Expert: Justin Choo - 3/8/2005

Question
As I'm guessing you know... Buddhism does not seem to classify as a world religion. A religion is described as 'The belief in and worship of superhuman controlling power, especially a personal god or gods.' But this is not buddhism... Please can you tell me whether you believe that Buddhism is actually a true religion, and how you came to this understanding.

This will help me a lot with a project I am doing - Which has to be handed in soon, I am very grateful.

Many Thanks,
Ben.

Answer
Hi Ben,

Thank you for asking me.

Your guess is absolute spot on.  What is the purpose of a religion?  If the purpose of a religion is to impose fear on people, then Buddhism is not.  If a religion means retricting people's mind only to follow dogmas, then Buddhism is not.  If religion is to demand that people submit to the whims and fancies of a powerful agent or his "chosen" representative(s), then Buddhism is not.

If religion is to promote peace and freedom of thought through universal truth, then Buddhism is.  The Buddha expounded universal truth and universal ethics. A more appropriate term to describe Buddhism is "humanism".  It deals with the conduct of human lives.

The Buddha discovered the way to peace and happiness through realizing the true nature of life and this universe. It was more than 2500 years ago in northern India where the Buddha through harnessing the power of his mind realized that if man is to be free of greed, hatred and delusion, he had to look inwards into his mind, and start cleansing his inner defilements. If one reduces one's defilements, one would experience peace and happiness.   He discovered that the whole world had certain characteristics and that life continued to exist because of certain causes. This world is very unsatisfactory, because we cannot be fully satisfied in life and that nothing is permanent. He also pointed out that because of our craving for permanent and complete satisfaction, we were always miserable.  

The most salient aspect of Buddhism is FREEDOM in its practice. The Buddha encouraged his followers to use their common sense and human intelligence to analyze his teachings before accepting them. He pointed out that there was no super agent who controlled us, punished us and rewarded us. We are not puppets on the strings; and there is no puppeteer up above to manipulate us. The natural law of cause and effect rules the world. No matter who you are and where you are, or what you believe, this universal LAW rules supreme. There is no escape. It is perfectly impartial. In simple language, good begets good; evil begets evil.

So,in Buddhism there is no dogma and no commandment. There is only the guidelines and noble precepts which the Buddha advised us to follow. As diligent Buddhists we use certain precepts to guide our lives. These are the 5 precepts: to refrain from killing, to refrain from stealing, to refrain from committing sexual misconduct, to refrain from telling lies, and to refrain from taking intoxicating substances.

Buddhist teachings are like air.  They are free, and non discrimnating.  If you think it benefits you, then please breathe the air.  If you choose otherwise, then it's up to you.  This is the "religion" of Buddhism....Truth, Peace, Harmlessness, and Freedom.

Hope that answers your question.  Please call back if need be.

Smile from justinchoo :-)