AGNOSTICISM

Agnosticism is the the philosophical position that it is impossible to know anything certain about God. It is sometimes said that the Buddha was an agnostic but this is not correct. It is true that he rarely addressed questions concerning the existence or nature of God but this was only because such questions were not being discussed by the leading religious thinkers of the time. Neither Mahavira, the founder of Jainism, Pȧrana Kassapa, Makkhali Gosāla, Ajita Kesalambalã or the Buddha himself gave the concept of a supreme being any place in their philosophies. And when the god-idea was discussed the Buddha made his position certain and clear - he rejected it as evidentially, logically and morally untenable. For example, in the Jātaka he highlighted the contradiction between the claim that God is an omnipotent loving deity and the undeniable cruelity and evil found in the world. `Why does God not straighten out the world? If he really is the Controller, the Highest, Lord of All Beings, why is the whole world in such a mess? Why did he not make the world happy? If he really is the Controller, the Highest, Lord of All Beings, why is there so much deceit, lies, pride and unrighteousness? If he really is the Controller, the Highest, Lord of All Beings, then he must be unrighteousness and cruel because it was he who made everything' (Ja.VI,208).