Is Buddhism just a philosophy?
Posted: March 3, 2008 | Author: Doug | Filed under: Buddhism, Religion, Zen | 7 Comments »Sometimes I feel there is something blasphemous in talking about how Buddhism is perfect as a philosophy or teaching without knowing what it actually is. – Shunryu Suzuki, “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind”
Computers* are useless. They can only give you answers. – Pablo Picasso
Often when meeting people who consider themselves Buddhist, you will often meet people who consider themselves “philosophical” Buddhists. Meaning, they consider Buddhism a philosophy of life to follow, but are hesitant to overtly become Buddhist or take part in any religious activities. Or, you meet “ecumenical” Buddhists who again consider Buddhism a philosophy to life, but supplement this with a theistic view of the world.
My own experience shows that the philosophical Buddhists outweigh religious Buddhists among Western converts. This of course completely ignores ethnic groups who grew up Buddhist, as a religion, but often these groups are derided by Western Buddhists who decry their “cultural accretions”. There’s an interesting belief among some Western converts that Buddhism has been corrupted over time by culture, and that they can somehow peel back the layers to get at the true essence.
Suzuki Roshi’s comment about discussing Buddhism as a philosophy is dead on. It’s insulting to those who do follow Buddhism to downgrade it as a philosophy. I think a lot of critics of Buddhism like to do this as a way of watering down Buddhism so that they can assert their own beliefs with respect to God, or lack thereof. I have nothing particularly wrong with people who want to follow Buddhist philosophy; if it helps them live a better life, great. If you still want to believe in God, please go ahead.
What I really find offensive though is when people who have read a couple Zen books on the subject feel that they somehow know something about Buddhism that 2,500 years worth of followers didn’t. The Picasso quote is likewise meant to mean (to me), that you can’t really appreciate something until you’ve lived it and experienced it, rather than someone just giving you a dry answer. If you just read a textbook definition of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths, the Eightfold Path and so on, treat that as your life philosophy, and leave it at that, you’re missing out on soooo much more within Buddhism. Buddhist metaphysics and theology are broad and deep; they can rival anything the West has ever offered, without ever having to rely on the notion of a Creator God. But you’d never know until you explored it long enough to internalize the teachings.
Buddhism is actually a very deep and complex religion. It’s not something you can really read books on and expect to know or appreciate it. You’ve got to stick your neck out and try it. Find a good Buddhist group in your area, meet people who’ve been Buddhist for a while, and just take a risk and try something new. You’ll learn so much more this way, and if you decide Buddhism really is a stupid religion, then you can say you learned something from it.
Shortly after September 11, 2001, I decided to explore Islam. I had read a little about it in the past, but really didn’t know much beyond that. Given all the anti-Muslim backlash, I figured the only way to really see what Muslims were like was to go to a Mosque and get to know people. It was a wonderful experience. I learned to pray, to do ablution, and to see how work and family life apply to Muslims. Ultimately Islam didn’t work out for me, but the 6 months to a year spent exploring were so worth it, and my opinion of Islam was greatly improved: it too is a deep and complex religion, not something that gets represented clearly in the media and the vast majority of Muslims are people who just want a nice job and to raise a family.
I write all this partly as a self-criticism as well. I’ve been into Buddhism more or less since I was 16 (now 30), but for most of that time, I was definitely one of those know-it-alls who had read a couple books and thought I had it figured it out. It wasn’t until I traveled abroad, met my wife, and just grew up a little** that I appreciated the deeper side of Buddhism. Buddhism is about transformation, not an intellectual game to play out on Internet forums.
So, before you write off Buddhism as a mere philosophy, please think again. If you think you know Buddhism, chances are you don’t. In Buddhism, we use the analogy of the ocean as wisdom, and if you only stand on the shore looking out the ocean, you’ll never realize how much there is in the deep.
Namuamidabu
* – …and philosophies.
** – My wife would argue that I still have a long ways to go. 
Hello, this blog is about my life as a father, Buddhist and Japanophile. Any useful information I can pass along will hopefully make the 
Great blog and phenomenal post!
Followed a link from lotusinthemud, I can see why she is a fan
Thanks very kindly, and welcome to the L8B.
Wow, excellent post.
I often encounter the same thing: “Buddhism isn’t a religion, it’s a philosophy.” Well, it’s a religion that HAS a philosophy, but then again, most religions do. I also live by the notion that you should treat others as you want them to treat you (ahem, thanks Jesus), because that’s a great moral philosophy to live by; but I certainly don’t consider myself Christian because there’s a lot more to “being” a Christian than just living by something someone said.
I’ve had similar conversations around “spiritual, not religious” but I’ll not go there today. Today (of all days) I’ll just say I’m grateful for what I’ve learned being a Buddhist, and surrounding myself with other Buddhists.
Thanks as always for a great post!
but I certainly don’t consider myself Christian because there’s a lot more to “being” a Christian than just living by something someone said.
Exactly. It’s insulting to the religion in question to say “I live by the teachings of X” because the question arises, “well, what’s wrong with the rest of it?”
People say “well, I don’t agree with the followers”, but that’s the challenge of a religion: to learn to get along with others in a religious community. If you cop-out and follow things from a distance, you’re only selling yourself short.
Fabulous post Gerald,
Of course Buddhism is a religion – you just have to walk into any temple in any Buddhist country to see that! And, like you, that’s the Buddhism I love.
But, you know, I (half-grudgingly admit!) there is room in this big old Buddhist world for the ‘philosophical Buddhists’ too. (The name Steven Batchelor springs to mind.)
I suppose too that many western converts such as ourselves start out with the ‘it’s just a philosohy’ approach and then, later, start seeing the depth that you’re talking about.
Anyhow – great post! Thank you!
Metta,
Marcus
Excellent post. I am guilty of having done this with my experience of Zen. Eventually, as I reflected upon what I claimed to know and be in comparison to who I really was, I became aware of how my construct of philosophical Buddhism was just a tool for my own ego. This also coincided with my discovery of Shin as I was taking some classes abroad in Japan, and resulted in me returning in humility to look at this school of Buddhism that I had always lambasted, eventually to be profoundly altered by its wisdom.
Unfortunately, this is a temptation with any religion. While I no longer practice Buddhism, as an Orthodox Christian I encounter many seeking after “the historical Jesus” or “Jesus the teacher.” Most of Western Christiandom has discarded the asceticism and mysticism that is an essential element of the early Church of the Apostles, and now, going even further, many are discarding the core dogmas of Christianity, yet trying to present it as Christian (and even worse, as how the early Church “really was before it was corrupted”). This is the same as Buddhists who are trying to discard the so-called “cultural” aspects of Buddhism. From my experience of this, I can emphasize with Suzuki-roshi’s outrage. To experience this depth and beauty and to see people discarding it as if it is some useless accretion fills one with sorrow.
Unfortunately, in our modern world most are seeking after consumerist “spirituality”: the goal is religion-as-a-tool-for-myself… which necessarily means that one has to discard various “inconvenient” points of each religion, taking up a la carte only the points that have particular resonance with a person’s aesthetic preferences. To actually recognize truth necessarily means that one must change in accordance with that insight, and for a society which seeks after the freedom of “do what you will,” exalting the ego in hedonism, the idea of recognizing truth-outside-of-us seems like slavery, not liberation.
The problem for many lies in seeing the truth outside of and beyond us, be it the Four Noble Truths or the Gospel of Christ or whatever truth-claims each particular religion makes. The fact that these claims lie outside of us and exist regardless of how we feel about them poses a great challenge to people conditioned by cultural relativism, more properly termed nihilism: we are told to believe what feels good, as long as you don’t really believe in it as truth (because then, someone else might have to change!) This consumerist approach to religion is what results in both the watering down of religions and the development of religious syncretism that you mention.
We must respond with humility and gentleness that guides yet also with firmness and conviction to truth: and by this I mean not only what is really true (individual truths), but even the very notion of the existence of Truth. Otherwise, anything goes in the realm of belief, and religion will simply become another tool for self-gratification, enslavement, and all sorts of other terrible things.
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