Living and Dying During the Holidays
The “Christmas” holiday season is to commemorate the birth of a mythical man-god. Over a billion people believe in the literal existence of a man for which there is no historical evidence. There is an irony in that. A billion + people depend on this man for their salvation, for the forgiveness of their sins and a life in paradise after death. For a humanist this is a little like trusting Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny for eternal life. But that’s why we call it faith. To add irony to this, the religion denies reincarnation but teaches it instead. What would you call dying and being reborn in a paradise or a hell? Of course, we do exactly the same thing in Buddhism. Jesus may or may not have lived but the Cosmic Buddhas definitely fall under the heading of faith-based religion. For those who practice what is called “Original Buddhism” or “Primitive Buddhism” — whatever those terms might mean to you — it doesn’t really matter whether the Buddha is historical or not. Buddhism do...