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Buddhism of the Future
Last Friday, an old Buddhist friend, Simon, made a presentation to our Buddhist organization through Skype. It led to a big debate afterwards about the nature of Buddhism.
Simon considers Buddhism a faith and a religion. I don’t. In fact, based on my own research in the last three decades, the last thing Buddha wanted is to establish another religion. He himself saw the corruption of Brahmanism and the trappings of institutional religion during his time. He wanted to get out of that ancient system which was based on beliefs and the worship of tradition and authority. Professor Huston Smith called Buddha a “rebel saint.” That is most appropriate. I have a chance to develop many friendships with Indian people in recent years. Many of them see Buddha as a major reformers, not unlike Martin Luther. Such an understanding of Buddha has historical accuracy.
I am sure that many people would object to the notion that Buddhism is not a religion. In order to have a fruitful discussion, we have to first establish a common understanding of what a religion is. To me, a religion has the following characteristics:
1. It has certain symbols of authority, such as holy books, traditions and priesthood.
2. It has certain dogma that members must conform to and disagreement is not allowed.
