I know that there isn’t a creator God in Buddhism but is it possible to be an atheist and a Buddhist simultaneously? After all, Buddhism is a religion, right?
Posted: October 30th 2009
Steve Zara www
Is Buddhism a religion? That is not an easy question.
The problem is that we in the West have a tendency to try and fit beliefs into simple categories, so the Buddha is sometimes considered as equivalent to a Messiah. Perhaps for some Buddhists, that is correct, but for many others, it isn’t.
There is also the question of what “god” means in Buddhism. When Buddhists believe in gods, they rarely believe in anything that would be recognisable as such in the West.
So, it really is possible to be a Buddhist and atheist. This probably means that the majority of atheists are, in fact, Buddhists.
It’s also possible to be a Buddhist and not believe in anything supernatural, although this would put you in a small minority.
Posted: November 2nd 2009
Eshu www
I believe some aspects/version of Buddhism do not involve any deities, which would make them atheistic.
As atheism is only the lack of belief in gods, it is not, strictly speaking, incompatible with ideas like reincarnation and karma.
That said, most atheists also reject other supernatural ideas as lacking in evidence.
Posted: October 31st 2009
SmartLX www
Right and wrong, in a way. There are people who follow the behavioural tenets of Buddhism without putting any stock whatsoever in its supernatural elements such as karma and reincarnation. To them Buddhism is more of a philosophy than a religion, and some of them might also think of themselves as atheists.
Posted: October 30th 2009