Buddism and Islam-3rd Part
Nietzsche's Sympathy for Buddhism
Nietzsche, one of the 19th century's most avid atheist thinkers, nurtured a passionate hatred for Christianity and promoted in its stead a pagan culture and morality. His views helped form fascism in the 20th century, especially Nazism. Nietzsche battled with Christianity for espousing the virtues of compassion, mercy, humility and trust in God. Therefore, in fact, he was also against the moral principles of Islam and genuine Judaism. He hated revealed religions not only because of their moral principles, but mainly because of his fanatic atheism. In his article on Nietzsche, American researcher Jason DeBoer writes that "atheism is a crucial part of Nietzsche's thought," adding that:
His is not an unbiased critique: Nietzsche burns with hatred toward Christianity, and his atheistic writings are extremely vitriolic.10
As we can imagine, Nietzsche directed his hatred at revealed religions only, not at pagan ones. On the contrary, as DeBoer writes:
. . . Nietzsche, although one of the fiercest atheists in history, was in fact not entirely anti-religious . . . [He] respected and admired many of the aspects of other religions, including paganism and even Buddhism.11
In his review of Robert G. Morrison's book Nietzche and Buddhism:A Study in Nihilism and Ironic Affinities, English academic David R. Loy says the following on this matter:
Comparing Nietzsche with Buddhism has become something of a cottage industry, and for good reason: there seems to be a deep resonance between them. Morrison points out that they share many common features: both emphasizes the centrality of humans in a godless cosmos and neither looks to any external being or power for their respective solutions to the problem of existence . . . Both understand [a] human being as an ever-changing flux of multiple psychophysical forces, and within this flux there is no autonomous or unchanging subject ('ego', 'soul').12
The sources of these erroneous ideas that Nietzsche shared with Buddhism were certainly nothing more than ignorance and arrogance. Anyone who looks at the universe and the world of nature with conscious intelligence can see clear proofs of God's existence. This has been supported by modern, scientific discoveries: the Big Bang theory and the Anthropic Principle (the principle that every detail in the universe has been carefully arranged to make human life possible) have crushed the idea of a godless universe as proposed by Nietzsche and other atheists. Science has clear proofs that the universe was created and ordered in an extraordinary balance. These proofs show the invalidity of Darwin's theory of evolution, but do support the existence of an intelligent design and prove the truth of creation. The results of scientific and sociological discoveries have also discredited the ideas of 19th century thinkers like Marx, Freud, and Durkheim. (For more information, please refer to Harun Yahya's article "A Turning Point in History: The Fall of Atheism" at www.harunyahya.com/70the_fall_of_atheism _scie34.php)
Buddhism: False Spirituality
to a Materialist Culture
Ironically, this scientific testimony against atheism is closely related to why Buddhism is spreading in the Western world. Architects of atheism and materialist culture see that their theory is collapsing. To prevent the rapidly growing movement towards revealed religions, they counter it by promoting pagan faiths such as Buddhism. In other words, Buddhism—and other Far Eastern religions like it—are spiritual reinforcements of materialism.
But why should materialist Western culture need any such reinforcement? English writers Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln have examined the development (and degeneration) of ideas in the Western world over the past 2,000 years. In the 20th century, they explain, the Western world has fallen into a "crisis of meaning." In other words, the way of life imposed on Western societies by materialist philosophy has stripped people's lives of meaning by cutting them off from their belief in God's existence and from worship of Him. These three authors put it this way:
Life became increasingly bereft of meaning, devoid of significance — a wholly random phenomenon, lived for no particular purpose.13
Adding to this crisis of meaning, the collapse of materialist theories on a scientific level has opened the way for a new return to revealed religions, especially Islam. For this reason, the monotheistic faiths are growing in their numbers of adherents; the number of those who believe and practice their religion is increasing; and religious concepts and values are assuming much more important places in social life.
Buddhism and similar pagan beliefs are eager to curtail this movement by offering, to those confused by the crisis of meaning brought on by the materialist culture, a false route to salvation. Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and versions of it like the Hare Krishna sect, Wicca and other New Age trends that bring together various pagan teachings, UFO religions that busy themselves with so-called holy messages believed to have come from space—these are all false teachings embraced by those who do not want to break with atheist and materialist dogmas, while eagerly search for spirituality at the same time. Besides, many who become Buddhists are largely influenced by a desire to unwittingly and blindly imitate something they do not understand, simply to attract attention and pretent that they are, indeed, aware and sophisticated.
To understand why these doctrines are unfounded, we need only pass them through the sieve of logic. We have already examined the concept of karma, the foundation of several Far Eastern religions, and shown it to have no rational basis. (For a more detailed discussion, see Harun Yahya's Islam and Karma, Ta Ha Publishers, London, 2003) These religions do not believe in the existence of God, nor in an ultimate place of divine judgment for mankind. How, then, can they believe that every person will receive a reward for what he has done—in a subsequent life? Who will determine this? Those who revere "Extraterrestrials" also believe in similar nonsense. How can a person build a philosophy of life on UFOs, whose reality is quite debatable? Even if beings from outer space did exist, they too would, necessarily, have to have been created. But what is the guarantee that they could show humans the true path?
Those caught up in such superstitious ideas should think about these words of God from the Qur'an (56: 57): "We created you, so why do you not confirm the truth?" They should follow His way, as He has commanded:
This is My Path, and it is straight, so follow it. Do not follow other ways, or you will become cut off from His Way. That is what He instructs you to do, so that hopefully you may do your duty. (Qur'an, 6: 153)
COULD BUDDHISM BE A TRUE RELIGION THAT’S BECOME DISTORTED?
Although up to this point we've examined Buddhism as superstitious and false, at the same time, we must say that it contains some positive moral principles. Buddhist scriptures warn people against stealing, encourages them to be helpful to one another and cleanse themselves of selfishness and worldly ambitions. All of this suggests that Buddhism possibly began as a religion founded on God's revelation, only to become corrupted over the course of time.
In the Qur'an, God tells us that to every nation, He sent messengers to deliver His warnings:
We have sent you [Muhammad] with the truth bringing good news and giving warning. There is no community to which a warner has not come. (Qur'an, 35: 24)
We sent a Messenger among every people saying: "Worship God and keep clear of all false gods." Among them were some whom God guided, but others received the misguidance they deserved… (Qur'an, 16: 36)
Elsewhere in the Qur'an, He affirms that, "Every nation has a Messenger" (10: 47) and "every nation [is] summoned to its Book" (45: 28). These verses show us that God could certainly have sent a messenger to the Hindus; and one of them could have been Siddhartha Gautama. Buddhism resembles revealed religion in another one of its tenets: that throughout history, prophets have come to reveal the same truths to humanity, but after them, human followers have debased these religious truths. Indeed, after Gautama's death, his teaching may have lost its roots and become distorted in just this way, mixing with the religions and cultures of the countries to which it spread, and assimilating various local myths and superstitions. (But of course, only God knows the truth.)
In such case, doubtless the real biography of Siddhartha Gautama would be much different from the mythological stories about him that we know today. There exist conflicting versions of his life story—a clear sign that the reality may have been probably quite different from the "history" we are now familiar with. Some of the true moral principles that Buddhism promotes lead us to believe that it might have developed from an originally monotheistic religion. Western scholar J. M. Robertson explains the Buddhist belief of the "chain of prophets":
[Buddhism] did not claim to be a new teaching. The tradition holds that it had been promulgated many times before—that Gotama [sic] was only one of a long series of Buddhas who arise at intervals and who all teach the same doctrine. The names of twenty-four of such Buddhas who appeared before Gotama have been recorded . . . It was held that after the death of each Buddha, his religion flourishes for a time and then decays. After it is forgotten, a new Buddha emerges and preaches the lost Dhamma, or Truth.14
All of this suggests that Buddhism could be one of the perverse, distorted beliefs that came to degenerate in the wake of the prophets. On the other hand, Buddhism's set, conservative structure reminds one of the classic distortions that can occur during the degeneration of the true religion.
In the Qur'an, God says that Christians and Jews have fallen into the same trap and have smothered their religions with useless minutiae and prohibitions. For example, erroneous ideas in Buddhism about withdrawing from the world and subjecting one's self to pain also arose in Christianity as it degenerated through the years. God speaks of this error in the Qur'an (57: 27):
Then We sent Our Messengers following in their footsteps and sent Jesus son of Mary after them, giving him the Gospel. We put compassion and mercy in the hearts of those who followed him. They invented monasticism—We did not prescribe it for them—purely out of desire to gain the pleasure of God, but even so, they did not observe it as it should have been observed. To those of them who believed, We gave their reward, but many of them are deviators.
Buddhism may have been a true religion that was ruined after the development of priesthood. It has certainly degenerated much more than Judaism or Christianity. However much these two religions have been distorted over the course of time, still they are devoted to God's revelations and found their faiths upon Him. Even if the essence of Buddhism actually comes from a true source, it has completely departed from that essence and become smothered in superstitious ritual, with only a few true moral principles left.
Buddhism resembles the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity and Islam in another way: It, too, believes in the End Times and in one ultimate savior for humanity—Jews and Christians know him as the Messiah; and for Muslims, he is the Mahdi.
The End Times is the period immediately preceding the Last Day. Both the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) contain a number of indications that in the End Times, Islamic morality will spread throughout the whole world. The Qur'an says that Jesus (peace be upon him) did not die, that he was not killed but was raised to the presence of God while he was still alive, and that he will come to earth again. The Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) also announced the good news that Jesus will be sent to the world again, and in those End Times while he is here, the world will be filled with peace, justice, well-being, and prosperity. The Prophet's sayings reveal that the Mahdi will assist Jesus in his blessed work. (For a more detailed account, see Harun Yahya's Jesus Will Return, Ta-Ha Publishers, London, 2001.)
In the Prophet's sayings, the End Times are divided into two distinct periods. In the first, God will be openly denied; the number of people living according to the values of religion will be few; the cost of living and distress from material want will be great. There will be famines. People will suffer from natural disasters; injustice will be widespread, wars and conflicts will increase, and pitilessness and cruelty will dominate over love, mercy and compassion. Afterwards, humanity will be saved from the godless and irreligious philosophies that are the real source of all their anguish and turn to the values of religion. As a result, conflict, injustice and cruelty will come to an end. Instead of anxiety and repression, humanity will live in comfort, peace, security and prosperity. The whole world will be filled with plenty and abundance.
In Islam, as well as in Judaism and Christianity, there is the belief in the Mahdi, the Messiah, and the End Times. The Bible—made up of the Old Testament (the Torah and other Jewish writings) and the New Testament (the four gospels and other books and letters)—offers several descriptions of the end times. The gospels especially deal with the coming of Jesus (peace be upon him) and show important parallels with what is written in the Qur'an and in the sayings of the Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace).
Although the name of Jesus does not occur in the Old Testament, of course, the Hebrew Bible does foretell a Messiah as a savior from the lineage of David (peace be upon him). And in some places in the Old Testament there are mentions of what will happen at the Time of the End. The Messiah, whose coming is promised and about whose deeds are spoken of in the Old Testament, is—as in the Qur'an—Jesus. Apart from the title "Messiah," this person is called by other descriptions such as "king," "lord" and "most holy."15
The Old Testament speaks of the Messiah's coming, and much is said about the kingdom he will found on earth. Some of the essential things said about him are that he will gather the nations under his rule, that he is of the lineage of David (peace be upon him) and that he resembles his ancestor, David (who in his own time, established his dominion everywhere he went). Some of these relevant passages from the Old Testament are as follows:
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed. (1 Samuel 2: 10)
And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. (Daniel 2: 44)
Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights! I have put My Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench; he will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands shall wait for his law . . . I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand; I will keep you and give you as a covenant to the people, as a light to the Gentiles, to open blind eyes, to bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house. (Isaiah 42: 1-7)
But with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins . . . (Isaiah 11: 4-5)
The New Testament gives much information about the Second Coming of Jesus to the world:
I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (John 14: 2-3)
This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven. (Acts 1: 11)
Therefore if they say to you, "Look, he is in the desert!' do not go out; or "Look, He is in the inner rooms!" do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. (Matthew 24: 26-27)
Iurge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus. . . that you keep this commandment without spot, blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ's appearing, which He will manifest in His own time, He who is the blessed and only Potentate, The King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. (1 Timothy 6: 13-16)
The kingdom that will come into being with the second coming of Jesus will be a period of justice, wealth and high morality:
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5: 5)
In this manner, therefore, pray . . . "Your kingdom come . . . ." (Matthew 6: 9-10)
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last. (Luke 13: 28-30)
As we mentioned earlier, Buddhism also foretells and expects a savior-messiah. Buddha said that 1000 years after him, the Metteya (or Maitreya) would come and bring divine mercy to the whole universe; and with his coming, religion would reach its completion. The following are some examples of this expectation from Buddhist writings from two different countries. First Burma:
Buddha said: "Our cycle is a happy one, three leaders have already lived . . . The Buddha supreme am I, but after me, Maitriya comes. While still this happy cycle lasts, before its tale of years shall lapse. This Buddha, called Metteya, shall be supreme chief of all Men."16
Now, from Sri Lanka:
I am not the first Buddha [awakened one] who has come upon the Earth, nor will I be the last. In due time another Buddha will rise in the world, a Holy One, a supreme enlightened one, endowed with auspicious wisdom embracing the Universe, an incomparable leader of men. . . He will reveal to you the same eternal truths, which I have taught you. He will establish his Law [religion] . . . He will proclaim a righteous life wholly perfect and pure, such as I now proclaim. His disciples will number many thousands, while mine number many hundreds. He will be known as Maitreya.17
CONCLUSION: TRUTH HAS COME AND FALSEHOOD HAS VANISHED
In ages past, people worshipped statues made of wood and stone and beseeched them for help. They feared these statues, believing that they were watching them and would become angry whenever a person committed sin. Buddha is the Buddhist idol. But Buddhists who equate Buddha with God—and those who hop on the bandwagon and become Buddhists to draw attention to themselves—do not realize how seriously they are deceived. Because they do not believe in the eternal afterlife, Paradise or Hell, it never occurs to them that they will have an accounting in the presence of God. Since they believe that they are already on the right path, they react with great surprise when invited to follow it.
All of the messengers who warned against the pagan religions that people had followed and called others to the oneness of God encountered similar reactions. In the Qur'an (38: 4-7), God says:
They are surprised that a warner should come to them from among themselves. The unbelievers say, "This is a lying magician. Has he turned all the gods into One God? That is truly astonishing!" Their leaders went off saying, "Carry on as you are! Hold fast to your gods. This is clearly something planned. We have not heard of this in the old religion. This is merely something contrived."
In this book, we invite Buddhists and all others who, for whatever reason, feel sympathy with this superstitious religion to understand the truth that there is no god but God; and to accept that God is One and that there is no other. We invite them to come to Islam, the religion of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon them all). A person who perceives all his ancestors as believing in a religion that associates other things with God—and who himself associates them with God—may find it hard at first to make this decision. He may not understand how, after giving up all those powers he once associated with God, he can worship Him alone. Be that as it may, the only One Who supports and feeds him at this moment; the only One watching over him and protecting him is God. The One Who gives him life and heals him when he is sick is God, Lord of all the Worlds, Who created this Earth according to a pre-ordained decree. As it says in the Qur'an (81: 29), human beings have submitted to the will of God, to the point where they have no power to will unless God wills, cannot act except by the will of God. As God says of Himself in the Qur'an (11: 56), "There is no creature He does not hold by the forelock."
Satan can show Buddhists, and everyone else, that it is impossible to escape associating others with God. However, this is simply an intimation that comes from Satan; the Qur'an (14: 22) announces that, on the Last Day, Satan will say, "God made you a promise, a promise of truth, and I made you a promise, but broke my promise. I had no authority over you, except that I called you and you responded to me. Do not, therefore, blame me, but blame yourselves. I cannot come to your aid, nor you to mine. . . ." and all of those who have associated others with God will be left completely alone.
As we know, being saved from the error of associating other things of His creation with God entails a sincere change of intention, turning one's thinking to the oneness of God. And no matter what situation he finds himself in, that person decides to trust in God and conform his life faithfully to the Qur'an. Certainly, his faithfulness and decisiveness will bring about God's help, incomparable blessings, mercy and abundance. No doubt, God will direct a person on the right path, protecting him from Satan's attempts to misguide him.
Anyone who submits himself to God sees that real happiness and contentment can be found only in faith, and in the belief in God's oneness. In the Qur'an (65: 2-3), God gives this good news to believers:
Whoever heeds God—He will give him a way out and provide for him from where he does not expect. Whoever puts his trust in God—He will be enough for him. God always achieves His aim...
For this reason, a person who repents of his error of associating other things with God should abandon his idols without a moment's hesitation. Those who believe that Buddha is a god (God is surely beyond that!) who sees and hears all things, gives strength, gets angry and forebears, must change their minds and abandon their perverse understanding. And those who are caught up in the unfounded idea of karma and reject the existence the everlasting afterlife, must use their intelligence to save themselves from this error, because "What these people are doing is destined for destruction. What they are doing is purposeless." (Qur'an, 7: 139)
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TO THE READER A special chapter is assigned to the collapse of the theory of evolution because this theory constitutes the basis of all anti-spiritual philosophies. Since Darwinism rejects the fact of creation—and therefore, God's Existence—over the last 140 years it has caused many people to abandon their faith or fall into doubt. It is therefore an imperative service, a very important duty to show everyone that this theory is a deception. Since some readers may find the chance to read only one of our book, we think it appropriate to devote a chapter to summarize this subject. All the author's books explain faith-related issues in light of Qur'anic verses, and invite readers to learn God's words and to live by them. All the subjects concerning God's verses are explained so as to leave no doubt or room for questions in the reader's mind. The books' sincere, plain, and fluent style ensure that everyone of every age and from every social group can easily understand them. Thanks to their effective, lucid narrative, they can be read at a one sitting. Even those who rigorously reject spirituality are influenced by the facts these books document and cannot refute the truthfulness of their contents. In this effort, the books of Harun Yahya assume a leading role. By the will of God, these books will be a means through which people in the twentyfirst century will attain the peace, justice, and happiness promised in the Qur'an. The religion with God is İslam… (Qur’an, 3:19)
For Further reading:
THE DECEPTION OF EVOLUTION1st Part
THE DECEPTION OF EVOLUTION 2nd Part
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courtesy by : HARUN YAHYA