Re: Religion: Why I don't want to hear about it.

From: mike99@mail.cybermesa.com
Date: Fri Mar 23 2001 - 15:27:12 MST

('binary' encoding is not supported, stored as-is) Minor correction (see below)

On Thu, 22 Mar 2001 23:01:59 -0500 "Eliezer S. Yudkowsky" wrote:
>
> (*) IIRC, even Buddhism talks about a time when all souls have
> achieved
> enlightenment and the universe folds up shop, but I could be
> remembering
> incorrectly.

A major tenet of Buddhism is the doctrine of no-soul (or no-self;
"anatta").

Buddhist teleology posits a time when all beings are Enlightened, which is
to say, all beings have entered Nirvana. But Nirvana itself was never
defined in a postive sense by Gautama Buddha, who preferred to say what it
is not. He defined Nirvana as no clinging, no suffering, etc.

Similarly, the Buddha choose to remain silent when asked certain questions,
such as whether the universe is finite or infinite. When asked why he did
not answer, Buddha responded that he taught only what would help
individuals. He considered speculation to be unhelpful. Therefore, so far
as I know, there is no teaching in Buddhism about an end to the universe.

Regards,
Michael LaTorra

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