Is Buddhism A Philosophy Or A Religion?

Buddhism is a major global religion with a complex history and system of beliefs. The founder of Buddhism is said to be Siddhartha Gautama, the son of an Indian warrior-king. Gautama led an extravagant life through early adulthood, reveling in the privileges of his social class. Gautama became bored with the indulgences of royal life so he wandered into the world searching for understanding. After encountering an old man, ill man, a corpse, and an ascetic, he was convinced that suffering lay at the end of all existence. He then became a monk, depriving himself of worldly possessions in the hope of comprehending the truth of the world around him. The culmination of his search came while meditating beneath a tree, where he finally understood how to be free from suffering, and ultimately, to achieve salvation. Gautama became known as the Buddha, meaning the “Enlightened One.” He spent the remainder of his life

“At the age of 29, Siddhartha came to realize that he could not be happy living as he had been. He had discovered suffering, and wanted more than anything to discover how one might overcome suffering.” (Boeree, George) He set forth to the forest, giving away his rich clothes, horse, and shaving his head. He started doing private practices with a group of five ascetics. Together they practiced for 6 years and the ascetics were so astonished they soon become followers of Siddhartha. Siddhartha still wasn’t satisfied in the answers he was finding and soon began to give up food and water, almost reaching death. Realizing these extreme behaviors weren’t going to get him answers, he decided he needed a middle way between life’s luxuries and self-mortification. Siddhartha sat himself under a fig and said he would sit there until he could find the answers to human suffering. He begins with meditating and concentration to clear his mind. Although “The Evil One” Mara tried to stop Siddhartha from achieving his goal, it was no use. “He began to see the universe as one and the great awakening had happened.” (Smith) Siddhartha had reach enlightenment and became Buddha.

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. It is the oldest and fourth largest religion in the world with around 500 million followers. Buddhism focuses on teaching people how to come to terms with and end the suffering of themselves and others by cutting out greed, hatred, and ignorance from their lives. Unlike most major world religions, Buddhism does not revolve around worshiping a god or divine creator, instead the focus of Buddhism is living one 's best life and transforming the lives of others. The ultimate goal of Buddhism is to reach Enlightenment and upon death achieve Nirvana, the liberation of pain and suffering. For Buddhists, it is the individual’s responsibility to find his or her own path to enlightenment; the principles of Buddhism are seen more as guidelines than rules.

Siddhartha, or more commonly recognized as Buddha, is the basis of Buddhism. Around 500 BC Buddha was prophesized to either to be a spiritual teacher or a worldly ruler. Siddhartha was hidden from agony and pain by his father who wanted him to rule all of India someday. This aspect allowed him to experience a life filled with wealth and fulfillment of desires. However, at 29 years of age he went out for chariot rides and saw 3 universal truths; a sick person (illness), old man (suffering) and a corpse (death). Therefore he started to contemplate the reason to suffering and how to end it, in order to gain something one must first lose everything (Grubin). After abandonment of his wealthy life standards, he lived the life of self-neglect. However, both extremes of penance and self-satisfaction cured him of his suffering or moved him toward the path of enlightenment. After realizing this, Buddha states “Avoiding both of these extremes, the middle way realized by the Tathagata, that which produces vision and knowledge, leads to calm, to direct knowledge, to self-awakening, to freedom.” which correlates to how one should live their life in balance from both extremes (“The Path To Peace”, 2009). This realization lead him to develop the four noble truths; the truths of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, the truth of the middle path leading to the end of suffering ( “Buddhist Studies: The Four Noble Truths”, 2008). After realizing the

Religion is an intriguing concept as there is a diverse amount of religions that are practiced throughout the world today. One of the widespread forms of religion is Buddhism. Some believe that this particular type of religion is more of a state of mind or a lifestyle rather than a religion; however, some still classify it as a religion due to the variety of rituals and beliefs that are associated with Buddhism. By going through the central themes of Buddhism, it will provide the pertinent information of what exactly Buddhism is.

Buddhism. Buddhism is a philosophy or non-theistic religion originating in India about two and a half thousand years ago. The general idea of Buddhism is to find inner peace and happiness, as well as wisdom and compassion through daily practice. Buddhists live peacefully and share their happiness with others. Buddha taught that all problems arise from negative states of mind and peace comes from a positive state of mind, because of this he explained gradual ways to create a positive state of mind and overcome our anger and suffering leading to the negative state of mind. (aboutbuddhism.org)

Seekers such as monks feel that the teaching of Buddha, has driven them to overcome suffering by accepting the rules of the four noble truth and the eightfold path. In The Vision of the Buddha by Tom Lowenstein, the Buddha say, : "What, monks, is the truth of suffering? Birth is suffering, decay, sickness and death are suffering. To be separated from what you like is suffering. To want something and not get it is suffering. In short, the human personality, liable as it is to clinging and attachment brings suffering" (63). In addition, Buddha has influenced many seekers and has attract followers throughout Asia. The goal of the Buddha's teaching is to help individuals procure the good life, throughout the source of suffering centrally involves claims concerning the nature of a person, as well as how we acquire cognizance about the world and the place in

From my understanding, religion is the worshiping and believes in a supernatural being with powers, this supernatural being is known as a God. Religion is also said to be a compilation of a cultural structure of practices, worldviews, ethics, etc. Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs, according to Dictionary.com. Some of the ways that I think Buddhism might problematize the understanding of what religion means such as their practices, afterlife, rewards, and punishments, etc. Furthermore,

There has always a great debate surrounding the borders and guidelines of the division between religion and spiritual philosophies. Essentially, religion is a set of beliefs and practices that serve as to get one closer to a god or divine power, and to consolidate their relationship. However, a philosophy, in the scope of spirituality and faiths, could be defined as the set of beliefs and thoughts that works to achieve the goal of liberation of the mind and the accomplishment of knowledge and wisdom. Buddhism is a philosophy of spirituality, ethics, and self-discipline, rather than a traditional religion. Even though it has some aspects of the Seven Dimensions of Religion, which could be viewed as a

Whether Buddhism is a religion, or not, became a common debate among people in the last few years. It’s actually a matter of the definition of religion or philosophy for the person in the first place because this will give a clear base to relate the information about Buddhism for. However, there are many other aspects that should be explored to have a comprehensible response. Buddhism definition and former times are the first elements in building up an answer. To proceed further, the teachings stated by Buddha the founder of Buddhism and the meaning behind them are very important to give clarity to the definition. Then, an important question must be answered, which is, whether it’s the same believes in modern times or not. This will help in

The word Buddha is a title not a name. It means ‘one who is awake' in

It is a common misconception in our Western society that Buddhism is more so of a philosophy than a religion, and that its founder Siddhartha Gautama was simply a person and not supernatural. If my mother were to take this stance on Buddhism and express this to me I would retort her argument with various points as learned in Relistud 2K03. I will seek to justify my stance that Buddhism is, in fact, a religion and that ( from the traditional account of the Buddha Biography) its founder is divine. In this paper, I will look at the ceremonies, practices, and beliefs within Buddhism that make it fall under the general definition of a religion and will analyze the life of the Buddha to gain insights into his supernatural qualities.

Many people debate whether Buddhism is a philosophy or a religion. We refer to it as a “belief system” which includes both religions and philosophy.

I believe Buddhism is a philosophy rather than a religion because there is no central god. Many may argue that Buddhism’s worship its founder Siddhartha Gautama as a god. However, Siddhartha represents a figurehead whose teachings provide certain guidelines to its followers to help them achieve a peaceful life. The Buddha teaches that anyone with Buddhist nature can be a Buddha. Therefore, Buddhism is not considered a religion, since anyone can achieve enlightenment and there would be abundant of gods to worship.

C. George Boeree of Shippensburg University Buddhism was founded by a man named Siddhartha Gautama. By the legends centered on Siddhartha birth, it was said that he was born fully awake from his mother’s womb, and he was able to speak at birth. Siddhartha named meant” he who has attained his goals. His Father was King of a royal family and his name was King Shuddodana Gautama. When Siddhartha was born his father Shuddodana took him to a sooth-sayer for consultation. This action was caused by Siddhartha super natural birth and the King thought that it was beneficial for his son. Siddhartha grew up in a self-contained environment, which consisted of him never being permitted to see the elderly, the sickly, nor anyone who had ever died. But when Siddhartha turned 29 years of age, he discovered suffering. He then began to practice the austerities and self- mortifications practiced by a group of five ascetics. Siddhartha practiced for six years with intensity and sincerity. Due to the path that he had chosen he didn’t think that it was the correct way to live so