There is a critical distinction to be made between Buddhism which can become a religion about the Buddha and Buddhism, the religion of the Buddha. The first is from the perspective of the many (bahujjana) to the Buddha. This consists of opinions about Buddhism—our guesses. The second is looking from the Buddha’s enlightenment to the many. He was trying to teach is unique enlightenment to the many which makes it seem confusing insofar as people are different.
So much of what is believed to be Buddhism these days is not about the religion of the Buddha but falls more into a religion about the Buddha. One of the most glaring examples of a religion about the Buddha is secular Buddhism. Tied to this is a book by Stephen Batchelor titled, Buddhism Without Beliefs. In addition, I would also include Dōgen’s Soto Zen tradition which centers on the practice of ritual sitting. Arguably, even Abhidharma could be included in this list which was likely compiled after the first major schism around 250 BCE.
One noticeable element of a religion about the Buddha is its lack of repeated emphasis on the transcendent nature of his enlightenment this being the actual goal. This also includes a marked de-emphasis on dhyāna as a process of de-conditioning and detachment from the five senses, all of which are conditioned, the most important one being manas or mentation.
These senses are part of the outer shell (the five skanhdas) which the self is attached to in the belief that this is who the self really is. “This is mine”, “I am this”, “this is my self”. But this shell tells us nothing about the self attached to the shell except that the shell is painful. Nor does it tell us how we might turn away from the shell and realize who we really are which is transcendent and independent of the shell, this spiritually independent state being, in fact, the Buddha’s perspective.
The religion of the Buddha is always about his awakening to the absolute which is unconditioned and certainly transcendent. The student of the way seeks to practice in such a way that he or she draws closer to the deathless place, the unconditioned.
“When I heard (of) the Deathless place, the unconditioned, the Teaching of the Tathagata, the Unrivaled One, I was well and highly restrained in precepts, firm in the Dhamma taught by the Buddha, the most excellent of men” (Vimanavatthu 16).
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