How do Buddhists reconcile Buddha's descriptions of past lives with modern Cosmology and natural history?
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**This is NOT a duplicate question**. Have seen other similar questions but their questions were very different from what I am about to ask.
The modern Cosmology is clear. 13.8 billion years ago, the Universe started to form, then 4.5 billion years ago the Earth was formed, then 3 billion years ago primitive forms of life was created, then 200,000 years ago early humans came to existence, and finally we have modern human civilizations about 5000 years ago.
This is in sharp contrast to Buddha's claims of having past lives hundreds of thousands of years ago, millions of years ago, billions of years ago, trillions of years ago, etc when there was either no life or no humans. Buddha already lived close to the formation of human civilization, he couldn't have possibly lived so many lives given in vivid details in Jataka tales and other scriptures when there were no human civilizations or humans to begin with.
So, how do Buddhists deal with this? Do they deny science? Do they think that millions of years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth, there was Buddha? Do they think when the Universe wasn't even formed trillions of years ago, Buddha lived a life? If you guys accept Science, does that mean Buddha lied all along? Did he just make up those stories to attract more followers?
Asked by Suradoe Uchiha
(249 rep)
Dec 12, 2023, 05:52 PM
Last activity: Dec 14, 2023, 10:54 AM
Last activity: Dec 14, 2023, 10:54 AM