well it did raise the question if they were gods or not, so yes there was ambiguity!tiltbillings wrote:No ambiguity.Cittasanto wrote: wasn' saying it once enough without creating ambiguity?
One can easily draw from the Buddha's teachings basic principles that would give us a Buddhist understanding of atheism.The Buddha never defined Atheism to my knowledge, although it has been defined through convention.
well contrast it to buddhists, Vajrayana, Mahayana, Theravada, ask each what Buddhanature is or skillful means, or the most important aspect or practice of Buddhism is and you would get a variety of answers, not all will be compatable with other schools, or better yet the usefulness of gods, talk to a theravadin you get one answer, talk to a Vajrayanan and you get an internal war about the right one to praise.Good heavens. Seriously, now. Atheism is not a unified, monolithic group with a singular definition of what atheism means any more than vegetarians are a unified monolithic group with a singular definition of vegetarianism. Just like there are differing understanding and definitions of vegetarianism, so there are for atheists, and it is not unreasonable to talk about Buddhist atheism just as we can talk about lacto-ovo vegetarian in contrast to vegetarians who do not eat eggs, but will drink milk.Although i should note Atheism is also a group, just like Buddhism is, and just as Buddhists wouldn't accept their "name" being redefined, I would imagine Atheists would also have some objection.
or chan/zen and the fifth precept...
yet there is a core set of beliefs which are not exclusive to one group, or individual.
hence Atheists can call themselves atheists and what their main common belief is is instantly recognizable, organized in a monolithic way or not, and that is a lack of belief in god or gods. although I have heard of several atheistic societies. atheists.org has been going since the early 1960 btw who state this in their about regarding what you want to do
Why should atheists allow theists to define who atheists are? Do other minorities allow the majority to define their character, views, and opinions? No, they do not. So why does everyone expect atheists to lie down and accept the definition placed upon them by the world’s theists? Atheists will define themselves.