PC : *Buddhism for Monotheism ?

I'm kind of confused by this: it's probably my own ineptitude in comprehension (and I am quite stick at the moment), so if I'm off just ignore me.

So what you're asking is "what kind of faith can syncreatize with Abrahamic religions the way Buddhism had in the past", but being accepting of Buddhism as a possible medium for this? Is this correct? Also, I might add: though it is true that many Hindus revere Gautma Buddha and likewise many Buddhists revere Hindu gods, it is quite hilarious if you're versed in their metaphysics. Essentially, there could be no larger differences between them here: Buddhism completely and utterly rejects Hindu assertions on the universe, with a central metaphysical tenant in Buddhism being the antithesis of the Hindu atman, the Buddhist anatta or 'anatman'. Since I don't except either as an explanation in my own religious life it doesn't do me much harm, but it is funny to think that some individuals either can reconcile these concepts or hold distinct, opposing truths as equally possible explanations for our existence :D.

I'll take Buddhism and Christianity on for size. In Christianity, the issue of reincarnation doesn't stand to me as the biggest issue nor in Buddhism: what really stands out is the existence of a Creator God with an interest in the welfare of a people, for Christians the non-ending of suffering and sin with Jesus' death, and as well reconciling some of the religious and metaphysical symbolism used in both religions. I wouldn't attempt to do that here since you probably wouldn't like the result, but as before, I'd suggest accepting that the result of this would be sort of a "Mormon" like off-growth of either religion (it would require a rewriting of both canons). If what you truly desire though is this passive non-invasive theological syncreatism that doens't create a new offshoot in either religion but merely balances them both, to solve the issue of reincarnation in Christianity is not difficult. Heaven and nirvana could simply get merged into being one and the same, and rather than 'fire and brimstone', the negative Christian afterlife is merely rebirth into this world which is suffering etc.

I don't actually think Buddhism meshes well with Christianity without a rewrite though I've been quite repetitive on this point. Nonetheless, depending on where this is interpreted, this may not be a problem. I think if this religion emerges in India or East Asia you'll see a much more 'Buddhist-centric' interpretation of the religion, with the opposite in Europe. A 'true' median syncreatization probably wouldn't happen in a place without significant Buddhist and Christian interaction before emerging: though a place where that may indeed happen might be in Central Asia/Russia- which would be very intriguing.

@Midas : To be clearer, I'm actually not focusing to specifically make Buddhism co-attachable with Abrahamic faiths or any other kinds of strict monotheism, just a religion that can co-attach with those monotheist faiths the way Buddhism had with many polytheistic traditions, but certainly I don't mind making Buddhism into one. And as far as I know about Chinese folk religion, it's actually just as monotheistic as Hinduism, with The Heaven as the higher being, but there are also many minor and not-so-minor deities as well. And I do know that Hinduism and Buddhism are able to and did syncretized. So I view syncretism of Buddhism with Chinese mythology as in kind with the other case with Hinduism.

As for how to reconcile Buddhism with Abrahamic faiths, I think that what basically needs to be done is to reconcile the concept of Buddhist enlightenment with Abrahamic concept of The Highness of The One God, which is easily doable without major tweaks. What's trickier is the issue of reincarnation, which require one of either side to follow another, either the Buddhist side abandoning it or the Abrahamic side adopting it. The later will drive the resulted syncretism closer to either side, instead of a relatively nonchallant binding of the both packages, which is what I'm trying to get here.
 
I'm kind of confused by this: it's probably my own ineptitude in comprehension (and I am quite stick at the moment), so if I'm off just ignore me.

So what you're asking is "what kind of faith can syncreatize with Abrahamic religions the way Buddhism had in the past", but being accepting of Buddhism as a possible medium for this? Is this correct? Also, I might add: though it is true that many Hindus revere Gautma Buddha and likewise many Buddhists revere Hindu gods, it is quite hilarious if you're versed in their metaphysics. Essentially, there could be no larger differences between them here: Buddhism completely and utterly rejects Hindu assertions on the universe, with a central metaphysical tenant in Buddhism being the antithesis of the Hindu atman, the Buddhist anatta or 'anatman'. Since I don't except either as an explanation in my own religious life it doesn't do me much harm, but it is funny to think that some individuals either can reconcile these concepts or hold distinct, opposing truths as equally possible explanations for our existence :D.

I'll take Buddhism and Christianity on for size. In Christianity, the issue of reincarnation doesn't stand to me as the biggest issue nor in Buddhism: what really stands out is the existence of a Creator God with an interest in the welfare of a people, for Christians the non-ending of suffering and sin with Jesus' death, and as well reconciling some of the religious and metaphysical symbolism used in both religions. I wouldn't attempt to do that here since you probably wouldn't like the result, but as before, I'd suggest accepting that the result of this would be sort of a "Mormon" like off-growth of either religion (it would require a rewriting of both canons). If what you truly desire though is this passive non-invasive theological syncreatism that doens't create a new offshoot in either religion but merely balances them both, to solve the issue of reincarnation in Christianity is not difficult. Heaven and nirvana could simply get merged into being one and the same, and rather than 'fire and brimstone', the negative Christian afterlife is merely rebirth into this world which is suffering etc.

I don't actually think Buddhism meshes well with Christianity without a rewrite though I've been quite repetitive on this point. Nonetheless, depending on where this is interpreted, this may not be a problem. I think if this religion emerges in India or East Asia you'll see a much more 'Buddhist-centric' interpretation of the religion, with the opposite in Europe. A 'true' median syncreatization probably wouldn't happen in a place without significant Buddhist and Christian interaction before emerging: though a place where that may indeed happen might be in Central Asia/Russia- which would be very intriguing.

If you're guilty in ineptitude in comprehension, then I'm maybe guilty of incompetence in composing my post.... :eek:

What I'm asking is "what kind of faith can syncreatize with Abrahamic religions the way Buddhism had in the past with polytheistic/traditional religions", and yes, I don't mind having Buddhism itself do the job. should that be doable.

When I say "relatively non-challant", I do mean relatively, that is as non-challant as Buddhism's intermingling with many of those polytheisms. I hope to achieve a syncretic strain that is no stranger to either side than Ismai'li Shia and Kharijism are to mainstream Islamic denominations and Protestant sects and Eastern Churches are to Roman Catholic Church, and national strains of Buddhisms are to each other generally. In mind, I'm also imagining Indonesian style intermingling of Buddhism and Hinduism back then in Javanese medieval kingdoms. That is, not completely without theological tweaks by both sides, since that would be impossible, but not so much to make, say, a Bektashi/Alevi analogue, let alone a Sikh analogue. Also, not Mormon or Ahmadiyya analogue either, since both sects (generally) deviate from orthodox view on the nature of central figures of both religions they are derived from respectively, and some of the very crucial canonical parts, which isn't my aim. I wish to avoid Muhammad being downgraded from his special status as The Last Prophet, for example.
 
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Now that I've done some quicky reading on the concept of Buddhist anatman and its comparison with Hindu's atman, let me reiterate the definition of both concept according to my understanding of them :

atman : immortal personal soul that won't die even after the body dies, and will move to next body after its current body dies.

anatman : immortal soul, but non immortal personality. Soul will move to the next body after the current body dies, but there is no eternal "person" moving along with it. In short, soul and personality are two different thing, with soul being eternal, but personality not.


Is it a hit ?


If yes, with anatman instead of atman, it should make for easier theological reconciliation between Buddhism and Abrahamic faiths. Maybe you can say that while when a person dies, he/she dies and goes straight to afterlife realm, but there will be left some remaining "datas" of the said person that will pass into a later-born person, be it fragments of memories or such...
 
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