Any Buddhists here truely truely believe in the whole kit n kaboodle of Buddhist teachings? Like, Maras, hell-beings, hungry ghosts, reincarnation, knowledge of past lives, existing enlightened beings etc ...?
hi kudra,
what i like about buddhism, is that addherence to specific doctrine is not a must to be on the path to enlightenment. the way of the buddha is but one path. the path for others is unique to the person. i take what i like from buddhism, what i have reason to believe is consciousness expanding, and infuse them into my path. as far as ways of being go, i think buddhism is highly evolved. but the path is natural, as natural is all that exists. i don't see the point of stagnantly following a religious practice without evolving on it, as to not evolve is to die, mentally. the path only goes forward, right?
the book Siddartha by Herman Hesse illustrates this so well in my opinion.
tetra