Is Buddhism a Religion

Religion can be thought of as many things. Many people have different definitions for it. Some think of it as a way of life, or a belief in something or someone. A very popular definition for it comes to us from the Microsoft Encarta Dictionary, which defines religion as “people’s beliefs and opinions concerning the existence, nature, and worship of a deity or deities, and divine involvement in the universe and human life.” If we use the Encarta definition, does Buddhism classify as a religion? Do Buddhist monks even think of Buddhism as a religion or just a way of life? To answer these questions, one would have to ask more questions. Is Buddhism related to another religion? Do its followers belive the same thing?

Many aspects of Buddhism consist of at least a little bit of Hindu influence. Some of these influences are very obvious, others very subtle. One main Hindu element that can still be seen in Buddhism today is the idea of ahimsa, or no harm. We see this in the movie when the Tibetans do not want to harm the worms they find while digging the soil to build the movie house. This shows two aspects of Hindu culture. The first being their belief in reincarnation. Both Hindus and Buddhists believe that when a p

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

One, it is very possible that a child or any human being, for that matter, to have blind luck which would have helped them pick these items.

The largest of the Buddhist sects, Mahayana, seems to be the one most closely related to Hinduism.

The third of the major sects of Buddhism is even more different. They also, like the Buddha, opposed rituals from Vedic priests.

So now we come to a point, after viewing Buddhism from different angles, to answer if Buddhism is a religion.

This method of selecting the Dalai Lama fails in two ways. Because it was based in Sri Lanka, it was isolated from dramatic changes happening in mainland India and Asia. The Buddha was a man who preached on practical issues. And unfortunately, sometimes that is the case. This is another great similarity between the two religions because, although the Buddha did not believe in a person having a soul, he did believe that until a person reached nirvana, they kept coming back to this earth. Although the three sects differ on how to live life, the ultimate goal is the same. Even with all these things that would seem to contradict it, Buddhism is a religion.

The Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was brought up in Hindu India. But to be able to make a judgment on it, one needs to understand the basic teachings of that religion. “Buddhism could become almost anything they wanted.

Approximate Word count = 1956
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.