[Buddha-l] Re: G-d, the D-vil and other imaginary friends

[Stanley J. Ziobro II]

On Wed, 16 Mar 2005, Benito Carral wrote:

> On Wednesday, March 16, 2005, Richard P. Hayes wrote:
>
> >> The god of the Old Testament of the Bible is distinctly not a
> >> god  of  universal  love, or forgiveness unless there is some
> >> quid pro quo.
>
> > It  is  not  so  black  and white as that. But this is not the
> > place  to  discuss  such  matters, for this is a forum for the
> > discussion of Buddhism, not for a discussion of the Torah, the
> > Hebrew   prophets,   or   the  wisdom  books  that  Christians
> > contemptuously dismiss collectively as the "old" testament.
>
>    I think that we can't be so unfair with Christians. Only some
> (Christians  and  non-Christians) individuals say such a things.
> Now coming back to Buddhism, maybe this is a good starting point
> to talk about icchantikas and universal love.

Yes, Benito, I've wondered about this, but more from the perspective of
universal love in tension with the doctrines of karma.  If there are,
conceptually, sentient beings which lack Buddha nature, are they
responsible for their misdeeds?  Also, could such a being be the result of
the interplay of sophianic and eleonic causes, and if so, how?
Historically, it seems that the doctrine was, all things being equal,
basically either taken as axiomatic or denied to be a coherent concept.

Regards,

Stan Ziobro