Karen asked:

I am writing a research paper on whether or not Buddhism should be considered a religion or
philosophy of a lifestyle, I was wondering what you thought it was?

===========

Is Dogen's Ts'ao-tung Zen a religion? Is Nagarjuna's Madhyamika school a religion? Is Tibetan
Buddhism a philosophy of life style?

Again the division of Buddhism in several traditions, schools, and sects means that there could not be
a single point of view. Personally I think that Gautama Siddharta's original teaching should be
considered a philosophy (a philosophy of life style, if you prefer) and that Buddhism in general could
be considered both a religion and a philosophy.

However, be careful in your research. There are voices who claim that philosophy and religion are
only Western categories. That the Orient (when and where is not influenced by Western culture)
speaks still in terms of "tradition". Have a look, all the same, at Ananda K. Coomaraswamy's
Hindouism and Bouddhism.

Jean Nakos