One of the first articles I wrote for this site was "Buddhism: Philosophy or Religion?" I tried to make a case that whether Buddhism is a religion or philosophy is an artificial distinction, either way. Further, "arguing about whether Buddhism is a philosophy or a religion isn't an argument about Buddhism. It's an argument about our biases regarding philosophy and religion. Buddhism is what it is."

Still, one cannot use the words "Buddhism" and "religion" in the same sentence without somebody showing up and declaring, stoutly, that Buddhism is not a religion. To which my response has evolved into "Is too, nyah nyah nyah.

A comment to this blog post on prison Buddhism (the video with the post is interesting, btw) says, "Buddhism was never meant to be a religion. It's a mystic philosophy that fosters a certain path and practices. It's not meant to be organized." Let's take this claim apart and examine it.

Read more...

Aversion to Religion and Phony Buddhism originally appeared on About.com Buddhism on Sunday, October 18th, 2009 at 12:10:54.

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