Religious Questions from Presidential Candidate

The following brief religious observations are mine, so I am solely to blame/“blame” for what follows:

ONE:  About the Creation of Adam: Look carefully at God in this famous painting by Michelangelo. I detect a number of oddities. For instance, who’s the babe that God’s left arm is draped across (across her shoulders, that is)? God is packed in rather tightly, sharing a rather small space with 12 other beings and in physical contact with many of them. [You mean, it’s actually possible to touch God?] Also, look at the odd claw-like configuration of God’s left hand as it rests upon a child’s shoulder. Not to mention: All 12 beings are naked – and God is clothed. If an artist is going to paint a portrait of the All Mighty, why put clothes on Him who certainly Himself could not be ashamed of His own nakedness? Conclusion: I don’t know who that is, but it’s certainly not God. I shall meditate on this long and well from a Buddhist perspective, not being one to leap to conclusions.

TWO:  About Jesus:  Nobody died for my sins thereby redeeming me; this is not possible. [That's like saying, "Let me have sex with your wife FOR you; I can do anything FOR you, including guaranteeing your salvation."] Each of us has an infinite number of chances at self-redemption, spread out over an infinite number of lives. I can be helped along the path toward self-perfection, but only this Holy Trinity can redeem me: Me, Myself, and I. Each of us must be reborn again and again eternally (each time, in a form and environment "caused" by behaviors in our prior lives), unless we attain Buddhahood. In that case, we can choose whether to be reborn, which Buddhas always do simply out of their desire to lead others to enlightenment.

THREE:  I do not believe in the concept of the End of Days, which is shared by Jews, Moslems, and Christians alike. In fact, obsession with this concept is the single greatest threat to world peace. This obsession might bring about an End-of-Days' style apocalypse (for example, a nuclear or bio war of our own making), but no true End of Days (as in, end of the universe) will occur.

FOUR:  Shakyamuni Buddha is still alive and with us. He merely gave the appearance of his death and cremation about 2,500 years ago in India. He walks among us today, though "using [his] transcendental powers, I make it so human beings do not see me even though I am close by" - source: Lotus Sutra. I am not aware of any Buddhist other than I who claims Shakyamuni is still alive, and not just in a figurative sense. Think about this: Since Shakyamuni Buddha had all this knowledge and transcendental power, who could possibly believe that he really died from food poisoning? He knew his disciples could not attain their maximum potential if he continued to (visibly) “remain too long in the world.”

FIVE:  Unlike what I call "traditional Buddhists," I believe that each of us humans has a soul. The Buddha didn't deny the existence of the soul, though I believe his disciples misunderstood his teachings on this point. All that his disciples had to do was ask themselves: “Since the teachings make clear that we have been reincarnated a countless number of times and been alive, off and on again, over a period of trillions of years, then obviously something (what, if not a soul?) got reincarnated?”  However, if the Buddha had made his teachings soul-based, then his disciples would have egoistically clung to their self-image, instead of focusing on rising above that. The less said about the soul, the better; the more said about self-improvement (abandoning the old self), the better.

SIX:  These two claims make equal sense but only your inner enlightened-self can determine which is true:

"God created the Universe by willing it into being, but He Himself was not created; God has always been."

"Nothing created the Universe because It has always been, therefore not needing a Creator. When causes and conditions are right, things which did not previously exist come into being and those that previously existed pass out of being. Things are born, continue, decline, then die; but the Universe as a whole does not – It has always been."

If we can believe the Universe has always been, and was never created, then we don't have to worry about "Who" created it. Why believe otherwise?

SEVEN:  I believe the Buddha purposely lied to his Great Assembly of disciples on at least two occasions, yet asked them, "Can it be said that I am lying?" Buddha did this to raise his disciples to the next level, hoping they would call him on these lies (which they didn’t, by the way). This "calling" would have assured the disciples' more expeditious advancement to Buddhahood. [One never advances without challenging his teacher, even if that means calling him a liar.] Remember: The Buddha had taken a vow long ago to "Make all living beings equal to me, using all possible skillful means."

EIGHT:  I don't deify Shakyamuni Buddha as a god, especially since there are untold trillions of other Buddhas now existing throughout the universe, though I do believe he has supernatural powers. I take him at his word that all of us common, ordinary mortals can become Buddhas with those same powers. Becoming a Buddha is possible in this lifetime, though I don't know of anyone who's actually done it. My personal goal is to become a Buddha in this lifetime. That is the reason I have read the Lotus Sutra aloud, over the past five years, a total of 120 times. Since my copy of the Lotus is one inch thick (a total of 324 pages), that would make a pile ten feet high if 120 separate copies of the Lotus were to be stacked up. Why did I do this (and continue this recitation)? Because this is part of what the Buddha defined as correct religious practice.

NINE:  Jews feel that the age of the prophets had passed long ago. Moslems feel that Mohammed is the last and the greatest of the prophets. They are both wrong. The gift of prophecy is a characteristic of enlightened beings everywhere in the universe - past, present, and future. As for "greatest," I wouldn't even consider whether one Buddha might be greater than another. If I am ever fortunate enough in my life to encounter two Buddhas standing side-by-side, I will not for a moment ask: Is one greater than another?

Steven Searle for US President in 2012

“If you elect me as your next President, I can promise you a very interesting ride.”