Questions and Reflections About Buddhism


Today we talked more about Buddhist ideas about god or a Higher Power.

I said that some Americans misunderstand Buddhism and mistakenly think the Buddha is the equivalent (for Buddhists) of God (for Christians, Jews and Muslims).

In truth, Buddha did not claim to be a god, and Buddhists do not worship him as a god.

The class decided that Buddhism is neither monotheistic, nor polytheistic, nor atheistic. Hunter made the interesting point that some Buddhists might describe themselves as agnostic. And Sarah made the fantastic comment that Buddhism can be called a religion, because religions are systems of beliefs, ideas, rituals, and rules, and there shouldn't be a requirement that followers of a religion have an opinion about the existence of a god or gods.


Here were some of the questions that arose during today's class:

Noelle and Artie: If some Buddhists are vegetarians because they believe that each animal has a soul, how do they feel about eating plants? Do Buddhists believe that plants have souls?

Nia: Do Buddhists believe that a person can be reincarnated as a plant?

Maya G.: How do Buddhists feel about having pets?

Ellie: Can animals achieve nirvana?

Channing: What exactly is a soul? (I love that Channing is echoing a question asked by Gabriel several weeks ago. This is a deep, deep question that goes to the heart of our study of world religions, and I am glad that you all are thinking hard about it)

Lilly: What if a Buddhist is reborn, in a subsequent life, as a Christian? Does this hurt his or her chances of achieving nirvana?

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