If Atheists Are Completely Amoral and Shameless, How'll You Define Buddha?

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 17 February 2023 “You don't have a parallel for people like Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Mother Teressa among the atheists. I haven't seen a religious person who is completely amoral and shameless as atheists are. " Ha......Ha.......Ha........Absolute flapdoodle but predictable of a fanatic, monomaniac and supremacist Muslim with a tunnel vision! Photo: The Time of India ------ Who was Buddha? Do you know, how early Hindu religious texts defined Buddha: Nastikasya Sarvopari Nastikam (Atheist of atheists/ the biggest atheist among all the atheists). Gautam Buddha had no god and no religion. He discarded divinity, rejected Vedas and all gods. Yet, he was the epitome of compassion and the greatest moralist ever to have lived and graced the earth. The cunning Brahmins later called him the 10th reincarnation of Vishnu just to make him like one of them. Even Pitakas (Buddhist texts) call him ' Sayantu' (Pali for an atheist) and Nirishar (distortion of the Sanskrit term Nireeshwar or an atheist in Pali/ Read Acharya Dharmanand Kosambi's treatise on Buddha's atheism, alas, you neither know Sanskrit nor Pali). Ashvaghosh's Buddcharita (an epic poem in Sanskrit on the life of Buddha, composed in the early second century) defines Buddha as an Iish-Parangmukh (equivalent of today's apatheist). And please don't equate Mother Teresa with Gandhi and Dr King. Now it's an open secret that the lady had a hidden agenda. Her only objective was to proselyte poor people (to her fold). Gandhi and Dr King walked on the path of compassion and non-violence shown by the Buddha. A believer has absolutely no right to call an atheist amoral or shameless. That shows his rank bias, complete ignorance and abusive disposition. He's a sick, benighted and pitiable soul who needs to consult a shrink. He should remember that history's most despicable and obnoxious characters like Osama Bin Laden, Hitler, Mussolini, Aurangzeb (the most sanctimonious Mughal) among others were NOT atheists. Their egregious morality sprang from their faith in religion. All detestable and most execrable Muslim suicide bombers have their morality deeply rooted and entrenched in religion (read Islam). So, don't talk of skewed morality. How can morality, an acute sense of discernment or the nuanced ability to distinguish between good or bad be deontological or ontological? Jean-Paul Sartre wrote in his rather recondite book, “Being and Nothingness " that an individual's morality is his/her way of perceiving things, situations and dilemmas that keep cropping up in life. There's no external agency to decide a person's morality. While a religious person or theist may attribute it to god and his/her religious indoctrination, an atheist or non-believer applies Sense of Propriety to look at life's variegated circumstances. Sebastian Gardner, an authority on Sartre and Kant, is also of the same view. The world's wisest teachers, from Christ to Confucius, have summarized the ideal of human conduct in a single ethical guideline known as the Golden Rule. It's simply expressed in the traditional proverb, “Do as you'd be done by"- treat other people as you wish to be treated yourself. What's hateful to you don't unto others. That's the entire law. The rest is commentary. Please refer to my article in TOI on this subject that appeared on Nov. 5, 2019- Atheists Also Have A Definite Moral Code In one of the four volumes (‘Kya Bhooloon, Kya Yaad Karoon?' of Dr Harivanshrai Bachchan's autobiography, he summed it up, " Jeevan Ke Antim Padaav Par Ateet Ki Jo Baatein Aapko Saalti Hain Aur Aapko Lagta Hai Ki Unka Aur Acchhe Dhang Se Paryavasaan Ho Sakta Tha Toh Wahi Aapka Naitik Moolya Aur Drishtikon Hai. Iska Agle Ya Picchhle Janm Se Koi Naata Nahin Hai Aur Na Hi Mrityu Ke Pashchaat Iska Kuchh Arth Hai " (At the last juncture of your life when you look back and feel sorry for certain actions, that's your ethical approach to life which has nothing to do with past or future births. Nor does it have any bearing on a fictitious Afterlife). The pricks and pangs of your conscience constitute your morality. Nothing else does matter. So, please avoid the nomenclature of morality and keep your Islam at home. You sound as if people having no religion and belief in any god and Hereafter are all destitute of morality. This is the biggest fallacy and most incorrigible malady one can be afflicted with. Read the biography of Albert Camus, the most humane atheist the world has ever seen. ------- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/atheists-amoral-shameless-buddha/d/129126 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism