Scientology and Buddhism share a fundamental belief in that you must look for yourself. This is a concept that widely varies with what is taught in most schools today—that you must learn what Dr. Authority said and be able to repeat it as an absolute truth and abide by it against all odds.

L. Ron Hubbard had to look for himself to find out about the mind, the spirit and life. He applied himself to what he learned and developed a science called Dianetics that relieves pain. He continued his research and found out that Man was a spiritual being and that this could be proven. Then he formed the Scientology religion because the study of the spirit belongs in the field of religion.

However, he strongly suggests to all Scientologists that they must not believe anything only because he says so or because any person of authority says so:

“He [student of Scientology] should make up his mind about each thing that is taught—the procedure, techniques, mechanics and theory. He should ask himself these questions: Does this piece of data exist? Is it true? Does it work? Will it produce the best possible results in the shortest time?

“There is a way to answer these questions to his own satisfaction: find them himself. These are fundamentals and every student should undertake to discover them himself, thus raising Scientology above an authoritarian category. It is not sufficient that an instructor stand before him and declare the existence of these. Each and every student must determine for himself whether or not the instructor’s statements are true.
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“Study it with the purpose in mind of arriving at your own conclusions as to whether the tenets you have assimilated are correct and workable. Compare what you have learned with the known universe.”

—L. Ron Hubbard, in Scientology: A New Slant on Life, pages 33-34 and page 41

This concept and advice to those studying Scientology is very similar to what Buddha told his followers:

“Don’t blindly believe what I say. Don’t believe me because others convince you of my words. Don’t believe anything you see, read, or hear from others, whether of authority, religious teachers or texts.”

“Don’t rely on logic alone, nor speculation. Don’t infer or be deceived by appearances.””Do not give up your authority and follow blindly the will of others. This way will lead to only delusion.”

“Find out for yourself what is truth, what is real. Discover that there are virtuous things and there are non-virtuous things. Once you have discovered for yourself give up the bad and embrace the good.”

~ The Buddha ~ taken from http://www.noble-buddhism-beliefs.com/buddha-quotes.html

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