Is Buddhism a Religion?

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Permalink Reply by Paul on September 25, 2008 at 3:46pm

I've read several books on Buddhism and I'm still not sure either.

For some it does seem to be a religion, for others it's a branch of philosophy.

In the west particularly people seem more than happy to re-interpret the core teachings quite creatively and take it in all manner of directions.

I sometimes wonder which would weigh the most, all the Buddhists in the world or all the books on Buddhism.

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Permalink Reply by Steven J. Bissell on September 25, 2008 at 3:57pm

Hard to say, but the Buddha was pretty explicit that Buddhism did not involve belief in the supernatural. I think most, but not all, of Western Buddhists reject the idea of a 'God' in that sense. There have been books written about that as well; for example Stephen Batchelor's 'Buddhism without Beliefs.'
Steven

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Permalink Reply by Ficking Chucken on April 5, 2012 at 3:29am

Buddhism was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Lao Tzu... who was explicit in saying that you could have 1, 1000 or 0 god(s).  It didn't matter to the Tao or Way...implying a  continually changing process. I must admit that Taoism (the philosophy) was the final nail in Christianity's coffin as far as I was concerned.  I credit it with saving my life at a very critical time in my past.

Nobody or nothing had told me before that I didn't need a god in order to be a good person. I have since moved on to be a complete (Strong) atheist.

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Permalink Reply by Dawn K on September 25, 2008 at 5:11pm

I've always thought Buddhists were considered atheists. However, my MIL is Buddhist and quite superstitious. She is very concerned with numerology, naming rituals and feng shui. So I don't really know, I guess it depends on the follower.

Do most Buddhists go to a church and if so what do they do there?

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Permalink Reply by Steven J. Bissell on September 26, 2008 at 8:58am

Not sure what a MIL is, but this sounds more cultural than Buddhist. None of that can be found in the teachings of the Buddha, although he probably accepted it as it was part of his Hindu culture. Same goes for reincarnation and Karma, those are Hindu concepts the Buddha accepted. Only Karma has come to represent dogma and that's with a small 'd' to most western Buddhists.

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Permalink Reply by Dawn K on September 26, 2008 at 9:18am

MIL = Mother in law. Much of her superstition is definitely cultural but, and realize that we haven't talked about this, it seems to me her version of Buddhism is also riddled with the supernatural.

I'm still curious as to the Buddhist Church question.

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Permalink Reply by Steven J. Bissell on September 26, 2008 at 9:36am

replied to your earlier question.

Is your MIF Asian?

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Permalink Reply by Dawn K on September 26, 2008 at 9:52am

Korean.

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Permalink Reply by Steven J. Bissell on September 26, 2008 at 9:33am

What I'm going to say has to do with American Buddhists of the Theravadan, or Insight Meditation tradition of which I am most familiar.

Most of us belong to a 'sitting group' or 'Sangha' which is just a group of like minded individuals who get together once a week to sit, i.e. meditate, together and sometimes have a short lesson, or Dharma teaching, depending on the group. Some, many really, Buddhists, especially Eastern, also go to a Temple to meditate or to take part in ceremonies. But the basic teachings of the Buddha warn against ceremony or places or such and say very clearly that meditation should be done in private without a lot of hoopdedo.

I normally do a couple of 4 to 20 day 'retreats' each year. These are extended meditation sessions, 12-17 hours per day, along with teachings in Buddhism, or meditation instructions and you generally do all this in silence for the entire retreat.

So the short answer is, 'no, Buddhists do not go to church,' but the long answer is there are other things close to church.

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Permalink Reply by Dawn K on September 26, 2008 at 10:01am

Thanks for the explanation. I did ask because she does go to church or that's what she calls it and from what I understand there is some ritual involved, although I think it is largely social. I was actually surprised at this because I was under the impression that Buddhist teachings were not supernatural.

As to the original point, AN including Buddhism on the survey. Since there seem to be different ways of practicing Buddhism today it seems to be a gray area and therefore not entirely inappropriate. Or at least that's my somewhat ignorant take on it.

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Permalink Reply by Rosa on September 25, 2008 at 7:12pm

A cousin of mine was a Mahayana Buddhist for a while but left because he said he just couldn't believe in anything which had a supernatural element.

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Permalink Reply by Steven J. Bissell on September 26, 2008 at 8:59am

I agree and that was my point; it is absolutely possible to be a Buddhist and reject the supernatural, I'm an example. I don't think that is possible for other religions. I think there is no conflict in spirituality and rejecting belief in the supernatural.

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