Reply To: Why Buddhism?

#51892
taryal
Participant

I was born into a Hindu family and became agnostic at the age of 8 (after I saw someone die in front of me, which is a depressing story). I eventually became an Atheist as I started to study Science in detail. The more I learnt about the Universe, the less convinced I became that there is a “God” like so many people think.

The reason I discarded other religions is quite straightforward: the people who claim to know the creator know nothing about the creator. For example, you know that many Christians insist that the Bible is the “Word of God”. If that is true, then it should contain the most authentic description of reality possible. All the scientific discoveries made to this day should be trivial to an all knowing deity. But when you analyze the Biblical claims, you don’t see any Science but simply a collection of stories that any ignorant humans could come up with. Hinduism also has the same issues as the scriptures contain so many inconsistencies and garbage rituals that you’re expected to blindly believe in.

I am still a big enthusiast of Science and had been a Materialist for many years before studying Buddha Dhamma. Even though Science has made some solid discoveries about the material world, there hasn’t been a lot of progress in understanding the mental phenomena. About 8 months ago, I was on quest to research more about the conscious experience and what I was not expecting was that many scientists that study this topic like Donald Hoffman, Bruce Greyson, etc. suggested a non-materialistic approach. The irony is that Buddha Dhamma is literally all about the mind. I have not seen any other religion, philosophy or even modern science that discusses the conscious experience to the depth that Dhamma does. This was one of the most compelling aspects for me as it requires you to think critically and the concepts are full of logic, as discussed above.

I have learnt a lot but I still got a long way to go. They say until one reaches the Anagami stage of awakening, they can’t truly be content. I hope you get value from learning Dhamma as well!

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