I mentioned the problem with this earlier. You hold to a belief that you contend has the moral high ground so I would expect the outcomes of this belief to be immeasurably higher in its ways than the other beliefs you judge yet they are much of the same. This belief you hold to is supposed to be so much more human friendly and should be able to fully transcend consequence for actions yet such beliefs likewise teach a form of punishment or consequence for ones actions in this life even though less severe. One could legitimately argue that such an outcome of rebirth for failing to arrive at a spiritual level of consciousness is anti human and even a lesser evil, especially if its likely that one could spend thousands and thousands of years getting recycled in a plane of existence that has a substantial history of its own woes and despairs.
If I was an atheist or skpetic of any faith and heard the Buddhist way I may contend that such a belief is not even really any better than Christianity and is even a lesser evil, because it still judges and punishes based off of actions. I could tell a Buddhist his or her idea that their belief holds the moral highground over Christianity is an illusion, because people still get punished for not meeting a certain criteria of spirituality. You could argue that its an even greater evil in the sense that its hypocritical and sugarcoats its dealings with human beings in the afterlife to seem justified when really its the same concept of punishment. I could argue that holds to the idea of divine punishment for this life is not a higher way, but is much in the same as Christianity despite the Bible promising more severe chastisement than being reborn into the woes and despairs of the world.
So now your justifying my punishment and saying I am getting what I deserve in this life? Even though what I did in my last life is hidden from me and I cannot even review the charges against me.... Its no wonder so many people get recycled. Not only is this law hidden from them, but they cant see their cases brought against them either...
Well not remembering past lives has various purposes, such as not being overwhelmed by the trauma of your past experiences, at least until you are ready to be. Of course not remembering past lives in not a default, some people do have memories of their past lives. But if you have created the Karma not to remember them then you won't remember, at least without specifically working on developing such a memory. You may even have created the Karma not to understand Karma, that is a result of your past actions as well. In fact if we learn to observe our lives, we will comprehend the Karmic lessons we are learning, at least enough to make some progress, and that is really all that matters.
Yes, the world is full of suffering, that doesn't mean that we aren't attached to it and willing to renounce our self-realization for fleeting pleasures. While we still have such an attitude, we aren't really seeking our freedom. You say
" despite the Bible promising more severe chastisement than being reborn into the woes and despairs of the world", it isn't a "more severe chastisement", it is a situation of utter hopelessness in which the person has lost all chance of any kind of happiness
forever.
Its as I said earlier as well depending on where you come from and what time you come from the idea of being reborn into this world could be viewed as a crushing blow to the hearer of such things. Imagine being born with birth defects from depleted uranium. Imagine being born with no ligaments. Imagine living in a soviet gulag most of your life. Telling such people they will be reborn into this world would scare the pants off of them, yet you would suggest Buddhism is the moral high ground and superior in its ways. These people are completely oblivious and keep getting punished for things they arent even being made aware of so they cant even work to correct themselves.... You would suggest that they are deserving of such a life. Now if I was an atheist or agnostic I could apply the same standard you use to judge Christianity and apply it to your own belief and come away with the same conclusion. I wouldn't want to follow the ways of Buddha if such things are true(some atheist may reason). Im essentially being punished over and over again for being a slave to this material world and my ego. I could even try my damndest to be a Buddha and still fail in many lives is what you are telling me.
Yeah, there are rebirths which are full of darkness and suffering. That's not to say that the persons who undergo them are "evil", it just means that they need to undergo that situation for some reason. A person born in a situation of suffering is not equivalent to a person who is "bad", "faulty", "defective", it just means that such a person needs (or even
wants) to go through that suffering for some reason. We will all have some painful rebirths, that's just the way things are, and a few decades of pain doesn't even begin to compare to the notion of an
eternity of suffering.
You say
"I could even try my damndest to be a Buddha and still fail in many lives", well so long as your striving was sincere you would make some progress. According to stories of Buddha He took some millions of years to reach enlightenment, He was even born in hell realms in the past. Nonetheless, all that time is a grain of sand compared to the mountain of "eternity".
Actually the Lama I took refuge in spent twenty years in a Chinese labor camp, practicing Buddhism in secret, and he doesn't complain about Karma being unfair.
