Does God Exist?, Buddha Answers!

Tuesday, January 19, 2010, 12:35

"Does God exist?," is a skeptical query often raised. Some affirm the existence of God while others deny, "God does not exist!"

Lord Buddha removes this skeptical knot by teaching in His own way about God's existence.

Buddha once entered a village. A man in the morning asked him, "Does God Exist?"

Buddha replied, "No, absolutely not!"

In the afternoon, another man approached and posed the same question, "Does God exist?'

Buddha said, "Of course yes!"

In the evening, the third man asked the same question

The enlightened one closed His eyes and remained silent.

The inquirer too closed his eyes. Something transpired and the man bent forward and touched the feet of Buddha reverentially. He said, "You are the first man who has answered my question" and left feeling grateful.

Ananda, Buddha's attendant who was a witness, was confused about the conflicting answers of the master to the same question. When Buddha was retiring to bed, he told Him, "Please do be more compassionate on me as I am puzzled. The other three people have not listened to your different answers, but I have. So please dispel my confusion"

The enlightened one opened up. "In the first place, My answers to their question had nothing to do with God. My approach was rather towards the questioner than the question. The first person who approached me was a theist, a believer in God. The second was an atheist, who believed in the absence of God. The person who believed in God wanted to confirm his belief about God.
All beliefs are barriers to the realization of the truth. Theist or atheists they are all tied to their own beliefs and systems!

As Ananda listened intently, Buddha continued, "The third man was a real enquirer. He was not concerned with the existence or non existence of God. He wanted the bare truth. So I remained silent looking within. My message to him was to be silent and know. There is no need to raise any questions as it is not a question to be answered, rather a quest or a thirst. Thus he simply followed me and in his silence, when he looked within, something transpired. He was so overwhelmed with gratitude as I did not provide any intellectual answer but the very taste of the existential truth!"