Free Tibet? Human Rights and Eastern Thought (Borrowing Worth from the Judeo-Christian Worldview)

It is laughable that some defend this doctrine tooth and nail. However, if really believed, they would come to realize there is no real good or evil! The Inquisitions, the Mumbai terror killings at the hands of Muslims, as examples, were merely the outgrowth of the victim’s previous karmic lives. Therefore, when those here defend karmic destiny in other posts speak of the horrible atrocities committed by religion, they are not consistently living out their philosophy of life and death, which are illusory. The innocent victims of the Inquisitions, terror attacks, tsunamis, or Crusades then are merely being paid back for something they themselves did in a previous life. It is the actions said people did prior that creates much of the evil upon them now. So in the future when people who are believers in reincarnation say that Christianity isn’t what it purports to be because of the evil it has committed in the past, you should remind them that evil is merely an illusion (maya – Hinduism; sunyata – Buddhism) to be overcome, as karmic reincarnation demands.

“All beings must I lead to Nirvana, into the Realm of Nirvana which leaves nothing behind; and yet, after beings have been led to Nirvana, no being at all has been led to Nirvana. And why? If in a Bodhisattva[43] the notion of a “being” should take place, he could not be called a “Bodhi-being.” And likewise if the notion of a soul, or a person should take place in him.

“The innocent victims of the Inquisitions, terror attacks, tsunamis, or Crusades then are merely being paid back for something they themselves did in a previous life. It is the actions said people did prior that creates much of the evil upon them now”

Okay...so were the evil actions in their previous life done to innocents then, or were those receiving the evil actions just getting their own payback for a misspent previous life. If so, wouldn't the evil actions (of the second generation)then be considered good actions? Then why are they receiving punishment in the next life?

Correct. The problems with “evil” and “good” (oughts and ought nots) are confused in Eastern philosophy... when followed to their logical conclusions. Which is why in Taoism, Buddhism, Hiduism, and the like, one of the “golden rules” is to come to the conclusion that moral right-and-wrongs in fact do not exist.

So when you see the Beastie Boys having events to “free Tibet” or stickers on cars saying as much, you are seeing an ethic borrowed from other worldviews (really the Judeo-Christian one). In a philosophy class I took, the teacher was a Hindu. In class we dealt with the problem of evil and Christianity was the topic of discussion. Atheism and pantheism were not. I made a few points ending with an example of my then 6-year old son. I mentioned that if I were called into work on an emergency and I called my Uncle Steve to watch his while I was at work... and while I was there my uncle raped my son, in her [the professors] view something my son did in a previous life affected this action. So moral right and wrongs in an absolute sense that most people instinctively know to be true do not exist in the ultimate sense in Eastern philosophy. In the post I linked to a chapter from my book that explains this in more detail (the entire book is free).

"Which is why in Taoism, Buddhism, Hiduism, and the like, one of the “golden rules” is to come to the conclusion that moral right-and-wrongs in fact do not exist."

Since none of these religions believe in a transcendent God this is the only logical conclusion they can come to. The only logical alternitive to full blown theism is full blown nihilism. Much of philosophy since the enlightment has tried to avoid this fact or find some middle ground but it doesn't exist. Interesting that King Soloman pointed this out 3000 years ago. ("all is vanity under the sun")

True. The things that “we can all agree upon” are always borrowed from the Judeo-Christian ethic. I once read an article on how to debate an atheist and that is the one point I remember. Do not let the atheist/non-Christian portray any agreed upon morals (rape/stealing/murder is wrong, etc.) as if they are universal morals and separate from God. They are only wrong because the God of the universe said they are wrong.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.