SifuPhil
R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
- Location
- Pennsylvania, USA
The definition of religion:
"The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods."
Buddhism does not have any gods per se. In Buddhism gods are impermanent higher beings who are still subject to rebirth, they are not absolute power deities or creators, as in the western use of the term God. Kwan Yin, for example, is the female goddess of compassion, but she is only a rebirth of the bodhisattva Avolikiteshvara, a monk from a previous eon who was reborn in a heavenly realm and filled with compassion for all living beings. One legend states that Avolikiteshvara chose to be reborn as a beautiful woman to marry a famous king and convince him to become a Buddhist.
She is a legend, a morality play, a fable made flesh, nothing more. She doesn't have celestial powers nor does she give forth commands. You don't "worship" Kwan Yin.
Therefore I maintain that Buddhism is not a "religion".
Same with Taoism. Taoism was a philosophy of living long before they started creating a pantheon of gods and goddesses, in order to keep up with the invading Christianity and Buddhism converts. They threw in some ceremonies, created a few holy days and voila - a religion was born.
But taken back to their true roots, neither Taoism nor Buddhism are religions. That people practice them as such in this day and age is merely a reflection of how gullible the populations are, that they believe the propaganda of the respective "authorities" of those "religions".
One needs to research and study the history of a belief system in order to know its true nature, and not just accept on face-value what is presented by the know-nothing, party-line-quoting "experts" that have multiplied since the inception of the 'Net.
"The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods."
Buddhism does not have any gods per se. In Buddhism gods are impermanent higher beings who are still subject to rebirth, they are not absolute power deities or creators, as in the western use of the term God. Kwan Yin, for example, is the female goddess of compassion, but she is only a rebirth of the bodhisattva Avolikiteshvara, a monk from a previous eon who was reborn in a heavenly realm and filled with compassion for all living beings. One legend states that Avolikiteshvara chose to be reborn as a beautiful woman to marry a famous king and convince him to become a Buddhist.
She is a legend, a morality play, a fable made flesh, nothing more. She doesn't have celestial powers nor does she give forth commands. You don't "worship" Kwan Yin.
Therefore I maintain that Buddhism is not a "religion".
Same with Taoism. Taoism was a philosophy of living long before they started creating a pantheon of gods and goddesses, in order to keep up with the invading Christianity and Buddhism converts. They threw in some ceremonies, created a few holy days and voila - a religion was born.
But taken back to their true roots, neither Taoism nor Buddhism are religions. That people practice them as such in this day and age is merely a reflection of how gullible the populations are, that they believe the propaganda of the respective "authorities" of those "religions".
One needs to research and study the history of a belief system in order to know its true nature, and not just accept on face-value what is presented by the know-nothing, party-line-quoting "experts" that have multiplied since the inception of the 'Net.