Rajapakse, R. (1986). Buddhism as religion and philosophy. Religion, 16(1), 51-55.
This paper concentrates upon one of the problems confronting a student of Buddhism,
namely whether Buddhism is a religion or a philosophy. In this article, Kalasiruya defines
Buddhism as a complete religion that has distinctively different goals from other religions. The
simple religion of Buddhism is embedded in ancient Indian thinking, which is conceptualized.
He denies the ideas of other scholars like Kalupahan and Jaytilleke saying that Buddhism is a
philosophy. Buddha, according to Kaplahana, does not speak about the ten metaphysical
questions, which are interpreted as lack of empiricism and the inability to describe the
transcendental reality. The doctrine of Buddha, according to this paper, is based on affirming
casualty. David otherwise rejects this opinion by arguing that casualty is either a fiction or an
invention and hence could not be used to mirror the validity of Buddhism. He quoted the word of
Buddha “He who understands causation understands the doctrine, and he who understands the
doctrine understands causation.”
Jones, C. B. (1999). Buddhism in Taiwan: Religion and the state, 1660-1990. University of
Hawaii Press.
The ethnography of practical Buddhism in Sri Lanka shows that theistic-type definitions
and conceptions of religion are inadequate, as Durkheim argued. It is futile to follow Durkheim
in seeking a better definition, as all such definitions must fail because religion is a polythetic
class, a fact that is considered to be of positive significance: it gives a suggestion of religion
having a compounded with different elements which are diverse. It should, therefore, be the
strife to understand the compounding of religion. The Buddhist religion is therefore justified
BUDDHISM 3
since the compounding takes the unusual form that is included in its culture. It is otherwise
argued that Buddhism, though non-theistic, resembles other religions depending on mystical
notions; this act shows how this contributes to understanding the social functions of religions.
Buddhism is, therefore, a religion with basic teaching concerning the principles of human
cultures. The author points out that dependence on mystical notions may not be fundamental for
explaining religious behavior.
Pyysiäinen, I. (2003). Buddhism, Religion, and the Concept of" God". Numen, 50(2), 147-171.
According to the author of this article, the presentation of Pascal shows the Buddhas to
take the position of gods by fulfilling the counter-intuitive agents. It has been argued that Buddha
and the Buddhas have not been regarded as gods by the Buddhists, which are exposed to
transparently fulfill the criteria. He explains that this concept has brought the understanding of
religion to be just a human thought or just a mere human action. It may go higher to the
experience, which has the involvement of counter-intuitive representation. He points out that the
definition of religion should not be based on the cat of a specific group but given a general
consideration and understanding. In that concept, therefore, he points out that the problem of
defining religion should not be related to Buddhism as being the global point of focus in the
concept of religion. Buddha is not considered as a god by the Buddhist, and this opens the floor
for relevant consideration in religious matters and understanding.
Turner, A. (2014). Saving Buddhism: The impermanence of religion in colonial Burma.
University of Hawaii Press.
In this article, Saving Buddhism explores the dissonance between the goals of the
colonial state and the Buddhist worldview that animated Burmese Buddhism at the turn of the
BUDDHISM 4
twentieth century. Burmese Buddhists interpreted the political and social changes between 1890
and 1920 as signs that the Buddha’s sāsana was deteriorating. The decline brought the wave's
activities, and participation focused on preventing the loss of the teachings of Buddha. Author
Alicia Turner has examined thousands of rarely used sources that are rich in the information
concerning Buddhism. From his studies, he traced the three discourses set in motion by the
colonial encounter: the evolving understanding of sāsana as an orienting framework for change,
the adaptive modes of identity made possible in the moral community, and the ongoing
definition of religion as a site of conflict and negotiation of autonomy. He says that Saving
Buddhism also intervenes in the theoretical work revolving around religion on the categories of
secular and religious. It concentrates on the building of colonialism, nation, identity, as well as
engaging the millennialism building Buddhism nature.
Muramoto, S. (2003). Buddhism, religion and psychotherapy in the world today. In Awakening
and Insight (pp. 25-38). Routledge.
The author opens the floor of the article by mentioning that the talk about Buddhism and
psychotherapy has been taken for granted that Buddhism is one of the representative religions of
the East, while psychotherapy is a technique for healing mental diseases based upon modern
psychology as one of the sciences developed in the West. In the article, otherwise, he seeks to
answer some questions which make the basis of his argument to disqualify other scholars'
opinions on Buddhism. He first justifies that Buddhism is of the West. According to him,
Buddhism originated from India and was then transmitted from the West to Japan. He again
clarifies the conclusion from his discussion of the origin of Buddhism and says that there is no
self-evidence to show that Buddhism and psychotherapy are from the West or East. He
BUDDHISM 5
disseminates the complication by elaborating that Buddhism began from the West during
psychotherapy from the east.
Kiblinger, K. B. (2017). Buddhist Inclusivism: Attitudes Towards Religious Others. Taylor &
Francis.
The author first introduces the basic understanding of the inclusivism of Buddhism
regarding the books in the library of Dalai Lama, which is full of materials of Buddhists. More
theoretical aspects of Christian inclusivism in Buddhism are discussed by the scholars,
increasingly putting attention on Christian inclusivism as well as other religions with Buddhism.
It puts clear that all religions must recognize the presence of other religious communities
reckoning the fact that its religious community is just but one of such cultures. Each religion
must understand and acknowledge the pluralism without exclusivity at any time. The article
explains the three aspects that can be applied to explain the meaning of inclusivity. The article
ends by giving different possible means of brining and maintaining inclusivity, such as by way of
reinterpretation of foreign information as common, relegation. In his work, he also clarifies that
Buddha was neither a god nor a divine consoler who could help people.
Robinson, R. H. (1970). The Buddhist religion: A historical introduction.
This article is written to give the basic introduction of Buddhism according to the
information recorded by history. In it, the author portrays the thoughts and actions of the large
segment of followers of the Buddha. According to this article, Buddhism takes different forms
depending on the context of concentration, which is, as a result of progressive changes with time.
There are five main aspects of Buddhism, including ritual-which talks about the practices of the
followers of Buddha distinct them from other people in other religions, making Buddhism just
BUDDHISM 6
culture in the community like other religions. Devotionalism- demonstrates the commitment of
the ancient western scholars to the understanding and following the concepts of Buddha.
Doctrine- here talks about the different principles that guide Buddhism, which make it different
from the others and the confidence of the Buddhists. Meditation-is the extent of Buddhists
taking time to review and justify their religion by impact measure. Practice and institutional
aspects both show concern on the practice and spread of Buddhist religion globally as a
constitution and by registration.
Kiyota, M. I. N. O. R. U. (2017). Meiji Buddhism: religion and patriotism. Asian Studies
Journal, (2), 49-58.
According to the author of this article, Meiji Buddhism was brought with combined
forces and efforts which operated with one slogan of Restoration of· Imperial Rule which, was
invented by the students of the Hirata School of Shintoism. The Shinto ideology influenced the
character of the Meiji government greatly and spearheaded the need for nationalism. This
resulted in different groups combining together to bring restoration in the west advocating the
introduction of Buddhism in Meiji. This movement was otherwise opposed by the anti-Buddhist
who operated in two distinct patterns: that executed under the influence of the Hirata school of
Shintoism and that of the Mito school of Confucianism. The anti-Buddhist movement was
evident between 1868 and 1871, the transitional period of the political aspects. Battle rose
between the Buddhists and the Christians, according to the author, and they exchanged words as
a result of doctrine differences as well as political ones. Different reforms were tested out, and
finally, the coming of the Buddhism religion in Meiji.
Keown, D. (2016). The nature of Buddhist ethics. Springer.
BUDDHISM 7
In this article, Buddhism is paged out to be a response to a fundamental ethical problem –
the perennial problem considered to be of the best kind of men to lead. Siddhattha Gotama is
considered to have taken time to find the solution to such a critical problem and fortunately
solved them in his last exercise after doing just many of them. He then invited his followers for a
higher life. He says that Buddhism has not attained autonomy because the ethical problem had
been solved already, bringing ethics and discipline in philosophy. The article as well gives
different literature that has been done about the ethics of Buddhism and the impact they have
created. It gives the instances and explanations of the simple descriptive ethics as well as beyond
the simple descriptive ethics. It discusses the role of asking the right questions concerning
Buddhism, tye soteriological structure, and gives the theories that explain the nature of Buddhist
ethics.
Weinstein, S. (2018). Imperial Patronage in the Formation of T’ang Buddhism. In Critical
Readings on Tang China (pp. 1622-1662). Brill.
This article gives a detailed account of the invasion of Buddhism in chine as its progress
in the Táng. In T’áng, Buddhism is considered as an apogee or golden age in the history of
chines Buddhism in the church-state. Buddhism suffered the harshest persecution during the Hui-
chang period of (841-47). This permanently affected Buddhism spread in China. The early Táng
rulers had a lukewarm attitude towards the Buddhist religion. The author explains how the
interaction of political leadership, social concern, and the economic dimensions was a stumbling
block to the penetration of the Buddhist religion. It addresses the caution s that were put to
ensure the growth of Buddhism. The denouncing of the many Buddhist monks is exposed in the
hands of Túang. As it comes to an end, it talks about the controversies which existed of whether
BUDDHISM 8
the monks should recognize their social obligations by paying homage to their parents and their
emperors as was opened in 662.
BUDDHISM 9
References
Rajapakse, R. (1986). Buddhism as religion and philosophy. Religion, 16(1), 51-55.
Jones, C. B. (1999). Buddhism in Taiwan: Religion and the state, 1660-1990. University of
Hawaii Press.
Pyysiäinen, I. (2003). Buddhism, Religion, and the Concept of" God". Numen, 50(2), 147-171.
Turner, A. (2014). Saving Buddhism: The impermanence of religion in colonial Burma.
University of Hawaii Press.
Muramoto, S. (2003). Buddhism, religion and psychotherapy in the world today. In Awakening
and Insight (pp. 25-38). Routledge.
Kiblinger, K. B. (2017). Buddhist Inclusivism: Attitudes Towards Religious Others. Taylor &
Francis.
Robinson, R. H. (1970). The Buddhist religion: A historical introduction.
Weinstein, S. (2018). Imperial Patronage in the Formation of T’ang Buddhism. In Critical
Readings on Tang China (pp. 1622-1662). Brill.
Keown, D. (2016). The nature of Buddhist ethics. Springer.