DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - What is the role of faith in Buddhism? Do we need blind faith ?

**ProomoSam** · 09-01-2010, 09:50 PM

...Also, it seems that the evidence used to verify the Buddha's teachings would have to include empirical evidence that cannot necessarily be verified with certainty externally... any thoughts?

The problem with obtaining verifiable evidence for what the Buddha seems to have taught is that such evidence is inherently subjective and anecdotal, which makes it practically inadmissible as evidence. Seems to me that whatever we experience, whether a UFO sighting or a carefully-controlled lab experiment, is subject to the same criticism. There seems to be no escape from the subjective perspective, despite our best efforts. Even a lab report is embedded in a subjective perspective, conditioned by a myriad of preceeding conditions.

Every perspective that I've lived so far has proven to be subject to selection and certainty biases, emotional appeals, etc. What's refreshing to me about the Buddha's (apparent) teachings is that he didn't seem to give a rat's ass about ontology as defined by modern academics. For him, what is experienced is what is. That seems to acknowledge the inescapability of the subjective perspective and, in effect, eradicates it.

09-01-2010, 09:50 PM	#34
ProomoSam Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 425 Senior Member	...Also, it seems that the evidence used to verify the Buddha's teachings would have to include empirical evidence that cannot necessarily be verified with certainty externally... any thoughts? The problem with obtaining verifiable evidence for what the Buddha seems to have taught is that such evidence is inherently subjective and anecdotal, which makes it practically inadmissible as evidence. Seems to me that whatever we experience, whether a UFO sighting or a carefully-controlled lab experiment, is subject to the same criticism. There seems to be no escape from the subjective perspective, despite our best efforts. Even a lab report is embedded in a subjective perspective, conditioned by a myriad of preceeding conditions. Every perspective that I've lived so far has proven to be subject to selection and certainty biases, emotional appeals, etc. What's refreshing to me about the Buddha's (apparent) teachings is that he didn't seem to give a rat's ass about ontology as defined by modern academics. For him, what is experienced is what is. That seems to acknowledge the inescapability of the subjective perspective and, in effect, eradicates it.
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