Chapter 18

God’s Creative Action:

You Have Free Will

During the lifetime of Gotama Buddha, there was belief in many different Gods. Gotama Buddha discusses Gods throughout his Teachings. But when Gotama Buddha discussed God in the below, he only spoke of one God.

A common definition of the word “God” is:

God: The creator of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being. (God, Allah, All Knowing/All Powerful, Omniscient/

Omnipotent)

Gotama Buddha’s goal was not to prove or disprove God’s existence, because Gotama Buddha only taught “truth” that could be independently realized or understood by you through your own practice and that which leads to Enlightenment. This is how you gain “wisdom”.

All Is Caused by God’s Creative Action

Then, Monks, I approached those Ascetics and Brāhmins who hold such a doctrine and view as this: ‘Whatever this person experiences — whether pleasure, pain, or neither pain-nor-pleasure — all that is caused by God’s creative activity,’ and I said to them: Is it true that you Venerable Ones hold such a doctrine and view? When I ask them this, they affirm it. Then I say to them: In such a case, it is due to God’s creative activity that you might destroy life, take what is not given, indulge in sexual activity, speak falsehood, produce argumentative speech, speak harshly, indulge in idle chatter; that you might be full of longing, have a mind of ill will and hold wrong view. Those who fall back on God’s creative activity as the essential truth have no interest [to do] what should be done and [to avoid doing] what should not be done, nor do they make an effort in this respect. Since they do not apprehend as true and valid anything that should be done or should not be done, they are muddle-minded, they do not guard themselves, and even the personal designation “Ascetic” could not be legitimately applied to them. (Gotama Buddha) (Reference: AN 3.61)

Gotama Buddha never denied the existence of God but instead, taught people how to attain Enlightenment while still having an understanding of God. Gotama Buddha did not teach God as being a central role in the attainment of Enlightenment, but instead, helped people understand how the existence of God relates to The Five Realms of Existence. Gotama Buddha taught that one’s attainment of Enlightenment is based solely on your own determination, dedication, and diligence to actively learn, reflect, and practice Teachings to train the mind improving the condition of one’s mind and life. It is possible to progress on The Path to Enlightenment with or without a relationship with God. The choice is up to the Practitioner how they choose to proceed. This chapter is devoted to helping you understand how to attain Enlightenment with or without a relationship with God. Gotama Buddha’s Teachings to attain Enlightenment are not based on “belief”. These Teachings are a path for you to gain wisdom which liberates the mind from discontentedness. These Teachings help you to develop a pure mind to attain Enlightenment. Gotama Buddha had nothing tangible to teach us that could prove or disprove God’s existence, so, he taught us not to be attached to God. Your attainment of Enlightenment is not based on God, but instead, your own determination, dedication, and diligence to actively learn, reflect on, and practice these Teachings. Gotama Buddha understood that any and all attachments would cause us discontentedness. So, he taught us not to be attached to God, his existence, nor that God controls all things. If we have this view, then it renders humans powerless. If you do believe in or have an understanding of God, that would not be God’s way. We know that our intentions, speech, and actions are 100% within our ability to be wholesome. God does not control us like robots, we have complete “free will” to think, say, and do whatever we please. Nothing in this world, other than you, can control your intentions, speech, or actions as you have consciousness and “free will”. But it is our intentions, speech, and actions coming from a pure and wholesome place that will lead us to Enlightenment. There is also nothing in this life that is predetermined or

determined by another being. We have the full ability to make free will choices that improve our life, or cause our life to decline. Everything that we have experienced, are experiencing, or will experience in life is based on our own free will decisions. The Path that leads to Enlightenment does not require a belief in God or a relationship with God. A belief in God or a relationship with God will also not hinder you as long as you have eliminated craving and practice “Right View” from The Eight Fold Path along with other Teachings shared in this Chapter.

God and Right View

Practicing “Right View” while having a relationship with God would include understanding that God does not control you and grant wishes, and that you are 100% responsible for your own intentions, speech, and actions. You have the ability to eliminate discontentedness of the mind and it is not dependent on God. Any pleasant feelings, painful feelings, or feelings that are neither painful-nor- pleasant are a result of your own decisions, not those of God. It is the mind’s own craving/desire/attachment that causes discontentedness, not God. A Practitioner needs to accept responsibility for their own decisions and the results of those decisions to establish Right View. Please see the chapter titled “The Four Noble Truths: Establishing Right View” (Chapter 4) to deeply understand and establish Right View.

God and Elimination of Craving in the Mind

Elimination of craving as it relates to praying to God, would include that you do not consider God as a “genie in a bottle” who will grant you a wish that comes true. If your prayer consists of requests, wishes, desires, and cravings, then the mind will not be able to reach Enlightenment due to your constant cravings and desires while being attached to God, asking for “stuff”. Have you ever prayed for a new car, a new house, or more wealth and God instantly granted that wish? No, of course not. This is how you know the truth that God is not a “genie in a bottle” and for you to accomplish anything wholesome in this life, it needs to be initiated by you and your actions. Detailed explanation of “Aspirations Are Not Obtained by Means of Prayer” is available in this same book series found in Chapter 82 of the book “Generosity” (Volume 13).

If you choose to have a personal relationship with God, you can through prayer and giving “thanks”. But the constant asking for “stuff” from God would only be due to a Practitioner’s own craving/desire/attachment and inhibit them from the attainment of Enlightenment. If you choose to pray, you might consider to acknowledge in prayer that you believe in God, are open to guidance, and give thanks. Any sort of craving/ desire/attachment in prayer would only inhibit a Practitioner from liberation of the mind. If you have a craving/desire/attachment to exist in heaven after this life in union with God, you will need to eliminate this desire from the mind to attain Enlightenment. If there is still craving/desire/attachment at the time of death, there will be rebirth. A mind that craves existence with God after this life will not be liberated to attain Enlightenment, but instead, continue to be reborn through countless lives until the mind attains Enlightenment.

God and The Natural Law of Kamma

It is important to realize that if you would like change and improvement in your life, you will need to create that for yourself because constantly asking God for change has not worked and will not work. Any improvement in your life needs to be initiated by you. If you would like a good and wholesome life, you need to create that for yourself through “The Natural Law of Kamma”. If you do good and wholesome things through your intentions, speech, and actions, you will have a good and wholesome life. All that happens in this life is a result of The Natural Law of Kamma, not the result of “God’s Creative Actions”. God nor Kamma rewards us nor punishes us. But, instead, all our own actions produce a result either wholesome or unwholesome. The Natural Law of Kamma is “the results of our decisions”.

God and Elimination of Fear

Some traditions of teachings that include God, teach human beings to fear God. God does not need to be feared. If you have belief in God, God would not be interested in having you fear, which can make the mind neurotic, but instead know that there is an unlimited amount of love and compassion from God for you. You should be encouraged to practice these same qualities towards God and all living beings throughout your life practice.

It is important that if you have a belief in God that you do not fear God. All fear needs to be eliminated as part of this path to attaining Enlightenment, including any fear you may have of God. If there is fear, there can be no Enlightenment. The Afterlife - An Undeclared Teaching An “afterlife”, which Gotama Buddha left as an “undeclared” Teaching, is what happens when one has attained Enlightenment in this life or at death - what happens next? That is the afterlife. Gotama Buddha did not teach about an afterlife or a soul. He left these “undeclared” in his Teachings. He did not teach whether we exist nor not exist once we attain Enlightenment and die. He shared that there is no more rebirth as “a being” in The Cycle of Rebirth which is different than “no existence at all”. If we do not attain Enlightenment during this life or at death, we will be reborn through The Cycle of Rebirth. If we attain Enlightenment in this life, there will be no more rebirth in The Cycle of Rebirth. These are the undeclared Teachings of Gotama Buddha. - the world is eternal - the world is not eternal - the world is finite - the world is infinite - the soul is the same as the body - the soul is one thing and the body is another - after death The Tathāgata exists - after death The Tathāgata does not exist - after death The Tathāgata both exists and does not exist - after death The Tathāgata neither exists nor does not exist Tathāgata is another term used to refer to Gotama Buddha. Gotama Buddha is referring to himself who was an Arahant, therefore, you can also insert “Enlightened Being” for Tathāgata. This means, he left The

Teachings “undeclared” of whether a being who has attained Enlightenment

as an Arahant “after death exists, does not exist, both exists and does not exist, neither exists nor does not exist”. Just like all craving/desire/attachment, if we crave the answer to these questions, it will cause the mind to be discontent. Knowing the answer to any of these questions will not lead to an individual’s own Enlightenment and therefore Gotama Buddha never taught or “declared” these Teachings. They are “undeclared”.

There were many Teachings Gotama Buddha did not share, as his main focus was to help people understand that they needed to work towards their own salvation through the process of attaining Enlightenment. Gotama Buddha focused everyone’s attention, the mind, and their development on The Teachings that lead to Enlightenment - the elimination of discontentedness and the suffering it causes rather than rites, rituals, ceremonies, and worship. He taught people to practice The Teachings of being a good moral person that eliminates all unwholesome Kamma production, producing only wholesome Kamma. Gotama Buddha’s Teachings are about non-attachment. He was not even interested in people attaching to him nor the existence of God, as Gotama

Buddha knew Enlightenment is 100% determined by our own intentions,

speech, and actions. Rebirth, or The Cycle of Rebirth, is the process in which all beings who have not attained Enlightenment during this life or at death, will be reborn into a new form or formless existence in the hell, animal, afflicted spirits, human, or heavenly realms. You need to be comfortable with not knowing the answer, in other words, not craving to know what is or is not going to happen in an afterlife as craving to know this outcome will inhibit you from attaining Enlightenment and will cause rebirth. The goal is to extinguish all craving for a “personal existence view”, “desire for form”, and “desire for the formless”. These are just three (3) aspects of The Ten Fetters required for Enlightenment as it relates to the discussion in this Chapter. If you attain Enlightenment in this human existence, life will be so peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy that you will have no need to know what comes next in the afterlife, if anything at all. You will be experiencing complete and total peace of mind and will know that if there is something after death, having attained Enlightenment, it must be good. The goal is to attain Enlightenment in this very life so that you will not be reborn through The Cycle of Rebirth into another existence. You can attain Enlightenment during your existing life to experience ever lasting peace or at death. In order to accomplish this goal, one would need to ensure there is no craving/desire/attachment including the craving to know what will or will not occur once one attains Enlightenment and dies.

No Interest in God

If you have no belief or understanding of God, that is fine, and you will not be inhibited from attaining Enlightenment in any way. This practice has no attachments to God, and there is no requirement to not believe in God. A Practitioner can maintain a relationship with God, if they choose, and still attain Enlightenment. But, a Practitioner would need to understand The Teachings in this Chapter to help them navigate what they may or may not have been taught in the past related to the topic of God. This practice is about freedom of thought and “free will”. This life practice is about observing how your own intentions, speech, and actions determine 100% of your life through The Natural Law of Kamma. Nothing and no one other than you can control the mind, your intentions, your speech, or your actions.

Practicing Loving-kindness and Compassion Towards God

Depending on what you have been taught in the past, a Practitioner can experience anger, hatred, or ill will towards God. This can be detrimental for one’s own mind and progress on The Path to Enlightenment. Gotama Buddha taught to have loving-kindness and compassion for “all beings”. While one does not need to have a belief or relationship with God to attain Enlightenment, a Practitioner would need to be sure they do not have anger, hatred, or ill will towards God. If a Practitioner has anger, hatred, or ill will towards any being at all, the mind will not experience Enlightenment. While some people are taught that God punishes us and rewards us, this is not true and could lead to harmful feelings in the mind. Some are even taught that God is the one who determines who lives or dies. This also is not true and would only produce harmful feelings in the mind inhibiting you from the attainment of Enlightenment. If you have been taught to pray to God for the objects of your desire and have not received a favorable outcome, the mind might harbor anger, hatred, or ill will towards God thinking that he has turned his back on you or failed you in some way. It is not that God has failed you or turned his back on you, but instead, what was taught to you was not the truth.

If one was taught that God decides who lives or dies and that he answers prayers giving you whatever you wish for, then when someone close to you dies this might create painful feelings in the mind that are being attributed to God and still held on to today. A Practitioner will need to “let this go” realizing God does not determine who lives and dies. Instead of harboring anger, hatred, or ill will towards God, a Practitioner will need to release this realizing that what you were taught in the past is not the truth. God does not punish and reward us nor give us what we “want”, but instead, it is our own intentions, speech, and actions that produce results in our life. It is our own life practice and how we conduct ourselves in the world that determines the outcomes of what we experience in life. A well known Teacher who shared many teachings about God shared “you reap what you sow” and this is The Natural Law of Kamma. It is important to realize that while certain venues share their beliefs of what God does and does not do, through learning and practicing these Teachings you can observe the truth for yourself, without a need to believe. You can observe for yourself that the only reason why people die is because they were born. Because an individual was born, they need to die. God does not punish us through death or the death of those close to us but instead, we need to die because we were born. This is part of The Universal Truth of Impermanence as discussed in the Chapter titled “The Four Noble Truths: Establishing Right View” (Chapter 4). You can observe for yourself that God does not sit listening for prayers granting wishes like a “genie in a bottle”. If he did, you could pray for anything you want right now and it would immediately appear. This is not how the world works despite this being taught in some venues. It is not that God does not exist or that he does not care about what we are or are not doing, it is that what some of us have been taught related to God is not true. When we are taught that God will do a certain thing and it does not happen, one might think that God does not care or does not exist. Instead, what is being taught is not the truth which leads one to think that God does not care or does not exist, rather than realizing what has been taught is not the truth.

Understanding God

If you would like to understand God, then perhaps you might consider that God is also a Practitioner of these Teachings - The Natural Laws of Existence. He is the highest and most developed Practitioner of these Teachings because he is the one who created The Natural Laws of Existence. Consider that he is not attached to us, but it is possible to have love and care while not being attached to others. As a parent, would you constantly restrain your child from touching the hot stove after repeated lessons to help them see that the stove is hot and that it will hurt them? Or, would you eventually decide to let the child touch the hot stove so that they can see the truth for themselves to acquire wisdom so that they will make the wise decision to no longer touch the hot stove? God’s approach, purpose, and responsibility is not to constantly restrain us ensuring that there is never any harm that comes to us. God does not have a craving/desire/attachment to having your life progress in a certain direction. Instead, as a wise parent would, he is interested in seeing each being choose to walk towards Enlightenment through their own free will choices. God’s purpose is to help us and guide us to understanding these Natural Laws of Existence, if we choose to have a relationship with him and seek his guidance. He is not domineering and controlling but instead, here to help those who choose to have a relationship with him and request his guidance. He is interested in seeing all beings acquire wisdom. He is interested in seeing all beings practicing loving-kindness and compassion towards each other, learning to live in harmony with one another but he is not attached to this outcome. God is interested in seeing all beings attain Enlightenment to create “heaven on earth”. God does not have a preplanned path for every human being that we must follow or are required to follow. He does not require us to fulfill his desires because he does not have craving/desire/attachment for us to do anything specific. We all have free will to make whatever choices we would like to make in our life and doing so based on The Natural Laws of Existence will create peacefulness and harmony in our life beyond anything you could imagine. If God “flipped a switch” to have everything in the world function perfectly in an instant, then within a matter of seconds the world would be right back into the same problems we have always had as individuals and as a collective society. Through our own free will, we would choose to make

unwholesome decisions taking life in an unwholesome direction because we still lack the wisdom of how to make wholesome decisions. Anything that God would do to improve upon the world would be immediately tainted as individuals would make countless decisions through craving, anger, and ignorance (unknowing of true reality) to once again bring the world back into decline and into the darkness. Instead, a wise parent would choose to share teachings with their children to learn, reflect upon, and practice so that they can acquire wisdom to make wise decisions through their own free will as responsible individuals. The other option would be that God controls everyone, there is no free will, and we are all robots. We know this is not true reality and no one would enjoy this type of world. Nobody would appreciate a pushy and domineering parent who is attempting to control their children, and that is why God does not practice those qualities. So, our choice is to decide to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings to acquire wisdom leading to liberation of the mind where it is completely peaceful, calm, serene, and content with joy or not. If we choose not to practice these Teachings, then, we should realize that is a decision that leads to our own consequences based on our own decisions, not the decisions of God. And, through choosing to learn, reflect, and practice these Teachings that will also lead to our own consequences based on our own decisions, not the decisions of God. God nor Gotama Buddha chooses to motivate us through guilt, shame, or fear. While others may share teachings in that way, that is not what would lead to liberation of the mind. God nor Gotama Buddha chose to share Teachings in that way and neither do I. Instead, it is more helpful for a Practitioner to realize they have complete free will to make any decisions they like. And, the more we understand The Natural Law of Kamma, the wiser decisions that we can make experiencing improved outcomes. God does not grant Enlightenment and God does not control all things in life.

We have complete “free will” to determine our own path in life. We do not need to be attached to the outcome of this existence nor be attached to God to create change in our life. Only you can create change in your life through your own free will and personal choices as a responsible and wise individual. If you believe God does exist, God would be interested in all humans being kind, gentle, warm, and loving with each other. These Teachings will guide you in developing a mind and life practice free from discontentedness and the suffering it causes. You can obtain your own salvation and believe in or have a relationship with God. You will not earn salvation through worship but through practicing Teachings that lead to universal love for all beings, causing no harm, and leading a good moral life. These are The Universal Teachings as described in Chapter 1 of this book. If you do not believe in God and develop a kind, gentle, warm, and loving life practice, should you someday find God does exist, God would be very pleased with your intentions, speech, and actions. And, if God does not exist, then you would have had a comfortable and wholesome existence on earth while living in harmony with other beings. You would have led a very wholesome life in developing this “life practice”. You do not need to believe in God to learn and practice these Teachings and a belief in God will also not hinder your practice, as long as you are not craving and desiring things from God nor having anger or hatred towards God. A relationship with God would only be helpful if cultivated as described in this Chapter. God is able to help you, if you choose to invite him into your life but that is not required in order to attain Enlightenment. You might think of God as another Teacher who is able to share his wisdom but only does so when someone seeks his guidance. He can be thought of as a very best friend who does not want anything from you nor will ever turn his back on you. God is only interested in seeing you be well and peaceful. He has an equal amount of “true love” for each and every being that has existed, exists now, and will exist in the future. What type of relationship or whether you have a relationship with God at all, is your choice. You are not penalized for not having a relationship with God but in choosing to have a relationship with God, he will help you as a friend or perhaps you might think of him as a kind, patient, understanding, loving, and wise Father who is always there for you if you choose to reach out a hand to him. God does not have any jealousy whatsoever as jealousy is caused by craving/desire/attachment and God does not have any craving/desire/ attachment.

A Practitioner will need to deeply consider The Teachings in this Chapter and all other Chapters within this book and book series to attain Enlightenment. All things that happen are not due to God’s creative actions and Enlightenment is not granted to you by God. For this reason, you can understand, believe, and have a relationship with God or not while still attaining Enlightenment. This is your journey, and you get to decide what is or is not included in your life journey. You are not being controlled and you cannot gain “material things” from God through prayer as everything that you acquire in this life is based on your own life decisions and your own life choices through The Natural Law of Kamma.

Choose wisely…

Learning Resources for Further Exploration

Audiobook

(Audiobook) - (Volume 1 - Chapter 18) - God's Creative Action: You Have Free Will (Read & Listen)

https://youtu.be/IxV7C6efbE0

Ep. 518 - (Audiobook) - (Volume 1 - Chapter 18) - God's Creative Action: You Have

Free Will

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/buddhadailywisdom/episodes/Ep--518---Audiobook---

Volume-1---Chapter-18---Gods-Creative-Action-You-Have-Free-Will-e272uk2

Youtube Video(s)

(Group Learning Program) - Chapter 18 - God's Creative Action: You Have

Free Will