Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site uscvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbosgd!ihnp4!houxm!vax135!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!hplabs!sdcrdcf!uscvax!baparao
From: baparao@uscvax.UUCP (Bapa Rao)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: Damager-God = Shiva/Yin ?
Message-ID: <1104@uscvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 21-Sep-85 19:07:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: uscvax.1104
Posted: Sat Sep 21 19:07:09 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 26-Sep-85 08:16:55 EDT
References: <-145727676@sysvis>
Reply-To: baparao@usc-cse.UUCP (Bapa Rao)
Organization: CS&CE Depts, U.S.C., Los Angeles, CA
Lines: 31

In article <-145727676@sysvis> george@sysvis writes:
>
...
>
>The "Damager-God" about which so much has been written of late:  Is this
>not the concept of "Shiva" in Indian Bhuddism?  The "Yin" of Yin/Yang?
				      ^^^^^^^^^
...

Allow me to correct a factual error in the above posting:

The deity known as "Shiva", is the third member of the Hindu Trinity, having
no bearing on Buddhism, which latter I understand to   ^^^^^
have been an atheistic (non-theistic perhaps?) path at the time of
its origin in India.  Shiva has no conceptual relationship with the
anthropomorphic Christian "Damager-God" being discussed in this newsgroup.
He does, however, represent destruction (not regarded as being inherently
evil or good), which is considered to be the third of the three phases that
Life is said to undergo (the other two being Creation and Growth,
represented respectively by Brahma and Vishnu, the other two Gods of the
Trinity). Shiva is also considered to be the masculine principle
(Purusha) in creation, the feminine being Nature (Prakriti).  Unfamiliar
though I am with the intricacies of the Yin/Yang notion, I would conjecture
that the Purusha/Prakriti interpretation is conceptually similar to
Yin/Yang. 

I hope this clears up some of the confusion and misinformation about
similarities between Judeo-Christian concepts of God/Satan and the Hindu
religio-philosophical concepts.

					--Bapa Rao.