Yes, I understand what you mean. Just earlier today my son said to me, "I believe in Buddha. I don't believe in God". Many religionists would jump for joy to hear such words from their children. The first thing though that came to mind though, was that I didn't want him to take it that extra step and start disparaging God and others' belief in him. I tried to explain to him that Jesus and the Buddha both taught people to be kind, caring, compassionate and that if people follow these teachings they will have a happy heart.cooran wrote:Where do you find the Buddha teaching this way of disrespectful verbal/written action? I have always been attracted to the way the Blessed One taught respect for other religions, even to the point of encouraging new disciples to continue to support their previous teachers in other faiths.
From King Asoka's Rock Edicts... http://www.katinkahesselink.net/tibet/asoka1.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Metta,The Beloved of the Gods, the king Piyadassi, honours all sects and both ascetics and laymen, with gifts and various forms of recognition. But the Beloved of the Gods do not consider gifts or honour to be as important as the advancement of the essential doctrine of all sects. This progress of the essential doctrine takes many forms, but its basis is the control of one's speech, so as not to extoll one's own sect or disparage another's on unsuitable occasions, or at least to do so only mildly on certain occasions. On each occasion one should honour another man's sect, for by doing so one increases the influence of one's own sect and benefits that of the other man; whileby doing otherwise one diminishes the influence of one's own sect and harms the other man's. Again, whosoever honours his own sect or disparages that of another man, wholly out of devotion to his own, with a view to showing it in a favourable light, harms his own sect even more seriously. Therefore, concord is to be commanded, so that men may hear one anothers principles and obey them. This is the desire of the Beloved of the Gods, that all sects should be well-informed, and should teach that which is good, and that everywhere their adherents should be told, 'The Beloved of the Gods does not consider gifts or honour to be as important as the progress of the essential doctrine of all sects.' Many are concerned with this matter - the officers of Dhamma, the women's officers, the managers of the state farms, and other classes of officers. The result of this is the increased influence of one's own sect and glory to Dhamma.
Retro.