Most species on the planet are lacking the intellectual ability to construct belief systems. Cats and dogs, for example, don’t think about the meaning of their lives and tend to live happily as long as they receive what they need in the very present moment. This leaves Homo sapiens as the only creatures on the Earth who have the capacity to engage with complex thinking processes and create religious and philosophical systems. Therefore, being religious is a human idiosyncrasy that is not shared with any other creatures. 

In today’s world, depending on where you are, religion is not particularly popular among many people. This is especially true in Western Europe and North America, which is a huge historical change. Once upon a time, religion was backbone of the Western world, where everyone’s life revolved around it. Almost every town had a preacher and a church. People brought the concept of God into all affairs of life as the moral and philosophical pivot around which all things must revolve.

This began to change with advent of the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries, which is reflected in French astronomer Pierre-Simon Laplace’s (1749–1827) response to Napoleon Bonaparte while explaining his theory of how the astronomical universe came into being. When Napoleon asked him where God fit into the picture, he simply replied, “I have no need of such hypotheses.” 

This answer was also the epitome of the Western mind, which was beginning to explain all the mysteries of life through sheer intellect, without relying on centuries-old doctrines that had never been questioned. Imagine if they both were Buddhists. Then Napoleon would have asked: “Where does interdependent arising fit into the picture?” Laplace would have said that this is all about that.

Religion in the West is obviously dying, without any hope of a miraculous resurrection. Religion has done lots of good things in history, creating strong communities built on faith and beliefs; developing moral systems through which people practiced good deeds, such as generosity, forgiveness, and so forth; and it also has its dark aspects.

The Western world right now is in some kind of cultural limbo, in which it seeks something to fill the vacuum left by the absence of faith. Maybe people are trying to use politics to fill that vacuum? This could be why so many people are quite religious about politics, to the extent that divorces and the breakup of friendships are happening in American society over differences of political views.

There is a new trend in many parts in the world of associating religion with its dark side. You will run into so many people in today’s world who will say, “I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual.” There is a clear distinction between religion and spirituality in the minds of many. Even many Western Buddhist teachers tend to describe Buddhism as a dharma or a spiritual path, and try to avoid associating it with religion, which carries lots of old cultural and intellectual baggage.

Now the question is whether or not Buddhism is in fact a religion. There is no clear-cut answer to this. It depends on how you view Buddhism. Unlike most religions that we find in the world, there is no notion in Buddhism of an almighty God who is the sole creator of the universe. Buddhism is basically about changing one’s own consciousness by practicing meditation and following a set of moral codes that have universal values. From that point of view, someone could say that Buddhism is not a religion, but a dharma or inner path of enlightenment.

Such a question is not an issue for most Buddhists in Asia. The answer doesn’t make a huge difference in the minds of its adherents. Not only that, such a question is so philosophical that a huge population of Asian lay Buddhists don’t even get what that question means.

In the West, when people say that Buddhism is not a religion, they’re thinking of it as a non-theistic tradition that gives moral and philosophical guidance on how to live and provides meditative techniques to transform our minds and hearts. Many people also want to disassociate it from other religions, which are often attacked by secular voices for a variety of reasons. Not only that, this view gives people the freedom to interpret the Buddhist teachings in a way that makes sense to them as well as others. 

This motive is in a alignment with Buddhism itself, which teaches that the Dharma is not one singular path, but a living force that corresponds to the spiritual needs of individuals. Furthermore, Buddhist teachers are encouraged to implore the upaya (Skt. skillful means) to teach the Buddhadharma in the world by meeting others at wherever they are on their own inner journeys. This is possible because the heart of the Buddhadharma is not based on rigid manmade theories, but on perceiving and understanding the true nature of reality. 

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Dharmata Foundation

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