Should buddhism be treated as a religion or a just a subject of discussion?

Question

I hate buddhism being called as a religion, coz mans biggest mistake was to create religions and dats y he live seprate in seprate communites and then all the fights and all that hell.Accord to me buddhism shud no be considerd as a religion,, we shud follow his philosophy.

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

Buddhism is DEFINITELY NOT a religion. Lord Buddha never asked anyone to worship him. he said following the philosophy is a form of worshiping him ..... thats all ... and of course people mis interpreted that and started to build temples and worship him. Buddha was a normal human who managed to attain nirvana and then helped many others to attain it.

So Buddhism is a way of life or a philosophy. Unfortunately many people have misinterpreted it and is serving this beautiful philosphy as a religion. There are of course people who are reaping money and etc out of treating this like a religion. So there will be plenty of people misguiding you. What I have done is to read many books as possible to understand the philosophy. And I am so surprised how scientific Buddha's teachings are. There are modern physics, chemistry, Biology and Philosphy attached to his sanskrit sermons ... which unfortunately are translated to further misguide people.

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Asker's Comment:

thank you for this gr8 ans.

Answer 2

It's a religion with out a personal god.

Answer 3

Yes, Buddhism is a philosophy and a way of life, not a religion. There are no gods in Buddhism. It's just following the teachings of the Buddha, who never claimed to be a deity.

Answer 4

there are different types of buddhism... the original buddhism was simply a philosophical practice.

later on people invented all these budda gods.

Answer 5

A religion is a set of beliefs that many follow, i.e. Buddhism fits.

And PS, learn to spell!

Answer 6

religion

Answer 7

The Dalai Lama says that Buddhism is more of a philosophy than a religion.

Answer 8

Buddhism is a religion. It isn't religion that causes separation in humanity, It's the people that misinterpret, and take it too seriously.
Buddhism is teachings from Buddha
Christianity is teachings from Christ
Islam is teachings from Mohammad

Edit: Buddhism does not have Gods,
For those who think this, you have been
misguided. It focuses on Buddha, a person,
not a God.

Answer 9

religion isn't the reason man kind is seperated it's because of the different OPINIONS that man has!
i believe that buddhism is a Religion becuase they belive in god/gods

if u take away our opinions u take away war but if u do that it's basically calling for death b/c u can't stop the way everyone THINKS
it's LIFE and ur just going to have to deal with the different OPINIONS and use them to help u grow up (< i'm still doing this)

Any1 that says they hav a Religion shouldn't be hated it's just the way they live their life!
by the way philosophy is the base of everything it's also biased!

Answer 10

You can be certain of one thing- no Buddhist is remotely concerned what anyone calls it or thinks about it. It's just a system of practical philosophy.

Answer 11

You can consider Buddhism to be whatever you want...

But many people all over the world are quite certain that it is "their religion"...

People can swim against the tide if they choose, but when they are out of breath, they had better head for shore.

A few people (particularly in the west) have a very narrow view of what constitutes Religion. But if you go to China, India, Tibet, Egypt, Israel, or Europe, you will see that "Religion" is wide open and encompasses many different beliefs and philosophies...

If you have a negative view of Religion, perhaps that is not the fault of Buddhism, but rather your inability to accept that karmic religions exist and are valid as well...

Answer 12

Buddhism is neither a philosophy nor a religion. It is a bag of crap! It believes all violence to be morally equivalent and preaches a spineless philosophy to people. It sounds very rosy and utopian but it throws a whole society into inaction! Fact is wars have always been fought and will always be fought for resources.
It picked one part of Hinduism selectively, that of renunciation which was only advised for those retiring and applied it to all people! It is responsible for destroying Indian culture and spreading a culture of begging among all! How can everyone beg if no one works in society. 50 years after Ashoka's death all his empire was gone. You cannot govern a country with Buddhist principles. All that Chandragupta fought for was wasted! The Hindus who had been the only one's in the world at one time to defeat Alexander the Great became submissive to Islam and the british because of stupid Buddhist morals that crept into society.
It could not save Tibet either and wants the whole world to protest and fight for them. Well, if you won't fight for yourself, it's not the responsibility of others to do so for you!

Answer 13

buddhism shoudnt be considered a religion! coz its somewhat only philosophy and value.it has nothing to do with religion.hope this helped!!!!!!!!!

Answer 14

Dharma: religion, science, philosophy or humanism? - the question is often put in West of the placeof the education of the Buddha, the Dharma, among the big spiritualities of the humanity.

As often expresses him the Dalai Lama, the education of the Buddha recovers what is usually heard(understood) by religion, philosophy, science of the spirit or humanism.
So, if the term religion indicates(appoints) a shape of faith in a creator or arguments of authority whatever they are, Dharma is not a religion. On the other hand, if we hear(understand) religion in its etymological sense(direction), as what connects horizontally the men(people) between them and their ancestors, and vertically what connects them with the timeless principle or with the transcendante and immanent nature, then Dharma is a separate religion out being reducible in one of these categories.

It is a philosophy if we hear(understand) this term to the original sense(direction) of love of the wisdom which gave him, Pythagore. And as a philosophy, he suggests understanding(including) basic nature of the reality, the reality in an experimental approach. The old Socratic proverb " Know yourself ", in other words: " know what kill are and you will know the gods and the universe " is a profoundly Buddhist spirit.

Buddhism considers the ecosystem of the life: the interdependence between human being and Nature in this point of view, it has a profoundly ecological dimension.

Finally, Dharma considers the human experience in its global, holistic reality. It is from this point of view a fundamental humanism.

I think that to see the Buddhism only as a philosophy of life - what is effectively already rather interesting, it is to see it in its most simplistic shape and simplified.

Buddhism teaches the respect for the Nature and the not violence among the men(people). Religion or philosophy, what that changes? There are religions in the world much worse.

A very interesting question! Have a good night.

Answer 15

It’s a very interesting topic.

Buddhism can be religion, philosophy, both, or none of above.

It doesn’t really matter.

As long as we practice Nobel Eightfold Path, The five precepts and then we are good human beings.

There is nothing wrong with the World Religions.
The problem is the man.
In human history, we tend to hijack religions for our personal desires.
We misuse the religions for our personal benefits.

Prof. Houston Smith has many publications about the World Religions.
http://www.hustonsmith.net/book.htm

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

Luckily, I just joined his speech yesterday 10/4/2008 in Berkeley Buddhist Monastery.

He and Prof. Henry Rosemont shared their new book - Is There a Universal Grammar of Religion?

As Buddhists, we need to respect all other religions.
So, human beings can live peacefully together.

In Nirvana Sutra, Buddha’s disciples asked him “how/what could we learn after your nirvana?” Buddha said follow the precepts.

Thus, it doesn’t really matter Buddhism is a religion or philosophy.

Metta,

Tree with joined palms

Source(s):

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

Answer 16

fallow the religion of Buddha and his religion was peace acquired by submitting once will to Allah (SWT).


Islam is an Arabic word which comes from the word ‘Salaam’ which means ‘Peace’. It also means submitting your will to Allah - the Almighty God. In short Islam means peace acquired by submitting your will to Allah (SWT).

The Glorious Qur’an says:
“Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord, with wisdom and beautiful
preaching, and argue with them in ways that are best and most
gracious!”
[Al-Qur’an 16:125]