Comments on: Buddhism Not a Religion?

By: Wukailong

Wukailong — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 05:59:00 +0000

The religions that fascinate me most are the ones that are created from others by adding a seemingly unrelated story and putting it in a local mold, like Mormonism and Nation of Islam in USA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation_of_Islam). I personally find Mormonism very odd but thereby also interesting.

Actually, one could argue that Christianity and Islam are both mormonized versions of their predecessors.

By: Wukailong

Wukailong — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 05:56:16 +0000

I was thinking of adding a longer analysis to that effect; I mostly thought religion as proselytization was a Western thing but of course it happens in other countries too, especially if Abrahamic religions are prevalent. Historically, though, it seems most religions have been spread by culture rather than missionaries.

As for myself, I was officially born a Protestant and am still a member of the church, but I’ve never held Christian beliefs and don’t identify with it. So like you said about being a Buddhist without knowing why, I’m in a similar situation.

Another thing that’s of course also important is that religion plays a very different role for people in different countries. When Chinese identify with Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism at the same time they naturally don’t have the idea that their belief is the absolute truth necessary for salvation, but rather a method of cultivation and an important tradition.

By: Rhan

Rhan — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 05:35:41 +0000

I think the major distinction and why many claim Buddhism is not religion because there is no god, and no missionary work. I am a Buddhist but never know why I am one, or am I really one, most prescribed form from both government and private require us to fill up the column of race and religion, hence I am a Chinese and a Buddhist but I doubt one could actually tell the difference between a Buddhist, a Taoist or a Confucius follower, the three were blended into one unique belief among the Chinese, especially to overseas Chinese.

My country law disallows proselytizing of Muslim but not the other way round, thus there is lots of tension between Muslim and Christian, raid of church and Malay language bible compound the issue, we rarely see this happen among Buddhist, Buddhism seem prefer to take a retire from society kind of attitude, I think that is why Darwin have less concern toward Buddhism.

I personally don’t appreciate any sort of “organized” religion, and I find Taoism pretty fun and less restriction, one of the freest among religions.

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 02:44:13 +0000

At one time, Korea was run by Buddhist monks who were so corrupt that when the dynasty was overthrown and the new kingdom established, the king turned towards Confucist doctrine and since that time, Buddhism has never been as strong there as elsewhere in East Asia. This is one reason Christianity was able to achieve such a foothold in the country.

Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophy? Since they have temples, monks, nuns and doctrine, I’d place them squarely under “religion”. There aren’t any Socratic or Kantian temples the last time I checked.