Buddhist Is Buddhism Really a Religion.

[Philip_B]

Australia was founded by the scum of British society. It is amazing that there has been so much progress in so little time. The early "settlers" had little choice, or do you not know about transportation? There was not much Christian about the convicts.

Australia is home to the oldest surviving cultural stream on the planet. go figure.

 

[Aussie Pete]

Australia is home to the oldest surviving cultural stream on the planet. go figure.

Really? I don't know how anyone can be so sure of dating cultures. And age is no indication that cultural values are somehow intrinsically superior to any other culture.

 

[Leaf473]

More or less, though I think that's generally a value in many premodern societies. With Buddhism the emphasis is on non-possesion in general, including over our own lives.

I hear what you're saying. Again, I think there's a great deal of variation among buddhists. Come to think of it, there's a great deal of variation among Christians! Quakers and Catholics have very different teachings and practices.

I heard this story from a woman who was leading a Buddhist meditation group, I think she would start the sessions with a short Dharma talk: a man who was visiting the group came up to her after the sitting time and said, "You're not a real buddhist."

Lol. A real Buddhist. I think a good Zen response would have been, "Thank you."

That's fair enough. People can find different things that they are drawn to. The Lotus Sutra states that bodhisattvas appear in different forms to teach everyone the truth according to their understanding. So, ultimately religion is a matter of the heart.

I suppose the appeal to me of Buddhism over Christianity is that I see Buddhists as generally less hung up about culture war issues that many Christians seem to obsess about.

Well, at this point I'm kind of thinking maybe those aren't real Christians.

Imo, culture wars are fought by cultural Christians. People who pay serious attention to Jesus teaching and lifestyle aren't very interested in those things, again imo.

Probably because when you have a great deal of inner peace, you tend not to invest that kind of unwholesome passion into things that are largely symbolic. Buddhists in the US were accepting gays in their temples decades before it became even a subject of debate in Christian churches.

So the main appeal for me I suppose, beyond the inner peace, is the religious humanist aspect. Behind the rejection of humanism so common among Christians is always a spirit of fear of some kind.

Well, as an observation, if we are asking which is better, Christianity or Buddhism, I think we are essentially answering the OP with a Yes, Buddhism is a religion. Or at least it performs the same function in a person's life as a religion.

I agree that many who self-identify as Christian are fearful. In Matthew, just after talking about the birds and the lilies, Jesus says you can't serve God and wealth. You love one and hate the other.

A lot of people in churches love their wealth. They have a fear that if, for example, homosexuality becomes rampant in the USA, that God will rain down fire or some kind of judgment like he did on Sodom and Gomorrah. Or a breakdown in morality will lead to a national weakening similar to what they believe happened to the Roman empire.

I think this video is interesting for two reasons. I think it comes from a largely Buddhist culture. It has a real sense of excitement and passion in it, things I think are lacking in Buddhism. (Of course, some Buddhists will probably say that that's the point!)

This is Yonsei Central Baptist Church in Seoul, South Korea singing "Power in the blood". They go into hyperdrive in the middle of the video (may be too intense for some viewers). Then they slow it way down at the end.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

Lol. A real Buddhist. I think a good Zen response would have been, "Thank you."

Yes, Perfect.

 

[Jane_the_Bane]

We need to keep in mind that most English (or western) definitions of religion are modeled after the Abrahamic faiths, Christianity in particular. When you take that as your starting point, other religions WILL fit in worse.

 

[FireDragon76]

We need to keep in mind that most English (or western) definitions of religion are modeled after the Abrahamic faiths, Christianity in particular. When you take that as your starting point, other religions WILL fit in worse.

The bias seems to be separating out intellectual or scholarly work from practical aspects as more representative of the essence of "religion". Indeed, essentialism pervades the Western mind on these issues in general. Whereas in actual Asian countries, what we think of as discrete religions or practices have blurred boundaries, and mutually influence each other. For instance, in Japan, what we think of as Confucianism or Taoism was absorbed into both Shinto and Buddhism. Something that can mislead western people who only study Buddhism in its "pure" or academic form. Likewise, it's not uncommon in China for Buddhist monks, such as at the Shaolin temple, to engage in practices that have their origins in Taoist alchemy.

 

[Yusuphhai]

About 1/3 of North American Buddists are Jewish. So I think departing the elements of Idols Buddhism can link with Judaism successfully.

In Hindu Vedic Mantra the worshiping of One God can be hidden, for the sake of Abrahamic Oriental descendants. So Buddhism is a religion but can be grafted into other religions.

Chinese Chan(Zen,中國禪)