Is Buddhism A Philosophy Or Religion?

As a kid and growing up, all of my friends never knew what Buddhism was. Even I barely knew what Buddhism was. All I knew and all they knew was Buddha seemed to look like based off my necklace. This always left the question in my head: What exactly is Buddhism? I began asking my family members what Buddhism was really about and they all responded that Buddhism was a religion. Later to find out is that they never really knew what Buddhism was, they were just told that is was a religion and just went along with it for the rest of their lives. When the 8th grade came along, we were doing a research paper and I chose my to do mine on Buddhism but all I learned was the basics of it and eventually I forgot everything I learned before which picked
One individual see Buddhism as not a religion, “Going by the actual definition of the terms, Buddhism is no religion, it is a philosophy. This is because of one main reason- there doesn't exist a deity that we need to bow down before in Buddhism” (Abhishek). This individual believes Buddhism is a philosophy because unlike religions they have to bow down to praise and worship a certain God whereas Buddhism is just empowering one’s self to understand the truth and purpose of existence. Another individual does not believe Buddhism is a religion defends her argument by comparing philosophy and religion in relation to Buddhism. She states that philosophy is like a “flower of human intellect” and more “reasonable and civilized” whereas religion as she describes as “passionate, irrational, and messy” because it inspires war and violence. She finishes her statement by saying, “Buddhism is a practice of contemplation and inquiry that doesn't depend on belief in God or a soul or anything supernatural. Therefore, the theory goes, it can't be a religion” (O’Brien). This individual believes that Buddhism can never be considered a religion because the intentions and history of Buddhism never show any signs of creating violence or wars unlike some religion have. However despite those who believe Buddhism should not be considered a religion there are some who actually think otherwise. For example this individual states that Buddhism is in fact a religion because “A religion is a philosophy that posits an ultimate reality, a path towards experiencing ultimate reality, and the potential for personal transformation. Buddhism checks all those boxes” (Prebish). He defends his position by stating what the goals of a religion has to offer for an individual and clarifies that Buddhism indeed checks of into these goals