Do Buddhists believe in supernatural beings or anything supernatural?

[Smoke]

Could you imagine in all of eternity only one universe. One chance on earth to be alive. I don't like this idea.

I'd rather think the Big Bounce just goes on over and over than think everything will just keep drifting apart until everything ends in Big Freeze. But I guess there could be other universes either way.

 

[Engyo]

It would finally settle the old perpetual motion debate...............

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

Christians traditionally believe in supernatural afterlives and living on for an eternity in a supernatural realm such as Heaven which is one thing the empiricist philosopher, David Hume found highly implausible, he gave more credence to natural afterlives such as metempsychosis. What do Buddhists think of this?

 

[Rainbow Mage]

Christians traditionally believe in supernatural afterlives and living on for an eternity in a supernatural realm such as Heaven which is one thing the empiricist philosopher, David Hume found highly implausible, he gave more credence to natural afterlives such as metempsychosis. What do Buddhists think of this?

Pure Land Buddhism at least, affirms the existence of such a realm called the Golden Land or Pure Land, hence the name Pure Land Buddhism. This land is the realm of the devas, Bodhisattvas, and the like.

 

[Engyo]

Christians traditionally believe in supernatural afterlives and living on for an eternity in a supernatural realm such as Heaven which is one thing the empiricist philosopher, David Hume found highly implausible, he gave more credence to natural afterlives such as metempsychosis. What do Buddhists think of this?

Well, according to core Buddhist principles, there is no such thing as the eternal soul, so it wouldn't be transmigrating. Rebirth differs from reincarnation (similar to metempsychosis from what I read) in that individual identity is NOT retained from one lifetime to the next.

 

[St Giordano Bruno]

What do Buddhists think of people who claim to remember their past lives? and the so called practice of past life regression therapy which is performed by some hypnotherapists?

 

[Engyo]

What do Buddhists think of people who claim to remember their past lives? and the so called practice of past life regression therapy which is performed by some hypnotherapists?

Buddhism is not monolithic - many different types of Buddhists are going to have widely differing opinions about almost everything.

The Tibetans use this technique to decide who has been reborn as specific bodhisattvas. In my school, claims of this sort would be met with skepticism since they really have no point within our doctrine.

 

[koan]

This is why I like Zen, although it recognises many possibilities, it only concentrates on discovering ones own true self.

 

[LuisDantas]

What do Buddhists think of people who claim to remember their past lives? and the so called practice of past life regression therapy which is performed by some hypnotherapists?

Regression is a powerful technique, but it is no evidence of any kind of facts, except perhaps about one's own emotions.

 

[SageTree]

This is why I like Zen, although it recognises many possibilities, it only concentrates on discovering ones own true self.

Cheers to that!

:namaste
SageTree

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

I argued this with some one last weekend because I think one thing the sets Buddhism apart from Christianity and other Western religions is a disbelief in the supernatural, such as ghosts, ghoulies, angels or faires, she was arguing that Kharma is a supernatural concept. What do you think?

I'll try my hand at an answer. In Buddhism, there is a belief in supernatural beings, but these beings have very little influence on this realm. There are many realms where many different kinds of beings live, such as hungry ghosts, demons, saints, but, besides the bodhisattvas, most of these beings don't really have any impact on our world.

 

[Rainbow Mage]

I should also point out that in Buddhist view of deities, there is no supreme deity like the Abrahamic view of God. Deities are beings with emotions, bound by karma, etc.

 

[sky dancer]

Buddhism is non-theistic. Buddhists don't believe in God or gods. That is not to be confused with meditational deities in Tibetan Buddhism.

Meditational deities are symbolic representations of enlightened qualities.

There are two ways of viewing meditational deites, one is wisdom and the other skillful means.