Most people stick to what they were told in their society. I was born and raised as Christian. The last few years I have done excessive studies of the Bible, but also of the Koran. But then I studied Buddhism and Eastern Religions.
And I have come to the conclusion, that the teachings of the Buddha make sense to me. Why? Because they are strictly logical. Every thesis of Buddha you can reason about it, and if you do, it is like a course in logic. Not even the higher beings can deny it as they cannot deny number theory.
The first part is to realize, what the mind is able to do, and what it is unable to do.
That part I have mastered. The second part is much more difficult, it is the practice to get the mind out of the things it cannot do and has no business to intervene. That can be done by meditation.
If anyone is interested, I can give a good advise of what books to read.
In its original form buddhism is not a religion, but it eventually turned into one. You can see that, that people prey to buddha statues etc. Buddhism asks what is the inner self that never changes and then step by step eliminates everything that is under the law of change.
Stoicism I have not a good foundation to discuss it.
If your definition of religion is “human system which attempts to confront and understand/master the unknown, spiritual, and metaphysical principles of reality” then I think Buddhism and Taoism can fit quite nicely (even Science looks more and more like a religion through this lens). But if your definition is more along the lines of “top-down hierarchy from God down to his agents down to his priests down to us”, then I could see how the eastern religions and western religions seem irreconcilable
Most people stick to what they were told in their society. I was born and raised as Christian. The last few years I have done excessive studies of the Bible, but also of the Koran. But then I studied Buddhism and Eastern Religions. And I have come to the conclusion, that the teachings of the Buddha make sense to me. Why? Because they are strictly logical. Every thesis of Buddha you can reason about it, and if you do, it is like a course in logic. Not even the higher beings can deny it as they cannot deny number theory. The first part is to realize, what the mind is able to do, and what it is unable to do. That part I have mastered. The second part is much more difficult, it is the practice to get the mind out of the things it cannot do and has no business to intervene. That can be done by meditation. If anyone is interested, I can give a good advise of what books to read.
Is Buddhism a religion or a philosophical approach to life similar to Stoicism?
In its original form buddhism is not a religion, but it eventually turned into one. You can see that, that people prey to buddha statues etc. Buddhism asks what is the inner self that never changes and then step by step eliminates everything that is under the law of change. Stoicism I have not a good foundation to discuss it.
If your definition of religion is “human system which attempts to confront and understand/master the unknown, spiritual, and metaphysical principles of reality” then I think Buddhism and Taoism can fit quite nicely (even Science looks more and more like a religion through this lens). But if your definition is more along the lines of “top-down hierarchy from God down to his agents down to his priests down to us”, then I could see how the eastern religions and western religions seem irreconcilable