2007-05-09 08:09:41 · 27 answers · asked by nicky 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Buddhism is Not a Religion. According to the Webster's Dictionary, the definition of religion is as follows, "An organized system of beliefs, rites, and celebrations centered on a supernatural being power; belief pursued with devotion."
Buddhism is not a religion because:
First, the Buddha is not a 'supernatural being power'. The Buddha is simply a person who has reached Complete Understanding of the reality of life and the universe. Life refers to ourselves, and universe refers to our living environment. The Buddha taught that all beings possess the same ability to reach Complete Understanding of themselves and their environment, and relieve themselves from all sufferings to attain utmost happiness. All beings can become Buddhas, and all beings and the Buddha are equal by nature. The Buddha is not a God, but a teacher, who teach us the way to restore Wisdom and Understanding by conquering the greed, hatred, and ignorance which blind us at the present moment. The word 'Buddha' is a Sanskrit word, when translated it means, "Wisdom, Awareness/Understanding". We call the founder of Buddhism Shakyamuni Buddha because He has attained Complete Understanding and Wisdom of life and the universe. Buddhism is His education to us, it is His teaching which shine the way to Buddhahood.
Second, the 'belief' in the Buddha's teachings is not blind belief, or blind faith. Shakyamuni Buddha taught us not to blindly believe what he tells us, he wants us to try the teachings and prove them for ourselves. The Buddha wants us to know, not merely believe. The Buddha's teachings flow from his own experience and understanding of the truth, and shows us a path of our own to taste the truth for ourselves. The Buddha uses a perfectly scientific way of showing us reality in its true form.
Third, Buddhism is not a religion because all the 'rites and celebrations' are not centered on a supernatural being, but rather the people attending the assemblies. The ceremonies and celebrations in Buddhism all serve an educational purpose, a reminder of the Buddha's teachings and encouragement to all students who practice it. The point of the ceremonies is to help others awaken from delusion and return to Wisdom and Understanding.
Finally, Buddhism is not a religion because the 'devotion' used in Buddhism is not one based on emotion, but one based on reason. Students of the Buddha are devoted to their practice of maintaining Purity of Mind because this practice brings true happiness. We are devoted to helping both ourselves and others attain Complete Understanding and Wisdom. Our devotion is to become Buddha.
Buddhism is a philosophy of life expounded by Gautama Buddha ("Buddha" means "enlightened one"), who lived and taught in northern India in the 6th Century B.C. The Buddha was not a god and the philosophy of Buddhism does not entail any theistic world-view. The teachings of the Buddha are aimed solely to liberate sentient beings from suffering.
Being Buddhist, if asked for a simpler answer, I would reply; Buddhism just is.
2007-05-09 20:41:09 · answer #1 · answered by barrettlee 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The teachings of Gautama Buddha was simple wisdom on how to eliminate and attain liberation from suffering. He was one of the enlightened souls of his time.
He did not created the Buddhism philosophy or the Buddhism religion. He was just sharing spiritual words of wisdom from his own experience after personally attaining higher level of consciousness.
Later, after he left this world, his followers set down in their own opinion what might have been his teachings and further incorporate it with their culture at that time. That's when the chanting and all that came about.
Seriously, he only showed a way. Never did he lay down any philosophy or religious doctrine. You must understand, spirituality, philosophy and religion though related are different disciplines altogether. They all try to uncover the secret of creation or God. Yet, which one is true? None.
After a considerable seeking and experience, one will drop all these different paths and go direct to God. The direct path. In the end all belief and ideas or concepts will leave, leaving us bare naked, torn and tested, standing on the threshold of eternity, face to face with God with nothing but absolute love and surrender.
I am not promoting any paths here. I am just sharing my point of view from personal experience. In my experience, love is the only thing which is going to take you back home. You can follow any paths, if you don't have love, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. Love is the key to heaven.
Lead a loving life, love yourself and the life around you, and see miracles happen to you. A person who is loving is more closer to God than a person who doesn't. He can be a preacher, or spiritualist, or whoever and whatever level in life, he can even be a president of a country, he can even be the most richest man on earth, if he don't have love, all is lost.
The best path I have known, is the path of love.
2007-05-09 08:44:50 · answer #2 · answered by rajkath 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Buddhist is a way of life.
It is a practical philosophy to find real happiness.
You can do it yourself... It is up to you.
So in that way it is difficult from a philosophy because a phylosophy is only the description of the reality seen from a cerain viewpoint. But it has no practical advice.
It is not a religion. Because a religion is based on belief in a God or in Holly texts and is mostly more concerned with the explination of the metaphysical things. In Buddhism there is no god, no beleive in texts. The taxts of the buddha are guidelines, but we have to find out for ourself if they are true in our life. In buddhism there is no explination about metaphysical questions, because these things distract us only from our real purpose in life.
2007-05-09 23:18:59 · answer #3 · answered by vital_moors 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buddhism is BOTH a philosophy and a religion.
A philosophy in that it seeks a way to explain wisdom for living.
A religion in that buddha is revered or worshipped.
In order to worship you need a philosophical mystical belief in Buddhism and their sacred scripture.
2007-05-09 08:28:02 · answer #4 · answered by Leo 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Every religion is based on a philosophy. so yes, Buddhism is a religion and a philosophy in the same time.
2007-05-09 08:18:02 · answer #5 · answered by ralucation 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Buddhism is more of a philosophy as far as I know.
2007-05-09 08:14:51 · answer #6 · answered by Ben 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
both and not both...? know why..?
because if you just want to study about... yes it can be a philosophy, if you want to get the happiness in this live and after death... Buddhism can be a religion that you looking for...
BUT if you want the find more than that all... Buddhism also the answer to outstep them all..
2007-05-09 14:08:02 · answer #7 · answered by mirws 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
it's basically a philosophy.Buddhism is composed of the Buddha's teachings.that shows you how to live a good disciplined life with moral values and ethics.these teachings can be followed even if you're following another relgion.e.g.i know many hindus who live their lives according to this code of ethics.for these people,it's a philosophy.
for a person like me,it's my relgion since i don't follow any other religion and also i go to Buddhist temples etc that a person of another relgion (who was merely following the teachings) wouldn't do.this brings me to another important thing which many westerners find confusing.i hope you don't mind me explaining this issue here.it's about the "idol worship" concept.
we do not regard Buddha as a deity.we regard him as a very great teacher.Buddhists usually are taught to worship (physically bend down to the ground) their parents and teachers as well.this has nothing to do with being divine of course.this is a way of showing our respect.i worship my parents everyday (i'm living with them) and my mum who's 50 years still worships her parents everyday (they live next door).my dad's parents are no more.so he keeps a photograph and worships that everyday before going to work.the same applies for Buddha.since he's no more,we worship his statues to respect him.this may not be the same in all countries,in Sri Lanka this is the way.
this has become part of our country's culture really.because in schools,Buddhists,Hindus,Christians all worship teachers. and just like there are Buddha statues all over town,there are statues of Jesus.
what you must do is,if you're learning Buddhism newly,DON'T confuse "Buddhism" with the cultural aspects.Buddha never TOLD us to worship him or anything.all he wanted to do was to show us the path to enlightenment.even when he was alive,he never expected anything in return from his followers.all he said was live according to good moral values and free yourself from vanities and desires.so just learn up his teachings.that's all that's necessary.
also,though there are different sects of Buddhism,there are no differences in the interpretation of his teachings.his teachings are the same.
2007-05-09 08:14:16 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
In my opinion more of a philosophy but a fine way of life for those that have taken that route, but it is always nice to study other religious beliefs!
2007-05-09 08:15:00 · answer #9 · answered by S.O.S. 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's a system of philosophy focused on practice so no it isn't a conventional religion in spite of the fact that it has institutions etc.
2007-05-09 08:14:28 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋