+85 It is weird how most of Eastern religions do not require theism and can very easily be interpreted in an agonistic or atheistic point of view. amirite?

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Religion is just a set of beliefs/morals, there doesn't have to be a God so I don't see it as weird.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

It is just strange to a western mindset for which theism is a requisite for religion.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Buddhism is pretty common in western culture and it doesn't have a God.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

There are 2 distinct branches of buddhism, one considers buddha a god and the other doesn't.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Most people in the west go with the latter.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

To me, less than 1% of the population following Buddhism is definitely not common. Also, there are three distinct branches in Buddhism. 1) Mainstream: consists of 18 distinct streams and is dominant in India, Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka. 2)Mahayana: consists of various distinct streams and is the dominant kind in China, Japan, and Korea. 3)Vajrayana: is dominant in Tibet and has 5 distinct schools in this, one of which produces the Dalai Lama. The main difference between Mahayana and the other two schools (outside of the dogmatic details regarding impermanence) is that Mahayana Buddhists believe that the Buddha can directly influence your afterlife whilst the other two steams maintain that it is only your actions that are determinative to your afterlife. This means that with Mahayana Buddhism, some level of devotion to the Buddha is required. This is theistic Buddhism. This is also the most common type of Buddhism in the Western world. I have taken a few Eastern religion university classes and was born into a Jain family. I was simply commenting on the difficulty my compeers had in understanding the almost atheistic Eastern religions.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

Buddhism is one of the largest religions in the United States behind Christianity, Judaism and nonreligious, and approximately equal with Islam and Hinduism.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

1) The United States does not constitute all of the Western world. 2) Even if it is one of the largest religions in the USA, it makes up only 0.7% of the population. If you are going to quote Wikipedia articles, at least read the whole thing.

by Anonymous 12 years ago

1) I'm aware of that, I'm not an idiot. 2) It doesn't matter how many people ARE Buddhist, that has nothing to do with the Western world being familiar with a religion that doesn't have a God.

by Anonymous 12 years ago