(no subject)

[icarus]

Gacked from lizardlaugh and cara_chapel:

Religion Definition
are you mono or polytheistic?	Neither
do you subscribe to a major religion?	Yes.
how do you feel about Jesus?	Not my religion, but he was a rare and great Bodhisattva (compassionate highly realised being).
what holy book do you feel is most accurate (Bible, Koran, etc)	There's something wrong when you start comparing religions. The "which is better" idea is really about your own ego, because it's really saying My religion is better. There's nothing spiritually beneficial in that concept.
do you believe in reincarnation?	Yes.
do you believe in the traditional heaven and hell?	Yes, the Buddhist version where either are a temporary state caused by delusion and karma.
do you believe in ANY heaven and/or hell?	Oh. I think I answered this in the previous question.
do you think the god(s) are vengeful or nice?	The Buddhist idea is that there are gods, but they're not supreme beings. They are merely experiencing the results of their good actions. So, they can be both.
do you believe in angels?	Yes, though that's not the term I'd use. I've met some extraordinary beings who appear in very humble forms that I'm convinced were... special.
do you believe in miracles?	Yes. Of course.
do you believe in predestination?	In the sense of cause and effect. If you throw a ball up in the air, it's destined to come back down.
do you believe in original sin?	No. But there are various perspectives on this idea, and I think some of the more esoteric are closer to the Buddhist idea.
do you believe in freedom of will?	Oh yes.
do you believe in souls?	No. That implies a permanent self. The "you" that you are will be gone at the moment of death.
what do you think will happen to you when you die?	There are lot of options, depending on my karma. *worries*
do you think there will be an armageddon?	The Buddhist concept of time spans eons. There are been many "armageddons" where the world was destroyed, then slowly remade. There have also been many idyllic periods where lifespans were in the hundreds of years and there was perfect peace. It's cyclic, these periods.
why do you think we exist?	Why not? We just do. It's just one possibility in vast potential.
do you believe in life on other planets?	Yes. It would be arrogant to think we are special. But I suspect that beings from other planets are so different we wouldn't recognise them as sentient.
do you believe in evolution?	Sure. Especially since the theory keeps getting refined as we learn more. Few people realise that the concept of evolution itself is evolving. :)
do you think religion and science will always oppose the other?	Buddhism does not oppose science and never has.
what would you say to God if you met him/her/them today?	I'd start with "Hi" and see where the conversation goes.
anything else we should know?	There's no reason to be selfish, because you're going to be dead someday. So why not do for others?
CREATE YOUR OWN! - or - GET PAID TO TAKE SURVEYS!

I don't promise to be deep in any replies to comments. Nope. Waaaaay too fried. But me and religion, we're old friends.

Comments

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

Interesting meme and interesting answers. I'm borrowing ^_^

Question though - You say you're neither mono nor polyteist but then you mention the Buddhist idea of gods as karmic beings. Does this mean that you don't subscribe to the idea, or just that you don't worship any of these gods? Or something else entirely

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

In Buddhism, your next door neighbour Al could die tomorrow and be reborn as a god or demi-god, if Al had the good karma for it from some lifetime somewhere.

But you wouldn't worship Al, no.

Icarus

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Oh, I almost forgot:

In Buddhism, gods have inconceivably long lifetimes, but they eventually use up all that good karma and die.

That's why even if your name's Al, you want to be enlightened rather than be born as a god.

Icarus