[Buddha-l] the existence of God in Buddhism

[Blumenthal, James]

Forgive me if I am repeating what somebody else has already said since I have not read this entire thread, but I think the question of whether Buddhism is or is not a religion ought to have nothing to do with a belief in God or not.  That sort of categorization is a remnant of colonial attitudes and ways of thinking about religion.  How to define "religion" is the big question and scholars have debated this for decades.  I don't want to try to put forth a definition here, but I will say that I don't think "God" or "gods" need to play a part in it.  I do think that one of the unique characteristics of religion as opposed to other secular philosophies is that salvation, variously defined, is central is virtually all religions.  Myths, rituals, practices, beliefs, worldviews are all in some way related to the soteriological/salvific goals of the system.  Thus, in my opinion Buddhism is a religion.
Jim Blumenthal


James Blumenthal
Department of Philosophy
Oregon State University
102-A Hovland Hall
Corvallis, OR 97331
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