radiumradiator replied to your post ……
“I generally agree, but the whole supernatural rebirth thing is a pretty religious concept, and the rituals too. Also, a lot of Mahayana stuff makes Buddhism into the closest thing possible to a theistic religion (with its celestial Bodhisattvas)”
To clarify, I simply meant that it isn’t a religion, in the sense that it isn’t predicated around the belief in God(s). To me that’s what the core essence of a religion is. There are many systems of belief that involve the supernatural, but you wouldn’t call most of them religions.
Also as a side note, I don’t mean to demean Mahayana, but it is to Buddhism, as the New Testament is to Christianity. (In my opinion, a bullshit “we changed our minds” cop-out.)
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radiumradiator said:
I like to think of it as a form of early psychology, but still, it has every attribute of religion except gods and soul stuff. I’d say an organised belief system involving afterlife or gods makes something a religion. And Mahayana is cool but I agree
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