by VorJack

During the recent discussion of Buddhism, the usual argument that Buddhism is a “philosophy and not a religion” came up. When having this discussion, I think it’s necessary to be clear which type of Buddhism you’re talking about. Think of it this way: if you’re arguing about Christianity, you don’t want to be talking about Universalist Unitarianism while the other person is thinking about the Church of Latter Day Saints.
Consider for example the broad stream of Buddhism usually called (in the west) Pure Lands Buddhism or Amidism. Like most forms of eastern religion, it seems to play well with others, so there are many combinations and permutations. Still, if you take a step back and squint, it looks like Pure Lands Buddhism may be the most popular form of Buddhism in the east.
One of the core concepts of Pure Lands is that a Buddha named Amitabha (there are several other renderings) provides an alternative path to enlightenment. The idea is that this current age, with its temptations and hardships, makes it extremely difficult for the commoner to engage in the meditative pursuits that lead to enlightenment. By exhibiting devotion to Amitabha, the believer may be reborn in the Pure Lands at a future time.
The Buddha Amitabha has created the Pure Lands as a place of peace and repose, where the (literally) born-again believer may be instructed by Bodhisattvas and attain enlightenment with relative ease.
Which, is you squint some more, looks quite a bit like heaven. And Amitabha sounds an awful lot like a messiah figure, with whom we are saved. My understanding is that the various Pure Lands groups occasionally have the same arguments that reformed Protestants do: saved by grace alone or saved by grace through faith?
I’ve also heard that the same arguments take place in certain Hindu sects, where they are known as the “cat school” and the “monkey school.” The cat school says that we are saved by grace alone, like a mother cat yanking up a straying child by the scruff of its neck. The monkey school says that we are saved by grace through faith, like a baby monkey who is lifted by mother, but then must cling on to her back.
I’d just like to echo what I said before: we’re all humans, and all faced with many of the same problems and failings. It shouldn’t be surprising that our religions end up sharing many of the same traits.











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