User talk:Mark Arsten/sandbox 3

<!-- L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, developed several beliefs about Buddhism and how it related to his faith. In his view, the ancient religion was an antecedent of the system he developed and the two faiths shared key aspects. This connection was one of the few ties to established systems that he sought. He may have done so in an attempt to gain credibility for Scientology or to establish it as a religious, as opposed to medical, organization. He compared key Buddhist doctrines with the foundations of his belief system, arguing that they were basically the same. In doing so, he offered novel interpretations of dharmic terms; in his view, Scientology's values of "knowingness" and "exteriorization" were expressed millennia before in Buddhism. He forged an explicit connection between the two faiths, stating that he was the Maitreya, a key figure in Buddhist eschatology.

In addition to praising Buddhism, Hubbard also drew attention to what he saw as its flaws. He believed that it ultimately failed its adherents by focusing on nirvana, which he dismissed as "nothingness". In its place, he promoted Scientology as a way to find ultimate success and fulfillment while becoming powerful and retaining individuality; he contended that he avoided the errors of Buddhism by offering advanced technology and a clear methodology to spiritual progress. His beliefs about Buddhism have been reaffirmed by later generations of Scientologists but have not gained acceptance by Buddhists. Academics have discussed these beliefs, casting Scientology's beliefs about Buddhism as a reflection of a wider cultural fascination with the East. Scholars have cited some parallels between the two groups, but they have often noted marked differences in beliefs about the self and religious rituals.

Origins
Before the early 1950s, Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard, taught a form of self-help therapy, known as Dianetics. He promoted this as a scientific, not religious, belief. For much of his life, he had held a negative view of organized religions, but he changed his mind in the 1950s, as he began to discuss spiritual topics. In 1953, he founded the Church of Scientology, using it to advance his beliefs about religious issues. He promoted Scientology as a religion, and he began to draw parallels between his faith and Eastern religions.

Urban states that Hubbard assembled Scientology from a variety of existing religious and cultural themes, among which was Buddhism. Although Hubbard drew on numerous sources in his development of Scientology, he generally did not discuss these influences, with the exception of Eastern religion. In 1954, Hubbard first emphasized Scientology's similarity to Asian traditions, drawing comparisons to Hinduism, and he began to discuss its ties to Buddhism later that decade. He used vague terms to limn Scientology's relation to other belief systems; in 1957, he wrote "A Scientologist is first cousin to the Buddhist". Three years later, he stated "Scientology's closest spiritual ties with any other religion are with ... Buddhism."

Stephen A. Kent, a sociologist from the University of Alberta, posits that Hubbard sought to tie his organization to established religions at times in the 1950s and 60s when he worried about government sanction. Scientology had attracted government attention for allegedly practicing medicine without a license because Hubbard's early claims included the promise that his system would cure physical ailments. Government suspicion first emerged in the early 1950s, shortly before Hubbard attempted to tie his teachings to those of Eastern religions. His commenting about parallels to established religions may have been an attempt to deflect possible sanction by asserting ties to non-medical practices.

Beliefs about Buddhism
Hubbard saw Buddhism's concepts of Dhyāna and Dharma, the prescribed path and state of detachment respectively, as essentially the same as Scientology's "knowingness". He stressed that the basic aspects of Dhyāna are echoed in his group's teachings about the control of thoughts; in his view, "Dhyāna could literally be translated as Indian for Scientology". Furthermore, he cast his system as the completion of Buddhism, claiming that he could create many Buddhas. He believed that becoming a Buddha was the process of "exteriorizing" the self, or bringing the thetan out of the body. He cast the Buddhist concept of Bodhi, generally translated into English as "enlightenment", as analogous to being exteriorized. Although Advance! hailed Buddhism for realizing the concept of "exteriorization", Hubbard saw the faith as limited because he believed that its adherents could only reach this state momentarily. In his view, only a select few Buddhists could reach their goal, but Scientology allowed all to attain it. He described Gautama Buddha as "clear", or free from the influence of past events, but held that he never reached Scientology's Operating Thetan status, a state in which individuals have power over space and time.

In addition to drawing parallels, Hubbard contrasted Scientology with Buddhism, as well. Although he saw Scientology's goals as similar to Buddhism's "enlightenment", he differentiated his group's aims from nirvana. He contended that nirvana required the abandonment of individuality in favor of "nothingness"; he critiqued the search for nirvana, seeing it, as Kent says, as "a path to failure". Scientology differed, in Hubbard's view, by offering its practitioners ultimate individual autonomy and power. He believed that Buddhism failed because of a lack of technology; instead, he attempted to merge 20th-century electronics with Eastern religion. He taught that Scientology's use of the E-meter provided a bridge to the goals of Bhuddism, which he felt lacked a clear methodology to reach bodhi.

Some Church of Scientology publications have claimed that Hubbard spoke with Tibetan Lamas about their faith. He taught that Buddhist leaders throughout history would have welcomed the creation of Scientology but believed that Buddhism no longer offered a valuable system. In the mid-1950s, around the time that celebrations of 2,500 years of Buddhism were held, Hubbard wrote a poem entitled "Hymn of Asia". The work discussed the Buddhist concept of the Maitreya, a Buddha who occupies a central place in that faith's eschatology, and a prophecy of his arrival. At the end of the poem, Hubbard affirms his status as the predicted figure, proclaiming "I come to bring you all that Lord Buddha would have you know life, Earth, and Man." The document specifies a number of qualities that the prophesied Maitreya will have, each of which applied to Hubbard. In 1966, Hubbard delivered a lecture in which he tied the publication of Dianetics with the foretold time of the Maitreya's arrival; the expected date of return was Hubbard's invention. Kent concludes that Hubbard associated himself with Mentiyra to "enhance his image with his followers, as well as add respectability to his organization's beliefs". Buddhist literature that discusses the Maitreya does not contain references to the qualities described by Hubbard; in fact, his claims contradict some of Buddhist views of the promised figure.

Hubbard believed that Buddhism had had a marked effect on the development of Abrahamic religions. He held that Buddhism had influenced Judaism and Christianity, contributing the belief in a messiah and the importance of loving one's neighbor. He felt, however, that Christian doctrine was a misinterpretation of Buddhism, which he believed remained more "enlightened" and civilized.

The Church of Scientology has publicly affirmed the existence of similarities between Buddhism and their faith. In the 21st century, Scientologists have continued to view Buddhism as an "antecedent" of their faith. Prominent Scientology Tom Cruise has promoted the idea of a link between Buddhism and Scientology while applauding the ancient faith's foundation. Ties with Scientology have not been embraced by Buddhism, and one Bhuddist journal has explicitly disavowed the idea of a connection.

Comparative religion analysis
Urban speculates that Hubbard's initial attempts to tie his group to Buddhism were partially an attempt to capitalize on American interest in the latter religion, which had been fueled by the influence of D. T. Suzuki and members of the Beat Generation. Flinn sees Scientology as "the indiginization of Buddhism within a society that has technology as its cultural base". He casts Scientology as an example of a "the turning of ... Westerners to the East for the revitalization of religious conscience". Meldgaard argues that Hubbard attempted to create a "super Buddhism", and Urban compares Hubbard's statements about the power available in "Operating Thetan" status with legends of supernatural abilities of Tibetan Llamas.

Flinn argues that Scientology took basic elements of Buddhism and expressed them through the lens of North American technology and egalitarianism. In his view, there are similarities between Scientology's auditing levels and the Buddhist eightfold path; he also draws a comparison between stages of Zen Buddhist meditation and post-clear statuses of Scientology. He notes that both systems emphasize the awareness of the sacred within the individual, as opposed to Christianity and Judaism, which generally discuss the revelation of the divine from above.

Grünschloß notes that Scientology and Buddhism each contain beliefs about reincarnation and the awareness of past lives. He contends, however, that Scientology's concept of thetans is much different than anatta, the Buddhist teaching that casts the self as an illusion. Although Scientology places a strong emphasis on the self, or thetan, in Buddhism it is considered wrong to focus on or explore the soul. Grünschloß argues that Hubbard understood little of Buddhism when he founded Scientology, and Kent notes that most of Hubbard's audience lacked grounding in Buddhist teachings to evaluate his claims. Grünschloß posits that Hubbard gained his knowledge about the faith from encyclopedia entries or the writings of Helena Blavatsky or Nicholas Roerich. He notes similarities between Blavatsky and Hubbard's understandings of dhyana, and he draws parallels between discussion of Buddha in Scientology's Volunteer Minister's Handbook and in Blavatsky's writings.

Kent argues that Buddhism was not an influence on the development of Scientology, and that the similarities between the two are superficial. He notes that there are "cursory similarities" between some aspects of Scientology's training and Buddhist meditation but argues that there are major differences. In his view, Scientology lacks a clear parallel to Buddhist meditation; he cites Buddhism's emphasis on discipline and concentration as the path to spiritual fulfillment as an ascetic tradition not echoed in Scientology. The goals of Buddhists, he states, are much different than Scientology's focus on attaining freedom from engrams (traumatic memories).