Is materialism the religion of the walking dead?

Those who are consumed with materialism in which the spiritual side of man is reduced to physicality such that spirit is no longer believed or discussed, are the icchantikas who are discussed in the Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra in not a kind way. As a matter of fact, the icchantika is likened to a dead person!

While it is true that the icchantika is not without the eternal spiritual substance, as are all living creatures (sattva), this substance being the Buddha-nature, the icchantika is certainly doomed to present suffering insofar since he has willfully severed himself from the possibility of realizing his Buddha-nature because of his strong attachment to materialism. In addition, the icchantika makes no attempt to gain Bodhicitta (S., bodhicittotpada) in which the subtle power of pure Mind is awakened for the first time.

While the icchantika can certainly read the teachings of the Buddha, he just doesnt get it. He is just not interested. The ideas of emancipation from suffering and gaining enlightenment are alien to the icchantika. The only way for an icchantika to change is to believe in the spiritual teachings of the Buddha which teach us how to awaken to our primordial nature which is eternally unchanging and undying. By comparison, the materialists world, which is also the world of the icchantika, is forever changing. It is always other than itself (hence, it lacks selfhood). Moreover, it is an illusion lacking substance and meaning. Not even death offers an escape because death is only change into other, not finality.

A minority, I am sure, would agree with me that materialism is the great evil of our age. Instead, the majority prefer to sweep the evils of this age under the rug as if the horrific wars of the 20th century were due entirely to other causes not associated with the rise of materialism. Yet, at the same time, virtually all people are aware o! f the pr ocess of dehumanization which I take to be the result of materialism. Sadly, they have not dug deep enough into materialism in which the spiritual side of man is first disbelieved followed by the annihilation of everything holy in human nature.


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