To me, it’s like a Buddhist version of Pascal’s Wager, from hundreds of years before the birth of Pascal.
In the Pali scriptures, the Buddha also says that if there turns out to be no afterlife, we can at least enjoy the rewards of abstaining from evil in this life.
There is in fact a whole thread devoted to this. My own contribution is post #40, consisting of a list of suttas recommended to laypeople by the late Ven. Ñāṇavimala.
I wonder if the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka’s homophobic proscriptions in its Sukhavihāraparivarta could be explained as some of the leaven behind the occasional upflare up Chinese anti-gay sentiment, historically.
Obviously homophobia is a polyvalent and many-faceted societal phenomenon, and many factors go into it, but the prohibitions of association between the bodhisattva & and pañca paṇḍakāḥ would likely add to that leaven of malice, not detract from it. A pity. AFAIK none of the Sinitic recensions of the Dharmapada have homophobic insertions. Nor does the Udānavarga, mostly extant in Chinese AFAIK, for instance.
Incidentally, upon re-reading this thread, up there when I said:
I realize now I was mistaking the Pāli Udāna literature with the Sarvāstivāda Udānavarga. My mistake, originating from me not being sufficiently acquainted with Pāli texts.
I finished reading the Udana and it didn’t seem as interesting or insightful as the Dhammapada. Has anyone read the Udana and felt the same way afterward?