Probably for the same reason many Westerners believe Buddhism is a religion--ignorance.
How would you define religion?
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Probably for the same reason many Westerners believe Buddhism is a religion--ignorance.
Because they mistake one of the colors in the Yin Yang symbol as God and the other as earth? Because they are radical dualists?
I actually didn't know people thought that the Tao was a God. I guess I've never encountered that myself. Certainly not at the Tai Chi studio I go to anyway.
The Tao is God because there is nothing beyond it. In Greek paganism, we call it ''On''. ''On'' means ''that which is''. Tao = On = God.
Because in important ways, the Tao is the functional equivalent of God - an ineffable, subtle form without form, knowledge of which bestows an "enlightened" life on those who understand it.
In greek paganism, the cosmos is One. The One is the strongest number in unity. all fall into the One and there is nothing beyond One. The One can sustain itself perfectly. So the One (who is everything and it sustains itself perfectly) is God.To clarify, are you saying that anything -- anything -- there is nothing beyond is by definition "God"?
Yes, I did catch that after I posted my reply. Also post 17 is good. That is how I have come to see the Tao as well. In my thinking God is the IS, or that Tao. I remove that anthropomorphic, dualistic face. It's Nature with a capital N, Reality, Ground, Source, Sumit, indivisible. It can be personal, or not.Check out post #16 in this very thread! Fascinating, eh?
LOL! Get a grip and read the attachment to my message:
If, as you opined, Buddhism is not a religion, why the heck is it listed--by the gods who run RF--as a subforum under Dharmic Religions DIR and why has it taken you close to seven years of membership in RF to raise your objection to calling Buddhism a religion?
- Clicking on "Forums" in the topline menu takes you to different RF forum categories
- Introductions
- Religious Topics
- Discuss Individual Religions
- Abrahamic Religions DIR
- Dharmic Religions DIR
- Buddhism DIR
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Buddhism is a religion. From the Lion's Roar website, if you don't want to take my word for it: Is Buddhism a Religion?
Yes, Buddhism is a religionAdditionally, it has scriptures, rituals, symbols of transcendence, the sense of the sacred, etc. These trappings make Buddhism far more than just a simple philosophy.
A religion is a philosophy that posits an ultimate reality, a path towards experiencing ultimate reality, and the potential for personal transformation, says Charles Prebish. Buddhism checks all those boxes.
.....
What Streng meant to say was that for something to be considered a religion, it must posit a clear and distinct ultimate reality. That ultimate reality can be a God or gods, an impersonal absolute, a force of nature, a ground of being, or some other entity or experience. But without something ultimate — beyond which it is impossible to go — the system at hand is not a religion. In addition, in order to be considered a religion, the system must offer some clear and distinct path, or choice of paths, to the experience of that ultimate reality. While it doesn’t matter whether that path is prayer, ritual, yoga, meditation, some other method, or some combination thereof, there must be a straightforward way for the religious aspirant to gain the experience of the ultimate reality.
Buddhism is a religion. From the Lion's Roar website, if you don't want to take my word for it: Is Buddhism a Religion?
Yes, Buddhism is a religionAdditionally, it has scriptures, rituals, symbols of transcendence, the sense of the sacred, etc. These trappings make Buddhism far more than just a simple philosophy.
A religion is a philosophy that posits an ultimate reality, a path towards experiencing ultimate reality, and the potential for personal transformation, says Charles Prebish. Buddhism checks all those boxes.
.....
What Streng meant to say was that for something to be considered a religion, it must posit a clear and distinct ultimate reality. That ultimate reality can be a God or gods, an impersonal absolute, a force of nature, a ground of being, or some other entity or experience. But without something ultimate — beyond which it is impossible to go — the system at hand is not a religion. In addition, in order to be considered a religion, the system must offer some clear and distinct path, or choice of paths, to the experience of that ultimate reality. While it doesn’t matter whether that path is prayer, ritual, yoga, meditation, some other method, or some combination thereof, there must be a straightforward way for the religious aspirant to gain the experience of the ultimate reality.
Buddhism is NOT a religion, it is a philosophy. There are no deities to be worship, nor is there any dogmatic rituals to be followed. This is what I mean by ignorance...
Look, ... I don't have an objection to your claim. What I did and do have is a suggestion.
And I hope to God I don't get a Moderator warning for making that suggestion emphatically.
- My suggestion is that you take your claim to the folks who run RF and get them to take Buddism out of the Dharmic Religions DIR where it currently is and put it somewhere else, like, say, under the friggin' "Philosophy" forum under EVERYTHING BUT THE KITCHEN SINK".
Breathe,T...breathe..
And those that refuse to listen never do.Everyone has to find their own truth, I guess....
Why do so many Westerners mistakenly believe either that the Tao is a god or that the Tao did not exist before the gods?
Joseph Needham connected myths about Magu, "the Hemp Damsel", with early Daoist religious usages of cannabis, pointing out that Magu was goddess of Shandong's sacred Mount Tai, where cannabis "was supposed to be gathered on the seventh day of the seventh month, a day of seance banquets in the Taoist communities."[22] “
It can be, like thisWhy do so many Westerners mistakenly believe either that the Tao is a god or that the Tao did not exist before the gods?