Is Buddhism a philosophy or a religion?
How should we view Buddhism and how do we practice?
Buddhism is more of a philosophy but not at all a religion. It is probably better be described as Buddha’s teachings. There is certainly a good amount of philosophy in Buddhism, however, if we dig deeper, philosophy is only a part of it.
Sakyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, didn’t intend to throw out some philosophical theories to this world. Study closely at his life, you’ll see that Sakyamuni went on a life journey to seek for the cause of sufferings we humans all face: birth, aging, illness, and death.
Attaining perfect enlightenment, Sakyamuni ultimately discovered the truth of life and the secrets of the universe. That’s when he started to spread the words and preach what he had discovered. His whole life was devoted to educating everyone about the truth. Thus, it would make more sense to say Buddhism is education, an education from Buddha to all beings. The purpose of this education is to help us break our delusions, end sufferings, obtain happiness, and ultimately attain enlightenment, if we believe and follow the method.
The word “Buddha” in Sanskrit means wisdom and enlightenment. It has both fundamental and manifested perspectives. From its fundamental view, “Buddha” denotes wisdom. From its manifested view, “Buddha” indicates outcome, that is, Complete and Perfect Enlightenment.
Wisdom
Here the word “wisdom” does not refer to layman term but have three layers of meanings:
1) Pratyeka-buddha wisdom — the wisdom of accurately understanding the noumenon of the universe.
2) Bodhisattva wisdom — the wisdom of truly understanding the creation, phenomena, process, and outcome of the universe.
3) Buddha wisdom — the wisdom of correctly understanding the truth of the universe and life.
Enlightenment
Here the word “enlightenment” also has three levels of meanings:
1) Enlightenment from within — that is the enlightenment of ourselves.
2) Enlightening others — that is helping others to become enlightened.
3) Perfect Enlightenment — that is attaining the full perfection of the previous two levels of enlightenment.
Buddhism is different from philosophy
Wisdom is the fundamental and Enlightenment is the outcome. Being enlightened is the result arising from understanding the universe and life.
The word “Dharma” describes all things or events in the universe and life. Dharma entails all things in the infinite time and space. Therefore, the two words “Buddha” and “Dharma” combined means infinite wisdom and enlightenment.
In similar fashion, objects or events in life and the universe that enable us to be enlightened is innumerable; the wisdom that enables us to enlightenment is also infinite. The cause of enabling enlightenment and the outcome of being enlightened are one, not two separate entities — this is what makes Buddhism very different from philosophy.
Let’s take dreams as an example.
While in dreams, we suddenly woke up and realized that we were dreaming, knowing that all things happened in the dream were created from our minds. Our minds enable us to know, and the dreams is what being known. But the dreams and the mind (that is aware of our dreams) are one and not two separate entities. Therefore, we can see that Buddhism is not philosophy. In Buddhism, what enables and what is enabled are one.
Revealing the inner nature
Sakyamuni told us that the infinite wisdom and the perfect ability to be enlightened is something innate, not learned. Not only Buddha has such inner nature, all of us have this inner nature. In this notion, Buddha and all beings are equal.
At this moment, our wisdom and ability are lost, since we have disengaged our innate wisdom and ability, resulting in delusions, afflictions and sufferings. In turn, we become completely ignorant about the truth of our life and the universe (the environment we are inhabiting). Once we become ignorant, we allow misconceptions and illusions to build up and take over our minds, to lead our way of life; and gradually our views of life has gone astray.
Unfortunately, wrong ways of thinking and wrongdoings will have consequences. The consequence is falling into the cycles of birth and death, in which we cyclically experience sufferings and pain of aging, illnesses, and death.
Buddha told us delusion is the cause of our sufferings. Our wisdom and innate ability are covered up or hidden by our delusions and all kinds of attachments. If we recognize our delusions and let go of our attachments, we will restore our true nature, or innate Buddha-nature.
Buddhism is not a religion
Sakyamuni Buddha did not ask to be worshiped. He came to this Saha World to help us understand the root cause of our sufferings, show us the way to discover the secrets of the universe and life, and help us reap the real benefits of Buddhism, that is to end our sufferings, free from the seemingly endless cycles of birth and death, and attain ultimate happiness — this is the purpose of the teachings from the Buddha.
Sakyamuni Buddha is our teacher, a teacher who is unconditional and compassionate to all beings in this world. We should see Sakyamuni as a teacher, and not as a god, deity or such kind to be worshiped as in religion.
Buddha’s teaching is education
Consider the path of becoming a Buddhist as an education path of your lifetime. The Buddha teachings, if practiced accordingly, will help us reap the real benefits of Buddhism in this life and beyond.
Buddha images and Buddhist art are in essence the artful and symbolic expressions of Buddha teachings. The objective is to educate the meanings and teachings of Buddhism. These are the teaching aids, the artistic representations of our true inner nature and the virtues that practitioners aspired to cultivate and achieve.
Buddha statues in various form also serve to convey a feeling of calmness and reflect proper mental discipline to help us control over our negative emotions such as greed, anger and fear.
Suggested practice: Place a statue in a quiet, clean place where it would be ideal for contemplation. Such statues may be used for mindfulness meditation as well. Set aside time to practice visualizing it everyday. Immerse your mind with the perception of the Buddha image and cultivate a pure mind. Reciting the Buddha-name as a daily practice is also a way of cultivating a pure mind.
Buddhist offerings with educational significance
What’s more, offerings we noticed that are placed in front of the Buddha statues is a gesture of gratitude, and recognition for the teachings that are bestowed by the Buddha.
Those who seriously take the teachings from Sakyamuni may naturally make offerings to the Buddha as a gesture of showing respect to the teacher. We could think of such offerings the same way as we bake some cookies for a friend. The act of offering is spontaneous and thoughtful.
As for the offerings we usually see, such as lamps, water, flowers or fruits, they actually have symbolic meanings with educational significance in Buddhist teachings. Everything in place serve as a teaching aid, and are educational in nature.
Water, as we see it offered in a glass or a container, we should know that water symbolizes the Dharma. The water is clean symbolizing that our minds need to be as pure as the water. It is calm without a single ripple, symbolizing the tranquility in our minds. Thus, water inspires us to have purity and equality of mind.
Flowers reminds us of the law of causality. Flowers symbolize the “cause” as the blossoming of flowers results in the bearing of fruits. Flowers symbolize the Six Paramita — Giving, Abiding by the precepts, Patience, Diligence, Deep concentration, and Wisdom.
Fruits are not offered to the Buddha or Bodhisattvas to eat. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas neither smell nor eat, they want for nothing. They remind us that if we want the sweet fruit or the good result, we must cultivate and accumulate good deeds, the cause. Thus, everything we see in the Buddhist hall is a teaching aid.
Lamps symbolize light. Our minds should be as just and as honorable. We strive to help others, even at the expense of ourselves. As the lamps offered traditionally are oil lamps, the burning of oil symbolizes sacrificing oneself to illuminate others. This symbolizes great compassion. Today, light bulbs are used and this symbolic representation (of the oil lamps) is hardly seen. Also, lamps symbolize wisdom and brightness; and incense sticks symbolize self-discipline and deep concentration.
We will not see anything in the Buddhist halls that do not symbolize some kind of teachings for our cultivation. Offerings in a Buddhist temple or center, thus, are educational; they serve to remind the practitioners of the Buddha’s teachings at all times. A true practitioner in this mundane world would not accept any flattery, let alone Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. Sadly, many Buddhists are ignorant of the educational significance of these objects that some tend to see this as superstition.
The Buddha’s teachings ultimately allow us to recover our true nature and Buddha wisdom. It is this wisdom that will enable all to differentiate true from false, proper from improper, right from wrong and good from bad. The ultimate goal is to enable us to attain truth, virtue, beauty, wisdom, and genuine eternal happiness.
Of all the teachings by Buddha Sakyamuni, the Buddha in numerous occasions introduced Amitabha Buddha to all sentient beings about the Western Pure Land, the Land of Ultimate Bliss. One can learn more about Pure Land Buddhism and get started with the Buddha-name Mindful Chanting practice.
Buddhism should best not be mistaken as a religion, nor be taken scholarly as philosophy. To reap the real benefit of Buddhism is to learn with an open mind and practice Buddha’s teachings in your everyday life.
