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chitown

Buddha taught to rely on yourself. He never wanted to be worshipped.

Is it more of a philosophy?

What are your thoughts?

Mid

Agree that the lack of a God figure suggests that Buddhism is not a religion as such .

Seems more a way of life to me .

slimboyfat

my thoughts are this should be in issues

daveboy

^
Happy christmas SBF

DrB0b

Buddhism recognizes the existence of Gods. It does not recognise the existence of a creator God. As atheism is defined as a lack of belief in God or Gods Buddhism is not atheistic. If you are one of those people (generally somebody from a Christian culture) who confuses atheism with lack of a belief in a supreme being then you would define Buddhism as atheistic but you would be wrong as you're misinterpreting the meaning of the word atheism. The earliest Buddhism quickly incorporated local Gods and spirits into it's beliefs but always denied the existence of a supreme creator God, Gods are also subject to Karma.

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AntRobertson

As did Christianity. Several aspects of pagan beliefs were absorbed into the Christian doctrine, even concepts and renderings of angels were 'borrowed'. Difference being of course it behooves Christianity to 'forget' this now - evidence to the contrary being at odds with the notion of the 'one and true God'.

Norton

Buddha's teachings focused on relieving the human condition. Hence his teachings didn't address god/s but rather how to attain release from suffering and attain perfection. Buddha himself was a theist as would be expected given his background and times. Hence he believed their were gods and likely believed in the most important of India's gods, Brahma the creator god. His teachings dismissed the prevailing thinking that praying to the gods would end ones suffering but rather this could only be attained through self meditation, suffering and attainment of enlightenment. He never believed in the one God as with the Jews, the only religion of his time with such a belief. He never left India (Nepal) so probably was unaware such a concept existed. Modern day Buddhists vary in their personal beliefs as related to god/s. Some believe, some don't and others don't know. However, none of the purists believe praying to a god or gods will get them to Buddhist heaven (Nirvana).

Whether Buddhism is a religion or philosophy depends on an individuals reasoning. If you believe religion is the worship of god/s to reach heaven then Buddhism is not a religion. If you believe religion is reaching Nirvana (heaven) through self attainment of perfection then Buddhism is a religion.

IMO both are philosophies related to an end goal.

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Eat right, exercise daily, live clean, die anyway.

Bobcock

Philosophy

stroller

Yes, Buddha emphasised the path to liberation as the focus, detailed cosmology was developed by later scholars. Also, the pantheon of gods and enlightened beings are not permanent, absolute, but subject to cycles of existence, hence illusionary as all existence.

So, yes, Buddhism lies within the field of atheism.
It's a philosophy and method of gaining knowledge, and contains teachings concerning conduct in everyday life to further the achievement of its goals.

Frankenstein

I hear the belief is that the devas appear for the 'saa-thu' (sort of like 'amen') after chanting-type blessings and other merit-making rituals and actions - despite their god-like status, they and all other beings are also subject to suffering and karma.

keda

True, Christianity is in many respects closer to pagan systems of belief than to its Judaic origins.

Evidence suggests Jesus Christ was born in early autumn, though his birth was announced as the 7th January in an effort to obliterate the pagan feast of that date by gilding it with a Christian myth. Much later, in the 4th century after his death, the date was changed again, since an important Mithraic celebration, profoundly menacing to Holy Fathers, occurred on the 25th of December. It is the Roman Saturnalia that remains immaturely disguised in Christmas celebrations.

The pagan goddess Eostre survives in the Christian ritual of Easter, which is hardly relevant to the Crucifixion or the Resurrection since it was created and the date for its celebration established at Nicea in 325 CE, by majority view.

The pagan feast of St Juno falls on the 14th of February. The halo is pagan, practical, and completely un-Christian in origin, as is the most important Christian accessory, the Cross. In Carthage, the cross was ornamental; Scandinavians set crosses as boundary marks and over graves of their great men; Egyptians employed it as a sacred symbol, and two loaves bearing a cross were discovered at Herculaneum. Pre-Christian Aztecs worshipped the Cross, as did the people of Cuzomel. At Tabasco the Cross represented the rain god.

Even the Vatican unashamedly retains its pagan beginnings in its name, standing as it does on Vatican Hill, so named because it once was occupied by the Vaticanatores, the Latin term for soothsayers.

AntRobertson

^ Some excellent examples of what I was referring to. Good work keda.

There's those and plenty more, exploring the roots of many Christian beliefs, doctrines and dogmas can be quite interesting in what (or even who, as the case may be) it leads to.

Milkman

Just a quick opinion on the title, Chi.

Some don't consider Buddhism a religion (which I think is good), and some don't consider the belief system to be inherently "atheist."


Gracias.

keda

Looking at the major religions, only Buddhism does not rely on the absurdity of miracle to get its message across.

This is an unassailable positive that should propel the religion onto the moral summit, if its followers did not insist on dragging it through the swamp.

Jardine

It's a religion (for most Buddhists).

Everyone here seems to equate Buddhism with the western humanist view of it which is a little limited. You could possibly say that Zen is more of a way of life.
There is a huge faith aspect to Buddhism, it's not all blind faith, a lot of it is developing faith empirically by trying Buddha's teachings out and deciding if they work or not. But the Buddha never rejected blind faith either. If it works for you and makes you happier then it's OK.

A lot of Mahayana Buddhists work on receiving blessings from Buddhas (Mahayanists believe anyone can become a Buddha therefore there are lots of Buddhas). The only thing Buddhism as a whole lacks is a creator other than that it ticks all the religious boxes.
Of course their are Buddhists and Buddhists and for some it is more akin to a way of life but these are the cherry pickers rather than the followers of what the Buddha taught.

stroller

'Faith', is by definition, central to any belief system.

Mahayana Buddhism is a later development, one could say the 'cherry-pickers' who take it as a philosophy without worshipping are closer to Buddha's original teachings, though one might rightly say that the mentioned Western humanists lack devotion to the path.

Jardine

That's a very Theravadin way of looking at it Stroller and one that Mahayanists don't necessarily agree with. Mahayanists say that their teachings come from Buddha but were written down later.

Frankenstein

As long as you recognize the four noble truths, follow the eightfold path and take refuge in the dhamma you are a Buddhist. The rest is mostly cosmetics and physical representations of the fundamentals anyway as I understand it.

The closer you get to enlightenment, the less form.

Borobudur was created partially to show this in physical form. As you ascend each stage, the murals become increasingly abstract.

"Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people."

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Jardine

Definition of a Buddhist is someone who takes refuge in the three jewels of Buddhism. Buddha, Dharma and Sangha.

The eightfold path is a hinayana teaching not emphasised by Mahayanists.

benlovesnuk

in a sense you could say that a consensus of people to the way they live their life by given rule or following a desired goal is a religion. Also anything can be philosophical, that being which a human can derive meaning about.

in this sense there are many religions, non of them have actual meaning and of course many believe and have faith that they do, the majority if not all will break all rules and commandments under which they live.

So in effect by actual and truthful understanding there will never be anyone going to heaven if there were such a thing, because people cannot obtain perfection and this is what most if not all religions of gods is about.

release yourself from the expectation of needing to have a religion for whatever purpose that maybe and enjoy being a moral or immoral person for the sake of truth. Everything else is just that which ties it all together.

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im hot its so hot today.......milk was a bad choice!