Buddhism is an atheist’s way of a sublime life based on knowing correctly in the right context rather than believing. Buddha also means “bodh” in Pali language or awareness or knowing or intellect in English. The sublime ethical way of life is called “dhamma” in Pali language which can be translated to sublime nature or sublime duty.
Origins of Buddhism
Buddhist ideas were documented during first and second Buddhist councils by monks who personally knew their teacher, the renunciate prince Gotama Buddha.
Later due to loss of patronage and status in the society through decline of Mauryan Dynasty, Buddhism was appropriated and modified due to infiltration of theistic ideas like deities, past birth and next birth through intact transmigration of mind after death, decay and disintegration of body.
Nascent Buddhist Philosophy
Just like atheists, the early Buddhists emphasize on knowing correctly in the right context through all means of knowing including but not limited to the six sense organs and awareness.
Early Buddhists were naturalists and extrapolated the cyclic nature of life to the beginningless universe which constantly change and transforms through disintegration, dispersion, endless recycling and recreation.
Unlike theists, the early Buddhists did not worry about verifying or validating imaginary ideas that cannot be proven, demonstrated, applied or known personally. Hence early Buddhists do not worry about supreme creator, supreme controller, past birth, next birth and eternal immortal inner self independent of cause and conditions.
When asked about god, Buddha is known to have remained silent and when asked about after life, Buddha said that there is no permanent self.
Buddhism has the idea that “tanha” or stress giving rise to self is source of conflict in Buddhism. According to Buddhism, the self gives rise to rigidity, unskillfulness and conflict through self-conception, self-ideation, self-identity, self-image, inner self etc. Hence buddha encouraged living stress-free natural life.
Early Atheist Buddhists
On the other hand, the core Buddhist ideas like
Pragya or ability to know correctly in the right context,
anatta meaning no inner self,
anitya meaning impermanence, and
samutpada meaning collective conditional arising due to cause and conditions,
all indicate towards absence of monotheism or polytheism and after life, thus clearly indicating their atheist disposition.
Buddhism’s core emphasis on no eternal immortal inner self renders the idea of supreme creator or controller irrelevant.
Based on the philosophy of impermanence, phenomenon of creation due to eternal cycle of cause and conditions, no inner self and emptiness of awareness, Buddhists carved a map of life for their monks and their lay followers.
Without eternal immortal inner self, Buddhism proposed that individual is a phenomenon of knowing arising due to constituent cause and conditions, individual becomes their tangible and intangible actions and individual continues in the effect of their intentional actions.
Early Buddhism, without any beliefs in eternal inner self, was practice of living ethical life and becoming sublime by renouncing negativity.
Map of Buddhist Life
The way of life, according to Buddhists, lay emphasis on ethical life, restrained actions, getting rid of negativity, self-improvement and leaving good effect on the world.
This is done through the 4 truths that points to suffering of life, the 5 principles to follow for a happy long haul of life and the 8 rules for skillful living.
According to Buddhists, we humans are perfect without our negativity, human life is happiness without suffering and unnecessary desires or craving is the root cause of suffering.
Ethical Atheist Sublime Buddha
Buddha urged his followers to be their own guide, carve their own path, follow the middle way and avoid extremes in order to live ethically and act skillfully.
Buddha encouraged practicing constant awareness of breath at entrance of nostrils through practice of “Vipassana” or “Anapanasati” meditation through which the awareness becomes seamlessly clear without activities in mind and inner self.
Seamlessly clear awareness gets detached thus revealing the deep natural pleasure of meditation. A detached awareness cures hypnosis and dispel the charms of society and the world. Detached awareness renders the meditator independent of external sources for happiness.
Buddhis said that life is the ultimate value and non-violence is ultimate human duty or sublime nature.
However, Buddhism does not impose dietary rules of vegetarianism as evident through the Buddhist monks eating any food offered by any person regardless of their status in society.
Enlightenment In Buddhism
Buddhist spiritual enlightenment is characterized by a feeling of deep relief and peace.
The relief felt is due to freedom from “maya” meaning hypnotic attachment to the world and the feeling of peace is due to freedom from cravings or unnecessary desires. There is nothing supernatural about enlightenment in Buddhism.
However, the sublime peace of enlightenment is compared to relief from grave illness, big debt, coming home safely without getting robbed from dangerous route etc.. Buddha remembered and compared the peace of enlightenment to the deep peace had felt during his carefree moments of happy childhood.
Death in Buddhism
Buddhism regards death as the end of life but continuity as effect of intentional actions through the death, disintegration, disintegration and recycling of life.
Lay person, according to Buddhism, who has continued in the effect of their actions through possessions and relationships, does not ceased completely after death. On the other hand, a monk who has not left any effect of their intentional actions will reach “nirvana” or enlightenment after getting purified through spiritual efforts and ceases completely after their death thus leaving behind nothing and thus reaching the state of “mahaparinirvana” or meta-enlightenment from the point of view of living beings.
Hence life experience is a rare phenomenon according to Buddhism but not necessarily valuable due to the suffering inherent in it.
Buddhism Today
Today Buddhism has spread and flourished, however, the ideas of eternal self and cycle of birth and death still exist in later Buddhism due to misunderstanding created by buddha referring to contemporary ideas of birth and formation of living being due to infiltration of womb by soul.