What is the Creation story according to Buddhism?

Answer 1

Buddhism and CreationOne of the teachings of Buddhism that is difficult for its adherents to explain to non-Buddhists, one that even long-time Buddhist teachers have a problem with, is the ugbvuygbuggjkfgiutfvgyvytfytthe Judeo-Christian-Islamic version of the creation of the universe. In these religious traditions the creation story derives from two assumptions:

1. Creation is the work of a single agent: God.
2. Creation occurred in a single event, and relatively recently.

In order to refute the first postulate, it is necessary to understand that in Buddhist teaching there is no single universe in which every living being resides. Rather, there are many universes of experience, and every living being exists in its own universe. In other words, if I am born with a man's body, then of all the possible experiences offered by the universe, I am limited to the experiences that are possible for a male. This means that I can't become pregnant, have a menstrual cycle or experience menopause. Conversely, a woman cannot grow a beard (usually) or possess the same potential for muscular development as a man. Furthermore, an American's experiences of the universe are different from those of a Mexican or Australian, and the reality of someone born in the twenty-first century will differ from that of someone who lived in the eighteenth century.

For Buddhists the creator of the universe of experience is not an external being, but your own Karma. Karma subtitutes the role of God, but the main difference is that it is not separated from the individual. Past actions of thought, speech and body determine, limit and set a boundary for the experiences that I can have in the present, and present actions set the same boundaries for future experiences.

In order to refute the second Judeo-Christian-Islamic postulate, one must demostrate that the world is not in a state of being (fixed, settled), but rather in a state of becoming. Through his teaching of impermanence, the Buddha showed that the world is in a state of becoming. At any given moment, some people are born and others die, some stars are born while others die, some galaxies are born as others die. At any level that we examine the universe, from the atomic to the galactic, changes are happening and the universe is never set, never finished, but always in a state of becoming - a work in progress. According to this point of view, it does not make sense to try to affirm that creation happened either a short time or a long time ago, because creation is happening right now. It is a continuous process with a complimentary process of destruction. In other words, in Buddhism creation is a participative and never ending process instead of an observed and previously completed event.

The next question that springs to mind is: If there has never been a creator God where the idea came from? To understand the answer to this question is it necessary to refer to Buddhist Cosmology. The time from the creation to the destruction of the universe is called a kalpa (an very long, long time). At the end of the kalpa the human and god realms are destroyed and at the beginning of a new kalpa the god realm is the first to appear. Due to his past karma, one particular being is the first to be reborn in the god realm and for a long time he is living alone. (Some time ago, when I was receiving a teaching from a Tibetan master he mentioned that Brahma (the creator according to Hinduism) is the oldest living being in the current kalpa.)

At some moment he wishes to have companionship and sooner or later a second beign is reborn there. When this happens the first being, Brahma, thinks "I wished for companionship, and now this being appeared so I must be his creator!". The second being thinks "This other being was here before me, so he must be my creator" and all the next beings reborn in the god realm, fall into the same mistaken logic. Later on, the good karma that make this beings gods is exhausted and they fall into the human realm. Unconsciently they remember that the saw the creator god in a past life so they continue to worship him. This is the reason the highest cast of the Aryans is called Brahmins because they saw Brahma face-to-face in the past.

Answer 2

Buddhists are not so interested in "where it all came from" as they are with "what to do about it now"

The question of origins is so vast that people could spend all of eternity contemplating it and never get around to the important considerations of escaping the cycle of death and re-birth. A story likens it to a man shot with a poison arrow who must receive immediate attention. Each time the doctor goes to treat him he asks questions like "Who shot the arrow?", "Who was his teacher?", "Who manufactured the arrows and the bow?" until his time runs out and he dies.

There isn't one!
Buddhist don't believe any thing started the world but do believe that it was started by the matter of the universe smashing together.

Answer:

The Buddhist position on the creation of the Universe is that they have no position on this matter. The question cannot be answered, and if answered would not matter. As consequence time and energy wasted in pursuing the answer to this question is wasted time. The time could be better spent thinking about your own life and how you can bring it into better alignment with the Eightfold Path.

Answer 3

In essence Buddhists hold to a view that the elements and minds exist since beginingless time so a starting point to everything doesn't really have any meaningful significance in Buddhism.