Introduction
Religion is a set of beliefs and practices generally organized around supernatural and moral claims, and often codified as prayer, ritual, and religion. On an exhibit on the many religions of the world, this includes the beliefs and history of six of the world’s most known religions. They include Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Animism, Christianity, and Hinduism. This can be identified from the proofs of human religion by Homo Sapiens approximately 100,000 years ago to the present day.
Though there are numerous religions, each different from the other, they all serve the same purpose. Each answers questions that all humans seem to be programmed to ask: Why are we here? What happens when I die? How shall I live my life? Religion helps us to transmit our values from one generation to another and influences the way we interact with the natural environment. It teaches us how to see ourselves in light of the universe and gives purpose and meaning to life.
A philosophical analysis of Buddhism
W. James was convinced that only immediate knowledge, the direct experience offers “an empirical approach for a philosophical analysis of religion”, and that James’ radical empirics guides him towards scientific research of religion, therefore highlighting the important role of religion in the lives of the human beings. According to Buddhism the well being of mankind, it’s peace and security are unattainable until its unity is firmly established.
Lord Buddha: “the lust for sensual luxuries and clinging to worldly life is the cause of troubles.” it might make sense to call Buddhism a religion for purposes of describing the predominant religious groups in a country, but not to distinguish between theists and atheists). To me, the difference between philosophy and religion is that religion tends to be biased toward edifying some sort of deity or god, whereas philosophy is more about edifying oneself or mankind as a whole.
Buddhism has many great things about it. It is a religion, philosophy, religion, psychology, and metaphysic depending on how you apply it in life. Metaphysics deals with the philosophy that examines the nature of reality, including the relationship between matter and mind, substance and attribute, fact and value. The term was initially used by the followers of Aristotle as a name for that part of his writings that came after, or followed, the part which treated physics. It is the science of reality as differentiated from phenomenal being. But, when the Buddha said, “I am Awake”, we get to the cream. Because the mystics claim we can wake up also. What are they talking about? And why have these traditions lasted so many years, if no one wakes up, etc?
Amazingly, physics is now reaching conclusions that sound metaphysical to many.
Philosophy is a process of thinking. It is possible in philosophy for one to discard things that he no longer needs. Things that may have seemed to explain something one day, may not the next and in philosophy, we can throw that explanation away and look for another. This is not possible in Buddhism. Tenents exist in Buddhism-tenents are said to be universal and everlasting truths matter-of-factly and are not for “throwing away” if found to not work. Books exist, techniques exist all professing everlasting truths in Buddhism and these are not to be pondered on, they are to be followed and believed.
Religion does not necessarily need a God. I believe this is the major difference between all religions including Buddhism and philosophy. So this would make “beliefs” in philosophy more a means to an end (truth), while in religion they are the end? On a side note, this is a partial explanation for why my church is so anti-intellectual. According to James’ theory, it can be observed that philosophy can be successfully integrated into religious work. This is what is embedded in Buddhism. Hence one of the reasons why the theory of James can be applied to Buddhism.
It can also be learned from the theory that philosophy is the head of emancipation, and the proletariat is its heart. Philosophy can only be realized by the abolition of the proletariat, and the proletariat can only be abolished by the realization of philosophy. As philosophy finds its material weapon in the proletariat, so the proletariat finds its spiritual weapon in philosophy. And once the lightning of good reasoning has struck this ingenuous soil of the people, the emancipation of the people into Buddhism is accomplished. This also shows the relationship between the theory and Buddhism.
The meaning of religion
Religion was the first science if you analyze it down critically. This is because religion in its purest form was created to explain the world around us.
I believe that is why many cultures worshiped the sun because it was beyond their scope of understanding, anything that big and powerful must be a god. Of course, the way we view religion now is different because our science can explain things that we previously didn’t understand. This only but stressing James’ theory. The split between religion and science happens when religion can no longer explain things like science can. But I tend to think that religion at one point was a form of science.
The saying that Philosophy might lead you astray is real. That’s because Philosophy can get you in dilemmas that you don’t have an answer for, and such situations lead many to disbelieve in God. For example, an example like: “If God is the most powerful and create anything, could he create another God who’s more powerful than him?” If you answer yes, then God is not the most powerful, and if the answer is “no”, then he can’t create anything.
Conclusion
As much as religion is a philosophy of how the world is and how it should be. Every religion has some sort of doctrine. Science is a philosophy of how the world is and how it should be. Each field of science has its philosophy, rules to follow. Then each individual sees the world differently. We each have our personal views on science and religion. Both have the same objective of defining our reality and have equal significance in the long run. Also, both say the same thing if you are willing to open your mind, look past the words, and see what they are trying to discover. So, in the end, we shouldn’t spend so much time arguing over words but trying to discover the truth about what is. This contradicts James’ theory of religions.
In conclusion, it can be seen that Ironically, Philosophy could be used too to prove the existence of God. But people could believe in that with simple logic and common sense….no need to study or learn that. Buddhism is based on common sense by finding wisdom.