@gatheringstormlol

3 months ago

Wait till this guy hears about Tibetan Buddhism. No, but seriously though, as a Theravadin Buddhist I feel that on the scale between “Philosophy” and “Religion”, Vajrayana Buddhism shifts more towards the religious end. I can understand why people could argue why Buddhism is purely a religion based on its esoteric and spiritual ritualistic practices, to the point that a parallel towards the Abrahamic religions could be made. For my sect of Theravada, personally I don’t fully dismiss the religious supernatural aspect of Buddhism, but more so placed more emphasis on the philosophical aspect of it. In my opinion, Siddhartha would’ve preferred me to just sit down meditate and practice the 8 fold path rather than waste my time dwelling on the supernaturals that is encapsulated in the Pali Canon. To me, the supernatural is just an aspect of Buddhism that shouldn’t be fully dismissed as a whole but should also not be emphasised as the core of the religion. To me, it sits on somewhere in the middle between a true philosophy and a true religion. I can easily give reasons on why Buddhism is a philosophy just as giving counter arguments to why it is a religion. I obviously don’t agree with the videos title as it fully dismisses the philosophical aspects and reduces to a purely religious ideology. I get why he’s doing it though. Putting a more “extreme” statement as the title targets the more “hypocritical” audience who fully neglects all supernatural aspects of Buddhism and reduces it to a whole “scientific” philosophy, and therefore concludes it is better than the Abrahamic religions in this regards. Obviously, I have my biases and feels that the world would be a slightly better place if we have more Buddhists, therefore dare I say it’s “better” than other religions, but it wouldn’t be on the basis that my religion is “purely philosophical” and “scientific” and “realistic” (and therefore better), but more so because Buddhism has a better and a more greater emphasis on pragmatic philosophical ideologies than the rest, and have a refined philosophical way of life towards non violence that I am personally biased towards based on my life experiences. But at the end of the day, I’m just one guy out of 8 billion. Who really cares what I think. I’ll be glad if one person reads my comment this far. I’m not gonna force my religious views on anyone. That’s just morally wrong in my opinion and everyone should have the freedom to choose what religion to believe in, if any. I’m an advocate of critical thinking and not blindly following. As a wise philosopher once said (paraphrased): “Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it, rumoured by many, written in your religious books, passed down by tradition, or enforced by the authority of teachers and elders, but believe it only after observation, careful analysis, critical thinking” -Siddhartha Gautama, Kamala Sutta (the real quote is different from that, I just wrote what I remembered from the top of my head, so I apologise for that) Thanks for reading ❤

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