[Buddha-l] the existence of God in Buddhism

[Macleod, Nik]

Ilana Maymind quotes:

> "If, for example, your definition of a religion is premised 
> on the existence of a supernatural divinity, then ... we would 
> be obliged *to deny that Buddhism is a religious phenomenon, 
> because it does not allow for the existence of God,*" 

Which seems to me a pretty conclusive reductio ad absurdum, or
prasa.nga if you will, of any such definition of 'religion'.

This puts me in mind of my favourite question-begging book title 
by Helmuth von Glasenapp - originally "Der Buddhismus, eine 
atheistische Religion", translated as "Buddhism--a Non-Theistic 
Religion". Though I did wonder at the translator's substitution
of non-theistic for atheistic ...

Best regards
Nik Macleod