DiscussWorldIssues - Socio-Economic Religion and Political Uncensored Debate - View Single Post - Eternalism & Nihilism: What exactly do the suttas say?

**pKgGpUlF** · 03-24-2012, 06:16 AM

This is definitely true. Also just from what we know scientifically neither eternalism or nihilism makes sense. We know that when someone dies they are no longer conscious and we know that their body decays. But science also tells us that the matter that your body is composed of doesn't disappear. You become part of the carbon cycle.

i agree. which is why transcendent (lokuttara) buddhism does not conflict with science

the quote below emphasises matters of morality & is a moral teaching, which science also agrees with

science includes behavioural science, which studies the results of human behaviour

in the mind of a grateful survivor, a beneficator does not cease to exist after death (just as Buddha, as a teacher, is not really dead)

for a person that believes they have received gifts, offerings & sacrificies from their mother & father, their mother & father will continue to exist as part of their psyche after their mother & father die

in fact, mother & father continue to live on in the influence present in their children

not seeing any cause of gratitude & reciprocality is a central aspect of nihilistic wrong view

:hug:

there is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed. There is no fruit or result of good or bad actions. There is no this world, no other world, no mother, no father, no spontaneously born beings; no brahmans or contemplatives who, faring rightly and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the other after having directly known and realized it for themselves. A person is a composite of four primary elements. At death, the earth (in the body) returns to and merges with the (external) earth-substance. The fire returns to and merges with the external fire-substance. The liquid returns to and merges with the external liquid-substance. The wind returns to and merges with the external wind-substance. The sense-faculties scatter into space. Four men, with the bier as the fifth, carry the corpse. Its eulogies are sounded only as far as the charnel ground. The bones turn pigeon-colored. The offerings end in ashes. Generosity is taught by idiots. The words of those who speak of existence after death are false, empty chatter. With the break-up of the body, the wise and the foolish alike are annihilated, destroyed. They do not exist after death.'

Samaññaphala Sutta

03-24-2012, 06:16 AM	#18
pKgGpUlF Join Date Oct 2005 Posts 547 Senior Member	This is definitely true. Also just from what we know scientifically neither eternalism or nihilism makes sense. We know that when someone dies they are no longer conscious and we know that their body decays. But science also tells us that the matter that your body is composed of doesn't disappear. You become part of the carbon cycle. i agree. which is why transcendent (lokuttara) buddhism does not conflict with science the quote below emphasises matters of morality & is a moral teaching, which science also agrees with science includes behavioural science, which studies the results of human behaviour in the mind of a grateful survivor, a beneficator does not cease to exist after death (just as Buddha, as a teacher, is not really dead) for a person that believes they have received gifts, offerings & sacrificies from their mother & father, their mother & father will continue to exist as part of their psyche after their mother & father die in fact, mother & father continue to live on in the influence present in their children not seeing any cause of gratitude & reciprocality is a central aspect of nihilistic wrong view :hug: there is nothing given, nothing offered, nothing sacrificed. There is no fruit or result of good or bad actions. There is no this world, no other world, no mother, no father, no spontaneously born beings; no brahmans or contemplatives who, faring rightly and practicing rightly, proclaim this world and the other after having directly known and realized it for themselves. A person is a composite of four primary elements. At death, the earth (in the body) returns to and merges with the (external) earth-substance. The fire returns to and merges with the external fire-substance. The liquid returns to and merges with the external liquid-substance. The wind returns to and merges with the external wind-substance. The sense-faculties scatter into space. Four men, with the bier as the fifth, carry the corpse. Its eulogies are sounded only as far as the charnel ground. The bones turn pigeon-colored. The offerings end in ashes. Generosity is taught by idiots. The words of those who speak of existence after death are false, empty chatter. With the break-up of the body, the wise and the foolish alike are annihilated, destroyed. They do not exist after death.' Samaññaphala Sutta
	Quote