[Buddha-l] angels

[r.g.morrison]

Robert:

: >What about Brahma Sahampati pleading with the Buddha to teach, when the
: >Buddha thought that trying to communicate the Dharma would be, in 
coloquial
: >terms, 'a pain in the ass'!

 Erik:

: As far as I understood the passage, B was a god and he could communicate 
directly with humans. In the desertreligions there's only one god who's so 
far away from his business (transcendent) that he needs messengers. This 
lone ranger god also has no attributes, clothes, vehicles and even no face. 
This all has been given to the angels who need it for their jobs.

As far as I understand it, Brahma Sahampati is just Brahma, not just a god 
but topdog God of the brahmins at the time (which is the whole point of this 
'satire' sutta).  Also, as far as I can recall (I haven't looked at a bible 
for at least 50 years), the god of the bible also communicates directly with 
humans - just ask Job.  And there were plenty of other gods among the desert 
tribes, the god in the bible was just the god of one tribe (or was it a 
group of them?) - after all, why all the fuss about false gods? And when 
William Blake saw god looking at him through the window, what he saw was no 
attributeless noumenal 'thing'. Anyway, doesn't he always look like an old 
man with white hair and beard?  And as Nietzsche observed, he's now dead 
anyway, but it will take quite a long time for this to sink in!

Robert Morrison