乾县铁佛寺移动版

We will know it when we attain it. Until that time, we can still apply those aspects of the Buddha's teachings that we can verify.

If a characteristic of Nirvana is the absence of desire and craving, how can you attain it by desiring to attain it?

Like any other goal one  has  to focus  one’s  effort and energy to attain  Nirvana. However, in time, as you understanding deepens, you  come to realize that Nirvana is not a thing ‘out there’ which you can ‘get’, but rather the state of being without desire,  a  state  of  complete    knowledge,  satisfaction  and  fulfillment.   When  you understand this your desire fades and eventually ceases. Then you have attained Nirvana.

QUESTION: What is the Fourth Noble Truth?

ANSWER:  The   Fourth  Noble  Truth   is  the   Path  leading  to  the  overcoming  of suffering.  This  path  is  called  the  Noble  Eightfold  Path  and  consists  of  Perfect Understanding, Perfect Thought, Perfect Speech, Perfect Action, Perfect Livelihood, Perfect  Effort,  Perfect  Mindfulness  and  Perfect  Concentration.  The  Buddhist  life consists of practicing these eight things until they are brought to completion. You will notice that the steps on the  Noble  Eightfold  Path  cover  every aspect of life: the intellectual, the ethical, the social and economic, and the psychological and therefore contain everything a person needs to lead a good life and to develop spiritually.

3.   BUDDHISM AND THE GOD- IDEA

QUESTION: Do you Buddhists believe in a god?

ANSWER:  No,  we   do  not.  There  are  several  reasons  for  this.   Like   modern sociologists  and  psychologists,  the  Buddha  saw  that  many  religious  ideas,  and especially the god-idea, have their origin in anxiety and fear. He says:

‘ Gripped by fear people go to the sacred mountains, sacred groves, sacred trees and shrines.’ Dhp.188

Primitive humans found themselves in a dangerous and hostile world. The fear of wild animals, of not  being able to find enough food, of injury or disease, and of natural phenomena like thunder, lightning and volcanoes was constantly with them. Finding no security, they created the idea of gods in order to give them comfort in good times, courage in times of danger, and consolation when things went wrong. To this day you will notice that people often become more religious at times of crises and you will  hear  them  say  that the  belief  in  their  god  or  gods  gives  them  the strength  they  need  to  deal  with  life.  Often  they  explain  that  they  believe  in  a particular god because they prayed in time of need and their prayer was answered. All this seems to support the Buddha’s teaching that the god-idea is a response to fear and frustration. The Buddha taught us to try to understand our fears, to lessen our desires and to calmly and courageously accept the things we cannot change. He replaced fear with rational understanding not with irrational belief.

The second reason the Buddha did not believe in a god is because there does not seem to be very much evidence to support this idea. There are numerous religions, all claiming that they alone have God’s words preserved in their holy books, that they alone  understand  God’s  nature,  that  their god  exists  and that the gods of other religions do not. Some claim that God is masculine, some that she is feminine and others that it is neuter. Some claim that God is unitary and others that he is a trinity, with three natures. They are all satisfied that there is ample evidence to prove the existence of the god they worship, but they scoff at the evidence opposing religions use  to  prove  the  existence  of  their  gods.  It  is  surprising  that  despite  so  many religions using so much ingenuity over so many centuries to prove the existence of a god, that there is still no real, concrete, substantial or irrefutable evidence for such a  being.  They  cannot  even  agree  amongst  themselves  what  this  god  that  they worship is like. Buddhists suspend judgment until such evidence is forthcoming. (责任编辑：admin)