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Main Index
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| | | Book Name: The Dhammapada - The Way of the Buddha, Vol 3 | Previous Next | |
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thousand sects, and they all have differences about God and God's conception.
God is one, because reality is one. If God is equal to reality, synonymous with reality, then there are not many existences, there is only one existence -- it can't have so many images. In fact, no image can represent it; every image will be only partial. And to claim the whole truth for the part is a sin -- a sin against yourself and against humanity and against truth.
And the moment you start thinking about God in anthropocentric terms, you make an image. That image is nothing but a toy to play with. You can worship it, you can pray, you can bow down to it, but you are simply being stupid. You are bowing down to your own toy, you are worshipping your own creation! And that's what your temples, your churches, your mosques are -- man-made, manufactured by man's own mind.
God cannot be manufactured. God cannot be part of man's creation. On the contrary, man is God's creation. The Bible says: God created man in his own image. But what has happened on the earth is just the opposite of it: man has created God in his own image. And of course there are many kinds of man, so there are many kinds of God, and great quarreling continues, who is right. It is not the question of WHAT concept of God is right, the question basically is WHOSE concept is right.
God too has become an ego trip: Christians fighting with Mohammedans, Mohammedans fighting with Hindus, Hindus fighting with Jainas. And this "sorry-go-round" goes on and on.... The whole history of humanity has been ugly because of these so-called religious people. They have proved the most irreligious. They have proved to be the greatest fanatics, utterly blind, deeply prejudiced, completely closed, not ready to listen to anything that goes against them or that is a little bit different from their idea. Religions have made people blind, deaf. Religions have made people foolish, unintelligent.
Buddha is a totally different world, he brings a totally different vision. The first thing to be remembered: he is not interested in God... and the miracle is that he finds God. His inquiry is not into God, but he ends,
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