Several citizens ran into a hot argument about God and different religions, and each one could not agree to a common answer. So they came to the Lord Buddha to find out what exactly God looks like.

The Buddha asked his disciples to get a large magnificent elephant and four blind men. He then brought the four blind to the elephant and told them to find out what the elephant would "look" like.

The first blind men touched the elephant leg and reported that it "looked" like a pillar. The second blind man touched the elephant tummy and said that an elephant was a wall. The third blind man touched the elephant ear and said that it was a piece of cloth. The fourth blind man hold on to the tail and described the elephant as a piece of rope. And all of them ran into a hot argument about the "appearance" of an elephant.

The Buddha asked the citizens: "Each blind man had touched the elephant but each of them gives a different description of the animal. Which answer is right?"

"All of them are right," was the reply.

"Why? Because everyone can only see part of the elephant. They are not able to see the whole animal. The same applies to God and to religions. No one will see Him completely." By this parable, the Lord Buddha teaches that we should respect all other ligitimate religions and their beliefs.

They messed up when they ran to Buddha

Some people are so blind they think they own the elephant.

Then there are those who can see and realize there is no elephant.

maybe buddha should be in the middle-east peace-talks. this is, eastern and native american philosophy seek peaceful ways, western and middle eastern philosophies seek war, so.......maybe they can get them down to a dull, slow, scream to at least see some reason.

darkowl I see you have a pic of the Louisiana state bird there

yes, i have hundreds of these pets(pests)

While the message is good, I must say that Buddha never saw himself as a Lord like the paragraph states above.

"Lord Buddha" is not what he would have liked to be remembered as.

He wanted to be seen as a simple monk that found enlightenment and shared his wisdom with those who where interested.

but in the end, solutions can be solved peacefully without the use of force, if one has the audacity of trying.

I hope for mankind that leaders around the world do try to use peaceful resolutions such as this example above.

I agree, that's a totally wrong impression of a Buddha.

So, what makes a religion/belief system legit?

hahaha! :-D

Every one has beliefs, whether they vocalize them or not.
The fact of the matter is Truth.
They all can't be true.
If they weren't blind, they'd see that what they were touching was in fact an elephant.
Only God can open their eyes.
The question is, do they want to see?

I wonder if Buddha ever let people rub his belly in real life...