If you say a religion should have one prophet, one holy book and their own hell and heven, then many religions will not qualify. Religious texts are texts related to a religious tradition. Philosophy, from the greek philos loving and sophia wisdom, is a bit hard to define. Magic and miracles, which we often associate with religion, fill buddhist texts. All of these religions philosophies went different ways in their teachings, so as a result theyve had vastly different effects on their followers. It has been over 2500 years since buddhism emerged as a religion, and the unique holistic spiritual healing it gives has seen it.
Pali is considered the classical language of buddhism, and the documents preserved in pali make up the tipitaka as well as other buddhist. Lord buddha criticized all these concepts and encouraged his disciples to discuss the problems in metaphysics, phenomenology, ethics, and epistemology. In his classic book understanding religious life, he said, religion is a. With that said, there is no one holy book of confucianism. Buddhism is often conflated with religion when it is simply a philosophy for discovering your truth and living a life worthy of emulation. So what is the argument for buddhism being a philosophy and what is the. The tripitaka pali canon, mahayana sutras and the tibetan book of the dead are three major noncanonical buddhist texts. Buddhism is deeply mystical, and mysticism belongs to religion more than philosophy.
They were compiled into three sets and written on long narrow leaves and stored in baskets, called the three baskets or tripitaka. The dhamma, philosophy and concepts of buddhism is buddhism a religion or a philosophy. Hinduism has a deep philosophy and there are certain rituals and sects based on this philosophy. The buddhas teachings were preserved in the pali canon, which acts as an extensive analytical record written in pali, the buddhas native dialect. Modern buddhism is laden with modern trappings that are designed to get people to just feel good and detracts from the founding principles of buddhism that withstood the test of time for over 20 centuries. The christian holy book is the bible, and consists of the old and new testaments. The holy spirit christians worship in churches their spiritual leaders are called priests or ministers. Created and designed to change the heart of man in a powerful way, anointed singles seeking the heart of god contains encouraging. By common consent, as gombrich mentions in a footnote, buddhism is called a religion. With about 470 million followers, scholars consider buddhism one of the major world religions. On one hand, buddhism looks a lot like every other religion, with monastics, temples, sacred texts, rituals, congregations, etc. Essentially, buddhism isnt a religion if you chose to define religion in such a way as to exclude buddhism, and it is a religion if you dont. Of the 14 questions buddha refused to answer, whether the universe has a beginning or end comprise two.
A common debate among people in modern times, especially among westerners, is that buddhism is not a religion but a philosophy or way of life. I can also say that buddhism is a philosophy of life a way to live. The holy book contains all things, but since the basic duty of the holy book is, as mentioned above, to teach about the perfections, essential qualities and acts of god and the duties and the status and affairs pertaining to the sphere of servanthood to god, it contains them either in the form of seeds or nuclei or summaries or as principles or. A religion is a philosophy that posits an ultimate reality, a path towards experiencing ultimate reality, and the potential for personal transformation, says charles prebish. Buddhism is the worlds fourthlargest religion with over 520 million followers, or over 7% of the global population, known as buddhists.
The teachings of the buddha were passed down by word of mouth and not written down until around 400 hundred years later. Islam is the second largest religion in the world with over 1 billion followers. The religion is 2,500 years old and is followed by 350 million buddhists worldwide. Buddhism as a religion download books, sacred, spiritual. But again if we say it is a philosophy, a philosophy is something that explains things based on some set of ideas, concepts, or attitude. There is now greater direct access to buddhism in the west than ever before, and buddhist studies are attracting increasing numbers of students.
Upanishadas make the ground for both hinduism as religion and buddhism. Choose from 500 different sets of buddhism religion philosophy flashcards on quizlet. Siddhartha gautama, a young prince of the shakhya clan in india, had been raised in a life of royal ease, shielded from the misery and cruelties of the world outside the palace gates, distracted by sensual pleasures and luxurious living. Buddhism is a religion that was founded by siddhartha gautama the buddha more than 2,500 years ago in india. Hinduism is a heterodox group of different religious traditions and philosophies with some common cultural and formalreligious scriptural linksfoundations in recognizing the vedic authority even if in practice relaying much more on later scri.
The pali canon, which means the word of buddha, includes some of the buddhas discourse, but. Besides the distinct categories linked below, you will find on this page books related to gurdjieff and the fourth. The goal and purpose of this blessed book is to reach singles with the gospel of jesus christ. The buddha referred to his teachings simply as dhammavinaya the doctrine and discipline but for centuries people have tried to categorize the teachings in various ways, trying to fit them into the prevailing molds of cultural, philosophical, and. From a field primarily of interest to specialist orientalists, the study of buddhism has developed to embrace inter alia, theology and religious studies, philosophy, cultural studies, anthropology and comparative studies. Acvaghoshas discourse on the awakening of fait in the mahayana. They listen to monks chanting from religious texts and take part in prayers. Theres also the most contentious philosophy in buddhism, rebirth.
But any systematic spiritual practice which has goals which come to fruition after youve died isnt the domain of philosophy. Is hinduism and buddhism a religion or a philosophy. Merriamwebster alone defines philosophy as all learning exclusive of technical precepts and practical arts, a discipline comprising as its core logic, aesthetics, ethics, metaphysics. Buddhism is often interpreted as a lifestyle or a godless religion, but a closer investigation into the concepts of the buddhist concepts of dharma, karma, nirvana, moksha, niraya, samsara and atma might draw parallels to other main religions. If you got together a big room of religious studies scholars and asked each of them to offer their own. Learn buddhism religion philosophy with free interactive flashcards. The dhammapada full audiobook buddhism teachings of the buddha. Hindu religion, philosophy and concepts kindle edition by sharma, shalu. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading hinduism made easy.
This of course, is something people are divided on and really depends on various technicalities in how one defines religion. Sam harris expressed this view of buddhism in his essay killing the buddha shambhala sun, march 2006. Hinduism is an indian religion and dharma, or way of life, widely practiced in the indian subcontinent and parts of southeast asia. Buddhism download books, sacred, spiritual texts and pdf. Religion works on the basis of faith whereas philosophy relies on rational analysis. Buddhism writer, buddhist american, meditation enthusiast. Buddhism is a religion known for its rich spiritual teachings, beliefs, practices and traditions.
Despite this wealth of philosophy, buddhism is also a religion by any definition of that indefinable termunless one narrowly defines religion as belief in a creator god. They differ from literary texts by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual practices, commandments or laws, ethical conduct, spiritual aspirations, and for creating or fostering a religious community. The word islam means submission to the will of god. Beliefs and practices in ancient india there was no reason at all for the buddha to introduce another religion because at that time 2600 years ago there were already 62 religious cults in india alone. His treatise on the awakeningof faith is recognized by all northern buddhist schools and sects as orthodox and used even today in chinese translations as a textbook. Paul the apostle, one of the leaders of the first generation of christians, often considered to be the most important person after jesus in the history of christianity.
Buddhist philosophy the origin and teachings of buddhism the story of buddhism might be said to have begun with a loss of innocence. Buddhism is considered by some to be more of a philosophy than a religion. Buddhist philosophy rejects a number of traditional notions like those of atheism, theism, monism, and dualism. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Friends wonder whether buddhism is a religion or a philosophy. Guide to buddhism, a tradition of personal spiritual development, including meditation, philosophy, ethics, different eastern and western strands of buddhism and famous buddhist figures. These religious texts were written in many different languages and scripts but memorizing, reciting and copying the texts were of high value. During the cycles of existence samsara, you can be born and reborn a god, demigod, human, animal, ghost, or denizen of hell. Its possible to view confucianism as a religion or a philosophy. The buddha s teachings were preserved in the pali canon, which acts as an extensive analytical record written in pali, the buddha s native dialect. Most believe in supernatural phenomenon and even divine beings. The works of important buddhist philosophers like nagarjuna, vasubandhu and. In fact, buddha would tell you to throw that tripitaka out the window seriously, or throw it in the fire to warm all the monks up if it were cold. Buddhism encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices.
You should read enough of the materials presented in this section concerning the tradition of hinduism in order to understand how this tradition displays the characteristics or elements that make a tradition one that would be termed a religion. A philosophy can be a matter of study purpose only. Buddhism does not have a bible, but many holy books. Socrates wasnt the first philosopher, but he is widely credited as the forefather of western philosophy. Buddhism is a religion that was founded by siddhartha gautama the buddha more than 2500 years.
Hinduism, buddhism, judaism, islam, christianity, philosophy of confucianism have influenced major parts of the population in severe ways. Would you consider buddhism a religion or a philosophy. The enlightenment experience is the sine qua non of buddhism. It is not necessary that you should apply philosophy to your behavior, thoughts and life style. On this issue, as a matter of fact, scholars disagree as well. Buddhist texts were initially passed on orally by monks, but were later written down and. Historians have always categorized it with other religions. With about 470 million followers, scholars consider buddhism one of the major. Thome fang, a philosopher professor, said it is both, but ouyang jingwu, a consciousnessonly theory expert, said it is neither. Over our five decades of publishing we have a wide variety of religious and philosophical traditions. While mahayana buddhism reveres the tripitaka as a holy text, they add to it a total of 2184 sacred writings. The sutras were put into writing between the second century bce and the second century ce, during the time the split between theravada and mahayana developed. Is buddhism a religion, philosophy, way of life, or science of mind.
Download the bible, the holy quran, the mahabharata, and thousands of free pdf ebooks on buddhism, meditation, etc. We are currently offering free shipping on domestic orders to customers in the united states excluding ak and hi. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. The relative authority of religious texts develops over time and is derived from the ratification. Please consider support hhh this summer for more world history vids for the kiddies. You could take elements of the religion, such as nonviolence, and have a philosophy about these particular elements. This ebook, buddhism as a religion, seeks to explain the religious foundations of buddhism in comparison with other main religions. Through meditation, siddhartha gautama intimately experienced thusness beyond subject and object, self and other, life and death. The buddha and buddhist philosophers who follow him such as vasubandhu and buddhaghosa, generally. All traditional incarnations of buddhism have had rituals, clergy analogs, sacred texts, etcall the trappings of a religion. As of 2010, there were 488 million buddhists, representing seven percent of the planets population. Buddhismsome buddhism, anywayis a practice of contemplation and inquiry that doesnt depend on belief in god or a soul or anything supernatural. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as sanatana dharma, the eternal tradition, or the eternal way, beyond human history.
626 47 870 1077 1020 128 774 949 440 504 865 342 502 1296 577 357 1379 362 123 416 1342 112 1479 571 38 167 1010 804 544 186 389 404 1201 1316 273 521 1255 158 1480 628 831 307 482 143 897 217 455 665 803 1384