputes/disproves your overarching point, but there is randomness in the universe. In the realm of the infintesimal, is a universe of casinos and spinning roulette wheels. This is a discovery of particle physics. Thus, some of our life events are arbitrary.
This is not to say that there is a chance that Pauly Shore is the Dalai Lama's ghost writer, but it can mean that random chance has a great deal to say about where you are in life today. I think.
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