semantics, religion, buddhismEven amongst my friends who claim to be atheist, quite a few of them don’t regard Buddhism to be a religion and see it as more of a “way of life/guide to life”. Personally I believe that it’s as full of ritual and superstition as any other religion and the above claim can be made for any of them.
Curious as to what the members here think about this.
I would consider Buddhism to be a religion based on the fact that it involves supernatural entities (The Buddha, bodhisattvas) and achievements or goals to attain (“enlightenment”, reincarnation). The trappings of rituals involved in its only add to the idea that Buddhism is a religion.
Some people would argue that it depends on which flavor of Buddhism you’re talking about - the idea of Zen is different from Theraveda is different from Mahayana is different from Tibetan. Some sects don’t think about reincarnation or think of The Buddha as a supernatural being, but all seem to agree with the idea of “enlightenment”, or transcending this life into something better.
It really depends on your definition of religion, but I think that that last part - the idea of “enlightenment”, or transcending this life and achieving Nirvana, is what throws it firmly into the “religion” category.
Besides, a binding thread that seems to pollute all religions is a tendency to think of women as less-than, and traditionally, that’s held with Buddhism, as well.
Is something a religion is not a yes/no binary answer. The best I've seen is a list of criteria rather than a flat definition (http://atheism.about.com/od/religiondefinition/a/definition.htm has a good summary of this perspective on the definition of religion, adapted from the Encyclopedia of Philosophy), where the more criteria something has, the more "religious" it is. No religion will have all the criteria (or, at least, most won't), but something can be considered a religion if it meets "most" of the criteria on the checklist.
I think that Buddhism is on that edge, depending upon which specific version of Buddhism you're analyzing. Although I would classify it as a religion, I think a case can be made that the philosophy can be removed from all the other trappings. The way I look at it, a philosophy by itself is not a religion, but a religion needs to have some sort of philosophy. So, if a person thinks they can isolate the Buddhist philosophy from the supernaturalism, the ritual, and enough other elements to make it not a sufficient majority of criteria on that checklist, then I think it could be successfully argued that, in that specific case, that version of Buddhism is a philosophy and not a religion. And that seems to be what atheist Buddhists are trying to do.
But I do not believe this is the majority of cases, and that most versions of Buddhism do, if barely, fulfill a majority of the criteria on the checklist and can be considered a religion, for all intents and purposes.
It certainly is. It’s one of the largest religions in the world. When western nations started importing eastern mysticism they managed to mangle it badly so that people can come off thinking it’s just woo.
That would entirely depend on how it is applied. Many people (me included) simply find it sensible to be mindful of what we think and what we do. You could, therefore incorporate Buddhist teachings (including meditation) into your day to day life without becoming ‘a Buddhist’. You’re just incorporating parts of it that work for you.
Yes, Buddhism is a real religion, complete with lots and lots of holy texts, a theory of the afterlife, ethical prescriptions and all. It also has monastic orders, sectarian divisions, and just about all the other trappings of religion.
It’s possible to interpret certain of its religious texts in a light compatible with philosophical naturalism, but the same could be said of any other religion.
Buddhism started out a rejection of the caste system and early brahmanism in ancient India. Buddha's earliest teachings/ideas weren't perfect, but they encourage skeptical/rational thinking and discouraged the supernatural. But, like most memes, they mutated. Now, like other "organized" religions, there are various sects in Buddhism as well. Some consider Buddha to be a transcendent,heavenly entity, some consider him to be a normal human being. Check out these discussions:
What unites Buddhism is never the goal of enlightenment, but rather adherence to mindfulness. At core Buddhism is a collection of practices of mind and body manipulation to achieve non ordinary states of consciousness. It is of course a major world religion with sects devoted to differing practices and metaphysics and deities, but the common thread is mindfulness by meditation.
Back in the 1960’s Buddhists certainly carried on like religious fanatics.
Be wary of this video, it shows one of the fanatics setting himself on fire. (He wasn’t the only one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjpAh4rqTv4
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