I am an atheist Buddhist as well, which is perfectly acceptable according to Buddhist teachings. Buddha himself said “Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” And for many of us, the notion of gods and other supernatural beings just does not make sense.

Buddhism, when you get right down to it, is kind of mislabeled as a religion, when in fact it is closer to a moral/ethical philosophy. True, some Buddhist traditions venerate one or more gods/goddesses or delve into supernatural matters, but this is usually due to influence from indigenous religions of the area (such as in the case of Tibetan Buddhism). But many do not, seeing preoccupation with the unknowable as a major hindrance to enlightenment.

I mean no disrespect; I just wanted to set the record straight.

Uh… what? How? Buddhism, like any religion, depends on gods and goddesses and the supernatural… I don’t get it. Reincarnation? Someone explain?

Is there at least magic involved? I mean, if there’s no magic, why bother?

My life is very painful lately and I’m giving in to cynicism.

So sorry to hear that, Richard.

Hope things get better soon.

Dogs don’t need to meditate. No creature experiences pure joy as does a dog. We should take a lesson from them.

What is commonly misnamed as “prayer” in Buddhism is meditation. We do not hold our hands in that way when doing so. We are not supplicating a deity when doing so, as prayer is commonly understood to be.

Please be friendlier to Buddhists. Most of us are non-theists.

“Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid” by Douglas Hofstadter, first published in 1970. It’s not a Buddhist book (hard to describe really but it’s kind of a thesis on the emergence of “mind” in classes of self-referential systems he calls “strange loops”) but he borrows from Zen as allegory quite frequently, especially as relates to mathematical undecidability, including the concepts you mentioned of “Mu”, Zen koans, and the question of dogs having Buddha nature.

As I am not too familiar with Buddhist writings, and I am in the middle of this book, I got a little excited and assumed that was your source as well, and you were being satirical.

Awesome. I’m halfway through GEB myself.

I’ve been free of the chasing enlightenment scam for several years, so I may have missed new developments. I don’t recall the term “GEB.” Is that “Great Enlightenment Bullshit?” or “General Education Buddhism?” or “Got Enlightenment, Buddy?” or what?

Well, after fruitlessly pursuing enlightenment for several years in a lay monastery via the “Mu” koan, I now can rest in the sure and certain knowledge that yes, a dog does have the Buddha nature.

Awesome. I’m halfway through GEB myself.