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| BABY BUDDHA |
Statues of baby Buddha are found all over Lumbini. There he is, standing erect with one finger pointing to the sky, though I don't know why. His mother is depicted as standing under a tree, holding on to a branch while he is apparently taking seven-steps on lotus flowers. Of course this is legend and unbelievable, as is the idea that he was born out of his mothers side rather than through the normal channel; think of the birth of Jesus to Virgin Mary.
Why do people believe this nonsense? Is it a choice to pretend ignorance for fear of maybe being wrong? The problem: people have convictions and cannot conceive that this is most probably the only life we have. No, we're not coming back or spendng trillions of years in some kind of hell. And we're not going to some mansion in the sky after death if we're good in this life.
I can't argue against the notion that Buddhism is a philosophy that promotes peace in the world. But followers should develop a more rational approach and admit that no one has been reborn and knows what it's like on the other side.
Hamlet understood this:
The undiscovered Country, from whose bourn
No Traveller returns, Puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.
No Traveller returns, Puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.
And that's how it is.
