Thanks, Sarbajit. As I understand it Buddhism does not have a God. Does that mean you would not classify it as a religion?
-- Russ On Saturday, September 22, 2012, Sarbajit Roy wrote: > Dear Russ > > I appreciate your feedback. > > As I mentioned to Nick, our religion is Protestant in form and derives > its "ideological" basis from the ancient "Hindu" coda of Vedas and > Upanishads (which are called Vedanta .. or the summation of the > Vedas"). I hasten to mention here that the term "Hindu" is defined in > India's law as everyone who belongs to India and who does not profess > the Islamic, Christian, Zorastrian or Jewish faiths. (Hinduism has no > problem with atheists) > > The Vedas were carried forward primarily in the oral tradition for at > least 3 millenia with armies of genetically enforced scholars (located > at numerous scattered centres for learning) who rigorously memorised > the vast contents and ensured their continuation over time. > Inevitably in the process the information got corrupted (by dropouts > or dropins). The droputs were not the problem, but the dropins > (insertions for diverse reasons) caused many internal inconsistencies. > But there were systemic safeguards in place to ensure that by constant > comparison of the main works between data centres the data was > preserved and transmitted as best possible. So, we now say that these > sacred works were correct but are now corrupt, and hence not > authoritative. We extend the same respect to religious works of other > faiths to say that the Bible, Quran, Talmud etc are genuine works (the > author is unimportant) but their authenticity is unprovable and hence > cannot be entered in evidence (in their entireity). > > Now to some of your points:- > > 1) (Unfortunately) to qualify as a religion, the faith needs a "God". > > 2) Hinduism had 330 million gods and a vast body of sacred works which > take many lifetimes to understand. An army of our own genetic scholars > distilled it down to "One God" (the minimum number to qualify as a > religion) so that even the Islamists could understand it (Trinitarian > Christians still have problems though) .. > > http://www.irf.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=146&Itemid=129 > (the learned Dr.Naik has borrowed heavily from some of our tracts. ) > > 3) The "One God" artefact on the "homepage" is known in classical > Hinduism as the "MahaKavya" (or Great Phrase) and is from the > Chandogya Upanishad (6:2:1). An exposition is available here > http://personal.carthage.edu/jlochtefeld/texts/IHchandogya6.html > > "6.2.1. "In the beginning, dear boy, this world was Being--One only, > without a second. To be sure, some say that in the beginning this > world was only non-Being, one only without a second, and that from > that non-Being Being was born. > > 2. "But, dear boy, how could this be?" he said, "how could Being be > produced from non-Being? In the beginning there was Being alone, one > only, without a second. " > > 4) In computer terms, or quantum terms, this simply means that > everything which exists is a dipole having 2 states .."0" or "1" ... > Schrodingers cat .. alive or dead . Being or nonBeing ... human or > zombie .. Schrodingers Cat IS "God". > > 5) In essence all Religions are only about 2 states "Life" and "Death" > (and the endless > cycles flipping between these states). > > 7) The "prime principles" are actually very easy once a mental barrier > is crossed. > To cross it, please read this > > http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/The%20Cold%20Equations/0743436016___6.htm > > Sarbajit > > On 9/23/12, Russ Abbott <[email protected] <javascript:;>> wrote: > > Sarbajit, > > > > I looked at your pointers to your religion's beliefs and rules. > > > > The "Articles of Faith <http://brahmo.org/brahmo-articles-faith.html>" > seem > > fairly non-controversial. I wouldn't think of them as requiring faith in > > the sense that most religions use that term--belief in something that > > without faith would be difficult to believe. I doubt that you would find > > many people on this list -- or many most secular westerners in general -- > > who > > would disagree with them, even though they are not members of your > > religion. When I looked at the home page <http://brahmo.org/>, though, I > > was surprised to see that the first heading was "One God." Given the > > articles of faith, I didn't expect to find "God" playing such a major > role. > > > > I had a difficult time with the "Prime > > Principles<http://brahmo.org/brahmo-prime-principles.html>" > > and was not able to attach any coherent semantics to most of what was > > written. > > > > -- Russ > > > > *-- Russ Abbott* > > *_____________________________________________* > > *** Professor, Computer Science* > > * California State University, Los Angeles* > > > > * My paper on how the Fed can fix the economy: > ssrn.com/abstract=1977688* > > * Google voice: 747-*999-5105 > > Google+: plus.google.com/114865618166480775623/ > > * vita: *russabbott <http://sites.google.com/site/russabbott/> > > CS Wiki <http://cs.calstatela.edu/wiki/> and the courses I teach > > *_____________________________________________* > > > > > > > > On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 9:00 AM, Prof David West > > <[email protected] <javascript:;>>wrote: > > > >> > >> > >> On Thu, Sep 20, 2012, at 10:24 AM, glen wrote: > >> > >> > > >> > Here's an honest and personal question to make the ethics concrete: > >> > Should I have intervened? > >> > > >> clearly a tough question - given the state of society, the prevalence of > >> guns and predisposition to use them, and the potential for alcohol or > >> other substance abuse - not an easy decision. The "official" response > >> is no, report it to someone who has the "authority" to intervene. I > >> would have made my silent presence as witness obvious - but would not > >> have actively intervened. > >> > >> dave > >> > >> > >> > >> > ============================================================ > >> > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > >> > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > >> > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > >> > >> ============================================================ > >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > >> > > > -- *-- Russ Abbott* *_____________________________________________* *** Professor, Computer Science* * California State University, Los Angeles* * My paper on how the Fed can fix the economy: ssrn.com/abstract=1977688* * Google voice: 747-*999-5105 Google+: plus.google.com/114865618166480775623/ * vita: *sites.google.com/site/russabbott/ CS Wiki <http://cs.calstatela.edu/wiki/> and the courses I teach *_____________________________________________*
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
