Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Atheism and Buddhism
Atheism and Buddhism
8/31
- Western World is becoming more atheist recently
o Especially w/ young people
o China+Russia more religious b/c just came our of
communist regimes
o Latin America + Philippines becoming more religious
o Social security = more atheists
o Biology + Philosophy most atheist, followed by Mech E
o More prestigious university = more atheist
o 68% of atheists male
78% white
o religion used to be belief in your God
newer definition religions are confluences of
organic cultural flows (text, culture, music, etc.) to
intensify joy and confront suffering by drawing on
human and superhuman forces to make home and
cross boundaries
remove superhuman atheism definition?
Could atheism be taught in religious studies?
o Atheist, agnostic, secular humanist, skeptic, freethinker,
apathist
- Buddhism
o People meet b/c of karmic connection there is a reason
we are meeting now
We must engage and unravel the hidden connection
9/7
- Popper
o Science is empirical
o Falsification point out one thing that goes against your
logic
o Is religion outside the realm of comparison to science, or is
it possible to analyze it w/ Popper?
- Buddha Shakyamuni
o Born as prince perfect life, no difficulty
o Only son so father was really concerned about his welfare
and wanted to see him become a warrior, expand the
kingdom
o Mom died shortly after birth
o He snuck out, saw what reality was like
Saw an old person, a sick person, a death + a funeral
o Became a monk
o Wondered why life is so hard, stressful began meditating
- Found 3 Truths about Existence
9/14
- Used to be that spiritual brahman determined your
consequences through rituals
o Done through sacrifice so you had to bring animals
- Buddha came and said only you an determine your own karma
o Decision of karma
o When Buddhism came along (just like other religions have)
it is coined as an upgrade from previous religions A
Discovered Meditator
th
9/21
- Dalai Lama is the leader of Tibetan Buddhism
o He is literally a God, a divine being
o If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then
Buddhism will have to change
o also the president of Tibet
when he dies, monks meditate a lot and go search
for a new reincarnate all over the world
when they find one, they ask the family to take the
child to Tibet and if they agree the child must pass
test by a Tibetan committee
must answer questions and choose the proper
items used by the previous Lama
- Buddhism
o Buddha mostly concerned with the here and now, the
origin of the universe etc are not so important
o Three Characteristic of Existence
9/28