Originally posted by Metamorphosis
Well, I might qualify.
I've been a student of Buddhism for about 25 years, and a practitioner of Buddhist meditation for about that length of time. I have also taught meditation classes for the past 13 years, and am a practitioner ...[text shortened]... ves from the root word "budh", meaning in Sanskrit "awake"😉.
Metamorphosis: "Whereas Christianity asserts the existence of primordial evil in the form of the serpent, Buddhism holds that all such "evil" is the creation of the human mind via delusion and ignorance, and that the way through such delusion and ignorance is via cultivating the insight needed to wake up out of it."
You depict the Christian faith as if it were some Bugs Bunny story.
Roman Catholicism holds that such "evil" is the creation of the human mind (choice?) via delusion (straying away from or not being able to see the Truth?) and ignorance (not knowing the Truth ?), and that the Way (!) through such delusion and ignorance is via cultivating (studying, working, contemplating, medidating and praying ?) the insight needed to wake up out of it."
That sounds better allready, doesn't it ?
It is true that Christians assume that human beings are not able to save themselves in order to gain eternal life, but that doesn't mean they can lay back and leave everything to the "external entity" as you seem to imply.
By the way, does Buddhism teach people can "save" themselves and have eternal life in a state of happiness?
Does Buddhism have moral rules which people should obey ?