38.Religion and the Greatest Creator

 Xuefeng

First, we must know what religion is.

Religion is a spiritual and psychological activity through which man gets to know, believe in, worship, and follow god and Buddha.

Strictly speaking, only Christianity and Buddhism can be called real religions. Although Islamism and Catholicism are also practiced as religions, they have interfered too much in secular affairs. So Islamism and Catholicism cannot be counted as pure religion. Hinduism was formed earlier than Buddhism, but actually it can only be regarded as a source for Buddhism. Derived from the blending of Bhakti and the sufi orders of Islamism, Sikhism has no independent ideological system since its content can be found in Buddhist sutras and in the Qur’an. China’s Taoism mainly preaches the unity of heaven and man and the telepathy between heaven and man. Without a system of theory about god, Taoism cannot be regarded as a spiritual and psychological activity through which man gets to know, believe in, worship, and follow god and Buddha but a social activity of mankind. Derived from the blending of Buddhism and Taoism, Japan’s Shintoism also has no new content and system. Protestantism and Orthodox Church are branches of Christianity, so they do not have independent ideological system. Primitive religions cannot be regarded as a religion but only a social activity because they are mainly a worship of ghosts and gods, ancestors, totems, and idols and do not have an integrate understanding of god. Ancient Egyptian religion, ancient Babylonian religion, the worship of Celestial Ruler Supreme God in China’s Yin and Zhou dynasties, Phoenician religion, Hinduism religion, Vedic religion, and ancient Iranian religion—all these have basically evolved from primitive religion, they mainly worship natural objects or natural force, and they do not have a perfect perception of god. Therefore they can only be a social activity and cannot become pure spiritual and psychological activity. Having its own independent understanding of god, Zoroastrianism (called fire-worship religion in China’s history) was later absorbed by Christianity and Buddhism, its essences still visible in the Christian and Buddhist classics. The essence of Manicheism (called Zoroastrianism in China) can also be found in Christian and Buddhist classics, thus manicheism also has no independent and perfect system. Brahmanism is actually Vedic religion in essence. A religion of ancient India, Brahmanism has gods in the form of personified natural phenomena. Its theory of three paths and four lives has been modified and carried forward by Sakyamuni. Hinduism has a long history and a numerous and jumbled content, but it does not have a clear thinking and path and renders a perplexed feeling, so it cannot be regarded as a religion. Jainism has a long history and an independent theoretical system, but its essence has been incorporated into Buddhism and the drosses parts have been overthrown by science, and thus it cannot survive as a religion.

Strictly speaking, Judaism is not the religion of god but the religion of the Greatest Creator. Its scriptures are mainly the Old Testament of the Bible. But it is not perfect as a religion of the Greatest Creator, because it cannot answer the basic questions concerning the characteristics of the Greatest Creator, and thus is not convincing.

Although pursuing the consciousness and love of god in the level of spiritual nature, Kirtan and the Bhakti movement has confused the Greatest Creator with god. And its leader does not consider Krishna Consciousness Movement a religion, but only regards it as a movement of science, thus confusing science with religion. Therefore, the movement can only be regarded as reflection of the wisdom of ancient Indian sages and cannot be considered a religion.

Falun Gong that prevailed in the last few years was a philosophical pursuit of truth, kindness and endurance by the common people with a pent-up spiritual nature. Falun Gong had no clear understanding of god and Buddha, and its concept of space was also perplexing. Therefore, it can only be counted as a mass social activity and is not a religion.

In other small religious groups, small numbers of people suffering emotional and spiritual emptiness engage in a blind spiritual and emotional pursuit to get rid of loneliness, and seek group identity or comfort, just like a crowd of people getting together to chat and divert their humdrum which cannot be counted as religions.

In the future Christianity and Buddhism will be the only religions remaining, and the rest will gradually perish with the development of science and the progress of mankind.

Christianity and Buddhism are two relatively independent and complete religions as wellas two contradictory religions. However, as a social phenomenon, religion will ultimately perish with the passage of time and in the future the great variety of religions will be unified as one single religion.

How do the different religions unify as a whole?

Let’s take a look at the religions that have appeared in history. At the beginning of each religion, all its followers were firmly convinced that their religion was the only true religion that would exist forever and other religions were all evil cults and heresies. However, with the development of the times, the progress of mankind, and especially the flourishing of science, those religions have all faded out from the stage of history. Then, can Christianity and Buddhism exist forever?

We have to ask the Greatest Creator to answer this question.

Can the Greatest Creator create two mutually contradicting religions? If this question is not easy to answer, we might as well ask directly, “Was religion created by the Greatest Creator?”

If the answer is yes, then the disappearance of religions and the mutual contradictions between different religions can only prove the disorganized thinking of the Greatest Creator. But this is not the case for the Greatest Creator we meant

If the answer is no, this shows that Christianity and Buddhism are not the religion of the Greatest Creator.

If religion is not created by the Greatest Creator, then who maight it be, man，god, or Buddha?

No matter whether it is created by man, god, or Buddha or how difficult it is for its followers to accept the reality, the religion will finally die out if it cannot answer all the questions raised by man and cannot explain all the phenomena of the nature and life of the universe, because this religion can no longer guide man.

Religion was progressive at the time of its emergence and had pushed forward the development of human history. However, if we stick to some old-fashioned doctrines and guide today’s activities with the teachings of two thousand years ago, the development of our spiritual nature will only be hindered. In the same way the dynasties in history had all propelled the development of social productivity and facilitated social progress at the time when they were established, but with the passage of time what were originally progressive became the backward fetters hindering social development. Just like Marx’s analysis, when certain superstructure is no longer adaptable to its economic foundation and the production relations are no longer suitable to the development of productivity, such superstructure and production relation is bound to be eliminated and superseded by more advanced superstructure and production relation.

Why can science always prevail? The reason is that science is continually developing. If Einstein dogmatically stuck to Newton’s mechanics, he would not be able to develop the theory of relativity. If later scientists held the theory of relativity as universally true, then it would be difficult for the birth of quantum mechanics.

The development in the history of mathematics also has demonstrated that the future lies only in development. A glorious palace of mathematics has been created only with the continuous exploration stretching from natural number, positive number, negative number, whole number, fraction, irrational number, rational number, imaginary number, and complex number. If we only stick to natural number and deny the existence of other numbers, and if we do not engage in thinking and attempts to solve all problems with natural numbers, then humankind must be still leading a rough existence in the caves and branches and groping its way in the wilderness and ignorance.

Shall we doubt the megatrend of the unification of all religions?

We should continue our exploration and predict in advance the unification of all religions.

The unification of all religions is not to transform all religions into one religion, and is no longer a psychological and spiritual activity to understand, believe in, worship, and follow god, but a reverence for and praise of the Greatest Creator. There is only one Greatest Creator in the universe but there are countless gods. The greatest Creator is not god and neither is god the Greatest Creator. Worship god will only distract people’s visions, and only by worshipping the Greatest Creator can we have a definite goal of progress.

Instead of imposing one after another spiritual and psychological shackles on mankind, the unification of all religions is the liberation of human nature, enabling man to enjoy life freely. Thus man will not be forced to go through complicated and tedious rituals at churches or temples.

Instead of establishing more papacies, hierarches, priests, pastors, emcees, abbots, and imams to influence people’s life and actions, “Unification of all religions” means equality between men.

“Unification of all religions” has no fixed “sutras and scriptures” and “tenets” but it will carry on and promote all fruits of man’s wisdom.

In “Unification of all religions” there will be no followers. It can be said that everyone is a follower and no one is a follower. All people are the subjects of the Greatest Creator rather than the subjects of any god or Buddha.

In a word, “Unification of religions” is the real “religion” of the Greatest Creator.

It is regarded as a religion but is not a religion in essence.

Will Christianity and Buddhism really fade out from the stage of history?

In today’s world there are many enthusiastic missionaries, which is a commendable phenomenon. I hope all people will participate in the religious activities. But as a missionary you should understand the essence of the religion that you are preaching. You should answer all the questions related to god or Buddha. You may do a poor job in preaching if you yourself feel muddleheaded. Everyone engaging in religious activities should always raise questions as why? Why? Why?

Once an old Christians couple preached me enthusiastically. They had been doing this for 40 years and could almost recite the whole bible. They never expected to meet such an “inquisitive” person like me who rasied a lot of questions. Who planted the tree of wisdom in the Garden of Eden? Why was it planted? I had landed them in the most embarrassing situation. I had originally intended to obtain a lot of knowledge about the Bible, but ended in hurting the two old people. I still feel sorry for them even today.

As far as I know, the most successful preacher of the Bible today is Jehovah’s Witnesses, a group of wise, kind, and sincere people. If all the people in the whole world all becomeJehovah’s Witnesses, the human world will take the initial form of the paradise. The two magazines “Vigilance” and “Lookout” are inclusive book series of wisdom. But there is no perfect man in the world, nor is there perfect organization and religion. I once asked my Bible teacher who is a Jehovah’s Witness, “Are Eva and Adam the common ancestors for all men?” The answer is positive. I asked again, “Are they also the ancestors of the black people of Africa?” My teacher faltered here. If the answer is “Yes”, it proves that Darwin’s theory of evolution is correct and that white people can become black people and vice versa, which virtually has negated the theory of the creation of man by the Greatest Creator. If the answer is no, it means that Adam and Eva are not the common ancestors of mankind, which has virtually negated the verity of the Bible.

It is so with Christianity. Then how about Buddhism?

In modern world there is a famous Buddhist master and a lay Buddhist well-known among overseas Chinese. They are well-read in Buddhist sutras. I have read their books or teaching materials. I have felt their profound spiritual nature and outstanding talents. They have made immeasurable contribution to the diffusion of Buddhism. But even the best gem is not flawless. That a gem has flaws does not mean it is not precious. Only artificial gem and glass would be free of blemish.

Even people with such profound knowledge of Buddhism are also spreading fatuity. For example, one says that as long as a mosquito is not biting on the face but on other places, we should let it suck until it is full, and we should not kill it because that is killing of life. Another one takes pity on cockroaches. He will let cockroaches go on the rampage in his kitchen. He would do nothing to interfere. Once, two cockroaches even crawled on his table, and even then he still felt reluctant to drive them away.

This care and mercy for life is something that we should learn from. The problem is, is this the kind of mercy advocated by Buddha?

Buddhism preaches “equality between all living creatures”. What is the definition of all living creatures? Buddha Sakyamuni tells Subhuti in Diamond Sutra, “all Bodhisattvas and Mahasattvas should subdue their minds as follows:

“All living beings born from eggs, wombs, humidity or by transformation

“with or without form,

“either thoughtful or thoughtless,

“and neither thoughtful nor thoughtless

“are all led by me to the final nirvana for the extinction of reincarnation

“Although immeasurable, uncountable and unlimitable numbers of living beings are thus led to (the final nirvana for) the extinction of reincarnation,”

His teachings tell us in definite terms that man, animals and plants, insects, microorganism, and bacteria are all living creatures. Mountains, rocks, fields, and soils, wind, clouds, rain, and snow are all living creatures. Not only tangible and visible objects are living creatures, even things invisible to man are also living creatures. Not only things capable of thinking are living creatures, objects with no thinking and consciousness are also living creatures. “All living creatures are equal”. We should have mercy and care for all living creatures. We should not abuse killing, and this should be the real signification of mercy preached by Buddha.

However, there are principles for mercy, and mercy is mutual. The prerequisite for mercy should not violate with each other. Unprincipled mercy only leads to fatuity.

Mosquitoes should have their own food and territory of activity. They should not suck man’s blood and harass man. When they live in the ponds we need not hurt them. But if they go beyond their area of existence and suck man’s blood, then they are on the way to wickedness. Should we show our mercy even for those wicked things?

Cockroaches are insects, and insects should live in insects’ territory. Kitchens are areas of activity for man, and cockroaches should not do what they want here. If we throw the reins to cockroaches then what shall we do if rats, flies, fleas, bugs, centipedes, house centipedes, and cobras all pour into the kitchens?

If we preach unprincipled mercy, what shall farmers do with the weeds overgrowing in the crop fields? Weeds are also life, if we let them overspread the fields according to the Buddhist master and the lay Buddhist, what will the results be? People will have nothing to live on.

If we advocate unprincipled mercy, how do we deal with the wounds? There are a large number of bacteria at the wound, and we will certainly kill those bacteria if we smear drugs or bind up the wound. Should we let the wound rankle and putrefy for the sake of the bacteria?

What should we do with the spider’s web in the bedroom? If we destroy the web, we are being cruel to the spider; but if we do not, should we watch the flies, mosquitoes, and moths ensnared by the web and eaten by the spider?

Every plant is a life, shall we or shall we not grind the life of wheat grains into flower for food?

In each cup of water there are tens of thousands of bacteria. Shall we drink or shall we not drink?

Shall we move our steps or shall we not move our steps, since we will trample on tens of thousands of living beings in each step.

Has the Monkey King unjustly killed the Lady White Bone?

Shall all the police be disbanded and sent home to take care of their children?

No wonder that the areas where Buddhism flourishes have poorer hygienic conditions, since they are dedicated to protect lives.

No wonder people in a Buddhist country tend to be worldly wise for personal safety. They dare not and are unwilling to stand out and hold out the evil things, and the evil things will just run amuck. The reason is that they all have a “mercy” heart.

Instead of adding more shackles, the tenet of religion is to liberate man, destroy the shackles of human nature, and make people enjoy a more pleasant, freer and happier life. The more rules and regulations, the further away we are from the edifications of god and Buddha.

Religion is somewhat connected with fatuity. The Greatest Creator has not created religion; religion is the emotional response of man.

After the unification of all religions, the Greatest Creator will exercise direct administration of mankind. Jesus, Sakyamuni, Mohammed, and Lao Tzu will not be forgotten; instead their wisdom will be further glorified.

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