Ned Ludd wrote:
"Sphere" <sphere1952@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1155343017.484599.18580@i42g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
I'm trying to understand this argument about the existence of
God thing.
My problem is with the notion of existence. Does "the little
green men who don't exist who live under my bed" exist?
It seems to me that if it doesn't exist then I don't exist,
and if it does exist then God exists. Put another way: Assume
God is only a story told by millions of people. I am only a
story told by trillions of cells.
God and I have the same ontological status -- we either both
exist or both do not exist.
What is, is not; and what is not, is.
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
Emptiness does not differ from form,
and form does not differ from emptiness.
Now, I know you know this. So, knowing this, how do you
honor and respect the trillions of cells that are all working
their little asses off to keep you alive?
By resting upon my elbow killing millions of them.
Saying God exists spills Buddha's blood. Saying God does not
exist spills Buddha's blood. How do you avoid spilling Buddha's
blood?
Burp.
On the other hand... The Bodhisattva died ten thousand horrible
deaths seeking awakening -- and the realization that there was
nothing born to die those deaths.
Can you say that God exists as much as the chair that you are
sitting on exists? I think a good Buddhist could say that. And
your soul exists as much as the chair you are sitting on exists.
And your heart and your liver, and the cells of your heart and
your liver, and the 250 million individual separate beings that
live on the surface of your skin, and the scores of trillions of
individual separate beings (more actually than the total number
of cells in your body) that thrive in your intestinal track
and allow your food to be digested so you can continue to live
and question whether or not you exist.
Just so long as you continue to use "as much".
Ned
---
No essence. No permanence. No perfection. only action.
.
