So why do you believe in dependent origination as some magical Creator God that creates everything based on a misinterpretation of the suttas, but not in say that famous verse 183 of the Dhammapda "Eschew evil, do good, purify the mind---this is the teaching of all buddhas." ???PeterC86 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 8:43 pmYes, and this is a not a problem because I don't believe in them, but it is a problem because the majority of the world believes in them. And this majority of the world makes up the legislation, they determine the economy, they determine how we look and behave towards other people.josaphatbarlaam wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 4:38 pmSo your problem is that you don't believe in a distinction between good and bad?
And you know where this problem comes from? Dhammas; people believing they know what is true and what isn't; people believing that they can make the distinction between good and bad, or wholesome and unwholesome, or skillful means and unskillful means...or what have you. Everybody obsessed with 'wanting to know', because knowledge gives power. But if knowledge comes from ignorance, isn't this knowledge not of dependent origination? Yes, but pssst, don't tell this to someone else, because so long as they believe that we know, we have all the power.
I mean the idea that the distinction between good and bad is created by dependent origination is the moat goofy absurd wrong interpretation of DO I have ever seen so far. Its certainly not stated in the suttas. Traditional interpretation of DO in Asia is that its trying to explain how/why rebirth happens. Even off secular wstern buddhist misinterpretation that DO is trying to explain the big bang or quantum mechanics (lol) or something like that, they never arrive at the absursity of saying the concept of good and evil is created by DO!
And now there is a contradiction because you reject any distinction between good and bad yet now are lamented about people lacking compassion.