[booleandilemma]

Buddhism is definitely a religion. The founder of the religion himself talked about an order of monks.

What happens with Buddhism in particular, especially in the West, is that people pick and choose what they want to believe from it to the point that whatever they're left with is hardly Buddhism at all, and it does end up being a philosophy.

For an example, ask the next white person you meet who identities as a Buddhist if they believe that there are 8 hells. They're going to tell you that's, to use your word, "nonsense".

[beej71]

> is that people pick and choose what they want to believe

Pretty sure this is SOP for basically every religion. :)

[tempaway646464]

As I understand it, a common interpretation of The Buddha's teachings is that he wanted people to find their own path and he specifically dissuaded people against dogma and organised religion.