Religion has structured history due to the meaning it provides to society. In general, supernatural beings are used as a basis for order and this would lead to the violence on asking which supreme order is correct and why they matters. An example being the separation of nations due to different interpretations of a religion and groups of people questioning who is the supreme power in Europe. However, the Eastern religion Buddhism has no use for a deity and had tried to stay neutral within the world on what is the supreme power. If we were to say buddhism is objectively a religion, that would give it a feeling a scarcity and importance ideologies do not possess. Furthermore, it blurs the line on what is a religion and how it starts. Still, even without a deity, Buddhism is objectively a religion and uses similar roles for a “god’ differently compared to monotheistic religions. In order to understand what buddhism is, we must first ask “What is a religion?” in general. So, for the study of the paper, I had compiled several responses from different religious organizations from around Chicago- asking them “What is a religion and how does one define it?”. Though I have multiple different views on religion that contradict each other, most -if not allof the organizations had a similar response. To all of the organizations, the practice from religion is a stronghold for defining religion itself. However, there is also a secondary truth that the full practice of religion is fueled by fundamental belief, which leads to objective truth to a worshiper. In Gayatri Shaktipeeth Chicago (Hindu), they describe religion as a “Art of Living” and using the Satana to help through life. The practice “Satana” means to be humble and not harm any living creature with life. Similarly, in the Temple of Bete, Rabij M.W. explains how judaism has not been labeled to the Jews until Christianity came within the Mediterranean, and labeled judaism such as a “religion”. The jewish people had seen judaism as a culture with its own practices. These practices followed within the religion and not even shown to be seperate or different from living itself. Now that there is an understanding on how practice defines a religion, it should be understood on what a belief is and how to define it within the context of ideology and religion. Within an ideology, ideas can oppose each other without contradiction because of the perspectives of people changing over time. Ideologies are also either based an individual experience or an appeal to individual experiences. Take communism or capitalism for example, where people submit to the ideology based around their own preferences rather then the preference of truth. Ideology also separates from an unconscious practice rather than the average practice of a person. For example, Freedom From Religion Co-Founder A.L. Gaylor states “ rules of the “creator” could be found through so called “scared” text supposedly left by the creator”. This is important because while religious organizations already have text and base practice around that text, ideology has no “sacred” text and can be interchangeable based around an individual's experience. Now, religion and ideology have much overlap which even P. Whissel from American Atheist states “Ideology and religion are not separate and ideology normally comes from religion.” So what defines religion would be a belief system that creates a black and white spectrum rather than a nuanced perspective compared to an ideology. An example, going back to hinduism, “a duty and sacrifice not only to the family but to all (living) other things” . This is a definite statement and doesn’t allow the bending or expectations to the religion. A. McBryde at
MMC Chicago (Muslim) also states religion “Has (deity) written destine for every person..”. This statement being a definite quote on that there is a deity, and we bend to his will. Now, Buddhism falls in a grey area since it doesn’t have a god or deity as a many factor of the religion compared to other monotheistic or polytheistic religions. However, it does have “sacred” text that was created from generations before as well as practices that create the black and white belief system for a religion. In the Midwest Buddhist Temple, preacher Jesse Zavala talks about how there was a transition between traditional Japanese religions to Shin Buddhism. Within Shin Buddhism, the interactions of an object to a person give it a “soul” of existence. Similarly, native Japanese religions believed that all things has spirits or “souls” in them as if they were living. So even when the deity was taken out, the scarcity of the object still remains in tact. Not to mention the religion of Shin Buddhism questions the object existence, but has a yes or no facility to its form of questioning the object. To put it simply, “do you believe there is a “soul” in this object?” Similarly, in Tibet Buddhism, meditation could bring one to enlightenment. However, even if meditation was passed to different ideologies and even different religions, it would only be considered to bring enlightenment to those who understand and believe in buddhism. In the book “Art of Happiness”, a head monk called the “Dalai Lama” separates his beliefs and states methods on how to indirectly follow them. This being either metaphor. scientific study, or realization of one’s self. However, how he makes distinctions between buddhism practices and practice for secularist is in the belief that certain practices will fully succeed. An example being “The Eight Verses on Training of the Mind”, and how the Dalai Lama believe these verses are valid even to the modern day despite being made centuries ago. He is questioned by this prayer within the book and still ultimately believes that those phrase could still bring peace to the mind. In many ways, this is similar to how Christians, Jewish, or other monotheistic religions would see their practices or prayers. In conclusion, religion could be defined as a system of practice set upon belief with a “black and white” mentality. Therefore, buddhism itself is a religion because it has a black/white thought process to certain text or practices as any other monotheistic or polytheistic religions. However, that doesn’t mean buddhism should be subjugated to the battlefield of religion. Though religion does have a black/white fallacy, buddhism is objectively the closest religion to an ideology compared to other religions. The main idea of the book “the Art of Happiness” is to show buddhist teachings can be taught to a secular or even religious audience without using a form of buddhism. In buddhism, a lot of practices is focused on the idea of suffering and how to overcome suffering. In the Art of Happiness, it talks about the reflection on suffering: “Within the framework of Buddhist Path, reflecting on suffering does have a tremendous importance…. “And do you see any benefits on reflecting in suffering for any non-buddhist? Yes, I think it has some practical value in some situations…” Jeimar Neiza Independent Study- Tibet Buddhism