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Articles like these, describing the pragmatism, acceptance of all ideas, and deep investigation (as rigorous as many scientists for sure) of Buddha make me wond

Articles like these, describing the pragmatism, acceptance of all ideas, and deep investigation (as rigorous as many scientists for sure) of Buddha make me wonder if there was any other like him. Clearly, Goenka is not a Buddha and doesn't seem to have attained enlightenment. And Buddha's thoughts on rebirth make a lot more sense when you realize that not being reborn was rebellious to the status quo where rebirth was seen as natural. It was one part of his learnings that I was confused about and now I realize he was being pragmatic again. Did we have any one like the Buddha again? Do we have anyone at the present, is it even possible for someone to be enlightened presently? And if Buddha genuinely was the only one who reached this level, did he actually glean "divine" truths?

kranner 7y ago
> not being reborn was rebellious to the status quo where rebirth was seen as natural. The Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita from the Hindu traditions primarily discuss liberation from rebirth and various paths to it. [1] At least some of the Upanishads probably predate Buddhism. [2] Liberation from rebirth has always been an integral part of the whole rebirth lore. So the Buddha's teachings were in that sense not rebellious to the status quo. It is even possible that the status quo actually coloured his opinion of his subjective experience of meditation so much as to lead him to believe he had found another path (if not the best path) to liberation. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation#Hinduism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reincarnation#Hinduism [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upanishads