DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Does Buddhism need different traditions, schools and sects?

**maclaudser** · 07-23-2010, 01:08 PM

Nothing is constant. The idea seems to be to say, "Change will happen, effects will come after causes, and nothing stays exactly as it started, so get over it." So.... the idea that we could be discussing Buddhist doctrine and be afraid of changes to it is so hilariously ironic that I don't even know what to do.

You are right, of course, about how everything is liable to change, and this can be said of what people present as the Dhamma (as opposed to the Dhamma itself, the laws that lead to Nibbana, which do not change), which logically would eventually result in the true Dhamma becoming lost, as the Buddha predicted. Changes to what is presented as the Dhamma mean that it will eventually lose its efficacy. Burying it under vast amounts of cultural baggage will have the same effect, since we will be wasting time and effort on useless side issues. But the fact that change is inevitable does not mean we have to credit Buddhist doctrines that are contrary to what the Buddha said; we still have a duty to see through what is false, and what is unnecessary. Why would we want to spend vast amounts of effort on practices that do not lead to Nibbana?

07-23-2010, 01:08 PM	#13
maclaudser Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 412 Senior Member	Nothing is constant. The idea seems to be to say, "Change will happen, effects will come after causes, and nothing stays exactly as it started, so get over it." So.... the idea that we could be discussing Buddhist doctrine and be afraid of changes to it is so hilariously ironic that I don't even know what to do. You are right, of course, about how everything is liable to change, and this can be said of what people present as the Dhamma (as opposed to the Dhamma itself, the laws that lead to Nibbana, which do not change), which logically would eventually result in the true Dhamma becoming lost, as the Buddha predicted. Changes to what is presented as the Dhamma mean that it will eventually lose its efficacy. Burying it under vast amounts of cultural baggage will have the same effect, since we will be wasting time and effort on useless side issues. But the fact that change is inevitable does not mean we have to credit Buddhist doctrines that are contrary to what the Buddha said; we still have a duty to see through what is false, and what is unnecessary. Why would we want to spend vast amounts of effort on practices that do not lead to Nibbana?
	Quote