I've seen a lot of posts by people who at first glance seem to be completely anti-religion and anti-theist, or at least agnostic atheist, only to find out from their religious bio that they self-identify as Buddhist instead.
I know there is some underlying spirituality in Buddhism, such as their non-attachment principles, and I think Buddhists believe some sort of karma and reincarnation, but obviously every Buddhist is different on their own spiritual journeys.
Obviously, one could say, "every Buddhist is an atheist, but not every atheist is a Buddhist." But I want to know from Buddhists themselves on why so many of them seem to be against the idea of God but at the same time belong to a religion. Baha'is will incorrectly say that Buddhists believe that nirvana itself represents God, and I've been corrected in the past to not think this way.
And I am not just asking Buddhists, if anyone is well-educated on these matters, please explain to me the differences between these two concepts. Does it seem like these concepts are similar to you? Let me know what you know, both the similarities and differences between Buddhism and atheism below.
The Buddha was originally called Siddhartha Gautama. He was born into a royal family in Nepal around 563/480 BC, at the foothills of the Himalayan Mountains. Growing up he has access to the finest things and the best understanding of the material world of his time, due to access to the best teachers. He was also very precocious.
Later in life, he went in the opposite direction, developing techniques to develop higher human potential, from the inside, out, instead of from the material way, from the outside, in. There he becomes the Buddha.
If you have lots of wealth and power, you can control your environment and use an ideal tailored environment to develop your ego and maximize self esteem. You can surround yourself with beauty to feel happy. You can surround yourself with yes men so you feel smart. Or you can surround yourself with Navy Seals to feel safe.The outside sensory world is manipulated so it can push your sensory buttons, which then push limbic system buttons that allows you to feel positive and special. This is why so many people seek money and power; external stimulus to feel better.
The poor man who has little control over his environment. He cannot depend on the external environment to provide happiness through his sensory systems; outside, in. Buddha, who had access at the top of the materialists food chain of his day, developed himself in the outside way, as far as that could take him. He withdrew from the extroverted approach, to do the opposite, which was to find that same thing, but from the inside, out; nirvana and the spiritual glow.
From a practical POV this approach made sense of the masses, since there is limited wealth and power and not everyone can be Royal and use their environmental to develop ego self esteem, at a high level. Most people will only be able to evolve the ego along the edges of material control, since most people are poor and are locked out from the Royal limits.
But we all have an inner access to our brain to achieve the same things, via the inner man. The inner man can manipulate the operating system of the brain and develop higher human potential. Buddhist Monks can train their bodies to do amazing things based on controlling the mind; break stone.
Buddha was able to achieve the best of both worlds. He first maximize the outer man, then the inner man. Atheists tend to be stuck at the outer man, since we cannot all become Royal, and have all the access needed to do the outer man to the extreme. They are not very familiar with the ways of the inner man. The Agnostic is traveling within sensing and feeling esoteric things.
The Atheist may go to a Psychologist to help deal with problems or neurosis. The Buddhist does not go to their spiritual advisers to just deal with problems, but to also transcend this material reality; update the operating system so it has more advanced tools.
Western religions tend to be a hybrid. God or gods are assumed to be outside the person, albeit as a type of external spirit. In that sense, this expectation allows them to act similar to material objects that can push the same buttons similar to material things. The external gods are triggers to help generate expectations. Heaven or Hell, is thought about by the faithful, way before it is a final resting destination. It is pushing buttons for the inner man over a lifetime. Jesus said blessed are the poor because he knew they could not find their nirvana with material things. They needed to go inside, but in a cultural setting where everything good is supposed to be outside; gold. The imagination can be used to push the same buttons as direct sensory input. When we dream the sensory systems are off line, but we can still experience.
I am sort of a hybrid between Buddhism. Western Deity Religion and Science. I use the tools of these two religious approaches while being aware of what is happening in my brain based on science. However, I extended the philosophy of science to include first person data that can only be experience from the inside. This is where the Atheist get lost. Science does not have the best data for the inner man, since its third person approach can't get the best data. In this case inner seeing in the first person is believing.
