Buddhism is as close to a science as anything that could be described by anyone as a religion can get. It's really an experiment that you choose to perform on yourself, and your objective reality. What you find is precisely the point of it.
Buddhism is not a religion per se. I’m sure there are cults around it, but as Dalai Lama put it: if science shows Buddhism to be wrong, then Buddhism must change. Good luck finding that sentiment in any actual religion.
If you require more proof, make it a priority to seek understanding of ”Buddha-nature”.
It's an error to see Buddhism as a religion. Buddhism is at heart a science of the human mind and the composition of "self". Meditation is part of the experimenting that we need to do in order to prove what we are to ourselves.
Litmus test: does it make any supernatural claims? Yes? Silly, ridiculous relic.
Buddhism? Yes. Silly, ridiculous relic.
Please don't bore us with the usual equivocating about how Buddhism is different, and complex, highly personal, etc.
Are there helpful aspects to Buddhist beliefs? Maybe. But it's still Bronze Age philosophy with plenty of supernatural claptrap mixed in. I'm not aware of any useful aspects of Buddhism that don't have a purely secular equivalent.
The central topic of Buddhism is psychology, understanding that most of the reasons that life is painful are within ourselves.
It's not a religion. It doesn't describe a god, nor does it preclude one. It isn't even a philosophy, because it doesn't tell you what you should or shouldn't do.
It really is psychology. And as an old programmer from way back, who has always been cynical about life and laughed at the hypocrisy and dogma in religion, I can say straight up that Buddhism is the most intelligent thing I have ever encountered.
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