Regarding Scientology's alleged ties with traditional Eastern religions, a professor from the University of Alberta in Edmonton writes:

We must conclude, therefore, that Hubbard had only a rudimentary, and largely inaccurate, understanding of major Eastern religious traditions--traditions about which he claimed similarities to the faith that he had constructed.

His self-proclaimed association, for example, with Buddhism's Maitreya seems to have been an effort on his part to enhance his image with his followers, as well as add respectability to his organisation's beliefs by associating them with a major religious tradition. Aside from superficial similarities between scientology and Hinayana Buddhism that might have motivated him to draw spurious associations between the two belief systems, Hubbard may have written about Eastern faiths because his Western members were unlikely to have sufficient background in them to make informed assessments about his claims.

Quoted form "Scientology's Relationship With Eastern Religions Traditions"

--Dr. Steven Kent, University of Alberta.

http://www.ualberta.ca/~socweb

Go Back