i am interested to know is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy?

Question

i want to know if anyone can come up with an interesting artgument either way and please back it up with evidents if you like

Answer 1

Well, it's not a religion because there isn't a god. Buddha isn't considered a god, just a spiritual figure. So it's a philosophy.

Answer 2

It all depends on how you define religion. Most people consider it a philosophy because it has no god and no worship. Most dictionaries will tell you that religion is the worship of god.

My personal view is that Buddhism is a religion. I base this view on a sociological perspective and in depth studies of religion that I've read. The common socio- or anthropological definition of religion is that it contains, to some extent, all of the following:

1. Belief System aka worldview. It's a systematic interpretation of the world/universe and humanity's place therein. In Buddhism, it's the Buddha-Dharma.
2. Community: The belief system is shared by a group. We call it the Sangha.
3. Central myths: Stories that express the beliefs that are retold and often reenacted. The stories of how Siddharta Guatama became the Buddha. I should note that "myths" doesn't refer to mythology, as in completely made up, but rather stories that are passed on and can't fully be verified.
4. Ritual: Beliefs enacted and made real through ceremony. Meditation is the primary ritual, but each sect has rituals. There is also the regular repetition of the four Bodhisattva vows or the Five Precepts.
5. Ethics: Rules about human behavior, usually viewed as originating from the supernatural, but can be socially generated. It's called the Eightfold Path, which is the fourth noble truth: Magga.
6. Characteristic emotional experiences: emotions or feelings that a person feels is connected to the belief system and that are common to the group, rather than just the individual. The most prevalent is called Nirvana, or Enlightenment.
7. Material expression: physical elements from inanimate objects, animals, and plants to vocal or artistic expressions that are associated with the religion and often elevated. Buddhist art peppers Asia.
8. Sacredness: A distinction between the sacred or holy and the ordinary or mundane. While Buddhists often profane the sacred, we do hold things sacred, such as the Four Noble Truths and the concept of ahimsa, or doing no harm.

Buddhism has all of these things involved. Some Buddhist sects moreso than others. Some Buddhists practice it more philosophically. It's just a way of thinking about the world to them rather than a "practice."

I find this definition much better than the average dictionary definition or idea of "god worship." Why? Because well known philosophies, such as the Rationalism, Empiricism, or Marxism, do have people who "practice" them, but not in a manner that can be construed as religious. Buddhism, unlike any philosophy, has monks and nuns. It has rituals. It has art, music, and ceremonies. It has a system of morals and values. These things distinguish it from philosophy, which has few, if any, of these.

So, that's my opinion.

Answer 3

both i guess. it originated in India over 2500 years ago and hinduism was the main religion there at the time, so there are some versions of buddhism that have a little hindu folklore mixed in. other branches like the tibetan one is a little different. the connecting thread is the teachings of the buddha, which include philosophies. i somewhat live by those philosophies but i'm not in a religious sense a buddhist. it's your choice if you want to follow any of the branches of it which are religions, or want to follow just the underlying philosophies and not a branch of the religion.
buddhism as a whole even as a religion does not tell you what your choice in deities is, so it's not in the common perception a religion as it does not advocate any particular god.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/buddhism.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhism

edit; they don't believe the buddha was a god, they believe he attained enlightenment. big difference.

Answer 4

You should first describe what a philosophy or religion is to you. For example, if you assume theism is a necessary attribute for religion, Buddhism does not obviously belong; but if you assume a philosophy is something that may be understood just with the conceptual mind Buddhism is not a philosophy either.

Answer 5

for my area I see it as a faith because it includes the supernatural and that's my definition of religion. I certainly have copied and pasted a quote right here that disagrees with me nevertheless. i think, finally, you may desire to make up your very own recommendations. In my adventure, people who say Buddhism is a philosophy and not a faith frequently propose it as a compliment. they try to declare, i think of, that Buddhism is a few thing different than the superstitious rubbish they suspect faith to be. in this view, faith is a jumble of primitive folklore that humankind drags in direction of the a while like a cosmic secure practices blanket. faith is passionate and irrational and messy. yet philosophy is the flower of human mind. that's reasonable and civilized. faith evokes conflict and atrocity; at worst, philosophy incites mild arguments over coffee and dessert. Buddhism -- some Buddhism, besides -- is a prepare of contemplation and inquiry that doesn't count on thought in God or a soul or something supernatural. as a result, the thought is going, it can not be a faith.

Answer 6

In my opinion, Buddhism is a philosophy - an ascetic way of life - the way Buddha had intended it to be. From what I understand about Buddhism, Buddha didn't ask to be worshipped. He lived and died like a human being. However, many followers view him as a divine being and has made statues of him (Buddha was Indian so the oriental look of Buddha statues today is hardly a resemblance of him - something like how Jesus looks black in Africa, Chinese in China and blonde with blue eyes in European nations). You're gonna have to read some articles on Wikipedia about this one - I can't list them here, there are too many.

Anyway, I'll leave you with a fun read (it's actually a humorous guide for potential converts but you might want to read it just to have some basic understanding of Buddhism): http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/syws/buddhism/buddhismfull.html

Answer 7

Both. It is a philosophy that was turned into a religion. Philosophy is a thought, Buddhism became a religion when people started following it.

Answer 8

Buddhism is techinically, by definition, a religion. But in the words of a Japanese Buddhist, "Buddhism isn't like other religions. It's more of a way of thinking." So it is actually a philosophy and a religion.

Answer 9

THE NUN Chiyono studied for years but was unable to find
enlightenment. One moonlight night she was carrying an old pail, filled with water. She was watching the full moon reflected in this water, when the bamboo strip that held the pailstaves broke. The pail fell all apart; the water rushed out; the moon's reflection disappeared. And Chiyono found enlightenment. She wrote this verse:

This way and that way
I tried to keep the pail together
Hoping the weak bamboo
Would never break.

Suddenly the bottom fell out:
No more water:
No more moon in the water:
Emptiness in my hand!

Answer 10

Like Christianity, Buddhism is divided into sects. There are those who see Buddha as a God and others how see him as a guiding light, thus a philosophy.

Answer 11

actually, i think it is a religion. As far as I know, religion is defined as a set of cultural beliefs and rituals combined with some belief in the supernatural. They don't have a God, but they do believe in reincarnation and the soul, and they generally have rituals that are connected to those beliefs. But it depends of course on how rigidly you enforce said beliefs, in the West calling yourself Buddhist basically just means you reject Christianity, meditate, and maybe believe in the soul. In that sense it's a philosophy.