How the vast majority of Buddhist believe the world was created?
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How did the universe come into existence according to Buddhism?
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Matt Jones, I live in VA United States. I've lived in Thailand.
Updated Jun 1, 2017
1. Buddhists (Theravada) believe in the concept of Pratītyasamutpāda(dependent origination) which means that things are born out of causes. Without causes, things cease to be. The purpose of this theory is to teach humans to let go of of things the departure from which cause suffering to them. The goal is to make people enjoy the here and now in their lives and accept changes. For buddhists, nothing comes to be without a cause, not even God. That is to say: there is no “unmoved Prime mover” in the universe. Even the supreme God like Brahma will have to die one day. Nothing lives forever. So there are or can be (G)ods in Buddhism. But God too is subject to the unchanging eternal law of Dhamma. God, too, has to die.
2. The Buddha rarely talks about the origin of the Cosmos, for he thinks that such knowledge is unnecessary in order to achieve the liberation from Death and Rebirth. However, Theravada Buddhists do have a creation myth. This is recorded in the Aggañña Sutta. Aggañña Sutta teaches how all beings became animal; how they developed into opposing sexes; how they came to divide themselves into difference races; how they lost their “Eden” (or the fertility of the earth); how they became avaricious and sinful; how religion began etc. Aggañña creation myth is evolutional in its theme, for there is no divine intervention involved. It doesn’t directly refer to a Big-Bang type of event. But anyone who reads Agañña Sutta with an open mind will tell you that it is the world’s best creation myth, much better than anything in the Bible or Quran.
[Origin of Races]: Aggañña Sutta reveals that people became racist because they had forgotten that every being was once the same. But after becoming addicted to the taste of Savory Earth, they developed racial distinction and sexes. And thereafter they started to sin by copulating.[Origin of Sins]: All other sins originated from greed and want of comfort. The Earth once offered unlimited food (magical grains of rice which replenish every morning); there was no need for gathering. But people started to develop agricultural technique in order to stockpiling the rice grains for weeks and became addicted to comfort. Soon after, these innovations killed off the primordial fertility of the Earth. Rice grains stoped replenishing themselves. Now agriculture was invented and arable lands were portioned to members of the society. Laws were created. Kings were chosen to enforce them. People began to lie and kill and steal. … The Buddha is trying to teach that the innovations that we invented due to our avaricious nature and our blind love of comfort invariably lead to the destruction of nature and force us to work harder. They were the root cause of all injustices. Buddhist monks shall not hoard resources more than what they need for subsistence.[The First Religion]: when people became sorely distressed because of work, scarcity and injustice, some of them became Brahmins and started to meditate. They were first called “Jañña” (meditating ones) by the people. However, after they failed to find salvation (there weren’t yet a Buddha), they quit meditation and started to create religious texts (vedas … maybe Torah too) which consisted of lies and did not lead to true liberation. People became very indignant towards these Brahmins and threw dust and stones at them. People were now calling the scripture writers “ajañña” meaning “those who don’t meditate.” … However, the Buddha comments that, though this practice (scripture writing) used to be condemned, “it is much esteemed today.” (Note: this is, for me, the best joke of this Sutta)
→ The Buddha suggests that, in a true religion, a seeker must meditate in order to develop a true and liberating wisdom. Religions, which are based on Scriptures, are more or less fictionalized. No amount of mythology and solemn rites will lead you to the liberation from death and rebirth.
In sum, Buddhism (if you can call it “ism” at all)’s aim is to teach mankind to awake from avijja (ignorance). Ignorance in Buddhism doesn’t mean that you don’t receive Yaweh or Jesus or Allah or Superman as your one and only Lord. It means that one does not know what is the true cause of suffering (dukkha). Aggañña Sutta uses a creation myth to teach buddhist faithfuls about the origin of sins while explaining why (Theravada) Buddhist monks must lead austere lives and devote their lives to meditation (instead of becoming scripture writers).
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20 ANSWERS

Matt Jones, I live in VA United States. I've lived in Thailand.
Updated Jun 1, 2017
1. Buddhists (Theravada) believe in the concept of Pratītyasamutpāda(dependent origination) which means that things are born out of causes. Without causes, things cease to be. The purpose of this theory is to teach humans to let go of of things the departure from which cause suffering to them. The goal is to make people enjoy the here and now in their lives and accept changes. For buddhists, nothing comes to be without a cause, not even God. That is to say: there is no “unmoved Prime mover” in the universe. Even the supreme God like Brahma will have to die one day. Nothing lives forever. So there are or can be (G)ods in Buddhism. But God too is subject to the unchanging eternal law of Dhamma. God, too, has to die.
2. The Buddha rarely talks about the origin of the Cosmos, for he thinks that such knowledge is unnecessary in order to achieve the liberation from Death and Rebirth. However, Theravada Buddhists do have a creation myth. This is recorded in the Aggañña Sutta. Aggañña Sutta teaches how all beings became animal; how they developed into opposing sexes; how they came to divide themselves into difference races; how they lost their “Eden” (or the fertility of the earth); how they became avaricious and sinful; how religion began etc. Aggañña creation myth is evolutional in its theme, for there is no divine intervention involved. It doesn’t directly refer to a Big-Bang type of event. But anyone who reads Agañña Sutta with an open mind will tell you that it is the world’s best creation myth, much better than anything in the Bible or Quran.
[Origin of Races]: Aggañña Sutta reveals that people became racist because they had forgotten that every being was once the same. But after becoming addicted to the taste of Savory Earth, they developed racial distinction and sexes. And thereafter they started to sin by copulating.[Origin of Sins]: All other sins originated from greed and want of comfort. The Earth once offered unlimited food (magical grains of rice which replenish every morning); there was no need for gathering. But people started to develop agricultural technique in order to stockpiling the rice grains for weeks and became addicted to comfort. Soon after, these innovations killed off the primordial fertility of the Earth. Rice grains stoped replenishing themselves. Now agriculture was invented and arable lands were portioned to members of the society. Laws were created. Kings were chosen to enforce them. People began to lie and kill and steal. … The Buddha is trying to teach that the innovations that we invented due to our avaricious nature and our blind love of comfort invariably lead to the destruction of nature and force us to work harder. They were the root cause of all injustices. Buddhist monks shall not hoard resources more than what they need for subsistence.[The First Religion]: when people became sorely distressed because of work, scarcity and injustice, some of them became Brahmins and started to meditate. They were first called “Jañña” (meditating ones) by the people. However, after they failed to find salvation (there weren’t yet a Buddha), they quit meditation and started to create religious texts (vedas … maybe Torah too) which consisted of lies and did not lead to true liberation. People became very indignant towards these Brahmins and threw dust and stones at them. People were now calling the scripture writers “ajañña” meaning “those who don’t meditate.” … However, the Buddha comments that, though this practice (scripture writing) used to be condemned, “it is much esteemed today.” (Note: this is, for me, the best joke of this Sutta)
→ The Buddha suggests that, in a true religion, a seeker must meditate in order to develop a true and liberating wisdom. Religions, which are based on Scriptures, are more or less fictionalized. No amount of mythology and solemn rites will lead you to the liberation from death and rebirth.
In sum, Buddhism (if you can call it “ism” at all)’s aim is to teach mankind to awake from avijja (ignorance). Ignorance in Buddhism doesn’t mean that you don’t receive Yaweh or Jesus or Allah or Superman as your one and only Lord. It means that one does not know what is the true cause of suffering (dukkha). Aggañña Sutta uses a creation myth to teach buddhist faithfuls about the origin of sins while explaining why (Theravada) Buddhist monks must lead austere lives and devote their lives to meditation (instead of becoming scripture writers).
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Evolution is not explicitly mentioned in the Tipitaka.[1] As no major principles of Buddhism contradict it, many Buddhists tacitly accept the theory of evolution.[2][3]Questions about the eternity or infinity of the universe at large are counted among the 14 unanswerable questions which the Buddha maintained were counterproductive areas of speculation.[4] As such, many Buddhists do not think about these kinds of questions as meaningful for the Buddhist goal of relieving oneself and others from suffering.[5] One does not need to know the origin of life in order to achieve enlightenment.[non-primary source needed]
Dalai Lama dismisses the element of randomness in the theory of evolution based on natural selection:[6]
From the Buddhist's perspective, the idea of these mutations being random events is deeply unsatisfying for a theory that purports to explain the origin of life.
Lopez elaborates that the process of Rebirth(into any of a large number of states of being including the human, any kind of animal and several types of supernatural being) is conditioned by karma (action of consciousness), which explains Dalai Lama's view.[7]
Buddhists believe the beginning of this world and of life is inconceivable since they have neither beginning nor end. Buddhists believe that the world was not created once upon a time, but that the world has been created millions of times every second and will continue to do so by itself and will break away by itself. [8]
Dalai Lama dismisses the element of randomness in the theory of evolution based on natural selection:[6]
From the Buddhist's perspective, the idea of these mutations being random events is deeply unsatisfying for a theory that purports to explain the origin of life.
Lopez elaborates that the process of Rebirth(into any of a large number of states of being including the human, any kind of animal and several types of supernatural being) is conditioned by karma (action of consciousness), which explains Dalai Lama's view.[7]
Buddhists believe the beginning of this world and of life is inconceivable since they have neither beginning nor end. Buddhists believe that the world was not created once upon a time, but that the world has been created millions of times every second and will continue to do so by itself and will break away by itself. [8]
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