Positivity and the lures of satan!
Way back on another forum the subject was raised of the lures of satan, his tricks to deceive, seeking our damnation. One guy responded by saying he only believed that we are surrounded by bodhisattvas (enlightenment beings) He was a westerner but said he had totally escaped any Christian indoctrination.
In Buddhist texts like the Lotus Sūtra, in its imagery, Buddhas are eternal and there are many of them. The vision of the universe that it assumes and teaches is one in which sacred influence is everywhere, though often unseen and unrecognized. The Buddhas are everywhere trying to help us to attain salvation/enlightenment.
(Buddhism does know of an "evil one" - Mara - but such a being is more seen as the embodiment of all unskillful emotions, such as greed, hate and delusion, and often pictured in scripture as the personification of the instincts antagonistic to enlightenment. There are even stories of the conversion of Mara to the Dharma!)
Anyway, I did find this guys attitude as very positive and life giving - that we are surrounded only by "forces" seeking our welfare.
To a certain extent, in the Old Testament Satan is seen as virtually acting at the bidding of God (see the book of Job) and not as in the NT as a power of pure evil let loose by God to test and deceive us. And of course, one has to ask exactly why a God who "wills that all be saved" (according to the NT) would ever allow such a being to hold such power. I suppose some like the drama of the contest, especially those who presume that they have avoided being deceived!
Sometimes I think the greatest trick of the Devil is to convince us that he exists!
What do others think?
In Buddhist texts like the Lotus Sūtra, in its imagery, Buddhas are eternal and there are many of them. The vision of the universe that it assumes and teaches is one in which sacred influence is everywhere, though often unseen and unrecognized. The Buddhas are everywhere trying to help us to attain salvation/enlightenment.
(Buddhism does know of an "evil one" - Mara - but such a being is more seen as the embodiment of all unskillful emotions, such as greed, hate and delusion, and often pictured in scripture as the personification of the instincts antagonistic to enlightenment. There are even stories of the conversion of Mara to the Dharma!)
Anyway, I did find this guys attitude as very positive and life giving - that we are surrounded only by "forces" seeking our welfare.
To a certain extent, in the Old Testament Satan is seen as virtually acting at the bidding of God (see the book of Job) and not as in the NT as a power of pure evil let loose by God to test and deceive us. And of course, one has to ask exactly why a God who "wills that all be saved" (according to the NT) would ever allow such a being to hold such power. I suppose some like the drama of the contest, especially those who presume that they have avoided being deceived!
Sometimes I think the greatest trick of the Devil is to convince us that he exists!
What do others think?
SW-User
