[Buddha-l] the existence of God in Buddhism

[curt]

Blumenthal, James wrote:
>
> Forgive me if I am repeating what somebody else has already said since 
> I have not read this entire thread, but I think the question of 
> whether Buddhism is or is not a religion ought to have nothing to do 
> with a belief in God or not.  That sort of categorization is a remnant 
> of colonial attitudes and ways of thinking about religion.  How to 
> define "religion" is the big question and scholars have debated this 
> for decades.  I don't want to try to put forth a definition here, but 
> I will say that I don't think "God" or "gods" need to play a part in 
> it.  I do think that one of the unique characteristics of religion as 
> opposed to other secular philosophies is that salvation, variously 
> defined, is central is virtually all religions.  Myths, rituals, 
> practices, beliefs, worldviews are all in some way related to the 
> soteriological/salvific goals of the system.  Thus, in my opinion 
> Buddhism is a religion.
> Jim Blumenthal
>
>
>
I think this is an excellent point. The field of "comparative religion", 
at least in part, certainly does have it's roots in the bad old days 
when it was essentially at the service of Colonial regimes and Christian 
missionaries. Anyone who would still baldly insist that  Buddhism must 
"take a position" vis a vis "God" should realize that those days are 
over. Thank God.

I hate to besmirch an excellent scholar by implying that I might agree 
with him, but is anyone familiar with Gavin Flood's book "Beyond 
Phenomenology: Rethinking the Study of Religion"? I haven't read it - 
but I do have three other really nice books by him (his "Introduction to 
Hinduism", "The Tantric Body", and the big fat anthology on Hinduism 
that he edited). The book "Beyond Phenomenology" holds out, at least to 
me, the promise of something like a "fresh start" in defining what 
Religion is - in which the starting point isn't interrogating the local 
savages as to whether or not they have yet accepted Jesus Christ as 
their Lord and Savior, and then analyzing which methods of "persuasion" 
are most effective and/or amusing.

- Curt