Ok thankfully Bhuddists do not believe in a god.Does Bhuddism move onward though, in the same sense that - lets say the logical positivist movement within western philosophy analysed certain propositions and then asserted these as facts - later some other logical positivists came along and said "actually its not wise to believe that because look, you have made some assumptions and heres what we now find to be a true analysis" : they give their arguments and they are very rational so All the logical positivists move forward with their issues and leave it to students to wrangle over their old arguments like bear cubs learning to catch fish. two - three - four decades later their assertions become truths of philosophy as they seem undeniable by that time and so great philosophers like Wittgenstein are upheld as genius So my question is - does Bhuddism have that element to it as well, where the assumptions of its teaching are challenged and shown to be mere assumptions and that moves bhuddism onward ? Is it an ever evolving form and it has its geniuses within its ranks?
Absolutely it does, although logical positivism is not core to Buddhism, there are many logical positivists (myself included) that find Buddhism attractive. The Buddha once told his followers not to simply accept what he says as true, but to listen to his words and try to understand them, and see if they seem to be true. Only if they make sense should they be accepted. The venerable sir also went on to explain that Buddhism must remain coincident with science -- that if science ever found something to be false, Buddhism must change to reflect the finding. However keep in mind, Buddhism is NOT really about knowing everything or learning so much that one becomes "enlightened," these are all false premises of what Buddhism is about. The Buddha taught as he did for one specific goal: to help people learn how to stop themselves from suffering, through internal exploration and wisdom. In Buddhism you won't find many critics running around going "This looks false! Let's change it!" because a central idea in Buddhism is that everyone must find their own path and learn their own wisdom. Because of this, some teachings will make sense to some people (and give them some level of wisdom about themselves), while they will seem completely wrong to other people. I remember reading a story about how the Buddha was asked whether God existed by two different men, and he answered the question in diametric opposition (he said yes to one and no to the other), but because of how he answered the question, both men found some specific wisdom which they were seeking and thus understood how to better cease their suffering. I find that the process of learning wisdom is a very relative thing. This is why, in schools, a teacher may explain something one way during class, but some students still will not understand, so they (ideally) stay after class where the teacher explains the concept some other way, possibly analogous to something which is completely unrelated to the concept, but because the teacher explained it that way, the student does in fact learn the concept. Anyhow, happy trails, my friend.
Absolutely. I personally feel the whole point to the dharma is that you challenge it. That's the point.
